Red Bank, Tennessee | |
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City | |
Location in Hamilton County and state of Tennessee. |
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Coordinates: 35°6′37″N 85°17′49″W / 35.11028°N 85.29694°WCoordinates: 35°6′37″N 85°17′49″W / 35.11028°N 85.29694°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Tennessee |
County | Hamilton |
Incorporated | 1945 |
Area | |
• Total | 6.4 sq mi (16.7 km2) |
• Land | 6.4 sq mi (16.7 km2) |
• Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2) |
Elevation | 722 ft (220 m) |
Population (2012) | |
• Total | 11,817 |
• Density | 1,927.9/sq mi (744.4/km2) |
Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
• Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
ZIP code | 37415 |
Area code(s) | 423 |
FIPS code | 47-61960 |
GNIS feature ID | 1299035 |
Website | www.redbanktn.gov |
Red Bank is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 12,418 at the 2000 census and 11,817 in 2012. Red Bank is an enclave, being entirely surrounded by the city limits of Chattanooga. Red Bank is part of the Chattanooga, TN-GA, Metropolitan Statistical Area.
In the mid-1800s, the Red Bank area was known as Pleasant Hill. When the community was given a federal post office in 1881, the community was notified that another name would have to be used, because a Pleasant Hill, Tenn., already existed. The postmaster's wife reportedly looked at the red soil along the bank of Stringer's branch and suggested the name Red Bank.
In 1955, the communities of Red Bank and White Oak incorporated into a town called Red Bank-White Oak. In late 1966, the community voted to call itself Red Bank beginning in 1967 for simplification purposes. Originally, the meetings and city business were conducted in a downstairs room of the Masonic Building off Unaka Street. Later, City Hall was moved to a small wooden structure at 3005 Dayton Blvd. The city hall at 3117 Dayton Blvd. opened in 1971 and was later remodeled and enlarged.
Although no Civil War battles were fought in Red Bank, troops moved through the area on several occasions. In early June 1862, Union Gen. James S. Negley led a force of some 6,000 troops from the west across the Southern portion of Red Bank. From there, they positioned their artillery on Stringer's Ridge and bombarded Chattanooga, damaging churches, homes and businesses.
In late August 1862, Confederate Gen. William Hardee's men crossed the southern end of Red Bank and Mountain Creek while heading across Waldens Ridge and toward Kentucky with Gen. Braxton Bragg's army. On Aug. 21, 1863, Union Capt. Eli Lilly, who in 1876 would start the Eli Lilly pharmaceutical company, marched his Indiana battery down historic Poe Road through the heart of what is now Red Bank toward Stringer's Ridge. There, his men set up gun emplacements and fired rifled cannon shells upon the city of Chattanooga for 19 days.
In the area around the Memorial Drive duck pond, Gen. William T. Sherman and his man hid out in November 1863. The move had resulted after Gen. U.S. Grant took command of the Union forces in the West and ordered his old friend, Gen. Sherman, to move the Army of the Tennessee from Mississippi to Chattanooga quickly.