Chattanooga Named North America's First National Park City

Chattanooga, Tennessee, has been named the first National Park City in North America, a designation awarded in April 2025 by the UK-based National Park City Foundation. The charity, founded in 2011, encourages metro areas to become greener and healthier. Despite the name, it is unrelated to national parks systems. Four cities now hold the title: London, Adelaide, Breda, and Chattanooga.

The Scenic City earned the honor through decades of environmental recovery. Once called America's dirtiest city, Chattanooga was declared to have the worst air pollution in the country in 1969. Broadcaster Walter Cronkite, who died in 2009, told the nation it was the "Dirtiest City in America." Residents responded with a new Air Pollution Control Ordinance that same year, achieving compliance within three years.

Conservation remains central to the city's identity. The Tennessee Aquarium opened in 1992, transforming the riverfront. Scientists now breed endangered fish like lake sturgeon and red-bellied laurel dace. More than 5,600 residents signed the National Park City charter, and community-driven projects include eco tours and painted conversation benches.

On Maclellan Island, goats graze invasive plants while volunteers rewild the sanctuary, which loses about 0.8 acres per decade. A renovated bunkhouse is slated to open this fall. "You're in the forest in the middle of downtown," says Laura Marsh of the Chattanooga Audubon Society.