Citico Town and Mound was a major centerNote: "Although regarded as one of the most preeminent Mississippian sites in this region, this highly-visible mound and accompanying village was systematically demolished in this century as part of highway construction projects." – R. Bruce Council, "The Citico Site, 40HA65, An Archaeological Survey of the Proposed Lower Amnicola Parallel Interceptor Sewer, Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee", Final Report prepared for Hensley-Schmidt, Inc. and the City of Chattanooga, Jeffrey L. Brown Institute of Archaeology, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga 1992 of the Coosa confederacy,"The Archaeological Reality of de Soto's Coosa," David J. Hally, Marvin T. Smith, James B. Langford, Jr., David H. Thomas. In Archaeological and Historical Perspectives on the Spanish Borderlands East. pp 121–138: Smithsonian Institution Press 1990 at the mouth of Citico Creek in the area of what is now Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was second in size to Etowah at the time of Hernando de Soto's march through the area in 1540 CE. In archaeological terms it is considered as part of the 'Dallas phase' of Mississippian/Muscogee culture, c. 1300–1600 CE. For the muskogean version and origin of the name, see "Satapo." Isaac H. Bonsall photographed the site during the American Civil War era in 1864 when it was part of a garden for convalescent Union soldiers.
Citico mound was the center of Citico town, and survived essentially intact up to the US Civil War when it was dug into and used to store gunpowder. See photo. It was partially excavated by Clarence Bloomfield Moore in 1914Chattanooga Times, April 18, 1914, p6 and subsequently destroyed Chattanooga Times, June 27, 1915, p11 in 1915 to create a road extending east upriver from downtown Chattanooga. The Tennessee Division of Archaeology designates the site as "40HA65".
The site is scheduled for destruction in 2016–17 as part of the City of Chattanooga-Hamilton County Cannon brownfield development, Central Avenue extension through Lincoln Park and north across Citico Creek to Riverside Drive, and private college-student housing development. Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional PLANNING COMMISSION CASE REPORT: 2015-018 Date: 02-09-15 Rezone property from M-1 Manufacturing Zone to C-3 Central Business Zone Property Location: 1428 Riverside Drive, Property Owner: Westview Drive L.P. Applicant: Wes Bradley w/ University Housing Group, Project Description: The applicant is proposing to develop student housing at 1428 Riverside Drive. The applicant’s site plan shows 174 units, four 4-story buildings, one 3-story building, and 619 surface parking spaces.
Notes
References Evans, E. Raymond & Smith, Gerald, Test Excavations at Citico (40HA65) Hamilton County, Tennessee 1988 Moore, Clarence B., The Tennessee, Green, and Lower Ohio River Expeditions of Clarence Bloomfield Moore. Richard Polhemus, ed., University of Alabama Press 2002 Hatch, James W., "The Citico Site (40HA65): A Synthesis", 'Tennessee Anthropologist', journal of the Tennessee Anthropological Association, 1:2 Fall 1976 Honerkamp, Nicholas, Beth Fowler, Tracy Little, Robby Mantooth, "An archaeological Survey of the Citico Site (40HA65), Chattanooga, Tennessee"; Research Contributions 2, Jeffrey L. Brown Institute of Archaeology, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, December 1989