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History · Ridgeside

48% of Ridgeside’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1935 on and the census since 1940.

0on the National Register
48%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Dclemens1971 · CC BY 4.0

What stands out about Ridgeside’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Ridgeside are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Ridgeside’s homes were built before 1941.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ridgeside’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ridgeside’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Ridgeside came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ridgeside.

Read it all →

Ridgeside is rooted in a dairy farm operated by John T. Shepherd in the early 1900s. In 1922, John's son, Paul, began building the "Shepherd Hills" subdivision, which was completed in 1952. Shepherd Hills incorporated as a city with the name "Ridgeside" in 1931, in part to avoid being annexed by rapidly growing Chattanooga.

Police services for the city of Ridgeside is served by the East Ridge Police, although at one time the city had its own police department.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Ridgeside, 1884 to 1935

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884Post officeThe Mission Ridge post office opens
  3. 1888Post officeThe Mission Ridge post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1935On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Ridgeside, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Ridgeside 022026Ridgeside 02Ridgeside 012026Ridgeside 01
On the map

Ridgeside on the map, 1935 to 1976

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ridgeside. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Ridgeside on the 1935 USGS mapRidgeside on the 1942 USGS mapRidgeside on the 1958 USGS mapRidgeside on the 1969 USGS mapRidgeside on the 1976 USGS map1935East Chattanooga sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Ridgeside.

People over time

Ridgeside, census by census

010020030040050019401960198020002020Peak: 458

Between 337 and 458 people in every census since 1940.

9 censuses, 1940–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ridgeside’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Ridgeside

Nobody well known was born in Ridgeside itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Bessie SmithAmerican blues singer · b. 1894
Ralphie MayAmerican stand-up comedian · b. 1972
A
Arthur GoldenAmerican novelist · b. 1956
Rachel BostonAmerican actress · b. 1982
Roscoe TannerUS tennis player · b. 1951
Tamara E. JerniganAstronaut · b. 1959
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Another post office, Mission Ridge, opened and closed inside today’s town.

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Ridgeside’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.