Steele Home Project
The Archaeology of Our Campus: The Steele Home Project
From April of 1884 through 1925, the Almira S. Steele Home for Needy Children provided care, housing, and education for critically underserved members of the Tadestown community, a historically Black neighborhood that emerged in Chattanooga following the Civil War. The Steel Home was unique in highly segregated late nineteenth century Chattanooga, as the home provided for the care of Black children, children over the age of 10, and children who were differently abled.
The Steele Home was located in what is now within the campus of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) near the intersection of Palmetto Street and Collins Streets. Although no longer visible aboveground, archaeological investigations led by Dr. Alison Damick, Associate Curator of Environmental Archaeology and Manager of the Laboratory of Environmental Archaeology at the University of Tennessee – Knoxville (UTK) in partnership with Dr. A. Brooke Persons, Director of the Jeffrey L. Brown Institute of Archaeology and Assistant Professor in the Department of Social, Cultural, and Justice Studies at UTC, indicated that intact subsurface deposits may still remain on site. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys performed in 2023 revealed the foundations of the Steele Home, as well as other late nineteenth and early twentieth century structures underneath the gravel and paved parking lots that we see today. Additionally, shovel testing recovered architectural debris and household items consistent with a late nineteenth century to early twentieth century occupation of the site, again suggesting that significant resources remain preserved on site.
Since some of these resources may be impacted by a proposed Health Sciences Building, Drs. Persons (UTC) and Damick (UTK) are partnering to lead future archaeological research on site in the spring and summer of 2024. Future testing will include formal excavations within impacted areas, analysis of recovered materials, preparation of a final report, and presentations where we share our research with the community.
If you have a question about the project or would like to get involved, please reach out to us at [email protected] or [email protected].
Also, please keep checking back for project updates!
