The Town of Signal Mountain originated with the purchase of 4,400 acres of land in the Signal Point area by Charles E. James. Mr.James' first contact with Walden's Ridge was during the 1878 yellow fever epidemic. He led a group of people to the Signal Point area to escape the epidemic and with his purchase began plans for a residential community. Mr. James brought the modern world to the mountain. In the eyes of many residents, he was the prophet of progress, a visionary who dreamed of railroads, dams, towns, and a fine hotel surrounded by modern homes on aremote mountaintop.
Thirty years elapsed before Mr. James began developing the Signal Point area. Construction was completed in 1913 of twelve miles of streetcar track, which connected Chattanooga to Signal Mountain. Signal Mountain Inn opened in 1913 and catered to those on their way to winter in Florida. Mr. James knew the hotel needed recreation beyond that of hiking trails and the mineral waters of Burnt Springs so he constructed a casino complete with dance floors across from the hotel. Soon he added two hundred rooms to the Inn.
In 1918, the Signal Mountain Golf Course was completed. In those days, all of Walden's Ridge was open range for cattle. Farmers from Red Bank, Mountain Creek, and the surrounding areas drove their cattle up to Walden's Ridge in spring and left them to forage until fall. Attracted to the golf course greens, the animals collected there in large numbers. When the Town was incorporated, its first ordinance prohibited running livestock within the Town limits.
Over the last twenty years, Signal Mountain and Walden have continued to change, grow, and improve. They have retained, however, the beauty and serenity that first attracted the early settlers.