Presidents William Howard Taft in 1911 and William G. Harding in 1920

Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1953 were guests at the Patten as well as many other dignitaries.

Noted criminals such as Al Capone and Jimmy Hoffa stayed at the hotel over the years.

The Hotel Patten was considered a major step forward in the development of Chattanooga
As an industrial center and more than just a railroad center
The grand opening took place on April 1, 1908, and the hotel was at full rental capacity. 
There were 251 rooms which 225 had private baths. 
The room rates began at $1.50 per night in 1908.
President William Howard Taft attended a banquet there in 1911
Warren G. Harding held a reception there during his successful 1920 run for the presidency.
John F. Kennedy also addressed the Rotary Club of Chattanooga there in 1953
Shortly after he began serving as a senator from Massachusetts.A number of other well-known Americans have also stayed there.
A number of other well-known Americans have also stayed there.
Teamsters Union Leader Jimmy Hoffa did during his famous 1964 trial
At the nearby Federal Building
As did Evangelist Billy Graham during his famous 1953 crusade at the Warner Park Fieldhouse.
Countless entertainment personalities also stayed there.
When the Tivoli opened in 1921, silent screen star Mae Murray gave a newspaper interview at her Hotel Patten room.
Unfortunately for her, she later disappeared from celebrity status following the advent of talking movies.
The Hotel Patten stayed in vogue much longer, however.
The idea for the building had come from J.B. Pound, who in the early 1900s owned the Chattanooga News newspaper.
He had tried to push for a large hotel for Chattanooga for years along with others and decided to go about getting one built himself.
“The opening of the Patten hotel, admitted by all who have seen it to be the most elegant public house in all of its appointments to be found in any city in the South,
Is one of the important events in the history of Chattanooga,”
it stated, “For, in companionship with the James office building,
It marks the transition of the big town to the modern city.”