The dam is owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the late 1930s as part of a New Deal era initiative to improve navigation and bring flood control and economic development to the Tennessee Valley.

[2] The tribe's name has also been applied to several streams in the Chattanooga area, as well as an important American Civil War battle and a sandbar that existed at the dam site prior to its construction.

[3] The Wilkes T. Thrasher Bridge carries Tennessee State Route 153 across the top of Chickamauga Dam.

[3] A 60-by-360-foot (18 by 110 m) navigation lock allows barges and other boats to travel past the dam, raising or lowering vessels 53 feet (16 m) between Chickamauga and Nickajack reservoirs.

An embankment was built to protect parts of Dayton, Tennessee from the reservoir's backwaters, and several roads and buildings in the town of Soddy were relocated or modified.

[3] Chickamauga Dam was completed and its gates closed on January 15, 1940, constructed at a cost of $42,065,000 (equivalent to $716 million in 2023[4]).

Some $52 million in additional funding was made available for the project under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

[7] In October 2004 TVA installed a new warning system to alert individuals downstream when the dam is releasing water.

In 2010, engineering contractor S&ME used a Geoprobe drill to open and repair the expansion holes and cut new joints.