Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Read House Hotel was founded in 1872, when John T. Read opened a 45-room hotel on the site of the earlier Crutchfield House. The current 10-story main building dates to 1926, and a 100-room rear wing was added in 1962.
Room 311 is associated with the spirit of a woman named Annalisa Netherly, who according to legend worked as a prostitute in Chattanooga during the 1920s and 1930s and died in that room. Guests who have stayed there describe her as hostile toward men, especially those who smoke.
Seven U.S. presidents have stayed at The Read House: Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, William McKinley, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan.
Jefferson Davis stopped at the Crutchfield House on the 21st of January 1861 and delivered a speech favoring secession in its dining room. William Crutchfield answered by calling Davis a renegade and a traitor, and the confrontation nearly ended in a duel.
Custom iron bars were installed on room 311's windows during Al Capone's stay at the hotel, while he was facing a federal trial in the early 20th century. The bars remain in the room today.
The hotel has operated under several names over the decades, including the Choo-Choo Read House, the Radisson Read House, the Sheraton Read House, and The Read House Historic Inn & Suites. It went through seven different owners between 1980 and 2000 alone, before Avocet Hospitality Group purchased it on the 30th of August 2016.