I have followed the aftermath of The McDonald Family Farm purchase by Hamilton County with great interest and an immense sadness.
My great-grandfather (Charles Virgil McDonald) sold 'The Farm' many years ago (for the first time) due to the family's growing grocery business interests in Chattanooga and lack of interest in staying on 'The Farm' at that time in the family's history. That was around the time Mr Roy started 'The Free Press' as an advertising flier highlighting weekly specials at the Red Stores, White Stores and Home Stores.
'Uncle Charlie' (as Mr Roy referred to him) was Mr Roy's father's brother and a favorite uncle, He wrote a weekly column recounting a simpler time in Hamilton County which was included in the advertising flier.
It was called 'Horse and Buggy Days', and, since the flier was a free handout, Mr. Roy McDonald named it "The Free Press." It grew and prospered for decades and was an established and respected publication leaning more right than left.
The Farm was re-acquired by Mr. Roy around the time the Free Press newspaper was firmly established, and was for a period of time a functioning agriculture farm used by the family to supply the grocery store interests.
I had nothing to do with the sale (it was handled by the immediate McDonald family successors). I was extremely saddened to watch the negotiations reach a conclusion and witnessed a small piece of McDonald history and legacy disappear. (I prayed for someone to rescue it and lamented the fact that I was in no position to buy it so it might remain in the family.)
I agree with Ellen McDonald Raoul's comments and hope the new administration chooses a course of action which respects the history of a family's amazing legacy in Hamilton County, and truly benefits the citizens of Hamilton County.
Chuck (Charles A.) McDonald, Jr.
Chattanooga
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Earlier today I read with considerable interest Chuck (Charles A.) McDonald's brief editorial concerning the McDonald Farm in Sale Creek. I do not recall Chuck McDonald from my six years employment at the Chattanooga News Free Press. But what a flood of memories resulted from his editorial from my time there in composing in the early 1970's.
Fresh out of high school in 1971, I was among the many impoverished teens seeking work. And in those days $2.50 per hour, as I recall was the starting pay, was big money. And yes, I was a scab taking the job of one of the members of the typographical union then on strike. But at age 18, I then had at best a negligible understanding of this matter.
I will point out that over the approximately 50 years since, some degree of knowledge and wisdom have managed to influence my thinking and today I see that these were by and large ordinary men, like so many others, trying to make a living for themselves and their families. Why existed the extreme animosity between them and Mr. Roy to this day I still do not know. However, I have digressed.
Several years ago when first I heard that Hamilton County, during the administration of former County Mayor Jim Coppinger, had purchased the 2,100 acre McDonald Farm and had in mind developing it for mixed use, including a massive industrial park, I was singularly horrified.
Immediately came to mind a metaphor of the fictitious idyllic small town of Bedford Falls in upstate New York being defiled into Pottersville, a hive of sin and villainy. I agree, this comparison drawn from the 1946 classic movie, “It's a Wonderful Life,” is hardly perfect. But the gist of it; its spirit, stands up well. What have these people in county government been thinking?
Thankfully, public disapproval of these plans apparently has forestalled, thus far, dozing of this track of bucolic land rich in local history. I have no formal education or work experience in land development. But doubtless, men and women of fitting backgrounds and good will can put their heads together and come up with a vision for the McDonald Farm vastly superior to that which county government has to date.
Douglas L. Baxter