McDonald is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in

Bradley County, Tennessee Bradley County is a County (United States), county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 108,620, making it the thirteenth most populous county i ...

, United States. McDonald is located along

U.S. Route 11 U.S. Route 11 or U.S. Highway 11 (US 11) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway extending across the eastern U.S. The southern terminus of the route is at US 90 in Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refu ...

and

U.S. Route 64 U.S. Route 64 (US 64) is an east–west United States highway that runs for 2,281 miles (3,672 km) from Nags Head in eastern North Carolina to just southwest of the Four Corners in northeast Arizona. The western terminus is at U.S. Route ...

west-southwest of

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

. McDonald has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

with ZIP code 37353. The

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

treated the community as a CDP for the 2020 census and the population was 586.

History

The McDonald community was established circa 1850. The origin of its name is unclear; the community may have been named for a Scottish trader, a railroad builder, or the mother of a resident. In 1887, Goodspeed's History of Tennessee described McDonald's Station as a "small village on the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad." Many

mineral spring Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produce hard water, water that contains dissolved minerals. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage un ...

s are located in the McDonald area, and the community had many popular resorts from the 1880s to the 1930s.

Horses

The Tri-State Exhibition Center, an arena for horse shows and other large events, is located in McDonald. The arena opened in 2001 and underwent a major expansion in 2003; the expansion was expected to be an economic boon for the area. The Johnston family, of

Coca-Cola Enterprises Coca-Cola Enterprises was a marketer, producer, and distributor of Coca-Cola products. It was formerly the anchor bottler for Western Europe and most of North America. Coca-Cola Enterprises' products included Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, ...

, has owned the 4,000-acre Bendabout Farm in McDonald since the 1830s.Benjamin Butler
A Passion for Polo: The Johnston Family Legacy
''CitysScope'' It has a

polo Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (), which originated in ancient ...

ground maintained throughout the year. It is home to the Bendabout Polo Club, formerly known as the Chattanooga Polo Club, founded by Summerfield Johnston, Jr. in the 1950s. They hold the Bendabout Farm polo match once a year.

School

Bachman Academy, a school for children with learning disabilities, was located in McDonald. The school opened in 1912 and served as a home for orphaned children until 1989. The school closed in 2017.

References

External links

{{authority control and

Hamilton County, Tennessee Hamilton County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located in the southern part of East Tennessee on the border with Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

Unincorporated communities in Bradley County, Tennessee Unincorporated communities in Tennessee