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Thursday, October 29, 2026Oct 29

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Remember When, Chattanooga? In 1953, a giant vegetable was the talk of the town.

This 1953 Times Free Press photo by Bob Sherrill shows a 13-pound turnip held up by a 17-year-old newspaper carrier, Harvey Palmer.
This 1953 Times Free Press photo by Bob Sherrill shows a 13-pound turnip held up by a 17-year-old newspaper carrier, Harvey Palmer. This 1953 Times Free Press photo by Bob Sherrill shows a 13-pound turnip held up by a 17-year-old newspaper carrier, Harvey Palmer.
photo This 1953 Times Free Press photo by Bob Sherrill shows a 13-pound turnip held up by a 17-year-old newspaper carrier, Harvey Palmer.

Bingo!

After months of off-and-on searching, we finally found the origin of the accompanying photograph of a giant turnip.

(READ MORE: Remember When, Chattanooga? Tennessee and Georgia officials fought over the General locomotive)

Taken by former Chattanooga News-Free Press photographer Bob Sherrill, it was published in the newspaper on Saturday, Feb. 7, 1953.

The caption read: “Harvey Palmer, 17, of Ridgedale, holds up a 13-pound turnip grown by Elbert Freeman, who lives on Johnson Road, six miles from Rossville, Georgia. Palmer is a News-Free Press carrier and Freeman is a friend of Palmer’s father.”