“In politics, he did not seek office, but honors sought him, and he served with equal diligence whether as the only Republican United States Senator from Tennessee since Civil War days or whether as foreman of the Hamilton County Grand Jury.” — The Chattanooga News
As the news that former Sen. Newell Sanders had died spread across Chattanooga and the nation, tributes began appearing in newspapers, none more eloquent than the opening lines of a Chattanooga News tribute.
His life provides a glimpse into Chattanooga’s progressive energy and the industrial growth that occurred during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Sanders family were early North Carolina settlers, but the senator’s father had first moved his family to Hawkins County, Tenn., followed by a trek to Kentucky, to Iowa and finally to Indiana, where the senator would be born in 1850. Sanders often relayed stories his father had shared about that journey to find a home. They had traveled on horseback and on foot with their small cache of household goods in a covered wagon. While in Iowa, John Sanders’ small children were “captured by Indians and carried away.” Sanders left his first wife in Iowa, followed the trail left by the captors and “recaptured his children, bringing them home.” But Iowa had lost its appeal, and the family moved to Indiana.
Newell Sanders moved to Chattanooga in the decade after the Civil War at the encouragement of Gen. John T. Wilder. Sanders, an inventor who recognized the need for agricultural innovation, began to design plows, and the Chattanooga Plow Co. was incorporated in 1883. In a city that was embracing change, made possible by an influx of capital from new residents, Sanders became a business leader. By 1898, the Tennessee River Improvement Association had named him president since he had become a strong voice for a “plan” to develop the Tennessee River and its tributaries. A president of the Chattanooga Steamboat Co., he also served as a director of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway, understanding that Chattanooga’s unique position as a transportation hub could fuel industrial growth, create jobs and raise family income.