SUTHERLAND REFLECTS ON JACKSON'S GROWTH IN '70S

Twenty-five years after he became the Jackson Chamber of Commerce's first full-time director, F.R. "Buz" Sutherland still considers the city special.

"The people of this community pull together like no other town I've seen," said Sutherland, now director of the Small Business Development Center at Southeast Missouri State University. "Jackson people express their own opinions and are vehement about their opinions, but one common thread is running through their meetings -- that the betterment of Jackson is preeminent."

Sutherland related how he was working with the old Division of Commerce and Economic Development (now Department of Economic Development) in 1972, when he had his first contact with the city. Jackson, he noted, was dominant in the Missouri Community Betterment Program, which was at its peak during the 1970s.

"The thing that stands out in my mind about Jackson in the mid-1970s was the number of community spark plugs," Sutherland said. "It was phenomenal."

On Aug. 4, 1975, Sutherland became the first full-time chamber director, with an office in a concrete tilt building donated by Clarence Lee Sherrill.

During the 1970s the city enjoyed a phenomenal growth in population 5,896 to 7,827, in size (2,087 acres to 4,330 acres) and in business. The Jackson Industrial Development Commission (JIDC) was formed and "Look Ahead Jackson" was organized. The drive raised some $250,000 to purchase land for future commercial development.

"That was the catalyst that brought Jackson into the 1980s and 1990s and beyond," Sutherland said.