History
Pressmen's Home was the brain-child of George L. Berry, who grew up near the site in Hawkins County, Tennessee. After he became president of the Pressmen's Union, he convinced union leaders to purchase the Hale Springs Resort, a mineral springs retreat. The buildings from the resort formed the core of Pressmen's Home around which later facilities were constructed.
As the union grew, so did Pressmen's Home, adding larger and more elaborate facilities. In its heyday, Pressmen's Home was a self-sufficient town that even provided its own electricity (several years before the Tennessee Valley Authority did the same for the rest of Hawkins County.
Beginning in the mid-1960s, however, pressure from competing unions to lobby the Federal government was beginning to convince leaders of the Union that their location in rural East Tennessee was becoming detrimental to the interests of the Union. The Union announced it was moving its headquarters in 1967; lack of funding and merger with other printing unions led to the closure of Pressmen's Home as a retirement facility for Union members in 1969.
Since the Union left, several schemes have been proposed to revive the site, including tourist resort, retirement community, and even a State penitentiary. Today the only active project is a golf course and country club that sometimes operates a restaurant.
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