After the closure of the Atlanta Speedway and the fire that nearly killed him in 1911 (stay tuned for a future site update), Buddy laid low for a while. Following a pattern that would play out again and again throughout his life, he took a shot at a big idea and when it crashed and burned he took some time away to live a quieter life. He cancelled his planned participation in the Glidden Pathfinder Tour, claiming extended illness. Aside from one paid promotion for Locomobile after he purchased one in 1917, Buddie pushed cars out of his public persona completely. He was in full retreat mode.

In this instance he took so much heat for his race track’s failure that he retreated to the simple life of a farmer. The Druid Hills land he’d purchased in 1911 already had some structures in place that he could use, so his first agricultural venture was chicken farming. He bred orpingtons and sold pullets, and even competed for best of breed, bringing home mostly second place ribbons at first, until he purchased enough winners to start bringing home blue ribbons.

Over the next couple of years he shifted his focus to dairy farming. He built state of the art cattle barns with electric fan ventilation, rail-mounted feed dispensers and automatic drinking fountains for each cow. When WWI operations ramped up in 1914 he secured a supplier deal with Fort McPherson south of the city and shipped hundreds of gallons of milk to the doughboys in training who were stationed there. He also volunteered his time to the Red Cross to coordinate the flow of war support through Atlanta.

In 1911 he and Helen welcomed twin daughters Helen, Jr., and Martha, into their lives. The same year Buddie started on another venture, investing in athletics. He’d met more than a few sports managers, athletes and financiers during his time with the Speedway, most notably Ty Cobb, Nap Rucker and Charlie Frank, who managed the New Orleans Pelicans baseball team. He partnered up with Charlie Frank to toss around the idea of buying a team, traveling by train to meet with sports insiders and causing lots of speculation. They twice made an offer to purchase the Atlanta Crackers, and eventually secured a deal, although Buddie’s cagey remarks to the media certainly created the impression that something was going on behind the scenes.

He also spent 1915-1917 as president of the Atlanta Athletic Club, using his personal income to fund the struggling organization. After a term that started with much enthusiasm when he offered to personally rework the finances with his father, who held the club’s mortgage, he stepped down under vague circumstances. More about Buddie’s sports interests here.

These years were not without drama. In July of 1911, William struck a man on Peachtree Street at “Dead Man’s Curve” while driving one of Buddie’s cars. William was driving 25 mph and cracked the man’s leg and ribs. No charges were filed. In September of 1914 Walter ended up in hot water when he pulled a gun on a street car driver who shouted at him when he didn’t yield the right of way. In 1915 a man named S. B. Burnett drove down to Atlanta from Cincinnati and showed up at Buddie’s front door, claiming to be a Coca Cola shareholder and demanding to take out a loan. Clearly a case of targeting the wrong Asa. According to reports, Buddie turned his pockets out, said he hadn’t a penny on him, and sent the man away. The man then went to his sister Lucy’s home and threatened her. He was in police custody by morning.

In 1916 Asa Candler, Sr., was elected mayor of Atlanta. Keen to divest himself of some of his demands, he shifted more of the management of the Candler Investment Co. to Buddie, including oversight of the Candler Warehouses, which were constructed in 1914 on what is now Metropolitan Boulevard. He also stepped down from Coca Cola, granting Howard the presidency in his place. His youngest son William was involved in Coca Cola, too, and his middle son Walter was deeply involved in his bank, the Southern Bank and Trust. He had a child in place everywhere he needed one, which made stepping down more symbolic than practical.

Lucy Elizabeth, the Candler siblings’ mother, was very ill with cancer. She and Asa, Sr., moved from Inman Park to a new mansion in Druid Hills with Lucy and her young family. Asa, Sr., and Lucy Elizabeth decided to give their children their inheritances early, so in 1916 they issued payouts, minus any debts owed. Family lore claims that Asa, Sr., deducted as much as $100k from Buddie’s share to recoup his namesake’s debts. This put a cramp in Buddie’s aspirations to build a mansion of his own, an intention he’d declared way back in 1910. Howard, on the other hand, had a well compensated position as the head of Coca Cola and his inheritance to play with, so he broke ground on his property, Callanwolde, just a few lots down from his younger brother’s.

In 1917 fires sparked around the area, including one at the Candler Warehouses, and a high, dry wind carried embers and flames north into the city, cutting a furious swath across Fourth Ward, including N. Jackson Street, where Buddie and his family had once lived. The fire was contained by blasting the land along Ponce de Leon Avenue but it left a massive swath of destruction behind it.

Atlanta’s city symbol is the phoenix. You see it on manhole covers and government buildings. The city’s motto is “Resurgens,” in honor of the people of Atlanta, who rose not once but twice from the ashes and grew strong in the aftermath of fire. In 1917 Asa Candler, Sr., occupied the mayoral office and historians credit him with pulling the populace together to recover from the disaster. He personally financed some of the recovery efforts, offering fair home loans to people who had lost everything in the blaze.

See an interactive map of the fire’s path here:

While Atlanta figured out how to move forward after the fire, Coca Cola figured out how to move forward after the reorganization of its leadership. Howard was ostensibly in charge, but all five siblings were tied to the business now, which meant negotiating agreements on business matters. It didn’t go smoothly. Now enjoying their inheritances, the Candler brothers and sister had little patience for the demands of managing the business and struggled to agree on matters.

In 1918 Asa, Sr., found himself embroiled in a doozy of a lawsuit when a man named “Handsome Bill” Cook and a woman named Mrs. H. H. Hirsch plotted to corner him in his office at the Candler Building, put him in a compromising position with Mrs. Hirsch, and accuse him of indiscretion. It was an extortion scheme, and not the first one Asa, Sr., had ever grappled with. But this was the first that was framed in a defamatory claim that threatened to ruin his reputation and term as mayor. It’s said that when Cook and Hirsch cornered him in his office and he realized what was happening, he ran down to the second floor to find Buddie, and together they ran back up to confront the accusers. When Buddie arrived, Mrs. Hirsch took one look at him, asked, “are you his son?” and then fled the scene. In short order Cook and Hirsch were arrested and put on trial. The court case was long and drawn out, with Buddie taking the stand and testifying to his father’s innocence. After much hoopla, both Cook and Hirsch were convicted of extortion and sentenced to hard labor on a chain gang. Stay tuned for more details about the Cook and Hirsch case in a future site update.

In 1919 the Candler siblings agreed to sell the business off for $25mm and remove it as a burden on their lives and relationships. This is a contentious moment in Coca Cola’s history. Some historians believe the sale was against Asa, Sr.’s, wishes. Some believe he was merely insulted that he wasn’t permitted to consult in the sale. Others believe he wasn’t bothered, since he’d tried to sell Coca Cola off for nearly the same price a few years prior. More thoughts about the Coca Cola family business will appear in a future site update.

When the sale went through each of the siblings instantly became $5mm richer. In today’s dollars that’s more than $73mm. A big chunk of change, to say the least. Buddie’s farm had struggled since the end of WWI in 1918. The domestic Atlanta market couldn’t compensate for the loss of Fort McPherson’s demand. So this windfall couldn’t have come at a better time.

First he bought a luxury yacht, the Helasa. Then he went to work building the mansion he’d always wanted, a mansion that would put Howard’s to shame. A mansion that would even outclass his father’s home. In July of 1920 he sold off his herd of holsteins, hired a demolition crew, relocated briefly to a home on Oakdale Rd. in Druid Hills, and two years later in 1922 he moved Helen, Lucy III, John, Laura, twins Martha and Helen, Jr., and Samuel into Briarcliff Mansion.

The Farm Years Timeline

Briarcliff Farm Gallery

Briarcliff Farms Resouces

Electrical Review, Vol 73, no. 26, December 28, 1918, “Use of Electricity on Dairy Farms to Increase Production”

The Georgia Frontier, Vol 2

The Switchyards blog, A Brief History of City Clubs

Atlanta Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events, 1880s-1930s, Franklin M. Garrett, 2011

God’s Capitalist: Asa Candler of Coca Cola, Kathryn W. Kemp, 2002