Late Tuscaloosa businessman honored with plaque at U.S. Navy Memorial
A Tuscaloosa native and the namesake behind McFarland Mall was honored Wednesday in Washington, D.C., for his military service during World War II.
Ward Wharton McFarland, who died in 1979 at age 64, served in the U. S. Navy during World War II. While on active duty, the ship he was aboard was torpedoed in the North Atlantic. McFarland accepted a medical discharge and receiving a Purple Heart.
Upon his return to Alabama, McFarland enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Maxwell Field.
A plaque in his honor was unveiled Wednesday at the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C., for his service to the United States and the state of Alabama.
Ex-Alabama Gov. James E. Folsom Jr. and U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, the dean of the Alabama congressional delegation, were set to be on hand for the unveiling.
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“It is a privilege to witness Mr. McFarland’s memory enshrined on the U.S. Navy Memorial," Aderholt said in a news release. "His dedicated service to our country serves as a reminder to us all of the sacrifices and bravery of people like him that have made America the greatest country in the world.
“His service to our country and the state of Alabama will live far beyond our lifetimes, and his memory will forever be enshrined at the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C.”
After his military service, McFarland would eventually go on to attend the University of Alabama and become an attorney, educator, real estate developer and entrepreneur, founding a multimillion-dollar real estate empire that included the development of malls, apartment complexes, medical buildings, restaurants, hotels and neighborhoods throughout the southeastern United States.
In February 1969, McFarland opened his namesake mall, McFarland Mall, in Tuscaloosa, making it just the sixth enclosed mall in the state.
At its peak, the mall had four anchor stores, an additional 40 smaller stores, a 12-screen movie theater and a food court.
Once in operation, McFarland Mall soon eclipsed Wood Square Shopping Center and Leland Shopping Center as the main commercial retail centers in Tuscaloosa.
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McFarland also found time to serve as an adjunct professor and teach at economics at the University of Alabama. He also served in the cabinet of Folsom’s father, Alabama Gov. James E. "Big Jim" Folsom Sr., as state highway director in the first Folsom administration from 1947-1951 and state docks director after Big Jim Folsom was elected to a second term in 1955-1959.
After McFarland’s death in 1979, the Alabama Senate commemorated him as one of the state’s most outstanding and contributing citizens in recognition of his character and leadership.
“I have many fond memories of Ward Wharton McFarland, as he served in my father’s cabinet for many years,” Folsom Jr. said in a news release, noting McFarland’s role in programs such as the Farm-to-Market initiative under his father’s administration, the paving of more than 6,000 miles of road in three years and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Compact of 1959.
“I always remembered him as a cordial person,” Folsom Jr. said, “and one of my father’s key advisers during those years.”
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: McFarland Mall honored for military service to state, nation
