John W. McDonald moved from Lockney to Plainview in 1933. He brought with him his wife, Sally, and their six children, Monica, Espaneeta, Johnnie, Charley, Robert (Pete), and Dorothy

John came to Plainview in hopes of finding a better economy and a better way to support his family. He had been farming in Floyd County, but fell victim to the depression. He attended auction school in Kansas City in 1925, and later, he and Colonel Seal held auctions within an approximate radius of 200 miles of Plainview. John had done some auction work while farming in Floyd County, but after moving to Plainview, it became his main work.

He would play his fiddle at small dances for his friends and some times for school programs. He was also known for playing his fiddle before starting an auction sale. While he was in Lockney, his daughter, Espaneeta, who was still very young, would dance when he played at auctions.

Unlike catered auctions today, John and Colonel Seal would often supply bologna sandwiches and coffee for the bidders. They made coffee in a big cast iron pot, and when the dirt blew, the coffee would get gritty.

John and his son, Pete, started McDonald Trading Post in 1936, with unsold goods from auctions. They started with $100 and a 6 x 12 building on a Model T Ford chassis. Buying a lot of railroad salvage in Amarillo, and selling everything from hammer handles to brown beans, the business slowly expanded to a building where the Central Fire Station is now. The business moved to the rock building next to the Central Fire Station, and Pete was putting the finishing touches on it when he heard that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor.

John was a super salesman. Always joking and talking with his customers, he could sell virtually anything. Pete spent much of his time out of town buying for the Trading Post. He said that his dad and Charley could sell the merchandise faster than he could haul it in.

Same of the items sold at the Trading Post were peanuts, hay, WI Calvary saddles and harnesses, sulky plows, oil stoves, and crank telephones. They would also buy broken shovels, hoes, hammers,. etc. and repair them for resale. Postwar military surplus was plentiful and brought a boom to the Trading Post’s business.

In 1949, a couple of years after Pete returned from serving in WWII, the Trading Post moved to its present location on South Columbia Street. There were no streets at the new location, so Pete graded out streets with an old Ford tractor. The building now in use was built in 1955.

John’s other son, Charley, left the business in the early 1950’s and moved to Nebraska. John retired in 1958, and often walked to the Trading Post for exercise. He passed away in 1972, and his wife, Sally, in 1978.

Now in its third generation, I’ve been at the Trading Post since I graduated from Texas Tech University in 1975. My dad and I get along fine. He tells me how tough it was in the old days, how far he had to walk to school in the snow and how deep it was. It gets farther and deeper every year!