In 1947, William Faulkner wrote to the editor of the Oxford Eagle newspaper on the topic of the old Oxford courthouse and other buildings, “they will go the way of the Old Cumberland Church. It was here in 1861; it was the only building on or near the Square still standing in 1865. It was tougher than the Yankee Brigadier Chalmers and his artillery and all his sappers with dynamite and crowbars and cans of kerosene. But it wasn’t tougher than the ringing of a cash register bell. It had to go–obliterated, effaced, no trace left—so that a sprawling octopus covering the country from Portland, Maine to Oregon can dispense cut-rate soda, bananas and toilet paper. They call this progress. But they don’t say where it is going; also there are some of us who would like the chance to say whether or not we want the ride.”