The 1914 Building Boom

Kingstree was a noisy place in 1914. Nobody complained, however. They viewed it as the sounds of progress because most of the noise came from hammers and saws as new construction and the renovation of older buildings were taking place in every part of town.

The Kingstree Hardware and the People's Mercantile buildings were recently 
renovated into office space for the Williamsburg County Department of Social Services.

Contractor Charles H. Singleton, originally from Asheville, NC, but now living in Kentucky when he wasn't in Kingstree, won the contract in early 1914 from W.H. Carr to build a new Kingstree Hardware store on Hampton Avenue. At that time, Hampton was not considered a part of the commercial district, but Carr would change that with the three-story building he envisioned for the hardware store. At the same time, Singleton secured a contract from E.C. Burgess for a one-story building to be built beside Kingstree Hardware for People's Mercantile. The builders worked as rapidly as possible on these two buildings as the businesses wanted to be in new quarters before the opening of the tobacco market in July.

On the same side of Hampton Avenue, builders were hard at work on R.H. Kellahan's brick warehouse, which would take the place of the old Gorrell's warehouse. Although Gorrell's had only been in operation for two years, it had fallen victim to a heavy snowstorm in Feburary 1914. The weight of the snow collapsed the roof, bringing the whole building down. When the Kingstree Tobacco Warehouse Company decided not to rebuild, Kellahan bought the property and began construction of a more solid warehouse. Across the street on the corner of Hampton and Mill, renovations to the Central Warehouse were completed early in 1914. Until the tobacco market opened, that warehouse was used as a skating rink and also as a place where a number of community meals and meetings were held. Another warehouse was also under construction in the Nelson Addition (now Ashton Ave).

Stores on the east side of Academy Street, built by Dr. D.C. Scott and R.H. Kellahan.

Over on the east side of Academy Street, Dr. D.C. Scott was building a new drugstore with a modern soda fountain and a place for customers to sit while they enjoyed their sodas. There would also be space for offices for Dr. Scott and Dr. T.S. Hemingway. R.H. Kellahan was building two retail stores on the same side of the block. On South Academy, a two-story building was under construction that would house the Kingstree Telephone Company.

The building into which the Wee Nee Bank moved in 1914.

On Main Street early in 1914, the final touches were going on the new Wee Nee Bank. The bank was moving into the building on the corner of Main and Academy that for years had been home to L. Stackley's dry goods. R.H. Kellahan was renovating the Main Street store most recently occupied by Kennedy's millinery by adding a new facade to contain large display windows. J.M. Brown was remodeling his store on Main Street, putting down new flooring and adding built-in shelves. The first floor of the three-story Gourdin building was undergoing renovation so that it could open as the town's dispensary, now that townspeople had voted in a referendum to allow the state to once again sell liquor in Williamsburg County. Next door to the Gourdin Building, R.H. Kellahan built a wood and corrugated tin building which opened as a fruit stand upon its completion. On the other side of Main Street, R.J. McCabe and L.T. Thompson were renovating the ground floor of the McCabe Building into the Uwana Theatre, where moving pictures would be shown. Across the railroad, the Canal Ginning Company was building a new cotton gin.

The first floor of this building was transformed into the Uwana Theatre in 1914.

Epps and Dennis built a grist mill next to the town hall to grind meal and grits. They also installed a bottling machine in the new building.

In North Kingstree, on what is now Scott Street, The Light & Ice Company built a new engine house near the railroad. Also, in North Kingstree, the fountain was installed in what was to become Kellahan Park, then envisioned as a playground for young children.

The Kellahan Park Fountain, installed in 1914, frozen over in 1917.

Photo from Williamsburg County, A Pictorial History

Residential construction and remodeling were also booming. L.C. Montgomery was building a house on Hampton Avenue, while E.L. Hirsch constructed six cottages on his family property in what was known as North Kingstree.

The Montgomery House on Hampton Avenue.

P.S. Courtney's new home in Nelson Addition was completed in early 1914.  Also in early 1914, W.E. Jenkinson built a home for his family on Railroad Avenue, moving into it in June of that year. Meanwhile, W.E. Nesmith was renovating a house he had bought in North Kingstree from Belle Blakeley.

The W.E. Jenkinson house on Railroad Ave. It burned several years ago.

Photo courtesy of Tom Thompson

E.C. Burgess was constructing a house in North Kingstree, and contractor Charles H. Singleton was building a home for Dr. R.C. McCabe at the head of Academy Street. The County Record noted that from the looks of things, "Doc will have plenty of room for his fine poultry."

The McCabe-O'Bryan-Floyd house is still standing on North Academy St.

Remodeled on Academy Street were the homes of LeRoy and Eva Lee and M.L. and Margaret Allen. The County Record added that the Allen house was one of the landmarks of "primitive Kingstree" as it had been the residence of Mrs. Allen's parents, Mr. and Mrs. S. McBride Scott. This home remains in the Allen family today.

The Allen home on Academy Street.

On Brooks Street, E.C. Epps was remodeling his home, while contractor Charles Singleton apparently decided that he was spending so much time in Kingstree that he might as well settle here and began the work of building a home for himself on the south side of the street. Thomas McCutchen was also building a home for himself on the north side of Brooks Street.

The house Thomas McCutchen built on the north side of Brooks Street in 1914.

On Main Street, Willie Dennis completed a pretty cottage near the river where he planned to live with his elderly parents.

Early in 1914, work was completed on both the new Presbyterian and Baptist churches on Academy Street. Both were dedicated that year with much pomp and circumstance.

Kingstree First Baptist Church as it looked shortly after completion in 1914.

Photo is from A History of the First Baptist Church of Kingstree

In July 1914, The County Record ran a notice of the assassination of Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28. By August, of course, war had started in Europe, and while news stories and advertisements in the United States tried to downplay any effect it might have on this country, as the conflict spread, agricultural markets here began to pay the price. Williamsburg County farmers produced bumper crops of both cotton and tobacco that year, but prices were greatly depressed, with cotton bringing as little as six cents a pound. War jitters slowed and then put an end to the building boom that had consumed the town for the better part of the year.