Kingstree, 1915

In October 1915, the Williamsburg County Fair Association sponsored the first Williamsburg County Fair. The fairgrounds were located in North Kingstree, today the site of the Kingstree Middle Magnet School of the Arts. In 1909, Kingstree's first two tobacco warehouses were built on that site, but a few years later, one was torn down and the material used to build another warehouse downtown. The second warehouse on what is now Third Avenue had fallen into disrepair, and the County Fair Association spent the spring and summer of 1915, renovating it into an administration building for the Fair Association. Ten acres of land were fenced and a grandstand erected to make ready for the fair that fall.

The Williamsburg County Fair Association Administration Building on Third Ave.

The County Record celebrated the historic occasion of the first county fair by putting out a special issue on September 23, 1915. In it, a number of downtown businesses were profiled, which today gives us a bit of a look at what downtown Kingstree was like during that time.

Kingstree had three hardware stores in 1915. The oldest and largest was Kingstree Hardware, located on Hampton Ave. J.W. King of Scranton was president of the stockholders who owned the store, which was managed by W.H. Carr, assisted by C.C. Burgess. The paper noted that they "will take your order for anything from a machine needle to a suspension bridge." King Hardware was run by E.E. King and Sam McGill, while Williamsburg Hardware, managed by W.C. Claiborne, offered hardware, stoves, ranges, and sporting goods. Williamsburg Hardware also touted its extensive mail order business.

Kingstree Hardware as it looked in 1915.

Next door to Kingstree Hardware on Hampton Avenue, the People's Mercantile, known as The People's Store, did a good business in dry goods, notions, men's and women's furnishings, shoes, and "pure table foods." E.C. Burgess managed this store.

Other grocery stores in town included Britton & Hutson, which also advertised that it sold "pure foods," and the genial Joe Zaharan's Popular Fruit Store. He offered a varied line of quality fruits and groceries on Academy Street. Lewis & Carter, located at 202 W. Main Street, was the newest grocery store in town. It simply advertised that it sold "Good Things to Eat."

In addition to the People's Mercantile, Kingstree also had four dry goods stores, including S. Marcus, then located in the Nexsen building on the corner of Main and Academy streets, W.E. Jenkison, Silverman's Department Store, and Kingstree Dry Goods. All of them sold ready-to-wear garments and ladies' millinery.

One of the newest businesses in town was Kingstree Manufacturing & Construction, a wood-working establishment, located on the east side of Hampton Avenue. Three thousand dollars in capital investment had gone into the business, and it employed 10 people. Contractor Charles Singleton, and former hardware store employee J.B. Alsbrook were the principals in the business, which could do any kind of woodworking, but was primarily a maker of coffins.

A scene from inside the Chero-Cola bottling plant.

Another new business in town was the Chero-Cola Bottling Plant on Mill Street. Managed by E.J. King, the plant employed six people who turned out 4,800 bottles of Chero Cola, soda, and ginger ale a day. The company had two trucks and a wagon which were used to deliver its products. C.F. King was sales manager for the operation.

In those years, Main Street had two jewelry stores. Watts Jewelry was located in a flat-iron building designed specially for the jewelry store next door to the depot. Across Main Street, T.E. Baggett offered cut glass and china, in addition to selling jewelry and watches. Baggett was also licensed to prescribe eyeglasses and boasted an up-to-date optical department.

Kingstree's three banks were also profiled. The Bank of Kingstree on W. Main Street was the oldest, while The Bank of Williamsburg and The Wee Nee Bank, both on E. Main Street, had been founded a few years later.

Kingstree also had three farm and livestock agents operating downtown. M.F. Heller's Sales & Livery Stable on North Academy Street was by far the oldest institution of its kind in town. Mr. Heller was considered the Dean of the Livestock Community and was described in the newspaper as "the biggest little man we know." Thomas McCutchen operated the Williamsburg Livestock Company on East Main just east of the railroad. Truluck & King was the town's third farm and livestock business.

M.F. Heller's Livery and Sales Stable on Academy Street in 1915.

Williamsburg Livestock

Three individuals were also profiled. These included, George A. McElveen, who sold cotton and cottonseed and was described as "the man who is always on the job." L.R. Anderson was called The Watkins Man, as he sold Watkins products all over Williamsburg County, and W.H. Welch was known as The Insurance Man because he had built the largest insurance business in the county.

Kingstree was also coming to terms with changing times and by 1915 had three automobile dealerships. 

Hamer & Thompson, located on Mill Street, were the first automobile agents in the area. They handled Overland autos and had started out in Salters before opening a branch of the business in Kingstree. They also had opened Kingstree's first automotive garage. L.T. Thompson was, according to The County Record, considered to be one of the best auto mechanics in the South. Thomas McCutchen, in addition to his duties as manager of Williamsburg Livestock, also had the Ford dealership in Kingstree. He had sold a number of cars and could have sold more, but the factory had not been able to supply cars quickly enough to keep up with the orders. D.C. Scott, Jr., had recently become certified as a Maxwell dealer. Although Maxwell was one of the older car models, it had just made its debut in Kingstree.

Hamer & Thompson's auto dealership and Kingstree Garage on Mill Street.

W.M. Vause & Son ran a machine shop for repairing farm implements and other equipment. The County Record noted that W.M. and Zeno Vause could probably build an automobile if it became necessary.

The newspaper also noted that there were a number of active "orders" in Kingstree at the time, including the Masons, the Knights of Pythias, and the Woodman of the World for businessmen and the Order of the Eastern Star, the Daughters of the American Revolution and the United Daughters of the Confederacy for the ladies.

These were not the only businesses operating in Kingstree in 1915, but this does give an overview of the activity downtown during those days.

Banking in Kingstree, Part 3

Kingstree's third bank, the Wee Nee, was organized at the law offices of Gilland & Gilland in April 1910. Three hundred shares of stock were sold for $100 a share. At the organizational meeting, a board, composed of Hugh McCutchen, W.V. Strong, H.E. Montgomery, W.B. Cooper, W.R. Scott, J.K. Smith and T.K. Smith, was chosen. L.P. Kinder, L.W. Gilland, and Thomas McCutchen were appointed to a special advisory board. The County Record noted that W.B. Cooper was president of the American National Bank in Wilmington, NC, and that he offered the board of the new bank many practical suggestions on how to get it up and running.

Now a part of The Kingstree Christian Bookstore, this small building

was the original Wee Nee Bank, built in 1910.

The board elected Hugh McCutchen president and W.V. Strong vice president. E.L. Montgomery was hired as cashier. The bank began business on July 1, 1910, in cramped quarters at the Kingstree Furniture Company. Although the opening was not formally advertised, several thousand dollars were deposited and "a good start was made on loans and discounts" on the bank's first day of operation.

R.H. Kellahan had broken ground in May for a small building, designed specifically for the bank, on the west side of O.H. Patrick's Main Street store. By the time the bank moved into its new headquarters on September 12, 1910, Lily Cunningham had been hired as bookkeeper.

The board chose the name Wee Nee for two reasons. They wanted the original name for Black River to be remembered, and they also wanted a short, striking name for the new institution

When Louis Stackley closed L. Stackley Department Store on the corner of Main and Academy streets to take over as Kingstree post master in July 1913, rumors quickly spread that the Wee Nee Bank would be re-locating to that building. However, W.E. Jenkinson opened a second store for Jenkinson Brothers there shortly after Stackley departed. But, by February 1914, it was official that the Wee Nee Bank had bought the building and remodeling work had begun. The Stackley building had been built in 1906 and was almost complete when a hurricane struck, and the new building completely collapsed from the force of the winds. Stackley immediately rebuilt it and had operated his dry goods store there ever since. 

The building on the corner of Main and Academy streets that was home

to the Wee Nee Bank from 1914 until it closed in 1926.

The Charleston Evening Post noted that "no expense was spared" in the renovation of the store into a bank. The floors were tiled and marble fittings installed, along with modern conveniences for the bank's customers. Grandy & Sons of Sumter, the same contractors who built the Williamsburg Presbyterian Church and the Carnegie Library, were in charge of the renovation.

In May 1914, the Wee Nee Bank moved into its brand new headquarters. W.R. Scott & Brother, merchandise brokers, quickly moved into the bank's old building. In December of that year a new barbershop opened in the rear of the Wee Nee Bank building, and the next year, Ira A. Calhoun opened an office of the Southeastern Life Insurance Company of Greenville, on the second floor.

The Wee Nee Bank's advertising slogan in 1915 was: Plant a dollar in the Wee Nee Bank today. Water it with dimes and watch it grow."

A 1915 advertisement for the Wee Nee Bank in The County Record.

When Williamsburg County was authorized to borrow $80,000 for road construction and other public improvements in 1920, all three banks submitted bids. The Bank of Williamsburg and The Bank of Kingstree bid 3.75 percent and 2 percent respectively for a five-year term. Both of these banks would also require that all Williamsburg County's financial transactions go through the bank chosen for the life of the loan. The Wee Nee Bank, however, offered 0-percent interest, and while it required all of the county's business for the life of the loan, it did not require that funds currently on deposit at the other banks be transferred. The county accepted the Wee Nee Bank's bid as it would save the county $8,000 to $15,000 over years.

In May 1920, bank president Hugh McCutchen died and was replaced as president by W.V. Strong. By 1921, the American Legion Hall was located on the second floor of the bank building, and in 1922, George H. Dallas opened the Kingstree Shaving Parlor in the barbershop at the rear of the bank.

By 1926, the Wee Nee Bank was the only one of the three original banks in Kingstree still operating. But on Saturday, December 4, 1926, it closed its doors at noon, following a run on the bank caused by the closing of the Bank of Lane the day before and the closing of two banks in Lake City earlier that fall.

The closing would have severe repercussions for a bank employee and the Williamsburg County Treasurer. Shortly after the bank closed, the state bank examiner swore out a warrant for the arrest of the bank's assistant cashier H.L. Prosser, charging him with misuse of funds. The newspaper accounts made much of the fact that Prosser was the superintendent of Sunday Schools for his church. Rather than stand trial, he pleaded guilty to breach of trust in March 1927 and was sentenced to one year in prison. In September, Governor John G. Richards suspended Prosser's sentence for good behavior on the recommendation of the pardon board, Solicitor Frank McLeod, presiding Judge M.M. Mann, and several prominent citizens.

Thomas McCutchen

Source: South Carolina's Williamsburg

In late December 1926, the Williamsburg County Grand Jury asked outgoing Governor Thomas G. McLeod to suspend County Treasurer R.B. Smith for neglecting to require the Wee Nee Bank to pledge security for the county funds that were on deposit in the bank as required by law. Gov. McLeod ordered Smith to show cause for why he should not be removed from office. Smith, his attorney A.C. Hinds, and four of his friends, including Wee Nee Bank President Thomas McCutchen, attended the hearing in the Governor's office in which Smith denied any wrongdoing. Smith noted that securities were pledged on $85,000 of the county's funds, although the county had slightly over $165,000 in the bank on the day it closed. He argued he was not required to secure every penny deposited. Property tax collections, he said, had greatly increased the amount on deposit in the bank, and he had not had the opportunity to securitize the additional funds before the bank closed. 

This apparently did not impress Governor McLeod, who removed Smith from office in the final days the governor's administration for "failure to secure proper security for county funds in the now-defunct Wee Nee Bank." Former County Treasurer J.Wesley Cook was appointed Treasurer on the recommendation of State Senator Emerson Ard.

On October 3, 1928, attorney LeRoy Lee, receiver for the Wee Nee Bank, disposed of all real estate owned by the bank at public auction in front of the Courthouse. A brass band was brought in to play for the occasion. The most notable sale was that of the bank's building on the corner of Main and Academy streets to H.J. McFadden for $8,500.

In the end, depositors received about 35 percent of their deposits back in two checks over a period of three years.

In 1929, Abraham Nimmer, a native of Syria, remodeled the Wee Nee Bank building into a restaurant known as the Wee Nee Coffee Shop. The coffee shop remained in the building for a short period before moving to the first floor of the Gourdin building on West Main Street. From 1932-1938, the bank building housed the U.S. Post Office. Later, the Exchange Bank of Kingstree was headquartered in the building for many years. The building was also home to the Williamsburgh Museum before it moved into the old Carnegie Library. Currently owned by local attorney William Barr, the building serves as a food pantry for The Ark.

Banking in Kingstree, Part 2

Four years after the Bank of Kingstree opened for business, another group of businessmen gathered at the law offices of Stoll & Stoll to form another bank, this one to be called the Bank of Williamsburg. Interest in the new venture was so great that the initial stock offering of $35,000 was increased to $40,000, and stock was offered and sold throughout Williamsburg County. Directors for this bank were C.W. Stoll, F. Rhem, J.F. McFadden, T.A. Blakeley, W.I. Nexsen, W.T. Wilkins, J.C. Graham, W.B. McCollough and P.G. Gourdin. The directors elected Stoll president of the bank, with Rhem as vice president. The cashier's position was not immediately filled, but E.C. Epps would soon leave the Bank of Kingstree to become cashier. The directors agreed to buy a lot on Main Street next to Kingstree Dry Goods on which to build an office. They planned to open for business on January 1, 1906.

The Bank of Williamsburg building as it looks today.

The bank opened in temporary quarters on January 8, 1906, as the new building, begun in November, was not ready, and as it turned out would not be ready until February 1907. However, the bank did well during its first year, showing net earnings of 10.25 percent. 

By August 1907, the bank was doing business from its Main Street office. Board member W.B. McCollough used the bank lobby to display several bricks manufactured at his brick works, located at Taft in the southern part of the county. The bank building was included on a set of full-color post cards available at the People's Mercantile in 1908. Also in 1908, Williamsburg Insurance & Bonding located its office at the Bank of Williamsburg.

C.W. Stoll, President of the Bank of Williamsburg

The Bank of Williamsburg prided itself on working with the average man rather than the wealthy, noting in a 1910 advertisement, "The policy of the Bank of Williamsburg has always been and will in the future more than ever be to lend its financial aid and influence toward helping the deserving, progressive, and needy people rather than to aid and assist the wealthy man to carry on his speculations and greedy practice of gain. We shun large, risky loans to any one person, firm, or corporation. This, we foresee, will do much more toward the upbuilding of our country and thereby repay those people who repose so much confidence in our institution and patronize it so largely. Conservatism must attend our every act and doing. We propose distributing our loans with view to safety first, then to uniform development of our section."

The bank helped boost the community, often providing prize money for various competitions, and, in 1913, was one of three businesses in town distributing free tobacco seed to farmers, compliments of warehouseman E.L. Morgan.

A November 1910 advertisement for The Bank of Williamsburg.

In September 1913, the board considered converting from a state bank to a national bank, while doubling its capital stock. Cashier E.C. Epps noted that this move "would enlarge the bank's usefulness in the upbuilding of Williamsburg County." At a special stockholders' meeting in November, stockholders approved doubling capital, but tabled the vote on becoming a national bank until the regular annual meeting in January 1914. 

At that meeting, two board members, W.V. Strong and J.M. Cook, were added because the bank now had capital stock of $100,000. During the intervening months, the Federal Reserve Act had become law, and as it allowed state banks with sufficient capital to become members with almost the same privileges as national banks, the stockholders directed the board to become a member of the Federal Reserve as soon as a Federal Reserve Bank was established in this district. In addition, stockholders voted to allow the board to convert to a national bank if they saw benefits for that during the year.

During the summer of 1914, rumors began circulating throughout the county that the Bank of Willilamsburg was paying interest on Williamsburg County Treasurer accounts into the personal account of County Treasurer J.Wesley Cook. Both Cook and cashier Epps were adamant that no wrongdoing had transpired. Cook requested that a special committee of the Grand Jury examine the treasurer's records. That committee, W.H. Carr, J.B. Gamble, and A.C. Swails, asked that an accountant from the state Comptroller General's office audit the records. When the state was slow in responding, the committee began to examine the records themselves and found some questionable transactions. Louis A Searson of the Comptroller's Office eventually arrived in Kingstree and conducted an audit from July 1, 1906, when Cook took office, until June 30, 1914.

Searson's report noted that as of June 30, 1914, the treasurer's records were thorough and accurate. He did find, however, that during Cook's tenure, some interest payments on county money had been credited to Cook personally, and that on another occasion, interest had been credited to county accounts and later withdrawn by Cook personally. Cook had, however, replaced the funds before the audit was conducted, but after the rumors started. 

The Williamsburg County Grand Jury asked that the sitting judge admonish Cook about his actions, and that appears to have been the end of the matter.

Bank of Williamsburg ad in September 1909.

During the summer of 1914, with war raging in Europe, cotton prices plummeted in the United States. That fall, the Bank of Williamsburg leased Nelson's tobacco Warehouse to provide its customers a place to store cotton. Receipts would be issued so that farmers could use the stored crop as collateral.

When the United States entered World War I, the bank received a shipment of hand grenades that had been used in the fighting in Europe but had been repurposed as savings banks. These banks were given to elementary school children "on loan." If children could save enough money to buy $5 in War Savings Stamps, they could keep the bank.

In August 1924, the bank expanded its reach, opening a branch office in Hemingway. R.N. Speigner moved to Hemingway to work as branch manager.

Five months later, however, the Bank of Williamsburg was forced to close the doors of both branches after a "run on the bank by its largest depositors." A story which ran in both the Post and Courier and The State on January 20, 1920, began, "A calamity of inestimable magnitude struck this town and community Saturday when the Bank of Williamsburg closed its doors about 11 a.m."

P.G. Gourdin, President of Williamsburg Bank & Trust

At a meeting in February, stockholders turned over the assets of the bank to the state bank examiner to be liquidated. However, following the formal meeting, a group met informally and subscribed $25,000 in capital stock to form a new bank, Williamsburg Bank & Trust, which set up its offices in the old Bank of Williamsburg's quarters. The directors of this bank were P.G. Gourdin, C.L. Porter, J.D. McCollough, G.T. McIntosh, E.C. Epps, W.H. Welch, S.S. Mitchum, J.R. Barrow and J.H. Nexsen. Gourdin was named President, and the news reports noted that while he was a civil engineer by profession and not a banker, he was a businessman of unusual ability. W.H. Welch was named vice president. The new bank was up and running by March 5, 1925.

Although other banks continued to close, including the Bank of Kingstree and the Wee Nee Bank, Williamsburg Bank & Trust prospered. In January 1928, it absorbed the Citizens Bank of Johnsonville, and in February that year took over the operation of the Bank of Greeleyville. Its resources now stood at $750,000, and it maintained offices in Kingstree, Johnsonville, and Greeleyville. 

W.H. Welch, Vice President of Williamsburg Bank & Trust.

The next year, though, Williamsburg Bank & Trust merged with nine similar banks to form People's State Bank, which continued to operate into the 1930s.

By 1934, the bank's building on Main Street was office to the Williamsburg County Farm Extension Agent. A sour cream making station was operated from the building, and sour cream was shipped from Kingstree to other areas.

A 1970 photo of Drucker Drugs, fourth building from the left.

Source: Kingstree High School, 1970 Garnet & Black

For many years in the mid-to-late 20th century, Drucker Drugs operated from the building. The building is now owned by Cedar Swamp Properties.

Banking in Kingstree, Part 1

In this age of easy access to banking services, it's hard to imagine that for roughly the first 160 years of the Town of Kingstree's existence, its citizens, if they did any banking at all, had to use banks in larger towns.

The building on Main Street that once housed the Bank of Kingstree as it looks today.

In 1890, Kingstree citizens began a stock subscription drive to start a local bank. Apparently, interest was not as great as anticipated, though, because by May 1891, it was noted that enough citizens had bought stock in a Florence bank to warrant its opening a branch here. The Bank of the Carolinas opened its Kingstree branch in January 1892. Dr. D.C. Scott was elected to the bank's board, and H.D. Snow was hired as cashier for the Kingstree branch.

A little over a year later, in May 1893, the bank closed the doors of all its branches in Florence, Kingstree, Conway, Williston, Varnville, and several towns in North Carolina. The County Record reported that this caused Kingstree merchants great inconvenience. At the time of its closing, the Kingstree branch of the Bank of the Carolinas had $5,704 on deposit, and $390 in cash in its safe.

Kingstree residents were then once again without easy access to bank services. Some of them moved their banking business to Charleston, as we know that a number of them again lost money when the American Savings Bank there failed in 1898.

John A. Kelley, Esq.

Source: findagrave.com/

In 1901, local attorney John A. Kelley bought a lot from Edwin Epps across Main Street from the Courthouse. Kelley and Dr. D.C. Scott were determined that Kingstree would have a bank of its own. On Saturday, May 25, 1901, at Kelley's law office, $15,000 worth of stock, divided into 100 shares at $150 each was sold. Those incorporating the Bank of Kingstree were Kelley, Scott, M.F. Heller, A.W. Gagg, and Henry P. Williams of Charleston. Edwin C. Epps temporarily moved to Charleston and found employment at a bank in order to learn the cashier's position so that he would be ready to take over as cashier once the Kingstree bank opened.

By June 1901, bricks had been hauled to the Main Street lot and Silas Bounds of Florence was under contract to build the Bank of Kingstree. August 15 was the target date for opening the new bank. The bank's board was chosen to include D.C. Scott, J.A. Kelley, R.D. Rollins, and H.P. Williams. Scott was elected President of the bank; Kelley, vice president, and Edwin Epps was hired as cashier. Early in August, work on the building was briefly suspended while the contractor waited for the iron front for the building. It arrived on August 8, and worked resumed. 

Source: The County Record

Edwin Epps was now working at the Farmers & Merchants Bank in Florence, gaining experience before he took on his role of cashier with the new bank in Kingstree. 

Realizing that the new building was not going to be completed quickly, the Bank of Kingstree opened for business on September 11, 1901, in temporary quarters in a little wooden building behind Dr. Scott's drugstore on Academy Street. The furnishings were described as borrowed pine tables and broken-backed chairs. A discarded prescription counter was used as a filing cabinet. Years later, Epps remembered that on many afternoons he had to go looking for a merchant who would allow him to leave the bank's deposits in the merchant's safe overnight. Sometimes, when he was unable to find a safe, he would keep the deposits on his person, sleeping with them under his pillow, until the next day.

Dr. D.C. Scott

On September 17, the large, burglar-proof safe was hauled from the depot just north of town to the new bank building. The County Record noted, "The safe weighs about 10,000 pounds, and it was no easy undertaking to place it."

The Kingstree Town Council at its October meeting voted to place all of the town's funds in the Bank of Kingstree.  

Meanwhile, construction continued, but the contractor was now waiting for the steel doors to arrive to install them on the brick vault. In early November, the large plate-glass front windows and arches had been put in place, and on January 2, 1902, the bank moved into its new brick and granite building. The County Record reported that the "doubled-walled vault fitted with steel door and solid steel 18,000-pound safe make it as safe as human skill can make it." Note that the safe had gained 8,000 pounds from the September to January reports.

The bank would keep regular hours from 9 to 3:30, Monday through Saturday. Business had far surpassed expectations in the few months the bank had been open. During its first year of operation in the new building, it showed a profit of 18 percent. At its first annual meeting meeting in January 1903, the board of directors increased its membership by adding R.H. Kellahan to the board.

Statement of Conditions for the Bank of Kingstree.

Source: The County Record, November 25, 1915

The bank was in the news in September 1904 when $4,000 of money that had been wired from a Charleston bank was stolen from the Kingstree Post Office safe after it was blown open by burglars. The Bank of Kingstree had insisted that the money be insured so no money was lost.

On Saturday, December 19, 1908, the bank took in $56,000 in deposits, a single-day record for the institution. It continued to prosper over the years, posting earnings of 15 percent in 1920. 

As the years went by, the bank began to outgrow the building on Main Street, and in 1921, it began renovating the ground floor of the Nexsen Building on the corner of Main and Academy streets as its new home. Modern fixtures of marble and mahogany were installed in the new space. At the time of the move, Dr. Scott and Edwin Epps retold a story that they had often recited. An early customer of the bank, not familiar with exactly how things worked, noticed other customers in line before him endorsing checks before depositing them. As he did not have a check to deposit, he signed his name with a flourish to the back of a $20 bill before handing it to the cashier. Scott and Epps said that bill circulated in Kingstree for a number of years afterward.

A 1916 advertisement in for the Bank of Kingstree in The State newspaper.

After the bank moved to the corner, The County Record moved its newspaper office to the old Bank of Kingstree building. Over the years, other businesses and offices have occupied the space. The building is presently owned by attorney Doward Harvin.

At the bank's annual meeting in January 1925, stockholders were told the bank was flourishing with bright and encouraging prospects for the coming year. However, residents arriving at the bank expecting to do business on the morning of June 5, 1925, found a notice on the front door, announcing that the bank has ceased operations and had been turned over to the state bank examiner. The community was greatly crippled by the closing, and in the months to follow, the War Finance Corp., an agricultural loan agency, filed suit for $62,521.88 against the bank's board members, stating in its complaint that it had made advances to the bank guaranteed by the board. A court order restrained the agency from bringing suit against the bank, so it was trying to recoup its money from the guarantors.

A 1920 Bank of Kingstree advertisemet in The County Record.

In October, Columbia National Bank, which held a loan for the Bank of Kingstree, auctioned off notes and mortgages of a large number of Kingstree's prominent citizens which the local bank had used as collateral for the loan.

It is also worth noting that attorney and one of the bank's founders John A. Kelley, who was still a member of the Bank of Kingstree's board of directors, died two days before the bank closed its doors.