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.
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