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.