Some time ago, I got a question about early car dealers in Kingstree. It's taken awhile, but I've now managed to pull together information and stories from the first 10 years of cars in Kingstree.
Ford first began mass-producing automobiles in 1908. It took almost two years for a few Kingstree residents to become car owners, but once cars began appearing on our streets, the new mode of transportation caught on quickly. In January 1910, Dr. E.T. Kelley and attorney J.D. Gilland were the first Kingstree residents to buy cars. Both bought Buicks, which The County Record noted were "quite speedy."
By April 1910, cars on the streets of Kingstree were not uncommon. Dr. C.D. Jacobs had a Buick roadster to use in his medical practice. J.H. Scott won a Buick touring car raffled off at the Elk's Lodge in Charleston. Visitors were also coming to town now in automobiles rather than solely on the train. In April, J.H. Cunningham visited from Sumter and O.H. Camlin from Bloomingvale, both arriving in their motor vehicles.
By May, the Rev. W.E. Hurt and Dr. W.G. Gamble had joined the parade of car owners. Dr. Gamble, like those before him, bought a Buick, but the Rev. Mr. Hurt was driving a Maxwell runabout.
In September 1910, there were 32 autos in Williamsburg County, compared to only four in 1909.
In early 1911, F.W Fairey bought an Oakland that was considered one of the prettiest cars anywhere around. W.H. Carr was driving a Brush roundabout, and W.J. Wilkins was "dashing about in a Ford."
A 1911 Oakland.
By September 1911, there were 50 cars in Williamsburg County. However, most of those who owned cars were buying them from dealers in Sumter.
In late 1913, the Hamer-Thompson Company of Salters, Overland Auto dealers, opened a garage at the Central Warehouse on the corner of Hampton Avenue and Mill Street, where they exhibited "sample" cars. They would also demonstrate the cars for prospective buyers. The next year, a large building was constructed on the Kennedy lot, across Mill Street from the Central Warehouse. Hamer-Thompson used the building as a showroom and garage.
One local car owner had a most interesting adventure. One evening in July 1914, Dr. E.T. Kelley was attending a "smoker" at the Kellahan Hotel when he received a call from Andrews that one of his patients needed his assistance as soon as he could get there. Dr. Kelley, by then the owner of 2,200-pound Hupmobile, left Kingstree around midnight. Crossing the swamp about 19 miles from Kingstree, he saw what he thought was a big log lying across the road in front of him. However, as he approached it, he realized that instead of a log, it was a monster alligator stretched all the way across the road. The County Record noted, "He got out of his car and procuring a fence rail, attempted to urge the reptile out of the road by administering several heavy blows. This did not seem to disturb the old fellow's rest, so the doctor got back into his car, and driving ahead full speed, ran his car upon the monster. Then with the front wheels of the car on his back, the old 'gator began to rear and squirm and bellow, rocking the car about as if it were a light buggy. The car finally got over, but one of the tires was badly torn."
Dr. Kelley reportedly decided to run over the alligator after he became afraid to hit it again with the fence rail because of the vigor of the alligator's "swishing tail." He said he would have driven around it, but the monster was so long there was no room to get by on either side. After he drove over it, he said it moved on across the road and into the swamp. Presumably, Dr. Kelley repaired his tire and went on to his house call in Andrews.
By early 1915, there were three car dealers located in Kingstree. Hamer-Thompson was still located on Hampton Avenue, where L.T. Thompson was billed as one of the best auto mechanics in the South. Thomas McCutchen was selling Fords, although the factory was not able to keep up with the demand. D.C. Scott, Jr, had just become a Maxwell dealer. Maxwell was an early carmaker, but only a few people in Kingstree had considered buying one. E.C. Burgess was an early Kingstree owner of a Maxwell. Jeweler T.E. Baggett bought himself a Maxwell as a New Year's gift to begin 1916.
Thomas McCutchen, along with other Ford dealers, had trouble throughout 1915 in getting cars from the factory. Therefore, McCutchen accepted the agency for the famous Dodge Brothers Car in November 1915. In early January 1916, a rail carload of Fords arrived in Kingstree. All were sold by the end of the month. A Ford touring car cost $440, with a new Ford runabout costing $390.
Harold Steele, 12, may have been the first person injured by a motor vehicle on the streets of Kingstree. He was struck late one January afternoon on Main Street in front of his home. His father, J.B. Steele, had ordered a load of coal, but the loaded down wagon was too heavy for the horses to pull it up the embankment to the house. Harold was on the street at one of the rear wagon wheels when W.H. Carr, returning from a trip to the country, hit him, crushing him between Carr's auto and the wagon. It was dark and stormy, and although Carr's oil running lights were working, he was unable to see Harold until too late. Drs. E.T. Kelley and T.S. Hemingway stabilized him before moving him to McLeod's Infirmary in Florence, where he underwent abdominal surgery for a punctured intestine. In those pre-antibiotic days, it was doubtful he would survive, but doctors soon declared him out of danger, and he returned home by mid-February. Harold Steele, after obtaining a degree in engineering from Clemson, worked for an oil company in South America for a few years before returning to South Carolina to pursue a degree in medicine. After graduating from medical school, he practiced in St. Louis, MO, until his death in February 1948. Dr. Steele is buried in Williamsburg Cemetery.
For those of you who may think "Drive-In Church" was invented out of necessity because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kingstree saw something like it in April 1916. Evangelist Baxter McLendon, known as "Cyclone Mac," held a three-week revival in Kingstree, renting the Central Warehouse on Hampton Avenue. He held three services on Sunday and two each week day. Between 1500 and 2000 attended the first Sunday service, and the closing convocation was attended by what The County Record called, "the largest crowd that has ever been brought together in Kingstree." Hundreds were unable to get into the building and sat outside in their buggies, wagons and automobiles, listening through the open doors and windows.
Also in 1915, attorney LeRoy Lee bought a six-cylinder Anderson automobile, built in Rock Hill, SC. This was the first of its kind in Kingstree.
M.F. Heller, who had long run a livery stable on Academy Street, saw that times were changing and began selling Saxon automobiles along with wagons and buggies. A five-passenger, six-cylinder touring car cost $870, as did a six cylinder roadster. A four-cylinder roadster with electric lights and starter was $475. Mayor W.R. Scott and surveyor P.G. Gourdin were the first residents to own Saxons.
By summer 1916, two new car dealers had opened in Kingstree, bringing the total to six. F.W. Fairey was selling Hudsons, buying a Super-6 seven passenger Hudson for himself, which The County Record noted, could go 55 miles-per-hour "without the least jar or jolt." The Rev. D.A. Phillips was the local agent for the Grant-Six auto and was driving one himself as advertising. Clarence Alsbrook became the local sales agent for the Motor Sales Company of Sumter, which sold Paige automobiles.
On the evening of January 20, 1917, Henry Ford himself and a group of friends passed through Kingstree in a private railcar attached to train #89 on their way to Charleston.
In early 1920, J.W. Lewis opened a Studebaker dealership in Kingstree. J.V. Jeffords managed the Kingstree operation, which had its showroom in the Kellahan Hotel. Lewis also owned the Studebaker dealership in Lake City.
Also in early 1920, D.J. Epps opened a garage and auto repair shop on Hampton Avenue. He, later that year, became the Buick dealer in Kingstree.
3 comments:
very good info.. thanks do you happen to know when the statue was put
in the main strees??
Great story ! Good job Linda.
I wonder about the condition of the roads these early cars traveled on?
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