A hundred years ago, the people of Kingstree were turning their attention toward paving the streets. While the town was among the first of its size in South Carolina to have paved sidewalks, in 1921 it still struggled with dirt streets. Unlike today when the South Carolina Department of Transportation owns both the streets and sidewalks in Kingstree and is responsible for their maintenance, back then each town had to maintain its streets and sidewalks from local funding, which then as now, didn't often provide the kind of money needed for large projects like paving every street in town.
A dirt Hampton Avenue with vegetation growing in the street.
But unpaved streets were a problem. In summer, weeds grew up in the middle of the roads and were the reason for many pointed editorial comments from the newspaper. Dust, too, often enveloped the town during hot, dry summers. When the rains came, they brought their own problems. Boards had to be placed across the streets to allow pedestrians to cross without bogging down to their ankles in mud.
Bessie Britton told several stories about Kingstree's streets after they had been "paved with clay." In one of her famous postscripts, she wrote, "To J.L. 'Johnnie' Scott: Certainly I remember when you plowed and scraped Academy and Main streets with the county's road machinery. That was after the streets were 'paved' with red clay which turned to mush when it rained. Do you remember the white Buicks belonging to Dessie Gilland and Dr. C.D. Jacobs, and how they looked after churning through the red mush?
"Wasn't it Dessie's Buick that skidded into the big ditch on Slippery Alley (now the lowest point on Jackson Street)? When he crawled out of the wreck, surprised to find himself still in one piece, he solemnly lifted his hat and told the Buick goodbye forever.
"Johnnie, I wonder who was driving the street scraper the time Billie Britton, who was a mannish little fellow, darted out of his home and jumped on it for a free ride, then lost his balance and fell. The scraper ran over him. At first, everybody thought he was dead for there wasn't a sound 'til he could spit the red mud out of his mouth. Then his howls could have been heard to the Confederate monument.
"The doctor who had been hastily summoned had to hold him by main force to examine him. Even he feared that the young man had been skinned from heels to head 'til he discovered that Billie had been pressed downward into the soft mush, and the scraper had hit only his highest spot. 'He's not peeled; he's only scraped,' said the doctor. Before turning Billie loose, he anointed him with healing ointment which practically set the lad on fire and also set him to yelping with fresh vigor."
Exactly 100 years ago today, February 17, 1921, County Record owner/editor W. F. Tolley published the following editorial.
"Kingstree citizens are just now greatly interested in the subject of building good, permanent streets. At last they are awake to the realization of the waste of time and money spent year after year in a fruitless effort to maintain decent streets out of the old dirt thoroughfares that have figured as an expensive item against the town's finances for past decades. They have grown tired and apparently disgusted with the old system of paying out large sums of money year after year for street improvement and upkeep, and in the end during the wet seasons, be forced to travel through the mud, frequently axle-deep over bumps and high places that would make a Rocky Mountain goat shake his head. In fact these conditions are little better in dry seasons, for then there is the germ-laden dust that cannot be gotten away from by pedestrians and is at times almost stifling.
"It is highly gratifying to The Record that there is a possibility of getting away from these old, moss-covered conditions and turning our efforts and our money to a system of street building that will not only be a source of pleasure when completed to every citizen, but will also serve as an invaluable legacy to posterity.
"The day of the ox cart has passed, and there is no excuse, or reason that we can deem plausible in this day of improved locomotion for having to spend a store house of time and patience in wobbling over our streets that are worse than the average log-wagon road.
"With the recently passed constitutional amendment, it is now possible for the town of Kingstree to issue bonds on its taxable property for money with which to build streets, sidewalks, and otherwise add to the capacity and efficiency of its public utilities as may be deemed wise and necessary by those in authority. Thousands of dollars are being spent each year on our dirt streets without any permanent improvement, consequently these annual expenditures have been little less than an absolute waste. Now, once our streets are properly graded, paved and drained, this waste will cease. But in the meantime, we must borrow money to do the work, then the sums we have been accustomed to pay out each year after year will go into a sinking fund for the purpose of paying off interest and principal on the amount borrowed. Think of what nice, paved streets will mean to each and every one of us individually; what it will mean to Kingstree as a town in the estimation of visitors and the thousands of people who will pass through our little town as a result of the construction of the Santee bridge, which is now an assured fact, and when an opportunity is presented, as we believe it soon will be, to vote on the question of a bond issue to make it a reality, let every man and woman vote "YES!"
There could be no more propitious time than right now to push this project and start actual work on it, revive the dormant pulse and put new life in the community. The bulk of the money paid out as the work progressed would come back to our merchants and business men. There would be employment aplenty for the idle labor of the community.
"Material is probably cheaper now than it will be later on; labor is plentiful and not exorbitant in price as was the case a year ago.
"In short, let's all say with perfect accord: "Bond the town and pave the streets."
But streets weren't the only issue on citizens' minds in 1921. Electricity had, over the years, presented problems, as well. In December 1916, The County Record noted that the people of Kingstree deserved electric service during daylight hours as well as at night. "Lake City, we understand, has it. If we can't have all-day current, we should at least have it to breakfast by, without having to resurrect the old, oil lamps. Good daylight doesn't come these mornings until nearly eight o'clock, and on a cloudy day scarcely at at."
In another editorial on February 17, 1921, The County Record notes: "It seems that no action has yet been taken by the committee appointed at the recent mass meeting for the purpose of investigating the lighting proposition and the intentions of the Kingstree Electric Light & Ice Co. We have heard of no definite action by the committee. However, the prevailing opinion among citizens seems to be in favor of the town establishing its own plant in connection with the water works, which it has been found necessary to enlarge to meet the requirements of an increasing population. The expense of this item alone will have to be covered by a bond issue, and the suggestion is being advanced that it would be well to get an estimate on the cost of installing an electric plant, paving the streets, enlarging the water works and such other public utilities service as may be thought necessary and essential by those in charge of the municipality and then call for an election on the question of a bond issue for money enough to carry the entire work to completion without a hitch.
"That there is something wrong somewhere, somehow, as to the price of electric current, is the almost unanimous opinion among our citizens. They want this wrong righted; they want electric current at a fair and reasonable price, day and night, and it is hoped that the members of the committee appointed for the purpose, will make a fair and equitable investigation into the matter before reaching a conclusion or submitting its report.
"It is pointed out by a citizen who has made some investigations along the line, that $500 a month for street lighting by the town of Kingstree would pay interest on $60,000. He is satisfied that the town can install its own plant for a much smaller amount and operate it on a paying basis."
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