Despite its name, the New Warehouse was 14 years old when it burned to the ground in a spectacular blaze on March 26, 1960. Chartered in 1946, a seven-member board oversaw the construction of the warehouse. J.B. Alsbrook served as president of the board; C. Emery McGill, vice-president; Dr. W. Gordon Rodgers, secretary/treasurer. Other members were V.G. Arnette, Ralph Gray, Marvin Mitchum, and E.W. Kennedy.
The board awarded Boyle Construction of Sumter the $75,000 contract to build the 53,000 square-foot facility on Longstreet Street between Hinnant Motors and the Greyhound Bus Station located in the Lybrand building. The warehouse was of steel construction with concrete floors and was finished in time for the 1946 tobacco season.
In 1947 and for several years afterward, Montague H. Jacobs and S. Dave McGill operated the warehouse during the tobacco season. In the off-season, the warehouse was put to other uses. In November 1947, Williamsburg County residents were invited to attend a showcase of labor-saving devices at the warehouse as part of Good Neighbor Week. The exhibits included a model kitchen, with other tips for sewing and laundry, as well as suggestions for making farm work easier.
In the spring of 1948, the warehouse was a drop-off point for contributions. The Town of Kingstree had "adopted" the French village of Fontaine-la-Mallet in Normandy. In September 1944, Fontaine-la-Mallet was almost destroyed by bombing, the worst such affected village on the lower Seine River. It is still a small village, with a 2015 population of 2,649. Kingstree assembled donations of canned goods, clothing, toilet articles, small toys, and cash. These items were collected on Fridays from residents' porches, or they could be dropped off at the New Warehouse on other days of the week. Kingstree families were also able to "adopt" individual families in Fontaine-la-Mallet, corresponding with them to find out their specific needs. They would then send these families regular gifts.
By the early 1950s, the warehouse became the winter home for the Ross Manning Shows, a carnival that worked a 34-week circuit during the spring and summer, concentrating on county fairs during the fall. During the winter in Kingstree, two employees stayed with the equipment, painting, polishing, and reupholstering ride seats.
Also during the 1950s, Montague Jacobs leased part of the warehouse in the off-season where he offered corn-shelling and hay-baling services and also sold fertilizer and other agricultural products. Jarrett's Specialty Company also leased warehouse space to store paper products and off-season merchandise.
On Saturday, March 26, 1960, many Kingstree residents left town early to attend a Boy Scout Lancing Tournament and Rodeo at Scottswood Plantation near Lane. Shortly after 10:30 that morning, they noticed a towering cloud of black smoke boiling up in the direction of Kingstree. In those pre-cellphone days, someone volunteered to drive to town to see what was going on.
The volunteer discovered on arrival that the New Warehouse was completely engulfed in flames. A smoky haze covered the town, and ashes fell like rain on Main Street. Firemen from Lake City who came to give mutual aid to the Kingstree Fire Department had also seen the clouds of smoke from 16 miles away.
In an interview, Montague Jacobs told reporter Ann McIntosh that a gasoline motor operating a hay baler exploded, igniting the contents of the warehouse. Although, the Kingstree Fire Department arrived within five minutes, the fire spread rapidly throughout the warehouse. Jacobs and James Hinnant, whose car dealership was next door, broke into the warehouse office and saved the records. However, an estimated 13,000 bushels of corn, 200 tons of fertilizer, two box cars of hay, soda, peas, hog feed supplement and 200 bushels of cotton seed burned. Hay balers and corn shellers were also lost.
Hinnant and others stored boats in the warehouse during the winter, and these also were lost, along with trailers, stored furniture, stoves, refrigerators, an automobile, and the Rescue Squad's ambulance, owned by the Kingstree Fire Department.
According to Mary Frances Jarrett, her family's company lost a large number of paper bags and rolls of plain wrapping paper that they supplied to local merchants and stored in the warehouse. They also lost approximately 200 bicycles, cane poles, fishing tackle, coolers, fans, vacuum jugs, and ice cream freezers.
All warehouse equipment––scales, calculators, conveyors, produce loaders, and buggies––also burned.
Hinnant said the heat of the fire caused the roof of his building on the north side of the warehouse to bubble and blister. The intense heat also shattered windows in other stores and businesses along Longstreet. All the windows of Willie Munn's pick-up truck, parked in front of Lybrand's restaurant on the south side of the warehouse, broke as a result of the heat from the fire.
Traffic was routed around a four-block section of Longstreet until late Saturday afternoon. Firemen stayed on the scene until 1 a.m., spraying a million-and-a-half gallons of water on the debris. However, the next afternoon the fire flared up, and three Kingstree fire trucks returned to wet down the debris again.
Kingstree Fire Chief Bill Horton noted that this fire occurred three years to the day when another fire destroyed Coastal Feed & Seed and Frierson's on Hampton Avenue, damaging McIntosh Feed & Seed. That fire occurred March 26, 1957. And, three years later, on March 22, 1963, Hoke Smith's Grocery on Main, which had recently sold to J.C. Duke, was destroyed by fire. That fire damaged C. Tucker's, with Marcus Department Store and The Ladies' Shop suffering smoke damage.
1 comment:
Was the cause of the fire every determined? It's interesting that there were other fires 3 years before (to the day) and 3 years later.
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