Clara Gagg Harper Wilkins Was Early Kingstree Business Owner

Today, Kingstree can boast that many of its downtown businesses are women-owned. Women have been active in the business community here for a long, long time. One of those early women business owners was Clara Jane Gagg Harper Wilkins. 

This building now stands on the location where Clara J. Harper, her brother

and brother-in-law opened a general merchandise store in 1900.

C.G. Harper came to Kingstree in 1900 from Trenton, NJ, accompanying her brother Aaron W. Gagg and their brother-in-law, William B. Oliver, who was then the general manager of the Union Paper Company in New Hope, PA. 

It's not clear what attracted this trio to Kingstree, but they were impressed enough after a visit to decide to partner in a retail establishment. In January, 1900, an opportunity presented itself when E. L. Smith, who was operating a store on the east side of Academy Street in a wooden building on the lot where the brick building that today hosts the "We Believe in Kingstree" mural now stands, found himself with greater liabilities than assets and assigned what he owned to R.K. Wallace, who sold all of Smith's merchandise at auction on February 12. A.W. Gagg, seeing his opportunity, bought the merchandise with a $3200 bid, and re-opened the store in the same location under the name Gagg, Oliver & Co.

One of Gagg, Oliver & Co.'s early ads in The County Record. 

Note that Gagg, Oliver and Harper all all named in the ad.

Gagg immediately announced that he had also bought the vacant lot on the southwest corner of Mill and Academy streets where M.F. Heller's old livery stable had recently been torn down and planned to build a modern, brick store for Gagg, Oliver & Co. This property is now occupied by Styles & Smiles Hair Salon.

By October, 1900, the new store was almost completed. The County Record noted that with its "large, plate-glass windows and handsomely furnished interior, this building makes quite a brave show in that part of town."

Styles & Smiles currently occupies the location of Gagg, Oliver & Co.'s new building.

By February, 1901, W.B. Oliver, who seems to have been more of a silent partner, sold his interest in the business to A.W. Gagg, as Oliver was moving to Virginia to pursue yet another business endeavor. Clara Harper, however, remained a partner in the business. She was also apparently well-liked in Kingstree and was invited to and attended numerous local dances and parties.

Gagg, Oliver's ad for its new brick store from the November 8, 1900, County Record.

For Easter, 1901, Gagg, Oliver & Co. created a bit of a stir downtown with an Easter display in its show window, a first for a business in downtown Kingstree. According to the newspaper, this display "pleases the young folks immensely."

The store also made news that August. When Aaron Gagg's son, Russell, entered the store on Monday, August 5, he was shocked to find merchandise scattered all over the floor. Looking further, he saw that the glass in the back door had been shattered. While he was unsure of all the items stolen during the burglary, he was able to say that six revolvers, 20 boxes of cartridges, four pairs of shoes, two satchels, three or four suits of clothes, several hats and pairs of suspenders, and a number of pocket knives were missing.

Farmers had very bad years in 1900 and 1901 which affected the bottom line of a number of local merchants, causing a rash of bankruptcies. Gagg, Oliver & Co., held on longer than some of the others, but by January, 1902, it issued a deed of assignment to local attorney Robert J. Kirk for the benefit of the business' creditors. Happily, by early April, Gagg, Oliver had paid off its creditors and was able to re-open the store. 

But the magic appears to have worn off for Aaron Gagg, and in September, 1902, he announced that the store was going out of business. Two months, later, however, he announced that he was selling his interest to his sister, Clara Jane Harper, who would keep the business open. However, she planned to move from the brick store back across the street to the spot where Gagg, Harper had originally opened. 

In early December, William Thomas Wilkins rented the store which Clara Harper had vacated, so that he now had two stores directly across the street from each other.

We will look at W.T. Wilkins and his influence on downtown Kingstree in a later post. His wife, the former Cora Hudgins of Foreston in Clarendon County, died in 1904, leaving him with four young children–Will, Joe, Archie and Rosa. In 1906, he married Clara Harper.

In 1909, Clara's daughter, Adelaide Harper, married her stepfather's brother, Samuel Wilkins, and moved with him to Georgia. Older residents of Kingstree, however, will probably remember that Adelaide and her daughter, Adelaide Wilkins Willis, returned to Kingstree years later and lived on the old Wilkins property, now the vacant lot on Academy Street between First Baptist Church and the Williamsburg County School District Office. 

Clara Jane Gagg Harper Wilkins died at the home of her daughter in Georgia in May, 1936. She is buried in Williamsburg Cemetery. 

Thomas Opera House Site of a Kingstree Mystery

March 19 will mark the 116th anniversary of the Grand Opening of the Thomas Opera House, located on the corner of Main and Jail (now Jackson) streets in Kingstree in what is now known as the Alex Chatman Complex. The opera house, located on the second floor of the building, was a "gift" to the town from its builder, Fulton Courtney Thomas, who was born in Williamsburg County in 1859, but who moved to Manning as a young adult to open a mercantile business.

The upper story of this portion of the Alex Chatman Complex was used as the opera house.

When that business failed, F.C. Thomas headed west, landing in Fayette, Texas, where he went into the livestock business and married a woman named Bloom Smith. Several years later, Thomas decided to move back to Manning, where he went into partnership with D.M. Bradham, opening a livery stable, known as Thomas & Bradham. The two were so successful that several years later they opened a branch of the livery stable in Kingstree, located on Jail Street in the vicinity of today's County Auditorium. 

At that time, there were two wooden stores on Main Street in front of the livery stable. They were owned by George Barr and used in connection with Barr's Hotel. In 1905, W.T. Wilkins bought these two stores, one from George Barr's widow Lula and the other from Isaac A. Keels, who had taken over the hotel at Barr's death. Wilkins rented the two stores to two African-American-owned businesses, Wilson McCullough & Co., and another business whose name is currently not known. 

On December 31, 1906, an early morning fire swept through the entire block of stores from the Courthouse to Jail Street, burning the old Barr hotel, then called the Central Hotel; Dr. W.L. Wallace's drugstore, and the two buildings owned by W.T. Wilkins. In February, 1907, Wilkins sold the lots on which his two stores had been located to F.C. Thomas. 

In May of that year, Thomas broke ground for what was to be a two-story brick building that would house two stores on the first floor and an opera house/community hall on the second. V.A. Sedgewick of Mayfield, KY,  was the contractor. The building was completed by October, 1907. The County Record noted that the second floor was well-suited for use as an opera house, as it was equipped with a wide stage, dressing rooms, and a rear entrance. 

The first event to take place in the opera house, in January, 1908, was not an opera. It was, in fact, a wrestling match between Luis Winnick of Tennessee and Bob Cain, known as the "South Carolina Wonder." 

The next month, J.R. McNair, who was associated with The New York Clipper, a weekly entertainment newspaper in New York City, was in town to paint the drop curtain and scenery for the opera house. The central part of the curtain depicted Commodore Dewey at Manila from the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War of 1898 with the borders and panel decorations exquisitely colored in vivid tints. 

On Thursday evening, March 19, ticket-holders from near and far flocked to Main Street for the Grand Opening of the Opera House. The Beggar Prince Opera Company of New York presented the Turkish Opera, Said Pasha, a romantic opera in three acts, to a full house of approximately 300 patrons, some of whom had traveled to Kingstree from Greeleyville, Salters, Cades, and Indiantown. 

The name "Thomas" can still be see on granite plaque on the front of the building.

Over the next few years, several men, including Philip Stoll and Louis Stackley, managed the opera house. They booked numerous traveling companies who would come to Kingstree for a three-night engagement, putting on a different play each evening. The regular season for the opera house ran from October until March. During the late spring and summer, the opera house was used for local events, including fundraisers for the local school and churches, Confederate Memorial Day exercises, and conventions for the Knights of Pythias and other fraternal organizations. In November, 1908, election returns were posted at the opera house. On several occasions, local talent put on plays to raise money for various organizations. 

Tragedy struck in November, 1910, in the form of a shooting, aspects of which still remain a mystery. On Friday evening, November 4,  a magician was scheduled to perform at the opera house. As patrons were beginning to find their seats for the performance, the sound of a shot rang out from the front of the opera house, and William "Pinky" Scott, a 10-year-old African-American boy who was seated near the front of the hall, toppled out of his seat, shot through the head. The shot came from a Colt automatic pistol, a prop for the evening's performance, which was in the possession of 17-year-old William J. Britton, who was to assist the magician in his act. Scott was rushed across the street to Gamble & Jacobs' drugstore where Dr. C.D Jacobs attempted to save his life, but the .25-calibre bullet had struck him squarely in the forehead, and he was pronounced dead about 30 minutes after the shooting. 

At the Coroner's inquest, Britton testified that the magician was to use the pistol in several of his tricks, and that, as property manager, Britton was carrying the pistol in the pocket of his sweater. However, as he was asked to usher several ladies to their seats, he attempted to transfer the pistol from his sweater pocket to the pocket of his coat, and that "in some unaccountable manner the weapon was accidentally discharged." Several other witnesses testified at the inquest, but were not able to offer any more evidence than that provided by Britton. The newspaper did not report whether the magician testified at the inquest or was asked why the pistol was loaded with live ammunition, or if he had planned to fire live rounds in an enclosed auditorium during his act. Nor was it reported if Billie Britton was asked if he knew the gun was loaded with live ammunition when he took charge of it as a property for the show. The coroner's jury found that William Scott came to his death by the accidental discharge of a pistol in the hands of William J. Britton. Britton, whose father was Williamsburg County Clerk of Court, went on to become police chief for the Town of Kingstree and later was Tax Collector for Williamsburg County. 

An ad in the December 2, 1909, County Record for a one-night performance. 

In March, 1915, the Kingstree Civic League hosted a spelling bee at the opera house to raise money for Kellahan Park. There were spelling matches for both adults and children. M.A. Shuler won the adult's contest, but graciously donated his prize of a box of candy to the runner-up, Julia Cork. Cammie Thompson was the winner of the young people's contest. 

The Thomas Opera House Hall was also the scene of a number of Christmas Gala Balls put on by the Kingstree Social Club during the years leading up to World War I. During the War, there were few, if any, activities at the opera house. The last event to take place at the opera house that I've found was the June 23-24, 1919, screening of the silent film, The Heart of Humanity, which depicted the final days of the Great War.

F.C. Thomas died May 4, 1922, by then considered one of the wealthiest men in Clarendon County, and it seems likely that the new owners of the building may have decided to use the opera house space for other things than a public meeting place.