Christmas in the Fifties

Christmas parades are a relatively modern addition to the Town of Kingstree's celebration of the holidays, with the first parade held in 1949. Prior to that, numbers of Kingstree citizens would drive to Sumter to view its Christmas parade. 

Santa waves to spectators during the 2022 Kingstree Christmas Parade.

In 1949, the Kingstree Chamber of Commerce sponsored the town's first Christmas parade on November 30 at 3 p.m. During that era, almost all businesses in town closed on Wednesday afternoons, making Wednesday afternoons a perfect time to hold a parade. Thirty units participated in what bystanders were quoted as saying was "the biggest crowd seen here since Barnum and Bailey came to town about 1907." The Kingstree Police Department estimated the crowd at between 7,000 and 10,000. Spectators were massed several deep over all the blocks of the parade route. That year, the Chamber also sponsored a Community Carol Sing at the Courthouse on Christmas Eve, which was broadcast on radio station WDKD.

The next year, 1950, holiday festivities kicked off with a huge downtown concert at 7:30 on Monday night, November 27. All county mayors, Sam Joe Haselden of Hemingway; Alton McCollough of Lane; J.H. Brown of Greeleyville; and Rodgers Harrell of Kingstree, were invited to participate, as were all choirs in the county. The Kingstree High School Band, led by Helen Culp, played Christmas carols and the singing was led by the High School Glee Club, directed by Jean Hamilton. The concert took place around the monument in the middle of the intersection at Main and Academy streets. After the concert, the town's Christmas lights were turned on, as well as a lighted double-barred cross, the emblem of the Christmas Seal drive to fight tuberculosis.

The 1950 Christmas parade was held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday,  December 13. The procession started on Highway 52 and proceeded to the intersection of the Andrews Highway and then marched back into town, disbanding at the courthouse. Crowd size was estimated at larger than that for the 1949 parade. Mrs. Henry McFadden as Miss Liberty; J.F. Timmons as a Southern Gentlemen and Cecil Hanna as Uncle Sam, led the parade, dressed in costume, and on horseback. In addition to numerous floats and vehicles, there were five high school bands and 40 riders mounted on horses. 

Nineteen fifty-two's parade on December 3 was the culmination of a five-day "Holly Days" sales promotion, sponsored by downtown merchants. The parade wound through eight blocks, and at its end, which concluded with Santa perched on top of a fire truck, the Christmas lights throughout town were turned on.

Lane Head Start's float in the 2022 Kingstree Christmas Parade.

Newspaper reporter Ann McIntosh recounted a story associated with the 1953 Christmas Parade. The Kingstree Parent Teacher's Association needed a float for the parade. Mary Reid, then executive secretary for the Kingstree Chamber of Commerce, had an idea and sent a telegram to Ross Manning, owner of the Ross Manning Shows, in Miami. Much of the equipment for the Ross Manning Shows spent the winter in the New Warehouse in Kingstree, with two men Gerald Deschaines, known as Frenchie, and Warren Wullen, known as Shorty, as its overseers. Frenchie and Shorty lived in a trailer inside the warehouse, where one of them had to be present at all times from October until March when the show went back on the road. Their days were spent painting, repairing, reupholstering, and polishing brass. 

Mary Reid knew that Frenchie and Shorty had just painted ten merry-go-round horses, and she was asking for permission to use them on the PTA float. Ross Manning's telegram granting that permission didn't reach Kingstree until the night before the parade. Frenchie and Shorty worked most of the night to modify a trailer lent to the PTA by B.O. Browder to accommodate the horses. Other organizations using the warehouse to decorate their floats were well ahead of the PTA, and it seemed unlikely that the float would be ready in time. However, St. Alban's donated a long roll of white paper, and Carolina Power & Light lent them green streamers and white fringe. By 1 p.m. the float was finished, with a rainbow on the front, five pairs of prancing horses to be "ridden" by members of the student council, and a sign underneath the rainbow, showing a pot of gold and the slogan, "Our Children; Our Greatest Wealth."

The parade of 1955 is thought to have drawn the largest crowd, with an estimated 20,000 people turning out from Kingstree and surrounding areas to witness 35 floats; seven bands, including the Parris Island Marine Band, and Santa riding on a giant sleigh pulled by eight white reindeer, led by Rudolph. The parade route that year was down Main Street to Highway 52 and up the highway to the fairgrounds. Traffic was halted on US52 during the parade. Judges viewed the parade from the Carolina Hotel and awarded prizes to the best floats. First place went to Chelsie's Kiddie Shop and Roses 5 & 10. Second place went to International Paper, with East Side Motors taking third place for a float depicting the Williamsburg County Courthouse. 

Miss Andrews Jean Terry in the chilly 1958 Kingstree Christmas Parade.

Photo Courtesy of Lamar Bodiford

The 1956 holiday season began a new tradition in Kingstree with the Jaycees sponsoring the Miss Merry Christmas beauty pageant. The parade was moved to Friday afternoon, with the pageant beginning at 8 p.m. at the armory. A dance, also at the armory, followed the pageant. Karol Kalisky was parade chairman that year. Fran Semeno and his orchestra provided music for the dance. The parade included 30 floats, 20 beauty queens, the Shaw Air Force Base Band, and 60 tiny majorettes under the direction of Newell Clarkson. The parade lined up on the corner of Brooks Street and Hampton Avenue. It proceeded down Hampton to Main Street, turning right through the business district to Longstreet. From Longstreet, the parade turned right on Mill Street, right on Jackson, left on Main Street and then turned left on Academy, disbanding at Kingstree Elementary School. Betty Lane Cherry of Orangeburg, the reigning Miss USA, was the Grand Marshal for the parade.

Carolyn Melton (center) of Cheraw was crowned Miss Merry Christmas 1958.

In rear, left to right, are Kay Huggins, Miss Barnwell, first runner up: Grand

Old Opry star Minnie Pearl, one of the contest's judges, and Nancy Spivey, Miss

Hemingway, second runner up.

Photo: W.M. Gordon

While snow and ice are usually not a part of Christmas parades in Kingstree, 1958 proved to be an exception. A severe winter storm swept through the state just days before the parade, which was scheduled for December 12. Some other towns postponed their parades to a later date, but the Jaycees decided to go ahead with all the festivities. The sun was shining by Friday afternoon, although there was still plenty of snow and ice on the ground. They had expected a 90-unit parade, which was somewhat limited by the weather. However, it was noted that the line-up was still impressive, and thousands of spectators braved the 40-degree temperatures to watch. Grand Old Opry star Minnie Pearl was to be Grand Marshal of the parade and a judge for the Miss Merry Christmas pageant. News reports of the day seem to indicate that while she did not get here in time for the parade, as she and her husband had flown into Columbia before driving to Kingstree, she was a judge for the pageant, as well as providing her usual comedic monologue. The Pilot Club presented her with a spray of poinsettias.

Next week we'll look at Christmas in the Sixties.

Winston Churchill's Birthday Greeting

Sixty years ago today, former British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill celebrated his 88th birthday. As part of his celebration, he received a congratulatory telegram from his old friend Bernard Baruch, the Lonely Lion of Wall Street, who, after he made his fortune on Wall Street, went on to advise six US Presidents–Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman. On Churchill's 88th birthday in 1962, Baruch himself was 92.

The two elder statesmen, Bernard Baruch (l) and Winston Churchill.

Source: Pikist

We don't know what Baruch said in his telegram, but we do have Churchill's response, also sent as a telegram. It was: Dear Bernie. Thank you so much. I look forward with pleasure to our next meeting. Signed, Winston.

Both men would see a couple of more birthdays, and both would die in 1965, Churchill on January 24 and Baruch on July 20. Churchill was then 90 and Baruch 94. How much history they saw and participated in over their long lives!

The local tie here is that Baruch's telegram to Churchill was sent from the Western Union office here in Kingstree, and Churchill's response was received here as Mr. Baruch was spending the winter at his Little Hobcaw Plantation, near Nesmith. Churchill, of course, had visited Baruch at Little Hobcaw. The cottage he stayed in on those visits became known as the Churchill Cotttage.

Marcus Building Has Long History

Recently the Town of Kingstree put a new coat of paint on the Main Street building most residents know as the Marcus Building. The history of the building, however, goes back to the early 1900s.

The Marcus Building as it looks today.

On the night of March 18, 1907, between 8 and 9 p.m., fire broke out in Meyers Bakery, which was located in the rear of Scott & Miller's Market on Main Street. The fire brigade was able to confine the blaze to three wooden buildings on the north side of the street located between P.S. Courtney's store and G. Ollie Epps' store at the corner of Main and Hampton. The three burned buildings included Scott & Miller's market, a restaurant run by Phil Fulton and a cottage occupied by Mollie Epps. The two stores were owned by R.H. Kellahan. The County Record noted that most of the contents of the stores were saved, but that Meyers lost his ovens and baking utensils, valued between $700-$800.

Kellahan soon began the process of rebuilding the stores lost to the fire; however, he was constructing the new buildings from brick. In August 1910, W.E. and R.R. Jenkinson moved their store, Jenkinson Brothers, from the McCabe building on W. Main Street to one of the new Kellahan storefronts, the building we now know as the Marcus building. By March 1911, R.R. Jenkinson had returned to Manning, leaving his brother in Kingstree. The store here eventually became known as W.E. Jenkinson.

By September of 1910, Milhaus & Jennings had opened a grocery store in the other side of the building. By the close of 1910, Milhaus & Jennings had added a fresh meat department, installing a large refrigeration unit. Milhaus retired in 1912, selling his interest in the business to L. Thames. However, the business retained the Milhaus & Jennings name. 

The second floor of the building was divided into rooms, and in October 1910, S.A. Nettles, who had for many years managed the Nettles Hotel in Lane, moved to Kingstree and opened the rooms on the second floor of the building as the Nettles Hotel. The News & Courier noted that Nettles was taking advantage of the hotel's location close to the railroad to cater to traveling salesmen.

Late in December 1910, The County Record announced, "The alleged long distance telephone has moved its local office from the Kellahan to the Nettles Hotel. It's as hard to hear as ever, it may be observed." The following July, the hotel hosted the first annual meeting of the Wee Nee Bank stockholders. In January 1912, Nettles moved over to the Kellahan Hotel to become its manager. He retained the old Nettles Hotel, using it for storage and as an apartment rental.

The building as it looked not long after it opened.

Jenkinson Brothers was the scene of a tragedy on Christmas Eve 1912, when young James Fleming, who had just returned to Kingstree from Florida and was waiting for a ride to his home near Workman was shot to death while standing near the doorway of the store. Due to the din of fireworks and gunshots in celebration of Christmas Eve, it was believed that the bullet which severed Fleming's femoral artery came from across the street at the depot, but no one was ever charged in the incident. (See the full story of the shooting here.)

The M.E. King family was renting several of the old hotel rooms upstairs. A few weeks after Fleming's tragic death, a fire broke out in one of these rooms. This was the first major fire to occur in Kingstree after the installation of the town's municipal water system, and the presence of a ready supply of water enabled the Kingstree Fire Department to limit the fire to the one building. Fifty thousand gallons of water was dumped on the fire. While W.E. Jenkinson and Milhaus & Jennings both suffered smoke and water damage and were forced to move out of the building for a short time, their stores were quickly repaired, and they were back in business by the end of March. The Kings, however, lost all their furniture and household belongings. 

After Mr. Kellahan rebuilt the second floor, S.W. McIntosh re-opened the hotel under the name The McIntosh House. The McIntosh House was the scene of the December 1915 wedding of S.W. McIntosh's niece, Irene, and E.W. Rowland. The McIntoshes, however, moved to North Carolina in January 1916, and the hotel closed.

In April 1915, Milhaus & Jennings had moved its grocery business to the Wilkins Store on Academy Street that had formerly been the home of Butler Dry Goods. It appears that Elias George may have opened a business in the old Milhaus & Jennings store, as R.H. Kellahan's 1917 will, stated "I bequeath to my brother, T.M. Kellahan, those certain brick stores situate on the north side of Main Street, now rented by Jenkinson Bros. Co, and Elias George and formerly by McIntosh.

W.E Jenkinson remained in the building until April 1921 when he moved his store to N. Academy Street.

In the spring of 1922, S.J. Deery announced that he had bought the stock of Kingstree Furniture and was opening Williamsburg Furniture in new quarters on Main Street. The photo below shows Williamsburg Furniture located in the building once occupied by Jenkinson and Milhaus & Jennings. The Deerys had left Kingstree by 1925, and it is unclear if Williamsburg Furniture remained in the store or what business operated there until 1933 when Harry Marcus opened his general merchandise store for business. It is also unclear when the false front was placed on the building; however the balcony and upstairs rooms still remain as part of the building behind the current facade.

Main Street during the 1920s. Williamsburg Furniture is at the far right of the photo.

Source: Williamsburgh Historical Society

The SC Secretary of State chartered Harry Marcus, Inc., in February 1933, with capital stock of $2,000. Marcus was president and treasurer, with Morris Schrieberg as vice president and secretary.

Harry Marcus operated the store until ill health forced him to retire in 1960. His nephew Herman, known as Hymie, and his brother, William, took over the operation of the store until Hymie's death in 1967, when his widow Dorothy "Dottie" Rosen Marcus assumed sole ownership. Their son David became the store's manager in 1976. David and Anita Marcus also ran a travel agency from the ground floor part of the building that was the old entrance to the Nettles Hotel. Anita Marcus also taught dance classes in the building. The store closed in 2010.

On the night of Wednesday, March 20, 1963, fire again struck this block of E. Main Street. The blaze began in the J.C. Duke Grocery to the west of Marcus Department Store. Duke had purchased the grocery business from Hoke Smith in December 1962. That building, however, was owned by Julia B. McGill. After the fire was extinguished, the walls were still standing but the interior was gutted. Three other stores were damaged. C. Tuckers to the west of Duke Grocery sustained by structural and smoke damage as the fires penetrated the fire wall between the buildings, burning into the ceiling and damaging the roof. Marcus Department Store and The Ladies' Shop also suffered smoke damage. Marcus was closed the day after the fire to clean up, but re-opened on Friday.

The Town of Kingstree acquired the property in the summer of 2017 and is actively looking for a buyer willing to bring new life to an important piece of history, whether as a retail establishment or as something new, like a craft brewery and pub. If the false front of the building were removed and the balcony re-imagined with flowering hanging baskets, the building could easily resemble an English pub. And with a name like the Crown & Anchor it could help the town live into its new branding as "Crown of the Black River." A new business in this building would help reawaken Main Street.

Kingstree Drug Company

Several weeks ago, someone posted a photo in a Facebook group of an apothecary bottle which had the name Kingstree Drug Company embossed on it. It seemed fitting for this blog post to look at a little of the history of the Kingstree Drug Company.

This photo of the newly-built Hirsch building in 1911 was

one of the first photographs ever published in The County Record.

The South Carolina Secretary of State chartered it October 1910, with capital of $5,000. The three men who petitioned for the charter were Dr. E.T. Kelley, C.J. Epps, and W.A. Smith. The company had plans to set up its business in the Hirsch Building on Academy Street, which was then under construction.

The building was completed in early February 1911. The County Record called it "one of the prettiest business houses in Kingstree." The contractor responsible for building it was C.E. Harris. The newspaper noted that the building "does credit to the builder's architectural skill, and is a distinct acquisition to the business part of town, both from a utilitarian and an ornamental standpoint." The building measured 33.5 feet by 55 feet and was set up with eight offices upstairs and three on the ground floor. The main part of the ground floor was occupied by the Kingstree Drug Company, with the law firm of Hirsch & Hirsch and the office of the Honorable R.H. Kellahan occupying the other two offices. 

The front of the building was pressed brick, set off by an ornamental transom. The lower floor was constructed of tiles and cement throughout, according to the newspaper, which added, "the law offices are commodious and comfortable, fitted with modern appointments and a first-class library." Total cost for construction was $4,700. In today's money that would amount to $146,526.71. 

All eight offices on the second floor had tenants when the building opened, although The County Record did not specify who those tenants were. From newspaper advertising, we know that dentist, Dr. R. Claude McCabe was one of them, and that Philip H. Arrowsmith's law firm occupied another. R.H. Pittman, a native of Gourdin, opened Williamsburg Realty, in one of the upstairs offices in 1912. He also practiced law, with M.A. Shuler as his associate. Attorney C.E. Saint-Amand also had a law and real estate office in one of the upstairs offices. Following Dr. McCabe's untimely death, in 1917, Dr. F.O. Lentz returned to Kingstree from Atlanta in 1921, and opened his dentist office in Dr. McCabe's old quarters.

Dr. R. Claude McCabe

The first druggist employed by the Kingstree Drug Company was Dr. H.C. Hanahan of Columbia. Dr. Hanahan had 10 years experience in the retail drug business in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Charleston, and Columbia. The Kingstree Drug Company was open from 7:30 a.m. until 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday and from 10:30-11:45 a.m. and 3:30-5:30 p.m. on Sundays. Dr. Hanahan, however, was available 24 hours a day to aid those who were ill.

The drugstore quickly became involved in community affairs. When the Town of Kingstree began serious discussions about providing public water and sewer, the plans and specifications were available for public inspection at Kingstree Drug. The company also sponsored prizes for the Williamsburg County Corn Club's contest for young people who gathered the largest yields from corn crops they had grown. In a letter to The County Record announcing Kingstree Drug Company's involvement in the contest, Secretary/Treasurer C.J. Epps noted that as he had been reared on a farm in Williamsburg County, he was interested in encouraging the agricultural pursuits of the county's young men.

In October 1911, Dr. Hanahan left to return to Columbia. He was replaced by Dr. Edward P. Walsh of Conway. In mid-1912, Dr. Walsh was replaced by Dr. C.C. Bean. 

The Drug Company, however, continued its community involvement by sponsoring prizes in the Civic League's Cooking Contest and by contributing prizes to the school's annual field day. By 1913, the drugstore, along with the Nelson House, was also a drop-off spot for locals to leave their laundry. Levin and Nappie Nelson collected the clothing and sent it to Sumter for cleaning.

On November 20, 1913, Dr Bean was able to demonstrate the practical application of the camera the Kingstree Drug Company was advertising for sale when he used one of them to take photographs of the piled up train cars that resulted when a wreck occurred just south of the depot.

In October 1913, Dr, LeRoy Cates bought an interest in the Kingstree Drug Company. He would take over management of the business from Dr. C.C. Bean. Dr. Cates also employed Dr. F.M. Boldridge as a second pharmacist.

An advertisement for Kingstree Drug Company

in the August 20, 1914, County Record.

Dr. F.J. Inman, a Florence eye specialist, began coming to Kingstree every Thursday in 1915. He offered eye exams at the Kingstree Drug Company. 

In September 1915, Dr. Sidney Carter of Darlington joined Dr. Cates as the second pharmacist.

On January 1, 1916, Kingstree Drug moved out of the Hisrsch building. The drugstore set up shop in a store built by R.H. Kellahan, two doors down from their old building. This building had formerly been occupied by a store operated by Harry Riff. Wallace McIntosh and Clarence Alsbrook opened a haberdashery in Kingstree Drug's old space in the Hirsch building.

Dr. Cates undertook renovating the Kellahan building in 1919. He built a new warehouse behind the store and renovated the front of the building as well. He also set up a room to use as on office. In January of 1920, the Kingstree Drug Company held a stockholders meeting to increase capital stock from $5,000 to $10,000. LeRoy Cates and C.W. Boswell were listed as officers of the company. By May 1920, they had installed a "large, new, and very handsome soda fountain."

The Hirsch building today (far right) is the office of Barr Law. 

The building to the far left is the building Kingstree Drug Company

moved to in 1916.

It is possible that sometime between 1920 and 1922, Kingstree Drug moved back to the Hirsch building. In September 1922, it opened a seed division, selling garden and farm seed. The County Record noted that the seed division was in the Hirsch building and was managed by G. Ollie Epps. It also states that it was next door to the Kingstree Drug Company, which if it were in the Hirsch building and Kingstree Drug was still in the building to which it moved 1916, would not have been possible. However, earlier in 1922, J.R. Ritter Seed Store was located in the building between the Hirsch Building and Kingstree Drug, and it is also possible that Kingstree Drug took over that business. 

During the late nineteen teens and early nineteen twenties, Dr. Cates employed a number of pharmacists, including Myron Lloyd, S.L. Gilleland, H.B. Brenecke, and J.H. Hawkins. In the summer of 1922, Gordon Rodgers of Lane, a student a MUSC, worked at Kingstree Drug Company.

In July 1927, as many businesses in Kingstree struggled, creditors of Kingstree Drug Company filed a petition against the company. I could find no other newspaper references to the company after that. However, in May 1928, Dr. Gordon Rodgers, then a registered pharmacist, and Dr. J.W. Davis of Scott Drug Company, opened a drug store of their own in the three-story Nexsen building on the corner of Academy and Main streets. Rodgers Drug Store had a long, productive tenure in that location.