USA > South Carolina > Spartanburg County > A history of Spartanburg county > Part 10
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Only through chance references in old diaries or reminiscences does it become clear that most of the flourishing communities had amateur bands, and that the better academies promoted "literary associations," "lyceums," and the like in their territory. The musters and the public exhibitions and examinations had always bands to enliven their exercises. Much vague tradition has come down of the old-time fiddlers and singers.
Organs of Public Opinion and Culture
The people throughout the district read the Spartan-usually so called, although its name after 1847 or thereabouts was officially the Carolina Spartan. In the pages of this paper appeared much selected matter from other county papers-notably the Greenville Mountaineer, the Cheraw Gazette, the Camden Journal, the Abbeville Banner, the Anderson Gazette, and the Pendleton Messenger. The Spartan culled regularly from the Philadelphia Saturday Courier, Neal's Saturday Gazette, the Columbia South Carolinian, the Charleston Courier, Evening Mercury, and News. These old-time county weeklies had much the flavor of the present-day digests and served the same end, providing people with interesting matter for thought and discussion.
The only instance in the ante-bellum period of an effort to es- tablish a local paper outside the courthouse town was the proposed publication of the Carolina Progressionist at Cross Anchor. Ap- parently it never progressed beyond its prospectus and first copy, which appeared in September, 1859. What it stood for may be gathered from the editorial notice given it by the Spartan of Sep-
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tember 15, in which it was described as "long-expected, well gotten- up, and full of original matter." The editor of the Spartan was friendly, but he could not resist the dry, caustic comment : "We warn them that their Jordan will be a hard road to travel."
The motto of the new publication ran, "He that will not reason is a bigot; he that dare not reason is a slave; and he that cannot reason is a fool." The editors were professed believers in phrenology and spiritualism and were outspokenly "free-thinkers," whose aim was to "unfold to readers the splendid principles of the great Law of Progress" through "Spirit-Intercourse." They claimed indepen- dence and originality, and declared their intention to speak the truth on all things regardless of public opinion.
No copy of the Carolina Progressionist is known to be in exist- ence. It presents an instance of radical and unconventional think- ing in Spartanburg that was exceptional. Possibly the actual hard- ships and difficulties which confronted Spartans in their daily lives so entirely engaged their minds as to exclude from their attention metaphysics and philosophy.
CHAPTER TEN The Prosperous Fifties
Community Development
During the quarter century preceding the War of Secession small villages grew up around the mills at Fingerville, Bivingsville, Hurricane Shoals, and Mountain Shoals. Of all these places only Fingerville retains its original name. Biv- ingsville is now Glendale ; Hurricane Shoals is now Converse ; Moun- tain Shoals is now Enoree. Crossroads taverns gave their names to several settlements; for example, Cross Anchor is believed to have received its name from a tavern sign. The wide distribution of mineral springs and their influence in determining community centers is evident from the most casual study of the map. Churches often provided names for communities in which they were located; thus Philadelphia Church gave to a community its name-changed in recent years to Pauline. New Prospect owes its name to a church. In some instances leading citizens secured post offices to which they gave fanciful names; New Hope, the home of the Snoddy family, was a stagecoach stop for more than a half century and a post office on the road from Greenville to Spartanburg; Walnut Grove, the home of Captain Andrew Barry, became a post office, and eventually . gave its name to the community. Many places took their names from influential families ; among them, Hobbysville, Cashville, Pooles- ville, Kilgore, Earlesville, Gowansville. Sometimes a name was chosen because of physical characteristics; for example, Rich Hill, which during the forties and fifties had a considerable reputation because of its fertility and its abnormal freedom from killing frosts during a long growing season.
Communications and Travel Stagecoach and mail schedules give some concep- tion of the isolation of these communities, and the difficulties the inhabitants encountered in getting together. Roads were all of dirt, worked intermittently and according to local stand- ards of efficiency. Nearly every rain stopped all travel by washing away bridges or making mudholes in the clayey soil, in which car- riages and wagons would become hopelessly stuck. Even as late as 1858 Spartanburg had mails to and from Charleston, Augusta, and the North, only three times a week. As late as May 22, 1856, the Columbia mail was held for several days at Glenn Springs be- cause of heavy rains for three successive days. In 1853 citizens 104
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began agitating plans for daily mails to and from Columbia; on April 10, 1858, Dr. L. C. Kennedy presided as chairman over a public meeting to move for daily mails to Greenville and Ruther- fordton ; finally, July 8, 1858, The Spartan boasted, "At last daily mails from Columbia and Union."
Tri-weekly stages operated between Spartanburg Court House and the "head of Laurens railroad," by way of Glenn Springs, leav- ing Spartanburg at 7:00 a. m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays ; and leaving the head of the road "on the arrival of the cars" on Tues- days, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Two hotel keepers, Harvey of Spar- tanburg, and Sullivan of Asheville, in 1860 established a tri-weekly stage line between Spartanburg and Asheville, arranging the schedule so as to leave Asheville in time to reach the top of the Gap just at sunrise, to breakfast at "Wash Whitesides, one of the best eating- houses in the West," and to dine at Rutherfordton. Returning, this order was reversed. These stages were drawn over the old-time dirt roads by two horses, following the route by Hickory Nut Gap, Chimney Rock and Rutherfordton, and requiring the entire day from dawn to sundown for the trip. Stages left Asheville on Mon- days, Wednesdays, and Fridays; and Spartanburg on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
People living in neighborhoods out of easy reach of post offices sometimes made up clubs to take turns in going for the mail to the nearest post office. The entire District went wild with the excite- ment at the prospect of a railroad, and every community found ex- cellent arguments for having a station located within its area. When the route was selected and the decisions of engineers and directors were made known, heart-burnings and resentments inevitably arose, and some disappointed and disgruntled citizens who had pledged support withdrew their subscriptions to stock. The District, as a whole, however, entered with enthusiasm into the selling of railroad bonds and securing of rights of way. Communities not included on the first road at once began making plans for other roads.
Agricultural To the farmers the prospect of a railroad was
Societies and Fairs a great stimulus. They felt that their climate was not well adapted to the raising of cotton, and they could not advantageously plant grain for shipping without better facilities for its transportation to market.
In July, 1853, a call was published for the "reorganization of
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A HISTORY OF SPARTANBURG COUNTY
the Spartanburg Agricultural and Mechanical Society." The called- for reorganization was effected, and in 1855 the Society held its first annual fair, Tuesday, September 30, 1856, in the Palmetto House and on the adjacent lots. The exhibits included livestock, farm and industrial products, and fancy work. Among the pro- ducts exhibited were home-manufactured buggies, saddles, shoes and boots, corn brooms, "Negro Cloth," domestic wool blankets, and wrought-iron gates. During the morning an elaborate program was held, the principal address being made by Dr. J. W. Parker of Columbia; and the business was transacted. In the afternoon the judging was done; and in the evening an elaborate supper was en- joyed, provided by the ladies. The scope of this first fair is shown by the treasurer's report : "Men's department-amount received by initiation fees, $77; amount expenditures for prizes, $58; balance in Men's department, $19. Ladies' department-amount received by initiation fees, $7; net proceeds Ladies' Fair and Supper, $44; by cash subscriptions for supper, $4; amount of expenditures for prizes, $50; balance in Ladies' department, $5.40."
Each exhibitor paid an initiation fee of $1; or a lady might, if she preferred, make a donation to the supper-for which a charge was made. Officers of the Society were: Simpson Bobo, president ; J. W. Miller, O. P. Earle, B. F. Kilgore, A. E. Smith, J. Winsmith, vice-presidents ; T. Stobo Farrow, secretary and treasurer; A. T. Cavis, corresponding secretary. On the executive committee were Gabriel Cannon, J. C. Oeland, J. A. Anderson, Jr., T. O. P. Vernon, J. C. Zimmerman, Simpson Bobo, and T. S. Farrow. A second fair was held October 7, 1857, and was characterized by the Express as most creditable. There was a long list of premiums.
In the spring of 1858 the Bethel Agricultural Society was formed with Colonel John M. Crook as president and B. F. Kilgore as sec- retary. It held its first fair at "Bethel Meeting House, Woodruff's," October 16, 1858, and had a large premium list, the awards including many silver cups. This society drew its membership from upper Laurens District and lower Spartanburg.
Military A considerable increase of military enthusiasm in the Enthusiasm District may be traced to the effects of a visit made to it by the Washington Light Infantry of Charleston, in April, 1856. This famous company encamped from Saturday to Monday on the campus of St. John's School-now the campus of Converse College-
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and were guests of the town and in turn hosts to the population. They drilled and paraded, and were entertained in the evening by the citizens at the Palmetto House. On Monday morning they continued their spectacular march to the Cowpens battleground, and there, in the presence of a throng of spectators from the surround- ing country, they erected a monument. The ceremonies and speeches made a great impression throughout the District.
Inspired by this example, the Spartans, within a month, organ- ized the Morgan Rifles. Later this company was presented with a flag of heavy crimson silk, measuring thirty-three by forty-two inches, and mounted on a staff made from a stout young hickory cut from the Cowpens battleground. This flag had on one side "a prettily executed painting in oil, representing one of General Mor- gan's Riflemen in the act of rescuing a helpless mother and child from the ruthless attack of an Indian." On the obverse was a pal- metto tree, scrolled above the branches of which were the words: "Presented to the Morgan Rifles by the Ladies of Spartanburg Court House, January 17, 1858." Under the tree was the legend, "Ubique patriam reminisci." Elaborate ceremonies, which included a parade, a banquet, and many speeches and toasts, accompanied this presentation.
Other companies were organized or revived throughout the District ; military balls and dinners and tournaments were arranged ; patriotic anniversaries were celebrated with enthusiasm. The col- onels' musters were well attended. The crowd at Bomar's Old Field, July 4, 1858, consumed 1,700 pounds of barbecued meat.
Varied Besides local undertakings, Spartans interested them-
Activities selves in various matters during the decade preceding secession. They organized a Mount Vernon Association, of which J. H. Evins was secretary, and a Ladies' Mount Vernon Memorial Association, of which Mrs. Martha Wofford was president; and through these organizations funds were raised throughout the Dis- trict to aid in the purchase of Mount Vernon. They raised more than their quota toward the completion of the Washington Monu- ment. They gave liberally for the Charleston yellow fever sufferers.
The "Western Migration" is repeatedly mentioned in reminis- cences of the years 1845-1860. The white population of Spartan- burg District in 1840 was 17,980 and in 1850 it was only 18,358. The departure at one time of forty members of the Bethlehem Bap-
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tist Church, with their families, presents a striking example of what this migration meant. These people gathered in the old church for a farewell service, and when the service was concluded they remained in their seats, weeping and sobbing.
From Wood In the years preceding the War of Secession the little to Brick shabby town of Spartanburg became beauty-con- scious ; its wooden stores were torn down and replaced with brick ones-several of them with imitation brownstone or iron fronts. Rows of chinaberry trees were planted about the square and along some of the principal thoroughfares ; new streets were opened, and sidewalks were laid; curbings were placed about the square and along some of the streets, and some streets were paved with brick.
The merchants displayed all of the latest and most fashionable goods-hoops, bonnets, leghorn straws, mantillas. Book stores and drug stores were established. There were saddlers, upholsterers, leather manufacturers, carriage and wagon makers, as well as min- isters, doctors, and lawyers. New families were constantly moving in, so as to more than replace those lost by the heavy Westward migration. In 1853 the courthouse village claimed 1,800 population, and had four churches, five schools, nine lawyers, six doctors of medicine, two hotels, and eighteen stores.
Elegant
An idea of the homes built by prosperous Spartans in
Homes this period may be formed from the descriptions in cur- rent advertisements. In 1853 T. B. Collins advertised for sale a house on Main Street with an eleven-acre tract of land. The di- mensions of the house were 50x90 feet, and it contained fifteen separate apartments, with seven chimneys, and ten fireplaces. It had, besides, a good detached kitchen, a good well, two springs on the place, and what Mr. Collins described as "the ordinary out- buildings." This Collins was the Presbyterian elder referred to by Major Kirby as his Sunday School teacher. Having moved to town to educate his children, he now desired to retire to his plan- tation.
A "beautiful brick Gothic Cottage," built about 1850, on Church Street, "two hundred yards from Main Street, three hundred yards from the Courthouse" (which at that time faced the Square at the eastern corner of Magnolia Street), was described in an adver- tisement offering it for sale as containing four rooms 18x20, and four bedrooms, smaller but of good size. The main house was
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connected by a veranda with a good brick kitchen. On the grounds were a "smoke-house," a "negro-house," a stable for four horses, with a harness room, a carriage house, and a large loft. On the lot-which had an area of one acre-were a fine well, a fine flower garden in front, and a vegetable garden in the rear.
In 1858 J. Wofford Tucker, "desiring to remove to the West," offered for sale a residence "in a delightful neighborhood midway between Wofford and the Female College," on a lot containing two and a half acres, and bordered on three sides by streets sixty feet wide. The house was of brick, and contained six rooms besides three basement rooms, and had front and rear porticos above and below. A brick building with three rooms, designed for kitchen and servants, stood in the rear ; and also stables, a horse lot, a good well, and a garden. This house, much altered, stands today.
Along Main Street and on Church Street today several of Spar- tanburg's spacious ante-bellum homes still stand to exemplify the tastes and standards of ante-bellum Spartanburg.
Gardening Ornamental gardening became so well established in the fifties that a professional gardener, Lewis Bosse, took up his abode in Spartanburg. He laid off and planted the grounds of homes along Main and Church Streets. Bosse contributed to the local press, during the late fifties, a series of articles on gardening and floriculture. Magnolia - originally Rutherford Street - is said to have been so named because of a handsome magnolia tree in front of the home of Simpson Bobo, where the courthouse now stands. Bosse may have planted this tree. Magnolia, in 1860, was the leading residential street.
New Churches July 23, 1850, the Episcopalians laid the cornerstone of Stone of the Church of the Advent, using brick. Bishop and Brick C. E. Gadsden presided over the ceremonies and the Reverend A. H. Cornish, rector of St. Paul's at Pendleton, made the address. In 1853 this building was described as rapidly nearing completion, but it was not actually finished until during the war, when the Reverend J. D. McCollough had the brick removed and a granite structure erected. It was the nave of the present Church of the Ad- vent, which, from the start, has been one of the loveliest buildings in Spartanburg. The Methodists in 1853 replaced the modest little frame structure in which they had worshipped with one of brick, large for the period, its dimensions being 60x44. It had what was
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A HISTORY OF SPARTANBURG COUNTY
then a new-fangled feature, a basement for Sunday School use. The Baptists, who were numerically far the strongest denomination in the town, found their church incapable of accommodating the throngs who flocked to hear the Reverend J. G. Landrum, and they also built a new church, which was dedicated the fifth Sunday in August, 1856. The Reverend Dr. Thomas Curtis preached the sermon, and the Reverend Richard Furman and the Reverend J. G. Landrum participated in the service. This church occupied a lot on the corner of North Church and Wofford Streets. It was of brick and had a slender steeple of great beauty. The old Baptist Church was sold to the Odd Fellows for use as a school. The Presbyterians had built in 1845 a brick church, which stood in an oak grove on East Main Street about midway between Liberty and Converse Streets. These were the churches of Spartanburg thirty years after its incorporation.
A New In 1856 a new courthouse was begun, on the site of
Courthouse the old one, which was demolished in three weeks, beginning May 12. Efforts were made to secure the preservation of the old one as a town hall, but in vain. The contract for this third courthouse was awarded by the commissioners to Maxwell and Bost, for $13,000 and the old building. Most present-day Spartans are familiar with the appearance of this courthouse, as shown in the picture of "The Square in 1884." The building was of brick with a brick colonnade in front, the pillars coated with white plaster. The offices were on the ground floor, and the second floor was oc- cupied by the court room and jury rooms. Wide stone steps with curving iron railing led from the street to each side of the upper floor.
Elaborate ceremonies marked the laying of the cornerstone, July 4, 1856. Many fraternal organizations and hundreds of citizens participated. The orator of the day was the Honorable T. O. P. Vernon, and he set forth the most extreme secessionist views, as- serting that cotton was the nation's greatest asset, that it could not be produced without slave labor, and that a stoppage of cotton ship- ments would bring the whole country to financial collapse. Major J. E. Bomar led the Masonic orders in sealing the cornerstone. In it were placed a census of the District, lists of office holders, political and civic and fraternal, copies of local publications-The Carolina Spartan, The Spartan Express, and The Literary Star-and the silver plate taken from the old courthouse. This third courthouse
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was completed and occupied September 3, 1857. The venerated Judge J. B. O'Neall was the first to dispense justice in it-a fit- ting honor to him and to the District.
The town council, possibly stimulated by the example
Additions to the Square of the district, bestirred itself and erected "a neat brick building" over the public well in the center of the square, and in 1858 added to it a cupola for the nine o'clock bell. A facetious letter to the Spartan, signed "Jonnidab," remonstrated with the coun- cil for "hanging a nigger bell right over the public well in the middle of the town, right spang in the center of this romun metropolis."
' The Palmetto House, built by Junius Thomson in 1850, was claimed to be the most elegant hotel in the State outside the Charles- ton Hotel. It was sold at public outcry August 11, 1853, for $17,400 -much less than its original cost. The purchasers were Alfred Tolleson, Wm. H. Trimmier, A. H. Kirby, and H. C. Poole. It contributed a large share to the "Roman" appearance of the little Up Country metropolis, and was the scene of many historic feastings and gatherings.
The bequest of $100,000 by Benjamin Wofford, a Method-
Wofford College ist preacher of Spartanburg, "to found a college in my native district," and the establishment of the college in Spartanburg, was by far the most important event in the cultural development of the town and district. This gift was at the time the largest ever made for the cause of education in the South, and it insured the founding of an institution of learning on a stable basis and with high standards. The citizens of Spartanburg gave the land for the campus, and the Fourth of July, 1851, was made memorable in the history of the town by the ceremonies connected with the laying of the cornerstone of Wofford College.
Major Hosea Dean presented to the committee a specially pre- pared stone taken from his own quarries, near town. The proces- sion, which formed on the square to march to the scene of the cornerstone-laying, was a half-mile long, and had in it town officials, public men, civic and fraternal organizations, and private citizens, besides those church dignitaries and Masonic officers who had more immediate responsibility for the program. The principal address was made by the Reverend William M. Wightman, D.D., who was to be the first president. Worshipful Master William B. Seay laid the stone and sealed into it a leaden box containing the mementos
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regarded as appropriate to the occasion. Major G. W. H. Legg, intendant of the town, was marshal of the day, and was assisted by A. G. Campbell, H. S. Poole, and "Singing Billy" Walker.
The stately hall, with its unusual twin towers, was to rise rapidly and serve as one of the most cherished landmarks in the district. H. H. Thomson, one of the town's leading citizens and largest land- holders, was chairman of the building committee. Today, on a spot immediately in front of the college, a simple stone marks the spot where lie the mortal remains of Benjamin Wofford and his wife. On it is the famed and suitable inscription, "Si monumentum requiris, circumspice," with the names and dates of birth and death of the founder and his wife.
Wofford College was chartered in 1851 and opened its doors for the first session August 1, 1854. President Wightinan delivered the first baccalaureate sermon in the chapel, Sunday morning, July 15, 1858, the churches of the town suspending their usual services in honor of the occasion. At night, on the same day, the Reverend J. W. Cross, D.D., preached the commencement sermon of the Female College, in the Methodist Church.
The Spartanburg Female College was the sister of Wof-
Female College ford; because agitation for its establishment was begun immediately upon the announcement of Wofford's bequest. A com- mittee of the Methodist Conference of South Carolina recommended the establishment of a female college in Spartanburg, and the local paper burst forth: "Huzza for the Iron District;" but opposition developed, and the best Spartanburg could do was to undertake locally the erection of such an institution and depend on the support of the conference. Camden was an active contestant for the loca- tion of the college. One of the interesting arguments advanced by Spartans for their city was that in Camden board cost $192 a year, while just as good board could be provided in Spartanburg for $90 per year. Subscriptions were raised, land was donated, and a spa- cious campus was secured. The tract now forms part of the Spartan Mill village, and the only one of the buildings yet standing is used as a community center for the mill population.
The Female College began with bright prospects, its construc- tion proceeding at the same time as that of Wofford. The street connecting the two institutions was improved and named College Street-a name which to this day serves as a reminder of a
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