The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-03-10
HOW sUMMERToN GROWS.
"A Town That Has Future as Its
Growth and Development Proves.

Watchman and Southron upon their
manifest progress In the field of
Journalism. as evidenced by their is
sue of an additional copy every week.
which will be received with much
pleasure and satisfaction by the
many readers. Thanks to the kind
consideration of the publishers. sum
merton hopes TO be represented in
thelr paper regularly, and a weekly
letter may be expected from this
point.
Dur citizens have doubtless been So
well satisfied with the gratifying
growth OF their little ,,wn, .hnt they
have heretofore been somewhat neg
ligent about advertising it, and Civ
ing to others the benefit of it's pro-
gressive example. Correspondence
with the The State and The News and
Courier has been pretty regular from
Summerton, and should there be a
citizen with plenty Of time on his
hands he might do well to fill the
long-felt want of our sister town of
Manning by becoming correspond
ent Of The Times.
As 1t Is the hope Of this CORES
pondent that his weekly letter be. in
part. continued story of Summer
tons business and social progress.
perhaps 1t would be wise to give a
setting" Of some kind.
Ten years ago. Summerton existed
In but little more than name, con-
eisting OF only few scattered dwell
Iings and one OF two small stores
scarcely worthy the name Of general
merchandise. The advent Of the rail-
road had opened up. and otfeted the
opportunity for development to a
large scope oI: territory lying in the
bend OF the santee river and consist
ing Of some OF the fiuest agricultural
lands In the state. These lands are
very similar to the best Of those ly-
ing around wedgeneld, with this ad-
vantage. that we have here about ten
square miles of such land to each
one to be found there. The whole Of
this section IL well settled with in
teiligent. well-informed and progress
sive farmers. the most Of whomsmake
their own provisions and think their
cotton crop failure unless they have
gathered more than a bale to the
acre. The trade of all this section
naturally and geographically should
have come to Summerton, but oppor-
tunities for development were want
ing. Landed property was all held
or the market and no sites for busi-
ness houses could be obtained. About
six years ago lands for that purpose
became available, which were quick
ly bought and laid out in lots suit
able for business and residential pur-
poses. From that time the growth
OF the town has been rapid and con-
tinuous. More than one hundred
buildings having been erected in that
time. In the business section We have
tie Bank OF Summerton, something
over twenty brick business houses.
some OF which are devoted to special
lines Of trade. besides other business
concerns occupying the older woodes.
buildings. 1t has been only within
the past ten years that Summerton
has developed into a cotton market
SUFFICIENT to meet the demands of the
farmers. Previously to this, the large
farmers all shipped their cotton from
Wrights Bluff to Charleston by boat,
and only a few hundred bales were
marketed In Summerton each year.
There Is now a local market of great
strength, and very little cotton is
shipped except through the local
agents. The Sprunt agency at this
point has already shipped this sea-
son something over $500 bales; and
there are some large lots still held in
The town has just sworn in q new
council. and with the proper cooper
alton much may be expected from the
new administration The annual cleo
tion was held on Tuesday. Feb. 2,
with the following result: Intendent,
DR.. ID. o. Rhame; Wardens, Messrs.
ID. b. Davis, j. r. Eadon, H. A. Rich
bourg and w. c. Johnson, the last
two Of whom were reelected. Mr..
j. w. Lesesne remains town clerk.
In addition to the regular official
work of the council. the business men
have held occasional meetings Of late
tc discuss matters Of Importance to
the town. At recent meeting much
L. eAs sAae