Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1914-02-12
AN HISTORICAL SKETCH
OF FORT MILL TOWN
lContinued from PAGE b.

HiSS, y. y. DTdkeIOTQ, ~. M. Spratt
and w. b. Meacham. The telegraph
Office was established here in 1875,
with Miss Maggie Powers as operator.
Few people know that this little
town was ever honored by the pres
ence of the Confederate Cabinet, but
| such is nevertheless the case, for in
May, 1865, Mr.. Davis and his Cabinet
met under cedar tree in the yard
of the white Homestead" 1t was
here that the secretarv of the treas
ury. Mr.. Trenholm, resigned. and Post.
master General Reagan was appointed
| in his stead. 1t was the fullest meet
ing of the Cabinet after leaving Rich.
mond.
When Stoneman burnt Catawba
bridge in 1865. he spiked the cannon
d; placed there for it's defense. One of
these was brought here in 1876 and
bursted by the young Democrats in
| firing salutes for Hampton. The larg-
est portion has been placed on Main
street. opposite the intersection of
Confederate, near the center of the
/ town.
The town of Fort Mill was incor-
porated in 1878. and the following Off
GERS elected-B. f. Powell, intendant:
j. NJ. White, L. B. Withers, n. G. Brad
| ford and II. Young, wardens. In 1875,
spring, an election was held to de-
eide whether the town should be wet
or dry. and resulted in electing coun-
Gil of three wet" wardens and one
warden and an intendant for no whis-
key, the latter being A. J. Downs and
| Il u MDSGnv W. InI
Ardrey and Mrs. T. J. Cureton, then
went to every house in town and had
the ladies' to sign a petition to the
council praying that no license be
granted, but as the council was wet
by majority, that question was set
tied; the next was to fix the amount
TO be charged for license Every
member then wrote his figures on a
piece Of paper and threw it into hat:
on examination the average of these
was SS66.OO. This paralyZed the bars
that had been running since the towns
| incorporation and all closed. In the
| TAIL, however, Raymond Gibson paid
the $4,000 and opened out. The next
year license was reduced to $4,000
and several other bars opened. In
the town went dry. and has been ever
since. BY clause in the late char
| ter no bar can be opened in the next
- years. The present council consists
of J. a. Withers. intendant: l.. J.
| Massey. Is. Shannon, B. ID. Springs, j.
II. Stewart. wardens; J. w. Nc
| Elhaney, marshal.
In February, 1887, S. r. White and
| B. ID. Springs determined to build n
factory at this place on the Joint stock
| plan, FOR the manufacture Of cotton
gin"hams. and with the assistance ot
j. NJ. Spratt a sufficient amount of
subscriptions were taken 20 iGstiry
call meeting of the stockholders on
| me 18th of April. when the following
officers were elected-S. r.. White
president; ]. l.. Watson, vice presi-
dent, and j. Nj. Spratt, secretary
| treasurer. Work was begun at once
and main building of brick, 272x5O.
erected. This was equipped with 300
| looms and running by January 25th
.ollowing. on February 9th the Ca
| tawha Cotton Mill" was organized for
the purpose of spinning cotton yarns
This was afterward consolidated with
the Fort Mill Manufacturing Co. and
| the building of brick 155X70, with an
| So-foot ell, erected last summer In
1t there are something over 3,Oau
| spindles running and on June LIST they
expect to add 1000 more which will
supply the 200 looms with weaving
material. The capital stock was orig
!nally $4,000, but has been increased
/
lights are used for Illuminating when
running after night.
On May 5th, 1887. the Weekly
News, four column quarto newspa-
per, made its appearance. II was aft
| onward changed to siX-column folio.
and to the name of THE Clarion. y
Discontinued April 25th, 1889.
| On the night of the 9th of June.
1883, the four frame stores on the
north side of Main street, occupied by
j. r. Massey & Co, S. NJ. Mills, l.. J..
Massey and J. w. Ardrey. were
burned. The loss was about 10000
MIR. Mills had $500 insurance on his
stock The others had nothing The
fire originated under the rear end of
Massey's drug store and was OF incen-
| diary origin. The towns records were
burned in Ardrey's store.
| Building and Loan and Savings
Association was organized on March
the 10th. 1889. with S. Il. White. presi-
dent and j. NJ. Spratt. secretary treas
rrer. They do as the name indicates.
"a banking and loan business.
| Unity Presbyterian Church was or
ganized March the 18th. 1888. by the
election of William Black, Joseph
Robb, Robert Harris and Andrew Fos-
ter as elders. The dedication sermon
was preached by Rev. James McRea.
of Steel Creek Church. York and
Lancaster being old English titles and
rival estates, and the church having
been erected by the united efforts of
citizens of both districts. the idea was
suggested that Unity" would be a
most appropriate name and accord
ngly was so determined Thomas
Spratt gave the land on which the