The building and the man
By Bill Shepard
If a person should visit Phillips Street today, he could possibly see the old building shown here in the photo. The old building is still standing as shown. If the walls of the old building could talk, they would reveal a part of history not found anywhere. That could be a good thing!
This writer, pictured sitting on the steps to the front entrance, worked at this store when he was a boy, still in his school years at St. John’s School in Darlington.
The owner of the store at that time was W.C. Timmons, a well-known merchant in Darlington. Before coming to this location, he had operated a small store on West Broad Street in Darlington. Timmons had two sons who followed in his steps and became successful merchants of Darlington also.
During my school years I would hasten home from St. John’s on Fridays and go directly to the store and begin my work. Fridays and Saturdays were the two busiest days of the week. The big mill was in full operation at the time (1936-40) and workers would be paid each Friday.
They would be coming to the store to pay their weekly grocery bill and to place an order for next week’s groceries. That was the way of life for many of the mill workers during that time.
Timmons was a kind and compassionate man. I knew of times when a family had come upon hard times and would not be able to pay for their groceries. Timmons would continue to carry them week after week; their credit bill would grow larger each week. Some would never pay him in full and move away owing a large bill. I remember!
This was not to be a story about those who worked inside the store building, but about the store itself! So let’s go back to as far as I can remember! Yes, there was a time when the old building was new! I cannot tell when that was, but it was a long time ago, perhaps longer than anyone living today can remember!
This writer is far past his 95th birthday and he has vivid memories of going to the store and spending his pennies for “jawbone breakers” and “all-day suckers.” At that time the store was owned and operated by Les Lee.
Whether Lee built the store for himself or not, I do not know. A large and beautiful house was built on a large lot beside the store and that is where Lee and his family lived. Lee was a jolly fellow, always cheerful and fun to be around. He and his wife had three young daughters, Esther, Alice and Edna.
There came a time when Lee decided to build a new store at a different location. It was to be a larger store where he could expand his business, at least that’s what many of the village folk thought.
His plans were carried out and a large and new store was built for those up on the Old Hartsville Road that skirts that part of the old mill village. He hired a full-time helper to assist in the store, a man whose name was S.M. Matthews.
He had a young son who was a friend to the older Shepard boys. Here I go again, writing about people instead of the old building shown in the picture.
The old building was now empty. A young church group rented the building and began a Sunday school on Sunday afternoons. There was no church on that part of the mill village at that time.
As a boy, I became a member of that Sunday school class. I looked forward to each Sunday when the group would meet and the kind elderly lady would tell us the Bible stories about Jesus.
Remembering the teacher and the stories she told many years afterward, I wrote an article titled “All I Need to Know About God, I Learned in Sunday School.”
The church group, Church of God, built a small church on Orange Street in Darlington, and after they were forced to give up having Sunday school in the store building, I attended Sunday school classes there for a while.
Lee’s new store building burned early one Sunday morning not long after it was built. Lee was forced to return to his old building to carry on business. That was the reason for the church group moving the Sunday school class!
The previous operator of the store could never seem to get over his loss of the new store he had built, and after returning to his original place of business did not do well. As a result, he finally lost out completely. The new owner, Timmons, moved in and had a successful operation for years.
I was fortunate to have worked for him a number of my boyhood years. He once said to me, “Bill, stay with me until you are old enough and I will open a store and make you the manager!” Had I done that my life would have followed a different direction. The “road not taken” must always remain a mystery! I could have been thinking about that as I sat on the steps of the old building that day the picture here was made!
