Calhoun County Museum
Come and enjoy the history of Calhoun County and South Carolina presented with a personal southern touch.
Calhoun County Chronology (cont.)
1879: Record cotton crop
1879: Bennet Jacobson builds the first brick store in St. Matthews (once owned by Julian Welch)
1886: Charleston Earthquake rocks houses
1888: J. E. Wannamaker is named by Clemson Will as a life trustee of the new college
Late 1880’s: First newspaper in the area, “The Spectator” is published
1890: Attempt to form a new county from parts of Orangeburg and Lexington Counties (to be named for John C. Calhoun) is defeated in the General Assembly
1890: Unsuccessful attempt to raise $50,000 to start a cotton mill
1892: Graded schools begin1894: Atlantic Coast Line railroad comes through; towns begin growing: Lone Star in the Pine Grove Community, Auburn (near the site of Keller’s Store) is soon changed to Creston, and at the crossing of the State Road the Pee Dee Land Co. lays out Cameron on land then owned by Dr. J. W. Summers
1895: Tillman movement produces a new state constitution providing for the creation of new counties by popular vote
1896: Another effort to form a new Calhoun County is defeated, this time by voters
1898: The Fort Motte Guards, the St. Matthews Light Infantry, and others serve in the Spanish-American War
1899: Sixteen stores and shops burn on a snowy night in St. Matthews; another bad fire takes places seven years later
1901: C. G. Sontag volunteers for yellow fever experiment in Cuba (he later marries and settles in Sandy Run)
1906: Presbyterians organize in St. Matthews
1907: Agitation for a new county begins again; an Association is started, headed by Ed Wimberly, after his death by Dr. Dreher, with T. A. Amaker as Secretary Treasurer, and J. S. Wannamaker and J. A. Merritt among the hard workers. St. Matthews guarantees $20,000 for a court house and jail; election on December 17th results 603 to 111 in favor of Calhoun County
1908: State Supreme Court decides in favor of Calhoun County; last minute re-survey of area in a little red car; Calhoun County Act passed and signed by Governor M. F. Ansel on February 14; farm extension work begins
1909: Dr. S. J. Summers began serving as first Senator and H. C. Paulling began serving as the first Representative
1913: Cornerstone of the Court House is laid
1914: Court House is dedicated May 18th
1914: World War I begins in Europe
1917: U. S. enters war and the draft board is set up
1917: Home Demonstration work begins in Calhoun County
1918: Armistice is signed and World War I ends
1920: Record cotton crop of 44,000 bales, price drops nearly ¾
1921: Cotton crop is only 3,200 bales, ruined by boll weevil
1923: American Cotton Association, headed by J. S. Wannamaker in St. Matthews, puts on a boll weevil control campaign
Property of Calhoun County Museum Archives.
Not to be used without written consent.