Description:Johnsonville hires new officers Charles Lyerly and Robert Buchanan. 24 June 1976

Description:Includes photos of Seaboard Air Train Depot, town officials, and J.H. Owens, freight and express operator.

Description:Johnsonville Legion Ceremony - When the new American Legion post home was dedicated Thursday night, Post Commander, Joe T. Huggins (second from left) as host of the occasion was surrounded by high officials of the Legion in the state. Seated, left to right are Jess Bullard, of Columbia, state asjutant, Commander Huggins, Mrs. Huggins; O. B. Freeman, of Loris, department vice-commander, and W. J. McLeod, of Walterboro, state commander. The picture at the bottom, taken just before the ceremony and banquet at 8 p.m., shows the new hut, constructed almost entirely by members of the post. In addition to post member and Legion officers of the state and various districts, Governor and Mrs. Thurmond and Florence County officials attended the ceremony. (Photos by Walter S. McDonald) Source: Florence Morning News [show more]

Subject:Gid Haselden reminisces on his childhood in Possum Fork and how Johnsonville has changed over the years (including a fire that destroyed most of town.)

Description:JOHNSONVILLE LOOKED GOOD TO A BOY FROM "POSSUM FORK" JOHNSONVILLE - Half way between Florence and Georgetown - which is to say that particularly favored location location wherein the Low Country comes rushing up to greet the Pee Dee area - is a town called Johnsonville. Two things alone hold together the community - the Wellman Combing Co., with more than five-hundred employees, and an indomitable will on the part of its one-thousand citizens. AS towns go, Johnsonville is not old; but it is old enough to have firmly established itself in the affections of those whom therein dwell. One such man is D.B. Haselden. Since the last-named merchant has been a resident without interruption of the town for the past 33 years: and since Haselden was born within 2 and one half miles of his present residence, the stor of D.B. Haselden is the story of Johnsonville. Here it is in Merchant Haselden's own words: "When I came to live in Johnsonville there were no paved roads in or out. To a boy from Possum Fork, however, it looked real good. Anyway, I opened a small grocery business here on Oct. 5, 1926. My business kept up with the town - neither grew one iota. In 1927 a lumber outfit moved in unasked but very welcome. The Bennet-Walker Lumber Co., was composed of a planing mill and 5 or 6 sawmills, and remained in business here until the death of John Walker - about 1942. Walker's son still lives here. Much later the Combing Company moved in, and saved what was left of Johnsonville." What was left? "Yes. In Jan. 1931, in the dead of night a fire broke out. By dawn the Main street looked like Flanders Field after a heavy rain. Only two shops were left standing; a drug store and - you guessed it - the D.B. Haselden Grocery. The heck of it was that folks seemed to be in no hurry about rebuilding. I used to feel like a shopkeeper in the destroyed city of Pompei, I tell you. It looked like that fire was to prove a fatal blow to our town. Do you know, it was not until about 1944 that they started rebuilding from the ashes? Thirteen long years I kept shop on a street all but obliterate. Why it must have been all of twelve months after the fire before the charred smell left Broadway. That's the name of the main stem, you know..." The long and lean Mr. Haselden suddenly leaned back and roared with laughter. "Pardon me," he said finally. "I was remembering a song which was popular along about those same disheartening days. It went: 'Bright lights on Broadway, sunshine down in Dixie,' et cetera et cetera. We had the sunshine alright but not much illumination on our Broadway. "I believe I mentioned Possum Fork a little earlier? Well that's where I was born. If Johnsonville was a bit on the isolated side brother, you should have know the Fork back when I was a boy. It was almost literally out of this world. I recall a school teacher who came to teach out there - they put him up in a deserted house back in a thicket. He wanted. The told him without cracked to know if the place was haunting a smile, that the 'houses were all too small, at Possum Fork, to hold a ghost.' I reckon though, that ma didn't believe them. He didn't stay long. "The Fork is still there - only a little better than two miles from Johnsonville. Some folks will say I have no shame - disclosing conditions as they were back fifty years ago. But I am downright proud of being from Possum Fork. If this story reaches the paper, I'll bet there will be hundreds of people who will know that I am telling the truth. "I didn't see a train until I was 12 years old. The nearest railroad was at Lake City. I never visited either Florence or Georgetown until I was a married man of 23." Haselden's eyes took on a far away look. "I can recall going to Allison's Landing - that's on the Pee Dee - with my father, after we'd heard the boat whistling. Dad used to buy his staples at Georgetown - flour, rice, coffee and sugar, and have them brought up the river. It was about six miles to the Landing, we'd travel by mule and cart. When I was a boy, I thought of Georgetown as the beginning and the end of civilization. My father used to float logs and cross ties to Georgetown, you see. He'd be gone on those trips from five to ten days. Have to walk back, you know. Anyway, upon his return he would tell we children of the wonders of Georgetown; of its bulging shops, its find houses, etc. "Sometime during the early 1920s, a momentous thing took place. By popular vote Johnsonville was separated from Williamsburg County, to become part of Florence County. I suspect that Florence - the county, that is - wasn't really overcome with joy by our addition; but the people had spoken. The town itself is not old. Originally the land upon which it was built was part and parcel of the S.B. Poston farm. I can recall when the main street was sold off in lots. "I operate the smallest grocery store in Johnsonville, but it's been a living. With the help of my wife - I married Emily Powell of Possum Fork, Dec. 1917 - I've been able to raise and educate five children: there's V.C. - he's practicing law down in Georgetown - Hubert L., who has some 18 years of Navy service behind him, Wilma Ruth, who serves as secretary in the Charlotte office of the FBI, Ken, now rounding out ten years wi the U.S. Air Force, and Reid Nettles, teaching at Johnsonville High. World War II, says the Johnsonville merchant, wade for very slight change in the town's leisured pace. "There were no bases or defense plants nearby," he says, "and about the only real difference was in the absence of young people - the boys off to war, their wives (if married), following them to camps and places and cities here, there and everywhere located..." Haselden took a deep breath. "And now, I am going to stick my neck out, but good! I believe that Johnsonville is as big as ever it will get. That's my very own and personal conviction, of course. I hope it proves to be in error - but I trust I will be pardoned and forgiven by my neighbors when I say I shall not lose any sleep if the town doesn't swell too rapidly. I like it the way it is." Mr. D.B. Haselden, now 62, can look back proudly and declare that he has spent his entire life within a couple of miles radius of Johnsonville. "It is fellows like myself," he says, "who account for the existence of small places like this one. On this score, may I had, I make no apologies." [show more]

Description:Mayor Connie DeCamps meets with Girl Scouts. 3 March 1977

Description:Cleland Tanner, Irby Stone, Hubert Haselden, Livingston Bishop, infielders; Fran Altman, Freeman Richardson, F. A. Taylor, Victor Johnson, outfielders; Jimmie Husbands, Robert Turner, catchers; Carroll Taylor, Mayor Altman, pitchers.

Description:Johnsonville Middle School was originally The Stuckey School, an "Equalization School" during the "Separate But Equal" period which was built in 1954 on a 10-acre tract of land two miles west of Johnsonville (my best research so far is that this is the wooden school pictured here). The school took its name from Eliot Stuckey who donated land for the building. The school was originally constructed to serve as an all-black elementary school. It had modern conveniences such as running water, electricity, and indoor plumbing which were lacking in many all-black schools in South Carolina. From 1954-1958, high school students attended Gibbs High School in Pamplico. From 1958-1962, high school students attended Battery Park School in Nesmith. After the addition of more classrooms in 1962, Stuckey School began serving black students in grades 1-12. in 1963 a gymnasium was added. Athletic competition during this time was limited to Basketball. The Stuckey Blue Jays had the best record of all the local districts, winning many trophies and championships. The class of 1963 was the first to graduate from Stuckey, and the class of 1969 was the last. Stuckey and Johnsonville were fully integrated the following year and the Stuckey School became Johnsonville Middle School for all students. The buildings on this site served students for over 40 years, and closed its doors at the end of the 1997 school year when the new Johnsonville Middle School was completed. Lamar D. Bradley served as principal of The Stuckey School during it's entire lifetime (1954-1969). After integration, he served as the assistant superintendent of the new Florence District 5. This building is now the Johnsonville Adult Care center. [show more]

Description:The Johnsonville Motor Company was operated by Raymond B. Huggins, Sr. Pictured left to right are R.B. Huggins Jr (far left), R.B. Huggins Sr., and John "Monk" Eaddy. The older man seated to the far right is unidentified.

Description:Officer Robert Buchanan receives commendation for administering first aid to a victim in distress. 19 August 1976

Description:Johnsonville Pentecostal Holiness Church on Highway 41.

Description:L to R: Lee Powers, Bubba Haselden, Police Chief Lurie Poston Sr.

Description:Completed in 1916, the Johnsonville School building had 12 classrooms, each of which contained one school grade. In 1974 the wings were removed and the central building became the Florence County School District 5 office building.

Description:Johnsonville opens for the 1911-1912 school year. R.S. Major is principal. Teachers: Pauline Wilson, Elise Rollins, Pearl Reeves, Claudia Johnson, Elizabeth Wadill, and Emily Hutson. 5 October 1911

Description:L to R: Percy Delance Poston, DeGideon Bryant "Gid" Haselden, Wallace Herbert Meng - Chairman.

Description:An aerial view of the old Johnsonville High School and the elementary school. Also pictured are the gymnasium and the art building

Description:Johnsonville State Bank is pictured here at an older location, circa 1954 at approximately 122 West Broadway Street. In June of 1956, JSB moved across the street to a new state of the art facility with air conditioning.

Description:Article describes the old theater owned by Chevis Prosser. This was the original location that burned, approximately where Jake's BBQ is now located on Broadway.

Description:Story of the aftermath of the fire that destroyed the Prosser Theater on Broadway in 1937, causing casualties next door.

Description:Photo of lawn equipment in front of town hall, 1954

Description:Johnsonville United Methodist Church formed in 1915 when a group of former members of Old Johnsonville Methodist Church withdrew to organize in the newly incorporated town of Johnsonville. For about three years the group worshipped in the Baptist Church of Johnsonville. It was during this period that half of a city block was donated to the congregation at the corner of present day East Broadway Street and Georgetown Highway. A framed church structure was completed on the property in 1918 and was dedicated the following year. In that same year, a two-story parsonage was erected to the north on Georgetown Highway and the first pastor, a Rev. Morris, moved in. In the following years, this church served as part of a circuit with Vox, Trinity and Prospect Methodist Churches. The pastor alternated services between the churches from Sunday to Sunday. In the early years he was often paid in some small cash donations, along with produce, chickens and milk. The first addition to the church was built in 1927 with the addition of Sunday school rooms in the back. In 1946 half of the vacant property and the old parsonage were sold. A new and smaller parsonage was completed in 1947 on the property immediately behind the church. In 1956 the Johnsonville church was moved from charge to single station with its own pastor. Remodeling in 1959 of the building added new class rooms and updated the sanctuary. A building fund was established in 1961 for the purpose of building additional educational facilities. Soon after, this program was expanded to a New Church Building Fund. The property known as the “Doctor Eaddy Estate” was purchased and a new building was completed in 1965. The first service was held there on Dec. 26 of that year in the fellowship hall, which has since been named Poston Hall in memory of an early benefactor, Mr. S.B. Poston. A brick veneer parsonage was erected in 1967 behind the present church. The original Johnsonville Methodist Church building was sold and moved in pieces, some of which ended up in Possum Fork. The site is now a park. [show more]

Description:Jerry Stone (L) & Steve Haselden (R) packing the foundation of the new Johnsonville Fire Department building on Broadway.

Description:L-R: Frank Matthews, Jerry Stone, Steve Knight