В Флоренции снесли исторический особняк начала XX века, чтобы построить дизельную станцию

FLORENCE — A dilapidated historical home at the corner of a busy Florence intersection has been demolished. The house at the corner of East Darlington and East Lucas streets had been a landmark in the community for more than a century, with early records indicating that the house had been around since at least 1905, according to Francis Marion University Associate Professor of History Erica Johnson. It stood through the rise of the railroad, the creation of the healthcare systems and multiple large changes made to Florence’s downtown — including demolitions of whole rows of historically significant buildings. Throughout the decades, the house changed, too. Before its demolition, trees were growing throughout the structure, the roof was gone and City Manager Scotty Davis said “it could fall any day now.” Now, the home is gone. Johnson, who specializes in African American history, was tasked with finding the history of the home prior to its demolition. Aiding her were Stephen Motte with the Florence County Museum and Jennifer Reyna at the Florence County Library. A decades-long history The site of the East Darlington property will soon host a diesel facility for city vehicles. The turn-of-the-century home was likely also built with transportation in mind. Johnson assumes the home was originally constructed around the time that Florence’s railroad was built. It was likely created as housing for railway workers. The railway made a big mark on Florence, Johnson said, bringing more people to the city, creating more jobs and building the area into a bustling community. “Deciding to put (the railroad) here is really what allowed Florence to flourish the way that it did and to have such a diverse population,” Johnson said. “If they had put it somewhere else, I couldn't imagine what Florence would be like. It probably wouldn't be as big of a town.” By using old city directories from the South Carolina room at the Florence library, Johnson found that a majority of early residents of the home were renters who worked for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Newspaper advertisements from the 1940s show bungalows — which in this case means small apartments — for rent on the property for $15 a month. Railway workers were still renting out space at the home, as evidenced by lawsuits filed at the time by residents who were members of railroad unions. Many of the residents were not necessarily from Florence County, Johnson said. “They've traveled in from somewhere else,” Johnson said. “Some from Georgia, some from North Carolina, and that's probably why they're lodging.” Almost all of the railway workers who came from other states stayed in Florence and made South Carolina their home because of the railroad, according to obituaries. As different types of industry came into Florence and McLeod Health entered the scene, that part of Florence was shaken up. By the 1950s, there was a break in the demographic of renters in the home and entire neighborhood. An organization called the Grand Order of the Mutual Aid Society purchased the property around that same time and tenants from that point forward were African American. Between the 1960s and 1990s, the owners of the home fluctuated less. In 1996, a large fire engulfed most of the home, which may explain the state it was most recently in before it was demolished, Johnson said. While some rumors have spread about the home once being a brothel, Johnson said she has found zero evidence of it in her research. Honoring the history Where the house once stood is now a flattened plot of dirt. Restoration of the home was out of the question due to the cost associated with historical materials, according to city officials. “When you're restoring those types of homes, it's millions of dollars,” Mayor Lethonia Barnes said at a city community development meeting. “Those dollars come out of the budget of community, where that could be four or five houses that we put in the community.” A second diesel station for city vehicles will go in the area, instead, Davis said. A buffer will be placed to hide the area from public view, and the city has discussed placing something on the property to honor its history. “There's ways to honor these histories, even if we can't save a physical building,” Johnson said. Historical markers, local exhibits and incorporating the railway worker’s stories into regional curriculum can all keep the history of 215 E. Darlington St. alive, Johnson said. As she researched tenants of the home, there was something that stood out to Johnson. Many of the railway workers passed long after they worked for the railroad, but their work on the railroad was always mentioned in their obituaries, Johnson said. “It's clear that it was a really important part of this community for that early part of the 20th century, and so, I liked kind of seeing the value of the railroad,” Johnson said. “You take it kind of for granted.”