When looking at this wonderful postcard of main street McDonald you feel as though you have stepped into the old west. The town grew up on the lands of Richard Townsend.
A special 1910 supplement to The News and Observer gives a wonderful account of the founding of McDonald. The town dates back to 1905 and the establishment of a railroad station, at that time the Mr. Spurgeon McLean owned the only store in the area. In the first five years, the area grew to include five other stores as well as a public school under the leadership of Miss Lena Hatcher. The year 1910 brought the first brick building to town with the construction of the Iona Supply Company whose motto was we carry everything from the cradle to the grave.
Mr. A.L. Hall and Mr. F.S.Greyard, successful business in McDoanld with McLean provided the driving spirit in the early years of the town. The town also boasted a cotton gin and blacksmithshop. Early residences in the town were those of Spurgeopn McLean, A.L. Hall, D.H. Britt, J.L. Townsend, C.T. Davis and F.M. Davis.
The town was officially incorporated in 1911 and in 1920 had a population of 120. This postcard was sent from Elrod on 29 December 1914.
This postcard iscourtesy of the late Mutt McCoy and is featured in my book – Robeson County in Vintage Postcards and is courtesy of Mutt McCoy.
I have been blessed enough to find bits of history on Robeson County in old barns and the universities archives around the country. I have knocked on doors and emailed people asking them to share what they have with the public. Today’s find comes from a place that is the last place I would expect to find photographs of the mill village surrounding the Jennings Cotton Mill in East Lumberton, NC. They are part of the Swiss National Library Archives. They were taken ca 1938 by Annemarie Schwarzenbach.
If you know the names of anyone in this family please let contact me.
The writer, reporter and photographer Annemarie Schwarzenbach lived her life to the fullest, becoming a cultural icon. On the 75th anniversary of her tragic death, more than 3,000 pictures are being made available to the public. (SRF, swissinfo.ch)
Schwarzenbach was born in Zurich on the 23rd May 1908 into a wealthy family of Swiss silk producers. As the third of five children, she decided to become a writer at the age of 17, and studied history in Paris and Zurich where she graduated from school in 1931. In 1933, she started to work as a journalist and photographer for Swiss magazines and newspapers for almost 10 years, travelling around the world.
Following a bicycle accident, she died on November 15, 1942 at the age of 34. The writer and reporter achieved early fame during her lifetime, but it was not until the end of the 1980s that her work was rediscovered.
The Swiss National Library has now made available online more than 3000 of her photographs taken during her travels between the 1930s and 1940s in Europe, Africa, America and Asia. (Article source)
I am constantly searching for new bits of information and not seen before photographs to document Robeson County’s rich history. I found these great photographs while sitting in a traffic jam this morning.
Robeson County road construction work on US 74 and the Lumberton-Fairmont toad in the 1930s. Courtesy of the Luther J. Jordan Photograph Collection, NC Archives.
Robeson County. Construction work on US 74. Robeson County, NC 1930s.Robeson County. Widening US 74 between Lumberton and Maxton, NC. October 1939.Robeson County. Weighing rock for road construction. Robeson County, NC. 15 January 1940Robeson County. Widening curve on US 74, pouring the concrete. November 1939Robeson County. Widening and resurfacing the road from Fairmont to Lumberton, NC. July 1939
Miss Eliza McQueen of Maxton, a milliner, is shown wearing one of her elaborate designs. At one time no lady would be seen outside of her home without her hat and gloves. This photograph is courtesy of the Maxton Historical Society and is featured in my book Images of America- Robeson County.
For time out of mind men have gathered in front of stores on benches to contemplate the problems of the world. Luke Blue, J.P. Brown, Wiley Taylor, Knox Kyle, Marvin Stubbs, Hyden Rouse, Royal Rouse, Nance Jones and John Gibson are doing just that in front of the Pittman Drug Company in Fairmont. This photograph is courtesy of the Town of Fairmont and is featured in my book Images of America- Robeson County.
Who would have thought that when Joe Sugar was driving his wagon to Raleigh in 1916 and stopped to check out a store in St. Pauls, NC that 100 years later his grandson and namesake would still be operating the family business. The journey took many twist and turns from his immigration to store owner. Joe Sugar was born January 10, 1889 in Ariogala, Lithuania. His birth name was Tsukera, the Russian word for Sugar. He arrived at the Locust Point dock in Baltimore on May 15, 1906 aboard the ship The Main. His son, Stanly, said of his father “he couldn’t read or write English, but someone forgot to tell him he was poverty stricken and he went to work making two dollars a week.”
Baltimore was home to a large Jewish Immigrant community and like many young Jewish males Joe started selling goods on consignment for the Baltimore Bargain House. He peddled clothing through the Carolinas on foot with a pack on his back until he raised enough money to purchase a horse and buggy. He slept many nights with the stars for his lights and the sky for a roof.
In October 1911 Joe and three of his brothers opened Joe Sugar & Co. in Bennettsville, SC. Joe made a trip to Baltimore to secure goods and visit his family. He met Anne Leviton and began courting her. They were married three weeks later and she returned to Bennettsville with him. Their first child Emanuel was born July 1914. By 1916 he realized that the business was not big enough to support four Sugar brothers. Joe and his small family were headed to Raleigh when he stopped in St. Pauls and heard that the Townsend Brothers had a store for sale that was making $50 a Saturday. They had found a new business and a new home. Daughter Beatrice was born in 1917 with Stanly following in 1924 and Leon in 1928.
Sugar family left to right: Joe, Stanly, Anne, Emanuel, Beatrice and Leon
Each of the Sugar children began working in the store. Sugar eventually opened a store in Lumberton that was later purchased by his son, Emanuel. His daughter, Beatrice, and her husband, Ernest Fleishman, operated a lady’s store in Lumberton and son, Leon, operated a store in Lumberton before opening his store in Fayetteville. Stanly returned from World War II and helped manage the St. Pauls store.
Stanley Sugar grew up working with his father and mother from the time he was ten in their general merchandise store. Stanley convinced his parents to change the store to focus just on clothing for the entire family. He said many times it was the best move. In 1960 Stanley made another a bold move and began to stock the men’s section with clothing for Big and Tall men as well as the short man.
It all started when a customer walked in with his hard-to-fit 12-year-old who was already 6’4”. Stanley knew he had found the store’s future. Under one roof he brought together 177 sizes of sport coats and suits from a 35 extra short to a 70 long portly. Pants from a 28 waist to a 76, which two average size people could easily fit.
He told a reporter in 1987 “I’m over inventoried. I’m always over inventoried. What built my business is having the merchandise. Most stores are scared to death to buy the way I buy.”
Stanly in his trademark red hat with Joe, who is standing in one leg of a size 70 dress pants.
He use to not be able to sleep at night at the thought of ordering 500 Ultrasuede coasts in 15 sherbet shades or buying $150,000 worth of clothes in three hours. Stanley said “But it’s always worked out.”
Stanley closed the children’s department after his youngest daughter grew out of those sizes into young women’s sizes. Then in January 1974 a newspaper advertisement announced the Sugar’s would be closing the ladies clothing department.
In 1985 Stanley was named Retailer of the Year by the Men’s Apparel Club at the 45th Annual Anniversary Ball. At that time the store was 6,500 square feet with a work force of 18. Stock included 8,000 shirts, 7,000 slacks, 2,500 sport coats and 3,500 suits.
Stanley said in a 1986 interview that he always had the moral support of his wife, Annette, whom he met in Seattle while in the Navy. “Soon as I married her, I brought her down to North Carolina to dry her off and see what she looked like. She’d been in the fog all her life. When she first came, she hated the climate, but now you couldn’t run her out with a shotgun.” The Sugar’s three daughters – Fran, Jackie and JoAnn, known to everyone as The Sugar Lumps, grew up working in the store with their grandparents and father.
The present-day Joe Sugar, son of Leon and Mickey Fleishman Sugar, grew up in Fayetteville. His mother debated long and hard to find a name for her son. Mickey’s father had recently died and she wanted to honor her father by naming him Leon but did not want him as a Jr. So, she thought using the L and calling him Larry but her Aunt Dot said “Larry Sugar is not a good name that honors no one. She said your father-in-law just passed away too. Call the boy Joe and give him Lawrence as a middle name.” Aunt Dot also told her niece that who knows he might end up down there at that store one day.
Did Aunt Dot signal the future for infant Joe? Or maybe it was when he started working with his father at his clothing store? Maybe it was destiny he does decent from three Jewish clothing merchant families – the Sugars of St. Pauls and Fayetteville; the Fleishmans of Fayetteville and his grandmother Fleishman was a Weinstein, niece of Lumberton merchant Aaron Weinstein. Young Joe did not think he would find himself in the clothing business.
After graduating from NC State, he entered the financial world. He was working as a stock broker when he called his Uncle Stanley in August 1986. He had a stock he wanted to sell Stanley. He recalls “Stanley told me ‘Listen, I’ve got some stock to sell you’ ” Stanley was looking for someone to take over the then seventy-year-old family business. One selling point Stanley told him was that Joe had the right name and would not have to spend money on a new sign. Joe drove down to the store to look around. After meeting the personnel, he liked what he saw. He talked to his family and decided that Joe Sugar’s of St. Pauls is where he belong.
Joe Sugar descendants gathered for centennial event. Photo courtesy Ponce Photography
Joe like his predecessors has made his own mark on the business. He issued a catalog for the business for several years. He has taken the business to the internet establishing a website and promoting the business using social media. His biggest mark came when Hurricane Floyd ripped the roof of the building in 1999. He enlarged the business into the next two buildings and redesigned the exterior of the buildings. He continues to provide quality clothing and service as his family has for over a century.
Driving down Elm Street in Lumberton, N.C., you see the typical architecture that is found in most Southern towns.
But when you reach the 600 block, you find a Spanish-style building with a distinctive letter S over the arched entryway. The building is so different that it stands out, raising curiosities about its history.
Stephens Funeral Home
This landmark building was the former Stephens Funeral Home, operated by a family that spent nearly 70 years serving the needs of the county’s bereaved.
Family life
James Linley Stephens was born Nov. 13, 1878, in Fairmont to James Alfred Barney Stephens and Hannah Pittman Stephens. He studied at the Fairmont schools and the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn. He moved to Lumberton in 1904, where he would remain for life.
J.L. Stephens, Sr.
On May 16, 1906, he married Quintie Floyd, who was born Sept. 22, 1888, to English Goodrich Floyd and Martha Stephens. The next year they attended the Jamestown Exposition, which celebrated the 300th anniversary of its founding.
The couple lived in two different homes on Elm Street before moving in August 1912 into the home they built at 1200 N. Chestnut St. Ownership of the home remains in the Stephens family today.
They were blessed with four children. The first, Stephens’ namesake, James Linley Stephens Jr. (Jim), was born Oct. 27, 1912. A second son, Bruce Boney Stephens, was born Aug. 15, 1915, and named for a close family friend who was an Atlantic Coast Line Railway conductor.
Their daughter, Mabel Dare Stephens, was born Nov. 13, 1919. She became a history teacher. She married James Chappell Dew on May 17, 1952. They were parents of one daughter, Teressa Stephens Dew, and three sons, James Chappell Dew Jr., Joseph Hartwell Dew and Linley Stephens Dew. She died March 10, 2010.
Their third son, Ralph Beamon Stephens, was born March 31, 1921 and named for the Rev. Dr. Ralph Beamon, pastor of Chestnut Street Methodist Church.
Early career
When Stephens first arrived in Lumberton he went to work for Caldwell and Carlyle, a general merchandise firm, first as a fertilizer deliveryman and later as a salesman in the men’s clothing section.
During this time, many general merchandise firms offered items needed at the time of
death, including caskets and burial robes. Some companies later expanded this portion of their business, as more people looked for full-service funerals.
In 1912 W.W. Carlyle left the business, and it was renamed R.D. Caldwell & Son. That same year the store enlarged the undertaking business. A Robesonian newspaper advertisement stated that Stephens would be their embalmer, as he had completed a two-year course and had the highest score of anyone taking the State Board of Examiners exam.
From the beginning of his career, Stephens became involved with the N.C. Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association. He was elected third vice president in 1913 and he later served as first vice president. He was a charter director of the N.C. Burial Association, which was organized in 1933 to license cemeteries.
In January 1914 Stephens formed a partnership with Troup Crossland Barnes, who was a sheriff’s deputy. They conducted business at 400 N. Chestnut St. under the name of Stephens and Barnes, advertising as furniture dealers and funeral directors. The first floor of the store contained their furniture line, as well as a full line of musical instruments, including pianos and organs. The second floor housed the undertaking parlor and embalming room.
An advertisement from that first year stated that they paid 10 cents per pound for cotton when the money was applied to accounts or in trade for furniture, stoves or pianos. The business was a success, and by 1925 they had opened branches of the furniture business in Fairmont and Laurinburg. In July, they opened the Stephens-Barnes Funeral Home in Fairmont.
Politics and civic service
Stephens was active in Lumberton politics, being elected to six terms on the City Council from 1913 through the 1930s. He served as mayor pro tem for a portion of that time. In 1911, he served on the sanitary committee to study the installation of public flush toilets in town. He also served on the fire committee.
He was just as involved in civic organizations, serving as a director of the Thompson Memorial Hospital and later as a trustee of the Robeson County Memorial Hospital. He was one of the original directors of the Carolina Theater and original stockholder of Pine Crest Country Club.
He was honored a year before his death for 50 years of service in the Masons. He was a member of the First Baptist Church.
Family business
The firm of Stephens and Barnes dissolved in 1932, with Stephens taking the funeral home portion and Barnes keeping the furniture sales business. In August 1932 the Stephens Funeral Home opened in the old King Building on Second Street across from the city park. This building was where the plaza is now located facing the current Robeson County Library that was built on the city park property, In the newspaper article about the opening, it was stated that he was the oldest registered embalmer in Robeson County. It stated that he would be handling the bodies and his sons would be helping with the funerals. At this time, the Stephenses also began operating an ambulance service.
In December 1937 the funeral home moved into a new building on Elm Street. The white stucco building with a tile roof was designed by Frank Lenton of Wilson and constructed by local builder W.B. Burney. The building, which cost $13,500, including $2,500 for equipment, was declared one of the best-arranged and best-equipped mortuaries in the state.
Beautiful reception rooms were decorated with the latest chrome and leather furniture. The chapel, decorated in shades of green, gold and rust, featured a Hammond organ. The back portion of the building housed the preparation room and casket display room.
James Linley Stephens Sr. died Nov. 5, 1953, four years after he had turned over the
operation of the funeral home to his three sons. The brothers divided the workload: Jim was the embalmer, Bruce operated the ambulance service and Ralph was the business manager. Mrs. Stephens followed her husband to the grave nine years later, dying Aug. 9, 1962.
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church was formally organized at the Stephens Funeral Home on Sunday June 1, 1952, after having met there since the previous fall. The congregation continued to have services there until the church’s building was completed at 24th and Barker streets.
The sons
James Jr. was a retired lieutenant commander in the U.S. Naval Reserves and was beachmaster with the Pacific fleet in World War II. He married Mary Hamilton on Dec. 29, 1942. They had a son, Richard Hamilton Stephens.
Jim StephensBruce StephensRalph Stephens
Jim was a recognized authority on environmental protection, ornithology and ecology. He was a member of American Ornithological Union. He died May 20, 1976. In October 1978 the former River Ranch, located on the Lumber River along Riverside Drive, was renamed James Linley Stephens Park in honor of his work as a naturalist, ornithologist and conservationist by the Lumberton City Council. The renaming came at the request of the Robeson County Wildlife Club, of which Stephens was a charter member, and the Roundtree Hunt Club.
Bruce served in the Army during World War II, including 19 months in Iceland. He married Morris Johnson Marley on June 17, 1945. They have one daughter, Morris Marley Stephens Drayton. Bruce was often referred to as having a good sense of humor: His maid once said, “To be in the kind of business he is in, he sure gets a lot of fun out of life.” He died Jan. 28, 1975.
Ralph was a pilot for American Airlines during World War II. One interesting incident during his time as a pilot happened July 4, 1947. It was reported around the country by The Associated Press. While on his regular flight from Salt Lake City to Seattle, just out of Boise, Idaho. Capt. E.J. Smith noticed Stephens blinking the landing lights.
When asked why, Stephens replied, “There’s a plane approaching off our bow.” Eventually, they decided the object was not a plane; it was a flying disk. Soon it was joined by four additional disks.
“They were definitely larger than our plane, fairly flat, smooth on the bottom and rough on top,” Smith was quoted as saying. The stewardess also saw the disks.
The airplane radioed the ground station, but the station could not see the disks, which disappeared for a few minutes and then reappeared for a few minutes. Shortly after the disks disappeared for a few minutes again, they then reappeared for about 15 minutes.
“The disks vanished suddenly,” Smith was quoted as saying. “Up until last night, we all had
discounted 90 percent of the reports we’d read in the papers or heard over the radio. But now, frankly, I’m baffled.”
The Robesonian reported this incident, also stating that Stephens flew trans-Atlantic flights during the war and that he was “Lumberton’s most experienced airman.”
Ralph married Carolyn Long on April 9, 1955. They have one daughter, Carolyn Long Stephens Watson. He died Jan. 8, 1982.
End of era
In December 1981, a month after Ralph became sick, his family decided to close the funeral home, after 67 years of serving Lumberton and Robeson County.
Margaret Spruill had dealt with the father and sons over the years, coping with the loss of grandmother, mother, aunt and daughter. She summed up the lives of these men in the Jan. 19, 1982, issue of The Robesonian:
“I feel I speak for a vast number of Robeson people when I say a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to these four men, Mr. Stephens and his sons … for burying our dead through the years. The Stephens boys conducted funerals with a dignity that lent an air of reverence to each service. At the sad times they were kind and considerate, but at the happy times they met life with zest and keen enjoyment.” She ended with, “So we say goodbye to these men who stood shoulder to shoulder to help others meet life’s saddest experiences yet enjoyed the happy times which came their
way.”
A walk around downtown Lumberton reveals many unique and interesting buildings. If you venture out of the commercial district into the nearby residential areas you will find equally wonderful homes. A desire to find out more about who designed and built these monuments for the movers and shakers of Lumberton led me on a trip to the local history room at the Robeson County Library.
Special issues of local papers provided a great deal of information but when I found Doris Burney Willard’s Burney Builders – I knew that I had hit the jackpot. Doris, daughter of Thomas Matthew Burney, in 1986 compiled all research, interviews with family members and newspaper articles on her family into a book about this family of builders. Three generations of the Burney family spent the first 50 years of the 20th century using their knowledge of carpentry and engineering shaped the city’s architectural heritage.
The family of builders began with William Burney (May 18, 1842 – November 11, 1920) born in Bladen County to Richard Burney (1806-1848) and his wife, Elizabeth Allen (1810-1900). William Burney served as a private in the Confederate army and on January 6, 1867 he married Elmira Cain (1850-1931). They made their home on a Bladen County farm west of Tar Heel.
They were the parents of seven children, namely Florence Lorena Burney (December 31, 1867 – October 20, 1911), Robert Nevins Burney (November 24, 1869 – December 17, 1955), Valeria Burney (June 12, 1872 – May 16, 1963), Anna Burney (August 23, 1874 – July 3, 1945), William Moody Burney (December 23, 1876 – August 24, 1956), Charles Randle Burney (May 22, 1879 – June 19, 1944) and Thomas Matthew Burney (January 6, 1882 – January 17, 1965).
During 1903 and 1904 William Burney built the homes for Lumberton merchants, Luther H. Caldwell and J.P. McNeill, and set the standard for the superior level of craftsmanship found in all Burney built structures. The two-story Queen Anne style homes were similar in design both featuring two-tier porches. The McNeill home was torn down after suffering fire damage in 1967. The Caldwell home located at 209 West 8th Street was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Luther H. Caldwell Home
William Burney died as a result of a number of strokes. Three of his sons and his son-in-law, Dock Walters, built his coffin out of 12 inch black walnut boards that Burney had milled for that purpose.
Second generation
William Moody Burney learned his craft from his father and later worked with his brother in law Doctor Pink Walters (Valeria’s husband). He married his first wife, Annie (maiden name unknown), on Christmas Day 1906 in Cleveland, Alabama. They were parents to a son, Lessie Byron, and daughter, Eula Mae. After Annie’s death, he married Mary Lynn Ellis on September 6, 1942.
William’s first building project as sole contractor was the office and gin of the Robeson Cotton Oil Company. In 1917, he built the Lumberton Municipal Building on the corner of Elm and Second Streets. The municipal building stands vacant waiting to be useful once again. These two buildings represented an expansion of Burney style design, but continued the level of craftsmanship.
Lumberton Municipal Building
William Moody Burney and his brother, Thomas Matthew Burney did business as Burney Brothers Builders from 1918 to 1922. After this date, they ceased their partnership and focused their efforts on building their own independent contracting firms. This partnership however produced three significant structures; the Baker Sanatorium (later the Medical Arts Building), the Freeman Printing Company and the McIntyre Building on Chestnut Street.
Baker Sanitorium
William built the ochre-colored pressed brick building with Tuscan columns on the corner of Elm and Fifth streets for the First National Bank; it later housed the Sanitary Café and the Brown House Craft Store. In 1938, he added another style to his palette, by building the Spanish Revival style stuccoed Stephens Funeral Home on Elm Street.
Stephens Funeral Home
Other notable structures were homes built for Dr. R.S. Beam, Ira Bullard, M.A. Geddie, Kelly M. Barnes (currently Biggs funeral Home), and Dr. Stephen McIntyre (currently home of Mr. and Mrs. David Branch).
The second partner in this generation of Burney builders was Thomas Matthew Burney, who, like his brother, worked for father and brother-in-law, Dock Walters. Matt married Mary Emily (Mollie) Russell on December 28, 1910. They were the parents of Russell Thomas, Mary Pauline (Polly), Doris Elizabeth, Loris Faye and Cleo.
They settled in Lumberton about 1913 and Matt built a bungalow style home for them on the corner of Pine and 14th Streets. In 1929 Mollie started operating the home as a tourist home, the forerunner of the modern Bed and Breakfast. In 1937 Matt enlarged it into a two-story home. Their daughter Polly continued to operate the tourist home for years. During the tobacco market sales at Lumberton’s ten tobacco warehouses there was never an empty room.
In 1926 Matt built the Thompson Memorial Hospital, which later housed the Lumberton town office and was demolished in 2006 to make room for the parking lot of the new city hall. He built three tobacco warehouses the Britt and Hedgepeth both on Pine Street and the Carlyle on First and Chestnut. In 1938 he constructed a modern masterpiece for the Norment Motor Company on West Fifth Street which was designed by his son, Russell Thomas Burney.
Thompson Memorial Hospital
In 1945 Matt accepted the position as building engineer for the Farmers Cooperative Exchange and Cotton Growers Association for North and South Carolina. In this position, he was responsible for overseeing and maintaining all buildings associated with the company in both Carolinas. He held this position until his death in 1965. During his tenure, thirty-eight FCX Service Centers opened.
The homes of this generation of Burney builders varied greatly in design. They ranged from the Elm Street brick home of R.C. Adams with its corbelled corner and red tile roof to the colonial revival home of Robert C. Lawrence (author of The State of Robeson) at the corner of North Walnut Street and Elizabethtown Road and the outstanding art deco home for Edwin Welsh behind the Lawrence home. All three of these structures are still standing. The art deco house is one of the finest surviving examples of this style in North Carolina.
RC Adams HomeRobert C Lawrence Home
Third generation
Lessie Byron Burney was born December 19, 1907 to William Moody Burney and his wife, Annie. He received a degree in architectural engineering in 1930 from North Carolina State University. He worked for three years after college with his father in Lumberton.
By 1937 Byron was living in Raleigh and in 1947 obtained his North Carolina architect’s license. He served as architect for several Lumberton homes which included the Elm Street home of Hector MacLean and the Barker Ten Mile Road homes of Dudley Jennings, Foster Davis and Frank McLeod, Jr. Byron Burney retired in 1972.
Russell Thomas Burney was the oldest child of Thomas Matthew Burney and his wife, Mary Emily Russell. From the earliest years of his life Russell was always on construction sites with his father. First as water boy, then a mason’s assistant and finally truck driver.
Russell graduated with a civil engineering degree from The Citadel in 1934. He married Peggy Moody in 1937 and began working with his father in Lumberton. Their firm was known as Thomas M. Burney and Son, Inc.
In 1938 Russell designed and his father built what was to be called their greatest modern work, The Norment Motor Company was located on West Fifth Street. The high art deco style building featured large plate glass windows and terrazzo flooring.
Norment Motor Company
The Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company featured the building that year in its advertising. The company hired Russell as an architectural and engineering representative in the Carolinas and Georgia.
In 1941 Russell served as a consulting engineer for the construction of Camp Davis. He was engineer of construction and maintenance for the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company in Wilmington during World War II.
He founded R.T. Burney, Inc. and engaged in the design and construction of bridges, wharves and fishing piers from Florida to Virginia.
Russell’s specialty became steel piers after the one he designed and built at Surf City was the only pier to survive Hurricane Hazel in 1954 from Florida to Virginia.
Russell’s son, Russell Thomas Burney, Jr. also graduated from The Citadel with a degree in civil engineering. He has worked with many firms building schools, bridges and roads.
Son-in-law builder
Doctor Pink Walters was born January 18, 1864 to William Pinckney Walters (1829-1905) and wife, Sarah Ann Loe (1825-1887). He married Esther D. Atkinson and they were parents to Linnie Mae, Fannie, William Oscar and Marcus Floyd. Esther died in 1900.
In 1903 Dock married Valeria Burney, daughter of William and Elmira. They were parents of Joseph Neal, William Manley and Sarah Elmyra.
He was a Lumberton commissioner from May 1912 until May 1914 and a director of the Planter’s Bank and the National Bank.
Dock built the Planter’s Bank on the corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets (later Scottish Bank and First Union) and the National and Jennings Cotton Mills.
Planter’s BankNational Cotton Mill Lumberton
This family of builders set their distinctive mark on the landscape of Lumberton with their distinctive and quality built homes, office building and industrial sites that were needed during its period of growth. While many of their architectural treasures survive; many more have fallen to the rolling bulldozer.
For centuries people have been drawn to the mineral springs in America and around the world. It was claimed that the waters of Saratoga, New York would cure kidney and liver complaints, rheumatism, diabetes, heartburn, cancer, malaria, hangovers and, “weakness of women”.
The red colored waters of Red Springs became a drawing card for those seeking relaxation and health-giving waters. We learn about the legend of the red waters from Beatrice McEachern Bullock’s 1969 booklet “A Brief History of Red Springs”.
“An Indian Brave at sunset, returning wearied from the day’s hunt, knelt to drink from the deep spring that bubbled cool and refreshing from the sands beneath the towering pines. He thought to rest awhile before seeking the lodge where a dark-eyed maiden waited. But alas, his rival for the maiden’s hand, lurking in the forest, sent a death arrow speeding and the stricken warrior fell forward into the quiet waters and sank from sight. Only the bronze hued blanket flung across his shoulder, was left floating silently on the surface.
And even today when the late afternoon sun throws its slanting rays through the trees, the dying light catches the gleam of the blanket that lies always just beneath the surface of the water.”
Hunting party in front of hotel
Gone long since is the wide, deep pool from which the Indians drank and to which many years later, journeyed plantation families seeking the pleasant, health-giving water. In its place came pipes from which the same medicated water gushed freely, leaving behind the familiar russet sediment. Summer cottages, a hotel and a few permanent homes began to cluster about the spring and a tiny village came into being and took its name from its famous water.”
On March 11, 1775 “Sailor” Hector McNeill received a land grant from King George III of England and he purchased the adjoining tract. This property covers most of the present town.
The waters started attracting not only settlers but many visitors. Malcolm McNeill, Jr., grandson of “Sailor” Hector, constructed on what is now Main Street just north of Second Avenue. The hotel opened July 4, 1852 was great fanfare and festivities including the Lumber Bridge Light Infantry. He died two years later and his brother, Hector McNeill known as Squire McNeill or Red Hector, took over the hotel.
Dr vardell and the springs
In the October 14, 1858 issue of the Fayetteville Observer gives an account of a reporter’s visit to McNeill’s hotel. “Mr. McNeill is an intelligent, industrious man very attentive to his guests and over solicitous of their comfort and enjoyment. Of the water, there can be but one opinion – it is delicious. No one can sit for, on a warm day, beside the gushing fountain, drinking freely of its crystal water, without coming to that conclusion. It is delightfully cool, clear and sparkling. To drink a half dozen glasses in as many minutes is no uncommon thing.”
The hotel and nearby fairgrounds of the Robeson County Agricultural Society were the sites of all major special occasions and events including a visit in the 1880s by former Governor Zebulon Vance. Vance Avenue was named in his honor.
Gov. Zebulon Baird Vance
In 1891 the hotel property was purchased by Solomon Townsend and his son, Benjamin Wesley Townsend, natives of Richmond County. Solomon was married to Hannah Jane Baldwin and his son chose Janie Robeson McMillan, daughter of Hamilton McMillan, as his wife. The Townsends demolished the old hotel and built Hotel Townsend.
The Townsend’s chose Phil Wright of the firm of Wright Bros., former manager of the LaFayette Hotel in Fayetteville as well as hotels in Danville and Charlottesville, VA to operate the hotel. Newspaper articles about the grand opening extolled the hotel and all its amenities which included “electric bells, gas-lighted rooms, hot and cold baths and cuisine worthy of the manager’s reputation.”
The grand opening took place June 30, 1891 to a full house of guests and visitors including a special train with two cars from Fayetteville and another train with guests from Bennettsville, Cheraw, Maxton and Rockingham.
“The board piazza of the hotel, so alluring and cozy for the confidential and even lover-life tete a tete, the embowered walks leading to the spring and the leafy campus with its clumps of overhanging trees.” The declared the hotel in all respects equal to the Atlantic Hotel at Morehead City.
The Fayetteville Observer stated the ball lasted from 11pm until 2am and then went into great detail about the dresses and jewelry of the female guests including “Miss Mamie Bidgood in Blue silk, Marechal Niel roses and pearls; Miss Lida Wright in black China silk with a demi-train, gold trimming and ornaments and carrying an ostrich fan; Miss Ruth V. Smith in cream point lace over white silk wearing diamonds; Miss Vista Dudley in cream dotted Swiss and diamonds; and Miss Bessie Irby wearing cream satin and lace with diamonds.”
An advertisement for Hotel Townsend in 1896 declared it as “one of the best arranged in this part of the state” with indoor baths and toilet rooms, live music during the season. An1897 advertisement heralded that it had all modern conveniences and that the waters could cure stomach and kidney ailments. Rates were $2 a day, $10 a week or $30 a month.
The Hotel Townsend served as the place to host huge events like in August 1905 when it was the center location for all the activities surrounding the annual Home Comer’s Week. This was a time for all former Robesonians to return and renew old friendships. Senator JL McLauirn of South Carolina stood on the porch to deliver his speech about Scottish poetry and history to 3000 people. In September 1910 the hotel hosted a visit by NC Governor W.W. Kitchen.
Lots of people used the hotel host private parties like the All Hallow’s Eve party in 1902 given by Miss Ida Townsend which featured a gypsy, witch and ghosts with weird and fantastic lights. The writer talked in length about the food served which included chicken salad, salmon biscuits, peanut sandwiches tied with ribbons of color, frappe, coffee, chocolate nuts and luscious fruits. The writer then apologized for not being more familiar with many new stylish dainties served on the occasion. The Leap Year Party of 1912 hosted by the young ladies of the town entertained the town’s young men. Lots of amusements filled the evening including the men’s apron hemming competition which Hector Currie won. The Leap Year Party of 1912 hosted by the young ladies of the town entertained the town’s young men. Lots of amusements filled the evening including the men’s apron hemming competition which Hector Currie won.
In June 1907 the property was sold and purchased by The Robeson County Educational Association which was incorporated by C.G. Vardell, J.I. McMillan, J.N. Buie, H. Graham and B.W. Townsend. The association’s propose was to establish a school for boys, library and a nursing school. The hotel was refurbished and the next year was advertising that they had updated to an all electrical system and had installed a new water works system.
It was after this group of new owners took control that the name changed to Red Springs Hotel. In 1910 the manager J.L. Harrison hosted all the stockholders and their families which totaled 100 for a Thanksgiving Dinner. Candles and an oak fire lighted the room and the Levin’s Orchestra of Raleigh played during the dinner.
Lots of guests returned year after year for the healing waters and the plentiful game hunting in the countryside. Couples like Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm Craig of Canada who loved the mild climate of Red Springs and its refreshing waters. In the April 28, 1897 Fayetteville Observer appeared a letter from Mrs. Garrason saying that when she first arrived at Hotel Townsend she had not been able to eat for two months. She goes on to say she saw no change in the first week but by weeks two and three she was able to eat without inconvenience and started to gain weight. She finished by saying it had been a year since she went to the springs and she would advise a visit by anyone suffering indigestion.
In 1936 the old hotel was becoming unsafe and it was demolished and the lumber used to construct the gym at Flora Macdonald College.
During the tenure of this hotel there were others in Red Springs including the Exchange Hotel owned by J. McC. Buie and later purchased by A.B. Pearsall and G.H. Hall. Mrs. Nellie Shooter, a very talented milliner, worked hard and in 1891 also built a hotel and added to it in 1894. Known as Hotel Red Springs it had an office, parlors and dining room as well as twenty-one guest rooms. It stood on the corner of Main Street and Third Avenue. She rented it out to several others over the years at times taking over the management of it herself. It closed sometime before 1908 when the Hotel Townsend was named Hotel Red Springs.
The hotels were not the only business to make money from the springs in March 1906 the Red Springs Bottling Works was opened by BW Townsend, Martin McKinnon and AB Pearsall. They produced carbonated water, high grade ginger ale and all kinds of soft drinks.
Red Springs reigned as the South’s Saratoga for almost 85 years and now only survives in yellowed newspapers, faded postcards and memories of older residents. You can still drive down Main Street and see one of the old spring sites covered with a shelter and marked with a sign.
