Johnsonville South Carolina History

Chives Prosser (1899-1982) Photo courtesy of Tom McCutchen Jr. Colorized by Josh Dukes Chives Prosser (1899-1982) was a Johnsonville farmer and businessman. He was the oldest son  of Eldridge Franklin "E.F." Prosser and Lillian Camillia Cox Prosser.   Chives was postmaster at Johnsonville from 1920-1925.  He then owned and operated the Prosser Theater in Johnsonville since its inception in 1925, when silent films were king.  A September 1930 News and Courier article noted that the Prosser Theater had contracted with RCA Photophone to purchase a "talkie outfit" with plans to reopen that October with sound accompanying the films. This original theater was located on the south side of Broadway Street, next door to where Jakes Barbeque is today. A fire in the film booth burned the first Prosser Theater to the ground in 1937.  An alarm in the building allowed the public to exit without incident, but a collapsing wall injured two men in Chapman's Hardware Store next d

Read more about Belle Dickson at Johnsonvilleschistory.org Rosa Belle Eaddy (1868-1953) was born in Johnsonville, a daughter of   Henry Edison Eaddy   and Eliza Louisa Huggins.  Rosa Belle Eaddy Woodberry Dickson (1869-1953) Belle Dickson was likely the first woman elected mayor in the state of South Carolina.  The News and Courier noted on Oct 1, 1925 that she was elected as a compromise candidate as a tie was reached in the vote between her husband, R.B. Dickson and a Mr. Bishop: "There being no way to settle the tie, the two factions agreed to the nomination of Mrs. Dickson, wife of one of the candidates, and she was unanimously elected. . . the people of Johnsonville are satisfied that her administration will be a most progressive one."  Rosa Belle Eaddy was a role model for any independant woman of her time.  Born in Johnsonville in 1868, Miss Belle was known as a person of exceptional ability. She was multi-talented woman, chosing a career as a school teacher and thus b

Henry Edison Eaddy (1832-1912) was a turn of the 20th century Johnsonville correspondent for the local paper. He was known to his readers as the "Sage of Possum Fork" for his articles in the Kingstree County Record. In an April 1, 1909 entry, he discusses mad dogs, river steamships, the need for better roads, and the soon to be completed line bringing trains across the Pee Dee River.  Eaddy laments in his article, "We are looking for the railroad to start up again; we can hear the locomotive whistle over on the Marion side, where they are tramming logs to the Pee Dee to be towed to Georgetown, so we keep hoping to hear the trains passing.  It will not seem so lonesome." 1911 Rand McNally Map showing G & WRR through Andrews but no line running North to Johnsonville This was 2 years before passenger rail service was completed through Johnsonville. The Georgetown & Western Railroad was first chartered as the Georgetown and Lane's Railroad in 1881 by the S.

In the shadows of a sleepy branch gully outside of Johnsonville, where the echoes of history whisper through the ancien t trees an d across the rustling tobacco fields, the Hanna family's story has unfolded for generations. Thomas and Nekoda Hanna, descendants of the legendary Hugh Hanna who marched south with General Greene in the American Revolution, carved their existence into the land that echoed with the footsteps of Hanna forebears.  Before that, the same land was heavily trod by native peoples who left thousands of arrowheads and other talismans of their presence.  The Hannas toiled tirelessly to make a living on this land - the  custodians of fertile soil exposed by clearcutting forestland by hand. Thomas and Nekoda's homestead near The Branch They build a small cabin-style home near a gully they called "the branch." Thomas carved his and Nekoda's initials into at least one support beam under the new home.  One legend held that the bricks forming the found

This article was originally published to the Johnsonville SC History Exhibits page , where more details are available.  Facts and data gathered by Josh Dukes. Aimwell Church location on the Robert Mills map of Marion County (1825) and current mapping. The church is incorrectly shown as Hopewell, which is further up Old River Road . Aimwell Presbyterian Church was a Presbyterian congregation located along what is now Old River Road, approximately at the intersection of Old River Road and McWhite Circle. The approximate GPS coordinates are 33°56'28.2"N 79°29'50.4"W.  The Robert Mills Map of Marion County (1825) incorrectly lists the Aimwell Meeting House as Hopewell Meeting House.  Hopewell on the Mills map is simply listed as "Meeting House" which was not an uncommon mistake with early maps of unfamiliar locations. On Jan 29, 1791 several inhabitants of the area around the newly constructed Aimwell Meeting House petitioned the House of Representatives to inc

This story was originally published in the First Families Exhibit on the Johnsonville South Carolina History web page . Facts gathered by Josh Dukes. Henry Edison Eaddy (1832-1912) Henry Edison Eaddy (1832-1912) was a local citizen of some renown in his day. Eaddy was the son of Henry Eaddy Sr (1778-1855) and Rebecca Ard (born 1782). He was a self-taught engineer, mathematician, and writer. He put those writing skills to use for The County Record out of Kingstree, where he was known by his column pin name "The Sage of Possum Fork." He was married to Eliza Louisa Huggins Eaddy (1834–1916) with whom he had several children. One of their daughters was Rosa Belle Eaddy Woodberry Dickson , Johnsonville's first woman mayor and the first woman mayor in South Carolina (elected 1925). Henry Edison Eaddy's granddaughter Ruth Dorrill Thomas shared a memory of her grandfather in The Promised Land by Elaine Y. Eaddy: ______________________________________________________