Archival articles and notices retrieved from The Journal and Review, The Aiken Standard and other sites, as noted, and placed in historic context.
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Part 1: 1908-1917
The July 1908 article on the convention of the Grand Lodge of the Colored Knights of Pythias may be the first mention in the The Journal and Review/Aiken Standard of the McGhee brothers. The prominence of the attendees was underscored by the presence of Aiken’s white Mayor, Julian B. Salley, who, according to the program, delivered a welcome on behalf of the City.
The response was delivered by Prof. Nathaniel J. Frederick, Grand Lecturer of Columbia, SC. Prof. N.J. Frederick. Born to parents freed from slavery, Prof. Frederick went on to become a highly regarded educator, civil rights activist, newspaper editor and attorney.
Here, it bears mention that Nathaniel J. Frederick would return to Aiken some 18 years later to defend the three Lowman children who’d been accused of conspiring to kill Sheriff Howard of Aiken. The success of Frederick’s appeal abruptly ended in October 1926 when a mob of local citizens kidnapped the three defendants from the Aiken jail and lynched them in the area where Crosland Park now stands. Nathaniel. J. Frederick’s history, and the source of the above photograph, may be found here.
Other notable attendees at the Pythias convention included, among many others, Dr. C.C. Johnson, Robert Shaw Wilkinson, and Major John Hammond, who are briefly described here to indicate the stature of the convention’s attendees, described in the Journal and Review described as, “several hundred of the most prominent colored people of the state.”
Dr. C.C. (Charles Catlett) Johnson, Grand Medical Register of Aiken, delivered a welcome on behalf of the Lodge. His extraordinary history and the history of the C.C. Johnson Drug Store may be read here.
Robert Shaw Wilkinson of Orangeburg, SC was a professor of physics and chemistry (and future president) at the South Carolina Colored Normal, Industrial, Agricultural, and Mechanical College (later South Carolina State University). A history on R.S. Wilkinson may be read here. R.S. Wilkinson’t obituary, below, was published in the March 14, 1932 edition of The New YorkTimes.
Major John Hammond Fordham prominent Orangeburg, SC citizen and attorney, was admitted to the bar in 1874. See image, left, of Major John Hammond Fordham and his home, (below) which is on the National Historic Register. A history on Major Fordham (and the origin of these two images) may be found here.
In October 1908, just a few months after the Pythians convention, the first article featuring the work of McGhee and McGhee contractors appeared in the (Aiken) Journal and Review. Headlined, “McGhee Brothers Given Big Contract,” the article described the building the McGhees had been contracted to build at a cost of $5,000 to $6,000 for J.W. Lybrand of Wagener, whose store, described as one of the largest merchandising establishments in this part of the state, had recently burned. The new store would be two-stories in height, built of brick, and measuring 50’ x 109’. Two months later, in December 1908, a second article appeared announcing the near-completion of the store, described as “the handsomest building in town.”
In April 1916, an article appeared in the Journal and Review announcing the upcoming arrival of a hospital courtesty of the generosity of local benefactors in Aiken’s winter colony.
On June 14, 1916, an article appeared in this same newspaper announcing a “rumor” that the contract for the new hospital to be built on the site of the old Park in the Pines Hotel had been let by McGhee & McGhee, who’d underbid all competitors.
On June 21, 1916, the rumor was confirmed, as McGhee & McGhee released a statement saying, “We have definitely taken the contract for the Aiken Hospital and expect to break ground this week or early next week. Our purpose is to finish in about seven months…. The contract involves approximately $42,000.” The firm’s existing payroll of 35 men was expected to increase during construction of the new hospital.
In this same article, other recent and current projects of the McGhee & McGhee firm were listed:
- $2,000 in improvements on the JF Byers Cottage
- $5,000 in improvements on the Atterbury Cottage
- $3,000 on the Highland Park Hotel
- $6,000-$7,000 on the Iselin’s Hopelands estate comprising “additions to the building, a new terrace, and a beautiful fountain.”
On May 2, 1917, with construction on the Aiken Hospital completed and preparations underway for the grand opening, the Journal and Review featured a front page story headlined, “Aiken Hospital the City’s Price — Princely Gift from Princely People Soon to be Opened.” See the close-up, cropped clippings below for the full story, which describe in detail the 3 story, heart pine building, its officers, fixtures and amenities.
On this same front page was another headline, “Aiken Rallies to Wilson’s Call,” hinting at the larger story on the world stage where, only a month earlier, the US had declared war against Germany. Already, Wm McGhee was at work volunteering to help with the war effort, having been appointed as part of a committee to join forces with the white Patriotic League in the furtherance of American citizenship. Over the next year, the McGhee Brothers would feature prominently in volunteerism with the Red Cross, selling war bonds, and donating to local causes.
The construction of the new hospital likely further established the reputation of McGhee & McGhee as full service contractors capable of taking on any size job, which positioned them for the building boom that began during the war and continued into the post-war economy. Their first newspaper ads appeared in the spring of 1917.
A June 27, 1917 Journal and Review article titled “Big Red Cross Mass Meeting” told of a large meeting of local Red Cross dignitaries and speakers, making a plea for the war effort. The contribution of $150 from from the Black congregation at Friendship Baptist Church was lauded, with the committee led by Wm McGhee, A.G. McGhee, C.C. Johnson and E.P. Stoney credited with taking a “most active part in the fund.”
A second article from June 27, 1917 announced the McGhee Brothers’ $2,000 contract to perform annual repairs plus add several rooms and a sun parlor to the Highland Park Hotel.
As was the practice in those days, local hospitals were a community effort, with citizens, clubs, and businesses donating, as able, to everything from fruit and flowers, to vegetables, meat and dairy, to furniture, bedding, linens, and reading materials. In June, the McGhee Brothers donated two hens.
An October 17, 1917 Journal and Review newspaper article published “A Letter from Fort Jackson,” which had been received by W.M. and A.B. McGhee from a Private Andrew N. Smith in training to go to the war.
