Desk from the Bank of Western Carolina, Wagener's bank in 1920.
By Valerie Sliker, courtesy Wagener Monthly
As we brought in the year 2020, many references were made to the “roaring twenties,” the 1920s. Most of us think of that decade as being a happy one, between World Wars and pre-depression. The economic growth and social changes were massive. Women gained the right to vote and people began driving automobiles instead of their horses and wagons.
Here in Wagener, the late Mrs. Maradelle Ray, founder of the Wagener Museum, often recounted many trips to town in the horse and wagon and sleeping the wagon while her parents did their shopping. Jimmy Busbee’s parents had the Cadillac of wagons which, upon retirement, was displayed in the hardware store for decades.
In 1920, Tyler Brothers had already been in business for nearly two decades. Other merchants in the town included Jacob Lybrand whose giant store stood in the current chicken lot of the Wagener Milling Company, Maurice Jackson, Merritt Baggott, Walter M. Miller (Our Mayor’s grandfather), Henry Hall, Drayton Gantt, Arthur Busbee, John Ware, Kirkland Austin, Millege Shull, Tillman Rawls and Jerome Fox.
In addition to these, we had two pharmacists operating in 1920, Dewey Jackson and James Gantt. Wagener had five barbers including Melton Able, Hollis Meetze and a Mr. A. Sharpe.
In 1920, Wagener had 3 lawyers and all three were Busbees. The town had doctors Mac Webb and John H. Brodie; sawyers, Charlie Smith and Maxie Smith; Police chief Mike Knotts, blacksmiths Lee Jones and Bolliver Gantt, liveryman Clarence Gantt, realtor Arthur Brodie, and dentists Dr. Williams and Dr. Gunter. In 2020, we still have a lawyer named Busbee and a dentist named Dr. Williams.
The ministers listed on the 1920 census included Matthew Meetze, James Holley (Methodist), and a Baptist minister whose name is undecipherable. The bank Presidents were Edmond Jackson and Ernest Richardson. The miller at the Grist Mill was Peter Brown.
For a few short years that included 1920, Wagener had a hotel, the Edisto Hotel, which was located near the current Tyler Brother’s Dept. store. Lucie Godbold ran it although it was built by a Mr. Meaderers from Ohio and later owned by Lucious Cook. Godbold’s daughter lived in Wagener for those few years and later went on to fame for her participation in the Women’s World Games and for being the first woman inducted into the SC Sports Hall of Fame.
There was no Aiken Electric or SCE&G in Wagener in 1920, Clifton Gantt built the town’s first generator, run by a crude oil engine, homes and businesses had electricity for the first time, although hours were limited. The Broad River Power Company bought “Gantt’s Electric Plant” in 1927.
The Census of 1920 lists the population of the town of Wagener as 597, all of whom were born in the southern states except for 2 from Russia (Aaron Segal and Jack Edelstein), 2 from Ireland (Nancy Cofer and Philip Toole), one from England (Eva James) and just one Yankee (Catherine Burton).
Wagener’s 2018 records list the population inside town limits as 889, many of which are Yankees. Median household income is $36,458, median age is 40.1 and 38.5% live below the poverty line.
The Wagener School graduating class of 1920/21 had five graduates: Susie Kennedy, O’Neal Williamson, Lee F. Hall, Gregory Schockly and J. B. Brown. Currently, the class of 2020 has 61 potential graduates. The Wagener School in 1920 consisted of students in first through eleventh grade, a student body of 241 with an average attendance of 186. The Wagener Salley High School in 2020 consists of students in ninth through twelfth grade, a student body of 274.
The 1920 census records Miss Mae Muldrow as the music teacher. The school took advantage of the Smith-Hughes Act and put in Vocational Agriculture with Mr. W.H. Avery as the agricultural instructor.
Another school for Wagener residents was the state chartered Christian Edisto Academy located in Seivern from 1915 – 1934.
Wagener has had several different banks through the years. In 1920, the Bank of Western Carolina was here. The Aiken Standard and Review reported the financial condition of the bank on June 30, 1920 to be the following: Total Resources and Total Liabilities, both at $290,976.01 and Loans, $225,588.06. The earlier bank was the Bank of Wagener and the later bank was Iodine Bank. The Bank of Western Carolina was located where Security Federal Bank is located today; however, Wagener's prior banks were located elsewhere in town.
In 2020, Security Federal is the bank in Wagener. It is headquartered in Aiken, has 17 locations and is the 6th largest bank in the state. Statistics for just the Wagener branch are not available. As of September, 2019, Security Federal as a whole lists their assets at $991.1MM; Loans, $453.6MM.
Touring the Wagener museum, I found it very interesting to compare a variety of items from 1920 to 2020. The biggest differences I noticed was in music, farming and the telephone. Owen Gunter (Cora Bodie's father) once owned the working gramophone which has cylinders for music instead of records or digital music apps like Spotify and Pandora. The 1920 cylinders included the Dardenella Fox Trot, Hawaiian Smiles, Sweeter as the Years go By, and the Royal Australian Navy’s Marching Band. Other cylinders from that era included the book of Psalms, Luke 23rd and stories like Chicken Little and Three Little Owls and the Naughty Little Mice.
The 1920 telephone was donated by Rembert Busbee and is reminiscent of a time when an operator would connect you to another phone, but only a few phones existed around town. Usually the doctor and the store had a phone and a few large homes. Comparing that phone and system to our current cell phones and data usage is inconceivable. Despite the big changes between a typewriter and a computer, the keyboard is still displayed the same.
In my opinion, the least amount of change between 1920 and 2020 Wagener is in the dental instruments. They look just as fearsome today as they looked back then. However, as I discovered at Dr. Williams’ dental office, the technology has definitely expanded. He has a digital x ray machine and high-tech x ray equipment.
Most of this information comes from Cynthia Hardy at the Wagener Museum. Schedule a time to visit and you can learn more of Wagener’s history. Here’s to 2020, for auld lang syne.