Two Towns
In One Unit
Whiteville calls itself
-The Farmer's Town/’
— By —
AVERY ALSPAFGII
The capital and metropolis of the
sprawling Columbus agricultural em¬
pire is Whiteville. sunning itself hand¬
somely on the broad coast plains, just
25 miles from the Atlantic. It is de¬
ceptive to travelers passing through on
U.S. Routes 74 and 76 cast to west
Such travelers circle the courthouse
(recently renovated, by the way), see
a small business section, a few homes
and the new hospital, and are soon
out of town.
This is Old Whiteville. settled in
1800. laid out in 1810. and named
for James B. White, a planter who
donated the land for the courthouse
and who served the new county in the
legislature.
Leading south from the courthouse
is Madison Street, a wide boulevard
lined with attractive homes in a setting
of pine. oak. magnolias, About a mile
of this, and the traveler runs into
Whiteville’s main business section, a
bustling place, crammed with stores
and other business houses, and oc¬
cupied by a busy people.
I'op, a Farmer’s Day Parade at Whiteville; below, the Sledge Lumber plant has
a modern, streamlined production.
Vineland
When the railway came to the area,
residents of Old Whiteville were reluc¬
tant to have their quiet disturbed by
locomotives, so the railway station was
built south of the town and at first
this section was known as Vineland.
The two grew together, however, and
were incorporated as Whiteville in
1883.
It is a city of ambitious people,
frequently planning for progress, with
much of the business life built around
the town’s 16 tobacco auction ware¬
houses, operated by ten different
firms, and like the rest of Columbus’
markets, selling in the Border Belt.
Tobacco sales run around 40,000,000
pounds each season, with three sets of
buyers. The first tobacco warehouse
was opened in 1903 but failed, and
THE STATE. NOVEMBER 20. 1954
the market didn't get going good until
1910. Intensive promotion of the town
as a tobacco center started in 1926,
and ten of the warehouses have been
built in the past 10 years. This market
the pecan market, livestock market
and other enterprises related to agri¬
culture have led Whiteville to call it¬
self ’’The Farmer’s Town." Each year
it shows its appreciation to its farmer
clients by holding a Farmer's Day. a
sort of holiday and festival designed to
entertain rural visitors who flock by
the thousands to the event.
Merchandising is so important here
that it absorbs the largest group of em¬
ployed persons — over 500 in 1950.
And whereas in many small towns the
Merchants Association is an auxiliary
of the Chamber of Commerce, here it
is the other way around. The Asso¬
ciation has 215 members out of 225
eligible firms, and the combined or¬
ganizations include (in addition to the
Chamber of Commerce) the Tobacco
Board of Trade and a credit bureau.
This makes the secretary of the asso¬
ciation a very busy man.
The town has had rapid growth, es¬
pecially in recent years as a result of a
conscious effort on the part of busi¬
nessmen to diversify its economy Re¬
cent developments or improvements
include obtaining a new garment
factory, a modern abattoir, vastly in¬
creasing the water supply with new-
deep wells, renovation of the court¬
house and jail, erection of a new
county building, adding 40 rooms to
the county hospital and enlargement
and renovation of several churches.
In 1920 the population was 1.664,
25
