232 Hydrick Street - Biber/Governor Blackwood Home

1983 National Register Photo courtesy Dr. Vivian Fisher

"This Place Matters"

Architectural Description:  This home is a one story, frame bungalow with weatherboard siding and a gable roof built ca. 1914.  A cross-gabled porch on the right side of the facade has triple wooden posts carrying its roof.  The windows are nine-over-one sash.  A gabled extension is on the right side elevation.    Architectural description per National Register nomination prepared by Dr. Vivian Fisher in 1983.  

History:  Formerly 104 Hydrick Street, 232 Hydrick Street was built around 1914 by the Bibers who rented the home to Ibra Charles Blackwood (Governor of South Carolina from 1931-1935) from 1915 to 1918 and then rented to WR Dillingham in 1919.  Deed records show that Rosalie Biber purchased the home in 1914 and sold it in 1919 to Edith and Jacob Burnstein for $7,000. 

The 1920 US Census record shows another Burnstein living at the residence with his Argentinean wife and six month old daughter Juanita.  His occupation lists him as manager of a junk dealer company.

The home switched ownership as number of times in the 1920's.  Charles and Carries Scruggs purchased the home from M.W. Howard around 1928, and owned it unitl 1944 at which point they sold to G.C. and Dema Feagan.  The Feagan's son John received their home through their estate and sold it in 1992 to David Lovelace.  The Preservation Trust purchased the home in September 2008 from Mr. Lovelace's stepson. 

Governor Ibra Charles Blackwood (November 21, 1878 – February 12, 1936) was Democratic Governor of South Carolina from 1931 to 1935.

Born in rural Spartanburg County, South Carolina, Blackwood studied at Furman University preparatory school and obtained his law degree from Wofford College. He then began to practice law in Spartanburg.

At the age of 24, Blackwood was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1902. From 1914 to 1916, Blackwood served as a tax collector for the Internal Revenue Service after which he became the solicitor for the Seventh Judicial Circuit of South Carolina. Blackwood won a contested Democratic primary in 1930 to become the 97th governor of South Carolina. Major events during his term include the following:

·         1931 – The People's State Bank failed and its forty-four branches in South Carolina closed.

·         October 13, 1931 – The Charleston City Council passed the first Historic Preservation Ordinance in the nation.

·          April 12, 1933  - Governor Blackwood received a personal letter from President Franklin D. Roosevelt regarding Governor Blackwood's concerns over the alleged outrages against Jews living in Germany.  http://www.museumofworldwarii.com/Images2005/07RooseveltLetterlge.gif

·      December 5, 1933 – The Twenty-first Amendment to the US Constitution repealed prohibition, but the General Assembly legalized only beer and wine; the sale of strong liquor was still forbidden by laws passed during Governor Richard Irvine Manning III's administration.

·         May 19, 1934 – Governor Blackwood signed the act that created the South Carolina Public Service Authority and led to the construction of the Santee-Cooper dams

·         September 1934 – Seven striking textile workers, mostly strike leaders, were killed in Honea Path (at the Chiquola Mill) by special deputies when 45,000 of the state's 80,000 textile workers went on strike. Governor Blackwood call up the National Guard to protect mill owners and their rights giving orders to "shoot to kill" if necessary to keep strikers out of mills.  Blackwood also ordered the deputizing of "mayors, sheriffs, peace officers, and every good citizen" to maintain order.   However, the strike was so severe that the Governor had to commission "constables without compensation" and 7 strikers were killed by these special deputies in Honea Path on September 6. After the shooting on September 6th Governor Blackwood declared martial law applying only to mill property effectively ending picketing of the mills and leading to the breaking of the strike in South Carolina. The strike eventually failed and despite promises that they would not be punished, workers who had led the strike were blackballed from working in the mills (excerpts taken from Racine Seeing Spartanburg p. 251 and additional information provided by Christopher George).

      Blackwood resumed the practice of law in Spartanburg upon leaving the governorship in 1935.  He  died  almost a year later on February 12, 1936 and is buried in Greenlawn Memorial Gardens in Spartanburg.

Courtesy of SCIWAY.NET