A South Flomaton business. Photo courtesy of Jerry Fischer
The later part of 1945 was a time of great optimism and hope across the area and the nation in that World War II had concluded with an Allied victory and the men and women of the US armed forces were coming home.
Consistent with this optimism, the people of South Flomaton voted to incorporate on November 1, 1945. According to a Pensacola News Journal article of November 3, 1945; "The people of South Flomaton acted under an 1828 law that held if citizens of an area wished to incorporate as a municipality they must legally advertise notice of a meeting on the issue four weeks in advance and two-thirds of the effected citizens must favor incorporation."
The record tends to reflect that attorney J McHenry Jones represented those favoring incorporation and he is quoted in the above referenced article as to the following: "Sixty five out of eighty citizens of South Flomaton met at 5pm Thursday and that only six voters opposed the vote."
The meeting resulted in the following elected officials; C.W. Nall (it has been said he was the owner of Odom's Bar in those days) was elected mayor. James E. Kennedy-municipal clerk, and F.P. Brooks as marshal.
Town council members elected that day were; H.H. McCutchin, R.W. Odom, C.E. Hart, E.H. Johnson and W.H. Crapps. Hart was elected council president. The town's population had increased to around 480 by 1969.
The newly elected group voted to levy no ad-valorem taxes and no salaries would be paid to the elected officials. The town limits was comprised of territory bounded on the north by the Alabama state line at Flomaton, running for a distance of two miles and running south about one mile.
The infant town would boast several accomplishments in its short existence. A good school, a lively business district and several churches. The town was ahead of its time in that it would eventually have its own utility system which serviced much of the rural North Escambia region. The town could also boast being the hometown of Flomaton Wholesale, which was the Home Depot or Lowe's of its day on a local level.
South Flomaton also had a shopping center with a Piggly Wiggly where a young Dave Bethea of Canoe, Alabama worked as a teenager. Many from Alabama would come below the line to buy tax free groceries. Dave reflects on Birdie Watson, whose husband Jim Bob, was a co-owner in Watson-Kline Hardware in Flomaton, "she made a weekly trip to buy groceries at the store from Canoe," stated Bethea. Today we know this Piggly Wiggly as the Food Giant.
Some may point to the presence of as many as 17 honky tonks as a negative legacy of the town. Yet history requires taking the good with the bad, and it wasn't all bad. The story of neon lights, late night pool table duals and bar rooms filled with the low hanging, blue tinted cigarette smoke of veterans returning from the war stirs the imagination, Chemstrand workers off for the weekend and young people out for a night on the town adds color to the history of this fascinating municipality of individuals among a sea of quite towns and cities surrounding its corporate shores.
Those who grew up in those days knew the names of the bars and eating houses along the way that was Highway 29. Many of them had been in existence before the incorporation of the town. Some were in existence as early as the 1930s following the end of Prohibition.
Most of the bars were run by a variety of different people over the years. The Azalea Bar was run, for a time, by Clarence Woodfin who had just returned from the Korean War.
Woodfin, who never expounded much upon his war service, did relate to this writer once about being assigned to an engineering unit on the Korean peninsula as they were detached from the US occupation forces in Japan. As the men were doing their jobs, the North Korean Army invaded and pushed the American units into the Pusan Pocket where the Americans held out until MacArthur landed at Inchon and drove the North back across the 38th. One could imagine Woodfin could have told riveting stories from the establishment during his short tenure there.
A young person from the 1950s era recounts how a bar known as Duck's had pickled eggs, pickled sausages and other food items in the building which was later an antiques store with a knight mounted on the roof. Yet Duck's existed well before the 1950s and was a creation of "Mobile" Bill Jackson who intended it to be a restaurant. Another owner, named Claudie Baker named the establishment for his son who had a nickname "Duck."
"Jackson also had a community swimming pool built near Duck's where local kids could take swimming lessons for 25 cents," notes Jerry Fischer who remembers the establishment.
"Red" Hammac would pay enterprising young fellows in the community a good wage of $3 a week to mop out the Blue Light on Sunday mornings and he is remembered as being a friendly man who was well thought of by those who knew him. Duck's and the Blue Light are said to have had exit doors on multiple sides of their buildings.
The Way-Side Inn served food and was across from Duck's. It was a first rate eating house, with folded napkins and a good menu.
It has been said that another restaurant in the vicinity served good food and had a new technological device which was a fascination in the 1950s-a television. On Saturday's the TV showed football games (one would assume baseball games as well). Saturday's was also the day that American Band Stand with Dick Clark was aired and a crowd of young people gathered to check out the newest music and dance moves.
Other late night establishments and eating houses were Aunt Hattie Grubb's, The Tin-Top Inn, Weaver's, Twin Oakes, the B and L, and Simms Place-which was an eating house further down on 29 but it has been said the owner's wife was a really good cook in those days.
Yet much as an early planted spring garden is susceptible to an early frost; this dynamic municipality would soon go through an early frost of its own. A special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Fischer for contributing to this article, as well as to Helen and Henry McKinley and gratitude to the late Clarence Woodfin for taking the time to tell a young kid war stories back in the early 1980s.
Shadows and Dust Volume III: Legacies is available for purchase in the amount of $30.00+$5.00 shipping and handling to PO Box 579 Atmore, AL 36502 or visit Lulu Publishing.com; Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobles.com OR at the Monroe County Heritage Museum in Monroeville, Alabama or by calling 251 294 0293.
