Sunday, May 11, 2014

The final installment of R.G. Kendall Jr.'s 'A History of Brooklyn'

(In 1982, The Evergreen Courant newspaper published a six-part series called "A History of Brooklyn," which was originally written by the late R.G. (Bob) Kendall Jr. The sixth and final installment in the series, which you'll find reprinted below, was originally published in the May 6, 1982 edition of The Courant. Other installments of the article can be found in the April 1, April 8, April 15, April 22 and April 29 editions of The Courant from 1982. Five of those installments have already been posted on this blog during the past month. Without further ado, here's Part VI.)

“A History of Brooklyn: Part VI” by the late R.G. (Bob) Kendall Jr.

In the years between 1910 and 1925, medicine was practiced in Brooklyn by Dr. W.A. Blair, Dr. W.A. Haggard and Dr. U.L. Jones. Dr. B.D. Dozier provided dental service. Mr. E.N. Amos, Mrs. W.G. Rabun and later Mr. Everett Knowles ran general stores.

A drug store was operated by Aubrey Brown and next door to Mr. Brown in Brooklyn’s only brick building Ned Robinson ran a general merchandise operation. P.W. Johnston operated a garage in Brooklyn and as a side line had an electric plant which generated electricity for the other businesses in town. Telephone service was provided from time to time, on what must have been an unreliable basis, on a line that came out from Evergreen. Finally, for those desirous of a haircut or shave, barber services were provided by Mrs. Nellie Pate.

To go along with its other commercial developments, plans were made about 1913 to organize a bank. A group of Brooklyn citizens set out to do just this. John A. Feagin, who was to be president of the bank, and John Williams, one of its strongest backers, along with the other stockholders built a bank building on the main street and equipped the bank building with a vault and a time safe. Unfortunately, that year Mr. Feagin was killed in a motorcycle accident; and when the economic depression following the entrance of the boll weevil into this area came in the following year, the bank collapsed and the building was sold. Williams sold the assets of the bank, including the vault (which finally found its way to Pensacola into the possession of one of the members of the family).

Mr. Williams’ daughter, Ethel, was the wife of Wilse McCreary, the direct lineal descendant of one of Conecuh’s earliest settlers, Adam McCreary, who came to the county in 1821 and settled on what is now the Horton Plantation and who is buried close by the Horton house. The McCreary’s later moved further down the road southeasterly towards Brooklyn and opened a large and fine farm known as Red Acres, which is still in operation by members of the McCreary family.

Brooklyn’s renown was not confined to the military or the business field because it produced men equally well known the realm of sports. Brooklyn was noted in the old days for its fine baseball teams. Mabry Stallworth and Henry Crumpton, teachers in the school shortly after the turn of the century, got the boys interested in baseball.

During the years from 1910 up through the teens, Brooklyn consistently defeated Evergreen, Brewton, Castleberry and other teams from the area. Some of the fine players on the Brooklyn team included Harry Robinson, who later attended Auburn University and was an All Southern end in football and terminated his career in athletics by becoming coach of the team at Pulaski, Tenn.; Carey Amos, a casualty of World War I; Russel Amos; Sanders Cumbie; Henry Roberts; Wheatley Johnston, who was another World War I casualty; Cleavie Brewer; Cap Sanders, and Newt Johnston.

In the 1920s and into the 30s, Brooklyn turned out other fine teams. The players included Everett McGowin, Monroe Sanders, Milton Amos, Tom Kendall, U.L. (Doc) Jones, Strawberry Thompson and Archie Barfield. Archie is noteworthy because he is the father of the new Auburn football coach, Doug Barfield. So the area has made its contribution to athletics.

But as the years rolled by and after the mill company had taken up its railroad and closed its operations in the Fish Pond area, Brooklyn began to die. The death, I suppose, was really brought into focus more than anything else by World War II because it gave an opportunity for a great many of the young men in the area and some of the young women who were unable to find opportunity at home to go out into the world. The old people gradually died out, the homes closed, and Brooklyn almost became a ghost town.

There have been some good newcomers to Brooklyn in the last 20 and 30 and 40 years. They include the Beverly family, the Rawls, the Thames, the Pates, the McClendons, the Finleys, the Thomasons, the Logans, the Watsons, the Hamiters, the Tillerys and many others. However, in spite of this influx of good, new people and new blood, the town commenced to dwindle  and today it’s only a shadow of itself.

In closing this article, I am reminded of an event which, I think, typifies the last years of Brooklyn. About 1938, Mr. Gus Johnston and Miss Sally were celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary. To commemorate the event, they had a supper in the upper floor of their fine, old antebellum home located on the ridge in that part of Brooklyn that has always been known as Johnstonville.

All of the old couples of the Johnstons (because nearly everyone in Johnstonville was a Johnston) and their relatives came that night, and it was a final, real gathering of the clan. Then it was all down hill and Brooklyn today is just a memory and its former self, a great and a sweet memory, but nevertheless, one of a time lone past.



No comments:

Post a Comment