Carefully tended a nurtured by founding father John Tyrant Patrick on acreage he had bought in 1884, by 1887 it had grown into a healthy village of some 50 families, and it was time to secure a North Carolina charter of incorporation as a town.
Set up as the first town board were C.W. Shaw as mayor — the man from whom Patrick had bought most of the land — and, as town commissioners, five of the newcomers who had listened to the siren song of Patrick on his promotional trips up north.
Shaw’s house is the oldest in Southern Pines, built before the Civil War, with a rear portion added later. The Moore County Historical Society was formed in 1946, at the instigation of Elizabeth S. “Buffie” Ives, with the sole purpose — at the time — of restoring and preserving the house. It now is a historic site, open to visitors at stated hours.
Patrick touted the new village as a health resort for people sick of the harsh northern winters, a place not so far as Florida, and not so costly, either, with sunshine and with pine-scented breezes that could cure any ill.
He paid for ads in northern newspapers with free lots and invited editors to come see for themselves, then go back and write about it. A lot of them did just that.
A group of newspapermen from New York, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Massachusetts visited Southern Pines in 1886. One praised the hotel, the Prospect House, as “one of the most cozy hotels … it has ever been our good fortune to encounter.” The writers also expressed admiration for fruit and flowers growing in the town, and for the pine woods and the game that lived there.
Grid System
The Town Charter set the metes and bounds touching one side of the corporate limit of Manly, a village that was a shipping point for naval stores and lumber; and Patrick drew a grid of squares for home-lot buyers, with 60-foot streets, and alleys going from the center of each of the four sides to meet in a center square.
He lettered and numbered all the lots with designations that remain in use today, and he gave the streets the names of states from which he hoped to entice his buyers.
It was even set up in the charter how the new town was to be governed, the description being exactly that of the old New England town meeting — at which members would be nominated for the town board, and for treasurer and marshal, with the election to follow under state laws being only a confirmation of the people’s choices.
Southern Pines’ first board, under “Squire” C.W. Shaw — who had sold the 675 acres called Shaw’s Ridge to Patrick for $1,265 to be cut up into lots — consisted of five newcomers, all quite likely from New England: L.A. Young, A.M. Clarke, S.T. Moffett, S.H. Rockwell and W.B. Raymond, with Raymond to act also as marshal, forerunner of police chiefs to come.
Growth
The new board was faced with the problems of growth and development. There were water and sewer to initiate, electric power and telephones to be installed, schools to be built, a code of laws to be established and enforcement provided, if it was necessary.
The greatest problems turned out to be the livestock, which were all over the place, and the sandy soil, into which wagons and buggies sometimes sank to their axles.
The buildings that the first settlers built had a New England look, and you can still find some of the cottages — which were white then, but sometimes now are brown or green.
There were cottages with names on the front, such as Franconia or Pineywood, which took roomers during the “resort season,” and once in a while you can still see these, though those names are about gone by now and the cottages are remodeled.
A volunteer fire department was organized in 1897 and telecommunications in the Southern Pines area had its beginnings soon after the community was established. I.F. Chandler operated a small factory in Southern Pines, which made wooden baskets to hold produce. By using the factory’s waste lumber as fuel, Chandler generated enough electricity to light a few Southern Pines homes as early as 1901.
As more residents demanded electric lighting, Chandler built a hydroelectric power plant on Nicks Creek, a fork of the lower Little River, and strung more electric lines to the town. Later, he supplied power to Carthage in 1905, to Aberdeen in 1907 and to Pinebluff in 1908.
“Squire” Shaw himself was the first practicing attorney, and Dr. Saddles, who had come to Manly for health reasons, was feeling fine now and had started a drug store in Southern Pines. Patrick had opened a hotel of his own, Camp Patrick, with five rooms, and others joined him.
Libraries
Early libraries in Southern Pines included a circulating library established as a private club by Capt. A.M. Clarke and then one established in 1890 by the Musical and Literary Club of Southern Pines then established a circulating library open to the public. Fred Chatfield allowed a corner of his store on Pennsylvania Avenue to be used by the club for a reading area. Funds were raised to buy books through oyster suppers and “pond parties,” in which the public “fished” for surprise packages in various hotel parlors.
In 1899, a non-denominational, service-oriented association, the Lend-a-Hand Circle of King’s Daughters and Sons, was making plans for “the library and reading room, soon to be opened in their hall on Connecticut Avenue.” The King’s Daughters continued to provide library service in Southern Pines until 1921, when is last charter member died. Largely through the efforts of Charles MacAuley, the Southern Pines Library Association was formed in 1922. Shortly thereafter, it set up two rooms on Pennsylvania Avenue.
The library moved from building to building until 1939, when the Town purchased land with a grant from the Public Works Administration and constructed a building next to the post office. The building was designed by the famed New York architect Aymar Embury II and was supported by subscriptions. Three additions to the library were built later.
The Town Council voted to accept financial responsibility for the library in 1958. A new library building was completed in the 1990s.
Churches
The Baptist, Episcopal, Catholic and Congregational churches all got their start in the 1890s. Built in more recent years were the Methodist and Lutheran churches.
Changes
In 2000, Southern Pines had a population of nearly 11,000. The mayor is Frank Quis, and members of the Town Board are Marquita K. Daniels, Michael C. Haney, John D. McInerney and Elizabeth High Rounds. The town continues to grow as more businesses move to the area.
