| HIST |
Baptist Courier, 29 March 1888- Mr. C. T. Mason, Sr., one of Sumter’s old and esteemed citizens, died Tuesday evening at his residence on Sumter Street. He was buried at the cemetery this morning. Mr. Mason leaves a large family of children, all grown. He was the father of Mr. C. T. Mason, Jr., the inventor of the cotton harvester. Mr. Mason had been a resident of Sumter for about forty years. He was born in Darlington sixty-four years ago, from which place he moved to Camden, where he was raised, coming to Sumter in 1850. He was educated as a jeweler.... In late years he devoted much of his time to the study of electricity... His father was the Rev. Thomas Mason, of the Baptist Church. Mr. Mason was married twice.
Date Published: July 27, 2008
Mason should be recognized at transportation center
Sumter native son and 6th District Congressman Jim Clyburn can be rightly proud of the $10 million James E. Clyburn Intermodal Transportation Center on South Harvin Street that celebrated its grand opening Saturday.
It will house the Santee Wateree Regional Transportation Authority (SWRTA), which is celebrating its 30th anniversary of providing public transportation in this region that includes Sumter, Clarendon, Lee and Kershaw counties, plus Lower Richland. In addition to SWRTA, the 40,000-square-foot building will also house a Southeastern Stages (Greyhound) Intercity Bus ticket and information office, replacing the old bus station on the Florence highway.
Clyburn was instrumental in securing initial congressional earmark funding of $5 million in 2003, state funding of $4 million followed, and final funding of $1.8 million came from Sumter County Council in the form of a $1.8 million bond issue. The center will not only have a positive impact on public transportation for our region but also on the southern portion of downtown Sumter. The building is a shining example of historic preservation, and all who were involved in the 10-year effort to make it a reality deserve our thanks.
Also deserving recognition is the man who constructed this building at the turn of the 20th century: Charles T. Mason Jr. In later years the building became commonly known as the Moise Mini-Warehouse, but in its beginnings and in later years it housed The Sumter Telephone Manufacturing Co., known as “the telephone company” or “magneto plant” building to long-time Sumterites.
Who was Charles Mason? Merely one of the foremost inventors of his era, ranking right up there with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Luther Burbank and the Wright brothers. In fact, Mason was a friend of both Burbank and Edison, who reportedly once visited Mason at his home in Sumter. He was born in Sumter in 1855 and died in 1928. He followed in the footsteps of his father, Charles T. Mason Sr., who was also an inventor while operating a jewelry store and watch repair business in Sumter for over 40 years. The elder Mason invented an electric fan, a burglar alarm system and a method of demagnetizing watches which he later sold to the Waltham Watch Co. The younger Mason lost a leg while engaged in a logging and sawmilling business, so he invented an artificial leg using cork in its construction, patented it and produced it on a small scale before selling his interest in it to another company. Funds from that invention gave him the capital to pursue other ventures, such as the creation of a mechanical cotton harvester, which was ahead of its time in the 1880s because of its expense, the abundance of cheap labor and the lack of sufficient power to drive or pull the machine. Had the internal combustion engine been available at the time instead of the mule or human labor, his cotton harvester would have revolutionized the cotton industry in the South.
Ever resourceful, Mason went on to begin manufacturing telephones on a small scale in the 1890s, which grew into a major local industry by 1899, and thus was created the Sumter Telephone Manufacturing Co., whose stockholders were prominent Sumter men, such as C.G. Rowland, founder of the National Bank of South Carolina. The building he constructed on South Harvin at its height employed 400 workers who manufactured the telephones — beautifully constructed of locally harvested oak, walnut and sweetgum— that were shipped throughout the United States and around the world. The employees were comprised of blacks and whites who worked side by side and received equal wages, unusual for the Jim Crow era in the South, while female workers were situated in a separate part of the factory. He was an equal opportunity employer at a time when those words didn’t exist. The company also built magnetos used in internal combustion engines for boats and aircraft. He was instrumental in bringing the electric light to Sumter, serving as consulting engineer for the Sumter Electric Light Co. and providing technical knowledge to perfect the system. He invented an electric refrigeration system that he sold for $30,000. At the time of his death, Mason was a member of the prestigious Franklin Institute of Philadelphia and the Royal Society of Arts of London. He held more than 100 patents on items that continue to play a role in our daily lives such as the telephone, airplane, ignition systems and refrigeration.
We cite the historical accomplishments of Charles T. Mason Jr. as a reminder of his illustrious life and the contributions he made through his inventions and to the economic progress of Sumter as the founder of the Sumter Telephone Manufacturing Co. The building today no longer bears that name, but it was the result of his vision and enterprise. He deserves recognition and memorialization somewhere in the confines of the now-restored building that houses the transportation center. It would be appropriate and fitting for SWRTA to do so in the museum or historical section of the center set aside for that purpose.
Mr. Mason was a revered, productive Sumter citizen and a creative genius. He should be honored as such so that he will never be forgotten.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Historical documentation on Mr. Mason contained in this editorial was compiled by Dr. Gene Dickerson of Sumter and first appeared in a Fortnightly Club paper. [1, 8] |
1830 - Abt 1888 (58 years)
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