Downtown fire unearths an interesting artifact

By SALLY Y. HAYES

Mt. Pleasant News

A blaze ignited in a second floor apartment on North Main Street on July 22 unearthed an interesting artifact that had been hidden for decades. A leather shoe was found by an electrician in a wall in the attic above Quilter?s Paradise while he was working on repairs.

Henry County Heritage Society?s secretary and local history buff, Pat White, took the shoe under her wing with permission of Quilter?s Paradise owner Kathy Hopkins.

Coincidentally, White had been researching the area above the shop and the adjacent apartment above A.D.D.S for approximately a year before the shoe was discovered. From historical evidence White had gathered, the second floor was once used as a hospital during the Civil War, when soldiers were training at local Camp Harlan west of Mt. Pleasant.

White gathered clues from local history books, newspaper documents, directories and various maps of the 100 block of North Main Street.

The two doctors who operated the office were Drs. Wellington Bird and Andrew W. McClure, according to a Henry County directory dated 1859-1860.

?There was nothing serious until the measles appeared. This disease increased until one third of the men in the camp had taken it. As many as possible were moved to a hospital established by surgeon McClure in the town,? White recounted from a document.

Also pointing to the existence of the hospital is a newspaper article from December 1943 discussing historical markers that should be placed around Mt. Pleasant recognizing the Civil War. The article reads, ??One would be a marker set into the walls of the building on the east side of North Main street and now occupied by the Rural Elec. Ass?n. On the second floor of this building was the military hospital for the sick of the two regiments encamped here.?

?So I was back a year ago looking into all of this. So after the fire, probably in September, I saw them working and I asked Cathy if I could go upstairs. She said, ?Sure,? and gave me the key,? explained White.

When White investigated upstairs she recruited Rev. Herb Shafer to go along with because he has experience with buildings from the 19th century.

Shafer pointed out many details that pointed to the fact that the building was standing prior to the Civil War. He stated, ?The detailing along the roofline is typical of the buildings of the 1850?s.? He also recognized that the wood beams used in the interior were oak as opposed to soft pine. He explained that local oak was the first lumber used in buildings in the area, ?The framing shows that it was used early in Mt. Pleasant?s history,? Shafer continued.

He also nodded to the wide stairway as evidence that the second floor was used commercially as opposed to a residence.

Shafer concluded, ?All things point to the building being built before the 1860?s.

The day White and Shafer were investigated the second floor was the same day the electrician found the shoe.

Upon discovering the shoe White decided to get a second opinion and took it to fellow history buff and circulation associate at Iowa Wesleyan College, Joy Conwell. White simply left the shoe on Conwell?s desk without providing any information regarding where it came from or what she suspected about the leather artifact.

Conwell replied to White. She wrote, ?Laced shoes for men became popular at the beginning of the 1800s. In 1851 left and rights were specified. What you have here is a Civil War Era Georgia shoe, either civilian or officer?s low quarter walking shoe.?

Downtown Mt. Pleasant seems to have been home to a hospital, an opera house and perhaps many other forgotten gems.