Each month there is a special South Carolina exonumic item that is highlighted as the Token or Medal of the Month. This month we will showcase a silver award medal that was presented to one of the oldest sellers of building materials in the state.
Pictured above is a silver award medal that was presented by the Agricultural Society of South Carolina to William M. Bird & Company of Charleston in December of 1880. The obverse of the medal pictures a cotton plant growing to the left of a sheaf of rice (at that time the state's two most important agricultural products) inside an inscription which reads "The Agricultural Society of So Ca, Founded Aug. 24th 1785." The reverse features the partially engraved / partially diestruck inscription "Charleston Industrial Exhibition, Awarded to W.M. Bird & Co. for Howes Improved Scales, Charleston, S.C., Dec. 6 to 17, 1880." The medal measures 37.5 mm in diameter and weighs 25.3 grams.
The Agricultural Society of South Carolina was established in Charleston in 1785 as the South Carolina Society for Promoting and Improving Agriculture and Other Rural Concerns. Ten years later the organization was incorporated under the name "The Agricultural Society of South Carolina." The group's first president was Thomas Heyward, Jr., who prominently figured in the state's history and was one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence. The group's main mission was the promotion of agriculture and industrial pursuits throughout the state and one of the ways it did so was the sponsorship of the yearly Charleston Industrial Exposition. Also it is to be noted that the society should not be confused with organizations of similar names such as the South Carolina Agricultural Society (founded in Columbia in 1818) or the State Agricultural and Mechanical Society of South Carolina (responsible for the establishment of the South Carolina State Fair).
The recipient of the medal was the Charleston firm that went by the name of William M. Bird & Company. This firm was founded in 1865 by William M. Bird, a native of Charleston who was a blockade runner during the Civil War. Bird had been captured and imprisoned in Boston during the war and when he returned to Charleston after the cessation of hostilities he was confronted by a city in ruins. In September of 1865 he founded William M. Bird & Company to supply building materials to help rebuild the South. Interestingly the company is still in business in 2006, over 140 years later, and continues to be engaged in sales of building materials as a wholesale distributor of all types of floor coverings. In 1880, when they received the pictured award medal, the R.G. Dun mercantile directory listed the business as a retailer of paints, oils, and painting supplies.
In 1886, the company was housed in a building on East Bay Street when the Charleston earthquake shook the entire Lowcountry. On August 31st of that year a magnitude 7.3 quake ravaged the city, killing 60 people and damaging 90% of all the brick structures. Some buildings suffered only minor damage, but many were completely destroyed, including the building at 205 East Bay Street which housed the retail business of William M. Bird & Company.
Bird's business was strong enough to survive the earthquake and the building at 205 East Bay was rebuilt. The company continued to grow and in 1957 opened a new expanded headquarters at 1142 East Bay Street. Today the company's headquarters is located at 4210 Azalea Drive in Charleston, but the company also has operations in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee and is one of the fastest growing floor covering distributors in the South.
Copyright 2006 by Tony Chibbaro.
Sources
William M. Bird & Company website - www.wmbird.com
Bird & Company Opens New Plant, Charleston News & Courier, October 27, 1957
S.C. Study Aims to Cut Quake Deaths, Damage, The State, February 6, 2002
If you collect or have a casual interest in South Carolina tokens or tokens issued by cotton mills, lumber companies, or other types of businesses, you may want to purchase my book, South Carolina Tokens and its three supplements. To read a description of these standard references, please click on this link: Books.
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