This might not be a good bird to encounter at any time. But what — and where — is it? Send your guess to: feedback@statehousereport.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.
Our previous Mystery Photo
Our Sept. 28 mystery brought about a coincidence that is so curious that we have to share. Two sleuths answered within 37 minutes of each other and, boy, are their names similar — Mike LeFever and Don Hottel, both of Columbia. We guess they were on fire about the same time last week. Ba dum bump!
Congrats to a host of other mystery sleuths who correctly identified the photo as the top of the grand Westin Poinsett Hotel in Greenville. Hats off to Don Clark and Bill Segars, both of Hartsville; Faith A. Line and Josephine McMullen, both of Anderson; Phillip Carros and Craig Jacobs, both of Spartanburg; Terry Plumb of Rock Hill; Ken May, Jay Altman, Pamela Lackey and Daniel Brennan, all of Columbia ; Larry Cannon of Simpsonville; Philip Cromer of Beaufort; David Lupo of Mount Pleasant; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Harvey Shackelford of Newberry; Henry Horres of James Island; and Bob Knight of Greenville. Wow! Twenty correct answers … our highest number yet! Thanks all.
Segars provided more detail: “This building is one of the first skyscrapers, 12 stories tall, in South Carolina. Located at 120 S. Main St. in downtown Greenville, the Poinsett Hotel was designed by William L. Stoddard and built by the J.E. Sirrine Company of Greenville. When it was completed in 1925, it cost $1.5 million. Its interior featured many amenities not typically found in hotels of this era: a ball room, a convention center, main and private dining areas, shops and stores and, best of all, 210 guest rooms each with a private bath.
Graf added: “According to Wikipedia.com, Built at the end of an era during which small Southern cities demanded quality hotels to attract business travelers and symbolize their new urban status, the Poinsett Hotel was, in part, conceived to accommodate visitors to a biennial Southern Textile Exhibit held in Greenville. A century-old hotel, the Mansion House, was razed and a larger building was designed for its Main Street location by noted New York architect William Lee Stoddart. To help raise money for the project, local businessmen, led by textile magnate John T. Woodside (1864-1946), sold $100 shares of stock to 1,700 local residents; and the hotel was named for Joel R. Poinsett, a South Carolinian who had served as Secretary of War and as the first U.S. Minister to Mexico. Groundbreaking occurred in May 1924; and the $1.5 million Poinsett Hotel opened in June 1925.
“According the University of Virginia Miller Center, Poinsett was appointed Secretary of War by President Martin Van Buren (1837-1841), and Poinsett spearheaded a number of bloody Indian campaigns and forced resettlements in the South. Joel Poinsett founded the Academy of Fine Arts in Charleston and later died in Sumter County, South Carolina, on December 12, 1851.”
- Send us a mystery: If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!