City Directories and History: WILLIAM PULASKI GOODMAN – Rock Hill City Manager 1921-1933
Written and contributed to R&R by P.M. Gettys – 2015
William Goodman was born on January 14, 1882 in Walhalla in Oconee County, South Carolina. His parents were John S. Goodman and Sarah Kelly Goodman. His father was listed as a butcher in 1900 and as a carpenter in 1910.[1] William was one of nine children in the family. He attended Clemson College, receiving a degree in mechanical engineering.
He married Pearl Josephine Hopkins at Shiloh Baptist Church in Oconee County in 1905. Between 1906 and 1925, the couple had eight children.
In 1912, Goodman was hired by Winthrop College as mechanical and electrical engineer, a position he held for nine years.[2] While working for Winthrop the family lived at 804 Lancaster Avenue. In 1918, William’s draft registration described him as tall and slender with blue eyes and black hair.[3]
When E. R. Treverton resigned as City Manager at the end of February 1921, there is no evidence of a wide-spread search for a new manager, as was the case in later years. Within a week, W. P. Goodman was attending City Council meetings “…to get in touch with the city work, preliminary to taking over the executive end of the municipality the first of the next month.”[4] At a meeting on March 31, 1921, the selection was made official, with William Goodman beginning work the next day. He received a salary of $5,500 per year. Council was in the midst of issuing bonds to pay for a road paving program. At the same meeting at which Mr. Goodman was selected, City Council voted to pave West Main Street from the railroad track to Allen Street. Plans for paving on Oakland Avenue had to be scaled back because the state had failed to provide funds to pave the section in front of Winthrop. Other streets included in the program included Caldwell and White, with hopes to include Saluda and Marion.[5] They also reviewed a plan proposed by Main Street merchants to allow autos to park in the center of Main Street, where the unused street car tracks were located.[6] Goodman laid out the strip in the center of Main Street to include parking spaces for 50 cars. At one of his first meetings, Goodman also scolded the Council members for being late to the meetings, and the group resolved to begin meetings on time.[7]
The Goodmans moved to a house at 308 Aiken Avenue, in the block between Park Avenue and Ebenezer Avenue, very close to the Winthrop campus. Later in 1921, Goodman gave an assessment of the progress of the city. After the forced curtailment of expenditures during World War I, Rock Hill was now making an effort to bring the physical facilities into a better state. Plans included a bond issue of $350,000 for improvements to the light and water plant, addition of new street lamps, construction of eight miles of new water mains and 42 new fire hydrants, and construction of eight miles of new sewer lines and a new sewerage station. The City was also implementing the extensive street paving program.[8]
Goodman became a leader in the civic life of Rock Hill outside his duties as City Manager. By 1924, he became a vestryman at the Episcopal Church of Our Saviour and served until his death.[9] He participated in two of the most important economic development efforts of the late 1920s. The business community decided that Rock Hill needed a first-class hotel to host business travelers. A home-grown effort was developed to sell stock in the venture, and Goodman led one of the four sales teams. The successful project resulted in the impressive Andrew Jackson Hotel, located at the corner of Oakland Avenue and East Main Street (now the Guardian Building). The hotel opened at the end of 1926, and has been a landmark in downtown since then.[10] In 1928, the announcement was made that the Lowenstein Company planned to build a new plant in Rock Hill. The effort was initiated and led by Charlie Cobb, a banker and business leader. To accommodate the new facility on West White Street, the city’s water supply needed to be greatly expanded. Goodman, working with Cobb and Mayor J. B. Johnson, devised a $300,000 bond issue and helped to convince the residents that this was a wise investment.[11] The resulting Rock Hill Printing & Finishing Company, known locally as the Bleachery, was the largest employer in Rock Hill for many years, and helped ease the distress of the Great Depression for the city’s residents. Goodman also served as one of the original highway commissioners for York County.[12] He served as a member of the Rock Hill Library Board of Trustees during the period when the old Post Office was moved to Oakland Avenue and converted into a spacious new library. The building was valued at $50,000 but had cost the City only $6,600.[13]
Although most of Goodman’s tenure was during the “roaring twenties,” by the early 1930s the Great Depression was having an impact on the finances of local governments across the country. Rock Hill was having difficulty collecting taxes and assessing fees. In mid-June, 1933, Goodman announced to the City Council that he would be leaving Rock Hill immediately to accept a position in Washington, D. C. He had prepared a long report giving the Council the status of important projects. He turned over the files relating to the location of the Bleachery and the water plant built to accommodate it, files on rights of way being secured for new water and sewer lines, plats showing all real estate owned by the City, and files on delinquent tax situations.[14] At the same meeting, Miss Emma Bell, City Clerk and Treasurer, resigned to go with Mr. Goodman and serve as his secretary at his new position in Washington. Later that night, the Council held a special meeting and Goodman made complete reports on the condition of the City’s utilities. He recommended a new power plant to generate additional electricity to accommodate growth. He reviewed the City’s financial condition, which he described as “very fine,” although serious unpaid taxes and paving assessments were on the books. The Council accepted Goodman’s resignation with deep regret, and expressed “the high esteem in which he is held, and in appreciation for the great services which he has always rendered the City.”[15]
The position Goodman was accepting in Washington was Assistant Manager of the Federal Home Owner’s Loan Corporation. The HOLC was one of the new bureaus created in 1933 to deal with the problems arising from the Great Depression, and was an effort to assist homeowners in the refinancing of mortgages to prevent foreclosures. This position had been announced on June 15, and Goodman had made a quick trip to Washington to make final arrangements for the position.[16] Goodman served at the HOLC until 1937. Based on Census records, he maintained his home in Rock Hill, although he may have spent some time in Columbia as well as Washington as field organizer for the Federal Savings and Loan Association. On returning to Rock Hill, Goodman took the position of chief engineer of the Rock Hill Body Company.[17] By 1940, the family was still living at 308 Aiken Avenue, and Goodman was listed as a Salesman for the Body Company. Some of the couple’s eight children had left home, but John S., William P., Jr., and Josephine were living at home. John was a carpenter at a cloth mill and William was a laborer at the Rock Hill Body Company.[18]
William P. Goodman, Sr. died of heart disease on August 28, 1949 at his home on Aiken Avenue at the age of 67. He was buried at Laurelwood Cemetery. He was survived by his wife, Pearl,
and six of their children, along with a brother and two sisters. Mrs. Goodman remained in Rock Hill and lived to the age of 85. When she died on September 5, 1970, she was living at 646 Park Drive.
Survivors listed at the death of W. P. Goodman in 1949:
Wife: Pearl Hopkins Goodman
Children: Mrs. J. M. Helms, Rock Hill
Miss Pauline Goodman, Washington, DC
Mrs. Carl Matthews, Washington, DC
William P. Goodman, Jr., Greer, SC
- Frank Goodman, Greer, SC
- R. Goodman, Rockingham, NC
Brother: W. S. Goodman, San Antonio, TX
Sisters: Mrs. Lee I. McHugh, Clemson, SC
Mrs. H. C. Belk, Charlotte, NC
Survivors listed at the death of Mrs. Pearl Goodman in 1970:
Sons: Perry H. Goodman, Greer, SC
- F. Goodman, Greenwood, SC
- Riggs Goodman, Burlington, NC
Daughters: Pauline Goodman, Rock Hill
Mrs. Carl J. Matthews, Bethesda, MD
Mrs. J. M. Helms, Farmville, VA
Eleven grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.
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SOURCES:
[1] U. S. Census, 1900 and 1910.
[2] Rock Hill Herald, June 15, 1933.
[3] World War I Registration Form, September 12, 1918.
[4] Rock Hill Herald, March 8, 1921.
[5] Rock Hill Herald, March 29 and April 5, 1921.
[6] Rock Hill Herald, April 1, 1921.
[7] Rock Hill Herald, April 5, 1921.
[8] Yearbook of the City Managers’ Association, August 1921, page 4.
[9] Rock Hill Herald, August 29, 1949.
[10] Lynn Willoughby, The Good Town Does Well: Rock Hill, S. C. 1852-2002, pages 162-164.
[11] Willoughby, pages 165-169.
[12] Rock Hill Herald, August 29, 1949.
[13] Douglas Summers Brown, A City Without Cobwebs: A History of Rock Hill, South Carolina, page 218.
[14] City Council Minutes, June 20, 1933
[15] Ibid.
[16] Rock Hill Herald, June 15, 1933.
[17] Rock Hill Herald, August 29, 1949.
[18] U. S. Census, 1940.
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