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A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 201/340

The Early Twentieth Century

chandise stores, butcher shops, rooming houses, and funeral es­
tablishments. In Lake City Ed Vaughn was a black butcher who
operated a shop in the downtown area. B. J. Joyner’s store on
Washington Avenue was a well-known grocery store. Others were
Leroy Foster’s store in the area called Jasper Town, B. Lamb’s
store near present Richardson High, and Gainus Jenkins’ grocery
at the Watertown crossing. Elsewhere in the county Dave Johnson
had a grocery store in Fort White, while the Niblack grocery was
located along the railroad line between Lake City and Fort White.
The Currington grocery was near Columbia City. There were no
black-owned hotels, but Priest Williams operated a rooming house
for blacks on Railroad Street. Members of the John J. Jones family
were active in the business life of Columbia County. John J. Jones
was a carpenter and coffin maker around the turn of the century.
One of his sons B. J. Jones owned a dry goods store and another son,
D. J. Jones, operated a grocery store. D. J. was the only black
undertaker in the county until Horace Mattox, Sterling Combs and
Leon Lang established a funeral home during the late 1920’s.21
One sign of progress in the twentieth century, the automobile,
was somewhat late in coming to Columbia County, but when it did,
its influence was quickly felt. In March 1910, the Lake City
Citizen-Reporter noted that two local physicians, W. M. Ives, Jr.
and J. E. Garner, had recently purchased automobiles. As the
reporter remarked: “Drs. Garner and Ives have each purchased a
handsome machine, the former a Buick and the latter a Ford.
Other citizens, we learn, will soon buy machines.” If not the first,
these were certainly among the earliest automobiles in the county,
and questions were raised whether or not Lake City should follow
the example of Live Oak which recently had enacted an automobile
speed law of fifteen miles per hour with “slow downs” of six miles
per hour when turning corners or crossing streets.22

t'lbid., Ethel Combs Interview, November 19, 1976.
TiLake City Reporter, March 4, 1910.
169

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