Page 20 - Robeson Living Fall 2021

Tobacco auction in Lumberton

The depression hit the market hard 1931 found the average
price of tobacco at $11.47.

Fairmont was the childhood home of novelist and journal-
ist Joseph Mitchell who worked more than 50 years at The
New Yorker. Also notable for Fairmont was the election of Dr.
Joy Johnson, a graduate of the Laurinburg Institute, who was
elected as the town’s first black mayor.

Maxton
The first settlers in this area settled along the Shoe Hill Creek
and Lumber River in the late 1700s. The town was incorpo-
rated in 1874 as Shoe Hill. The town next had the names of
Tilden, after an 1876 Democratic candidate for US President,
and Quhele. The name was changed back to Shoe Hill in
1881. In 1887 Captain William Black and Mr. William Jack-
son Currie, Town Commissioners, suggested to rename the
town “Mack’s Town” to honor the Scottish settlers to the area,
the idea caught on and the name was shortened to Maxton.

In 1912 the Carolina College for women was opened in Max-
ton by the Methodists and was in existence until 1926. In
1928, its campus was reopened for the Presbyterian Junior
College. In 1962 it merged with Flora McDonald College to
form St. Andrews Presbyterian College and moved to Laurin-

Tobacco Auction in Fairmont
Page 19 Page 20 Robeson Living ~ Fall 2021