Chiropractorin Ridgeville, SC

The Aug. 17, 2009, headline was painful for everyone whose livelihood was linked to the Port of Charleston. “Port earnings cut in half,” it read, and the story began: “Operating earnings at the S.C. State Ports Authority fell nearly 53% in the most recent fiscal year, board members were told.... The total dropped to less than $26 million in the year ended June 30 from nearly $55 million for the corresponding period a year earlier. The decrease includes a nearly 20% decline in container volume, which accounts for the majority of the Port of Charleston’s business.”

As disquieting as that news might have been, it wasn’t exactly a surprise. In the preceding years, the authority had seen its ambitious plans for a new terminal on Daniel Island scuttled by state lawmakers, the governor was talking about privatizing the port, and Maersk, the authority’s biggest customer, was ready to jump ship. Jim Newsome, a shipping executive in the private sector, would take the reins of this struggling public enterprise two weeks after that headline and begin helping the authority recover from what some called its decade from hell.

Today’s headlines are very different. “No end in sight to import growth at Port of Charleston,” read one earlier this month, though a more recent one noted that cargo levels are projected to level off from their recent pandemic-fueled spike.

Our port recently overtook the one in Oakland, California, as the nation’s eighth largest, and Charleston’s compound annual growth rate of 6.6% was larger than any U.S. port between 2010 and last year. More importantly, the port is positioned to keep growing, thanks to Mr. Newsome’s leadership, which has led to internal reforms, better relations with state officials (if not always local ones) and shipping interests, and $2 billion invested in a new container terminal, a deeper harbor, inland ports and smaller upgrades.

“We have built the best infrastructure of any container port in this country,” Mr. Newsome says. “That’s a great asset for the state. ... This port is tethered to providing for South Carolina’s economy. That linkage is critical.” Indeed, it affects one of every 10 jobs in the state by one measure.

The new Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal, only the second terminal built by the State Ports Authority since its creation in 1941, eventually can be expanded to the approximate size of the Wando terminal — work that the authority hopes to finance not with borrowing but largely with proceeds from the sale of Union Pier. The agency’s strategy to come up with a master plan and accompanying zoning within the coming year and only then put parcels up for public bids seems a sound one, though its ultimate success will hinge on Charleston residents, advocacy groups and others getting engaged in that process, which will start soon. The authority’s recent decision to abandon its plan for a major new cruise ship terminal marked a promising start.

Mr. Newsome tells us he doesn’t deserve all the credit for the port’s success, which is rightly shared with the authority’s board, its employees, dock workers, others in the local maritime industry and the port’s customers, including shipping lines and retail and manufacturing businesses in and beyond South Carolina. One individual deserving of a generous share of the credit is Barbara Melvin, who will succeed Mr. Newsome as president and CEO on Friday.

She realizes there’s plenty on her plate, including completing the Naval Base intermodal facility and Wando barge projects, resolving an ongoing labor dispute affecting the new Leatherman terminal, finalizing the use of the authority’s new Ridgeville Industrial Campus that Walmart isn’t using, and planning for the sale of Union Pier, which in turn will help fund further expansion at the Leatherman terminal.

In the even bigger picture, Ms. Melvin will need to provide the steady leadership and openness to innovation necessary to keep the port’s employees, customers, board members and state and local elected officials and others confident. There are bound to be big challenges ahead, but she should draw strength and confidence from the recent past.

New Jersey-based Saxum Real Estate Development and Investment Co. plans to build a pair of cold-storage warehouses at the Ridgeville Industrial Campus to take advantage of fast-paced growth in frozen and chilled food products moving through the Port of Charleston.

The state’s Fiscal Accountability Authority on May 31 approved the State Ports Authority’s plan to sell 30 acres at its Ridgeville site to Saxum for $3.3 million, or $110,000 per acre.

Saxum’s plan is to build two temperature-controlled warehouses totaling 395,100 square feet at the site. The $90 million project — which previously went by the code name Project Aardvark — eventually will employ about 100 people moving roughly 985 million pounds of frozen and refrigerated goods, such as pork and poultry, each year. That amounts to an additional 5,000 cargo containers moving through the port’s terminals annually.

A construction timetable was not provided.

It would be the second tenant at the 1,000-acre, rail-served industrial park located at the intersection of U.S. 78 and S.C. 27 in Dorchester County, which the SPA purchased in 2018 from paper and packaging giant WestRock.

Walmart opened a 3 million-square-foot import distribution center at the site in January that supplies about 850 stores with retail goods brought through the port. That $220 million project employs about 1,000 people and is expected to boost annual cargo levels at the port by 70,000 containers.

Dorchester County Council has given initial approval to incentives that would reduce Saxum’s assessed property tax rate for the Ridgeville facility to 6 percent from the 10.5 percent normally charged to industrial sites. The agreement would also refund 25 percent of the company’s tax payments over a 10-year period to help pay for infrastructure and equipment costs. The council is expected to give final approve to the incentives at its June 6 meeting.

Refrigerated cargo at the Port of Charleston has more than doubled in recent years, with growth driven by the Southeast’s booming population and changes in grocery consumption. A report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows there were nearly 151 million pounds of beef and 334.6 million pounds of chicken in cold-storage warehouses in the region — increases of 7.4 percent and 20 percent, respectively.

Within the past year, cold-storage leader Lineage Logistics spent $34 million on an expansion of its North Charleston warehouse, and developer RealtyLink Investments announced plans for a temperature-controlled warehouse at the Camp Hall Commerce Park off Interstate 26 in Berkeley County. Those warehouses join an existing Agro Merchants Group cold-storage facility in Summerville.

The SPA also has invested $73 million to boost its capacity for cold-storage cargo, including expanding its refrigerated rack and plugs and creating a dedicated cold-storage service area at the Wando Welch Terminal in Mount Pleasant.

Privately held Saxum specializes in cold-storage facilities and multifamily developments, with a $2 billion portfolio of more than 2.6 million square feet of warehouses and 1,400 rental units. The Ridgeville facility would be Saxum’s first development in South Carolina, according to the company’s website.

RIDGEVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - Walmart’s $220 million-dollar international distribution center in Ridgeville is now open for business.

Officials from Dorchester County and Gov. Henry McMaster spoke at the grand opening on Friday.

“This is just one more sign of our great prosperity that’s going to keep on going,” McMaster says. “This is one of the three largest such distribution centers in the world.”

So far, Walmart has hired over 900 associates and they are looking to hire a total of 1,300 full-time employees. The Walmart distribution center is expected to increase the Port of Charleston’s volume by 5 percent, bringing them more jobs as well.

Jeffrey Holzbauer, General Manager of Imports with Walmart says this center will have a huge impact on Dorchester County. Not only for the number of jobs they are bringing but the pay rate as well.

Along with the distribution center, there are 122 retail stores in the state. In total, Walmart employs over 30,000 associates in South Carolina.

This will be the 5th distribution facility in the state, and its impact will reach farther than South Carolina. The center will supply 850 Walmart and Sam’s Club stores across the southeast.

Holzbauer says over the past few years keeping shelves in stores stocked has been an issue. The distribution center’s main purpose is to limit situations like that happening by making sure the right stores have the right products at the right time.

“Trailers come in from the port, folks then unload them,” Holzbauer says. “They go to a storage rack until a store is running low on inventory. Then we send associates to pick that product, take it to the ship dock, and put it in containers that’s destined for a regional distribution center.”

The town of Ridgeville was chosen for the distribution center for a few reasons. It’s strategically located relatively close to the port of Charleston. Holzbauer says there were a lot of qualified associates in the area, and there’s access to major transportation channels to get their products to their stores as fast as possible.

South Carolina Ports Authority President and CEO Jim Newsome says this building could be the tip of the iceberg for a county focused on business.

“We own this whole industrial campus, except we granted this to Walmart, so we’re working on other projects out here,” Newsome says. “I think there’s a number of distribution projects that can come here because of the location between I-26 and I-95.”

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A 3 million-square-foot facility – equivalent in size to 52 football fields – is Walmart’s first import distribution center in the state of South Carolina to leverage the Port of Charleston.

Walmart has opened a $220 million import distribution center in Ridgeville, S.C. The April 22 grand-opening event featured remarks from South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and Mike Gray, Walmart’s SVP supply chain of operations, along with a congratulatory video from John Furner, president and CEO of Walmart, and ended with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“Our team of more than 980 associates from Dorchester County and the surrounding communities are excited to officially open the doors to our new import distribution center,” said Jeff Holzbauer, general manager of the new facility, at the event. “South Carolina is home to some of the country’s most convenient and efficient modes of transportation, including the Port of Charleston and Interstates 26 and 95. Being a member of this community means having the advantage of the region’s existing infrastructure as well as a pool of experienced associates familiar with it. Cutting this ribbon today signifies our commitment to that community.”

“Walmart has been a long-time partner of South Carolina, and as years have passed, they have continued to double down on their commitment to our people and reinvest in our state,” noted McMaster. “Walmart hasn’t only created thousands of jobs in our state – it has become an integral part of the communities in which it operates. Today’s celebration is the result of our state working hard to be the ideal place to do business and a company recognizing the benefit of having our incredibly skilled workforce and premier ports system in its backyard.”

Dorchester County was chosen as the location for the facility because of South Carolina’s business-friendly environment and the county’s proximity to the nearby deep-water Port of Charleston. The new import distribution center will store and sort imported goods that arrive through Charleston – the country’s eighth-largest port – for delivery to 850 regional Walmart and Sam’s Club locations across the Southeast. Once fully up and running, the facility is expected to boost local port volumes by about 5%.

“Walmart is the recognized leader in supply chain innovation and performance,” observed SC Ports CEO Jim Newsome. “Having this world-class company choose our market for their seventh import distribution center is the ultimate vote of confidence in SC Ports and in South Carolina, further solidifying SC Ports as a leader in retail distribution. The strategic investments we have made in port infrastructure enable SC Ports to support global retailers’ supply chains. We are thrilled to partner with Walmart to further their growth and impact for years to come.”

The company also reportedly operates import distribution centers in Alabama, Georgia, Texas and Virginia, among other locations.

“We know our customers count on us for a broad assortment, and this new import distribution center will give us expanded access to seaports, in turn allowing us to deliver a wide selection of merchandise from around the globe,” said Mike Gray, SVP supply chain operations at Walmart. “We also strive to be a store of the community and are proud of how we’ve been able to leverage our investments in supply chain to create economic opportunity and jobs for the Dorchester County area.”

To bolster its supply chain network, the company is building and upgrading distribution and fulfillment centers in various U.S. and Canadian locations.

During the grand-opening event, Holzbauer revealed that the new facility is well on its way to exceeding its initial hiring goal of 1,000. Working with the Department of Commerce, Walmart expects to soon employ more than 1,300 local full-time associates at the facility. The company celebrated its commitment to the community with a contribution of $10,000 to Going Places, an area nonprofit organization that gives bicycles to kids in need.

Located at 1030 Timothy Creek Road, the 3 million-square-foot facility – equivalent in size to 52 football fields – is Walmart’s first import distribution center in the state of South Carolina to leverage the port.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart operates approximately 10,500 stores under 46 banners in 24 countries, and e-commerce websites, employing 2.2 million-plus associates worldwide. Walmart U.S. is No. 1 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. The company operates 122 retail units and employs more than 35,000 associates in South Carolina.

RIDGEVILLE — There are two ways that families spell the last name Coburn. There’s “Coburn” as in Coburn Town Road and there’s also “Cobin.”

Ethel Cooke, a lifelong resident in the predominately Black community, said her parents told her the mix-up probably comes from some of the neighborhood’s ancestors who were sharecroppers.

“They couldn’t read or write,” she said.

So the name was spelled on records however it ended up being pronounced.

As Cooke sits, telling stories about the community of Coburn Town, the one about the names makes her and others smile. It’s part of what makes this place special — the shared history — and a symbol of what could be lost as growth starts to transform the area.

“We don’t know what’s coming,” said Elizabeth Crum Huffman, another lifelong resident.

Located off School Street, the Coburn Town community is surrounded by trees, open fields, a railroad track and a closed sawmill. Many of the original Black residents saved money and purchased land in the area following the end of slavery.

Nearly 180 acres surrounding the community were recently approved for rezoning by Dorchester County Council. Those rezoned parcels, including the old Ashley River Lumber Co., will now fall under what the county refers to as commercial light-industrial.

Officials expect it likely will soon hold a warehouse, but no development plans have been approved.

It’s one piece of a larger list of changes that highlights Ridgeville as an area of growth. Other indicators include new housing developments, road projects and industrial spaces like the Walmart Distribution Center.

But with a question mark around its future, community members are reflecting even more on what the quiet and familiar community means to them and what it meant to their ancestors who purchased the land to have something of their own.

‘We came up the hard way’

Though it’s been years since farming was the main source of income in the community, it’s still possible to see some of its agricultural roots.

There are open fields that sit on the edges and the rusted fences that used to hold livestock.

Take away the paved roads and some of the home renovations. Picture in its place a couple of wagons, tobacco and potato fields and mules, and it’s easy to imagine what the place looked like when Black residents first poured into it.

Walking down Coburn Town Road, Huffman and her sister Virginia Crum said they can remember having to do farming chores as children and just tossing all of the seeds in the field without any order.

Harvest time would usually give them away, they said laughing.

Their father, Willie Kizer Crum Sr., and mother, Hermena Robinson Crum, had 10 children: seven girls and three boys. The couple married in the 1940s. Willie’s father was a sharecropper.

Virginia Crum, a retired educator, said their father bought the land they live on now. Some of the things she remembers the most about him is he didn’t like buying things on credit and always paid in cash.

Down the street lives James Wesley Duggins Jr., a 78-year-old man who grew up in Coburn Town.

Standing outside working in his yard, he laughed about how annoying the nearby railroad can be with the sound of trains coming through.

His father, James Wesley Duggins Sr., helped build the railroad tracks. “Look now, the machines do all that,” Duggins said.

His family moved to the area around the 1920s.

While talking with the sisters, he reminded Crum she integrated Ridgeville Elementary when she was in the first grade. She was born in 1959.

“There’s so much history,” Crum said.

And while there are tons of happy memories, like playing baseball around some of the farm animals and staying over at each others’ houses, the community also remembers how their elders struggled.

There were times as children when they had to run through the woods to avoid White children throwing rocks, Duggins said.

Huffman and Crum’s mother often had to travel as far as Charleston to sell goods because the White residents in Ridgeville at the time severely underpaid them, they said.

“We had some strong Black people in the community,” Crum said.

Cooke remembers being a child and having a White boy spit at her when they were in town one day.

“I said, ‘Daddy, that ain’t right,’ ” Cooke said. Her father, she recalled, encouraged her to let it go for her own safety.

She also remembers sitting outside and working in a yard for a family for whom her grandmother cooked and cleaned. She wasn’t allowed to come inside the home.

After working in the yard, Cooke laughed and said all she got for it was an orange dress. “And it had a hole in it,” she said.

She said she can’t imagine what her grandmother was paid.

“We came up the hard way,” Cooke said.

There was a time when everyone in their community was a Coburn-Cobin. But with different marriages, other names started to appear.

Two of Crum and Huffman’s aunts married into the Coburn-Cobin family. One of the aunts married Cooke’s grandfather.

Outside of marriages, they said, the community has always felt like one big family that supported each other.

When Cooke’s family was struggling when she was raised, she said, Huffman and Crum’s father would routinely give them potatoes to help them get by.

No one really knew or talked about it.

“Now you borrow sugar and the whole city would know it,” Cooke said.

A growing town

On Nov. 1, as 180 acres surrounding Coburn Town was rezoned to commercial-light industrial, community members and descendants poured in to raise their concerns.

Many noted the things they wanted to see. Crum emphasized helping the schools and adding facilities like health and community centers. Huffman said she would love to see more sidewalks because she enjoys a daily walk.

Tim Lewis and Felicia Cobin can trace their history in the area as far back as 1829. Rebecca Cobin was buried near the community in the late 1940s. She was born in 1883.

“We really want to look at how we can grow together,” Lewis said. “There’s history here.”

Ridgeville’s growth has been a big topic in the past couple of years. Federal funds around COVID-19 relief will bring $6.8 million in roadway improvements around the Ridgeville Industrial Campus.

At the same campus, a Walmart Distribution Center is slated to bring hundreds of jobs to the area, increasing truck traffic.

The county is also expanding water access. Many Coburn Town residents use wells.

In conjunction with new housing developments, there’s a lot more movement in the Ridgeville area.

Dorchester County Councilman David Chinnis said many things the community wants depend on rooftops. No development plans have been approved around the rezoned property near Coburn Town.

“We don’t know what’s being built there,” Chinnis said.

He encouraged residents to continue their involvement. But whatever comes, he said, the goal would be to protect the community with features like buffers.

The county is also looking to start working on a Ridgeville/Givhans Area Growth Management Plan. The plan has one more layer of council approval to go through before work can start on creating it.

The goal with the plan is to raise awareness about infrastructure concerns and funding. Local community members hope to be a part of the planning process. “Understand that this community is growing,” Chinnis said.

And while a lot of the area community members are still wary, many said they still plan to keep pressing on the council to protect the community.

The unknown

Feelings around growth in Coburn Town are mixed.

Some are nervous with the uncertainty about what’s to come and what it means about preserving their land and history.

“I was able to share that history with my children,” said Taneeka Wright.

Her grandfather, John Henry Pinckney, was a welder and mechanic who lived in Coburn Town. Her grandmother, Ethel Mae Pinkney, was a cook.

She said she enjoyed showing her children around the community and how she grew up. She remembers having to invent games with friends and families because there weren’t a lot of things to play with.

“And I would love to share that history with my grandchildren,” she said.

Others in the community are pessimistic and said they know significant change is inevitable.

“It’s not going to be the same anymore,” said Franklin Pinckney, a lifelong resident and a local high school football star at the old Harley-Ridgeville High School.

All he said he remembers now are the body aches.

“It’s not going to be the same anymore,” he said thinking about the future and the thought of hearing loud trucks and movement in a community that tends to be quiet and slow.

One resident said he doesn’t have any fear.

“I like to try and be real,” said Wendell Coburn, 81.

Coburn manages his dementia and lives with his wife Betty, 71. With his condition, Betty is still able to communicate with him and help him have conversations with people.

Community members said he might struggle with the present but he can still hold conversations about the past.

Wendell built their Coburn Town Road home more than 40 years ago. He was raised by a single mother who had to walk 3 miles to work.

He’s known in the community as being someone who was always willing to lend a helping hand without even being asked. Residents said the influence of his mother and the community is all over him. “They preserved him for me,” Betty said with a laugh.

She married into the community.

To Wendell, community connection and talking with people are important. He describes Corburn Town as a community of caring.

When asked to spell his last name, Wendell makes sure people know it’s with the “urn” and not the “in.”

“If you can’t communicate with people, you’re doing nothing,” he said.

In a 1900 census interview of Ransom Coburn it points to the Coburn-Cobin family origin being in Virginia around the Jamestown area.

The descendants believe they came to South Carolina either for work collecting turpentine or constructing the railroads.