A concurrent RESOLUTION

 

to request the Department of Transportation name South Carolina Highway 389 in Orangeburg County from the Town of Neeses to the Orangeburg/Aiken County line "Benjamin F. Corbett Memorial Highway" and erect appropriate signs or markers at this location containing these words.

 

Whereas, Benjamin F. Corbett was born on September 12, 1894, in the Sawyerdale area of western Orangeburg County, the son of John H. Corbett Sr. and Frances Whetstone Corbett, esteemed members of the community who provided employment for many African Americans there. At the age of 22, he was employed by the Virginia Railway and Power Company in Richmond as a streetcar conductor. On December 10, 1918, he joined the military to serve in World War I; and

 

Whereas, returning to his hometown in the early 1920s, Corbett began raising awareness of local issues, criticizing the Orangeburg County government for not taking care of the roads in Rocky Grove Township that, due to years of neglect were in deplorable condition. In an opinion piece written August 25, 1923, to the editor of the Times and Democrat, Corbett laments the fact that Orangeburg County officials had reneged on campaign promises of good roads if the residents backed away from their threat to form a new county or join Aiken County; and

 

Whereas, in his very eloquently written letter, Corbett states, "We, as citizens and taxpayers of Rocky Grove township and community and as supposed residents of Orangeburg County, wish to convey to the public notice (and Orangeburg County Highway Commission; though it should be a well-known fact to them) the outrageous and neglected manner in which we of this Sawyerdale section have been treated in regards to our public roads and state highways. […] Though long knowing that we have been forgotten by our official electorate, yet have we been living in hope, but seeing that all is useless, we are now raising the cry of a people in despair."; and

 

Whereas, Corbett goes on to point out that Sawyerdale residents had to travel a circuitous route through a number of towns, a trip of some forty miles or more and twice as far, to get to the county seat. The letter goes on to read, "We know that we are justified in demanding that our county commissioners connect the old 96 Road from Neeses on to the Aiken County line, a distance of (10) ten short miles, thereby giving the people of the Sawyerdale section some returns for their tax money and letting them also reap some benefit of the good roads, then they would be connected on to the good roads of Aiken County line.[…] We do not know of any other ten-mile stretch of road in the State that would serve the public so well…"; and

 

Whereas, though Corbett sadly passed away from pneumonia on April 16, 1925, at the age of 30, the ten-mile stretch of road, due to his dogged determination, was eventually improved making travel easier for Sawyerdale residents. It is only right and fitting that the highway he advocated so tirelessly for bear his name. Now, therefore,

 

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

 

That the members of the South Carolina General Assembly, by this resolution, request the Department of Transportation name South Carolina Highway 389 in Orangeburg County from the Town of Neeses to the Orangeburg/Aiken County line "Benjamin F. Corbett Memorial Highway" and erect appropriate signs or markers at this location containing these words.

 

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Department of Transportation.

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