The Stinsonian Apartments

and

Army Racing Balloon Lands Here

By John Harvey

Well! They're coming down.  Have you noticed that the Stinsonian Apartments are being demolished?

The lot on which they stand has seen a lot of Monticello's history in the last 168 years.  An early map of the City of Monticello shows the lots at the corner of West Green and Wooster (now Forsyth) Streets as lying in an East West direction.  The lots, numbered 1 and 26 covered what is now the M. S. Benton House (recently converted to insurance and law offices), the gas station, Majic Market, and the Stinsonian Apartments.

Lot number 1 belonged to James Armour and lot number 26 did not have a listed owner.  Sometime after this map was made, the Shorter family bought lots 1 and 26 on which they built their imposing home.  Across Green Street the Shorter's owned lot number 2 on which Eli Shorter had his store.

Interim owners are not known, but M. S. Benton bought the western part of the lots sometime in the 1880's and built the house which is not insurance and law offices.  In this house, the second oldest Garden Club in America was organized.

About 1900 a three story hotel was built on the eastern part of this lot.  The hotel known as the Stinsonian Hotel became a gathering place for many of the social events of Monticello and Jasper County.  In the 1920 and 39's the state Fox Hunters Conventions were held there in late July.

For years, the Stinsonian Hotel, later known as the Monticello Hotel was the largest building in the county.  In 1939 the hotel caught fire from a kitchen fire and burned.  It was replaced by the apartments.

In the 1940s and 50s the apartments were a popular place for young married couples just starting out.  Many residents have happy memories of incidents that happened at the apartments while they lived there as a young couple.

The years took their toll and absentee owners did not often make repairs when needed and the apartments became run down.  They became vacant and present owners, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Holmes made the decision to have them demolished.

(PICTURE OF SHELL OF STINSONIAN APARTMENTS DURING DEMOLITION) 

Army Racing Balloon Lands Here

A Monticello News story on August 9 1934 recounts the landing of U.S. Army Racing Balloon Number 1 about 1.5 miles southeast of Monticello on the farm of H. B. Jordan.

Capt. W. S. Flood and Lt. R. R. Gillespie were the two balloonists.  The army worked very quickly and within two hours of the landing, the balloon had been crated and moved to Monticello by truck.  It was soon on its way back to the base at Birmingham from which it and five other balloons had taken off the day before.

In an interview in Monticello, Capt. Flood stated that the six balloons launched at Birmingham were entered in the World Balloon Race to be held at Warsaw, Poland, in September 1934 and were on a practice run before going to Europe.

Two other balloons also came down near here.  They were the Buffalo, N.Y. Courier Express balloon which came down in Mansfield and the Army Number Two balloon which came down at Covington.  The U. S. Navy balloon came down at Commerce.

There was no mention of the other two and it is assumed that they continued into South Carolina.  The race was to last for three days and there were no special incidents, according to the pilots in a later Army release.

Additional Comments:
Transcribed by Suzanne Forte (suzanneforte@bellsouth.net) April 2005,  from copies of articles contained in the Monticello News. There articles were prepared by Mr. 
John Harvey and published in this newspaper during the 1970's and 1980's time frame. Some were under the title "Jasper Reflections", others "Bicentennial Bits".
Permission has been granted by Mr. Harvey for use of these very valuable and informative articles.

Copies of articles provided by Benny Hawthorne.