FLORENCE -- About six years ago, Dr. John Thomason took a weekend trip to his niece's wedding in Spartanburg.

Though he didn't know it at the time, it was a trip that in essence would change the course of history for both the Drs. Bruce and Lee Foundation and Florence County.

"I was up there for my niece's wedding and passed by the construction on their new library downtown," said Thomason, vice chairman of Drs. Bruce and Lee Foundation and son-in-law of Bruce Hospital founder Dr. John Larrabee Bruce.

"I was very impressed with the architecture," he said. "Of course, Spartanburg's a little bigger than Florence, but their facility was just so far superior to ours that it really got me thinking."

When Thomason returned home from the wedding, he mentioned the Spartanburg library to several members of the foundation's board of trustees, including chairman Dr. Frank B. Lee Sr., who along with his brother, the late Dr. D. Lamar Lee Sr., purchased Saunders Memorial Hospital, which later became Florence General Hospital, in 1950.

"The first I heard about a library was from Dr. John Thomason," Lee said. "He just kept talking about how far we were behind other libraries in the state. Time went by, and others started to pick up on the idea."

Eventually, after many discussions and proposals from the county, the foundation signed on to the project with a $6.5 million grant to build a new headquarters library on the former site of Carolinas Hospital System, between South Irby and Dargan streets. The foundation later increased its pledge to $10.6 million.

Lee said for foundation board members, there was never any doubt that the perfect place for the library was the Dargan Street site.

"For us, there was never any other place under consideration," he said. "The site had plenty of room, it was accessible ... basically, it was perfect for what we wanted. Who knows? Maybe it was put there by the Lord for a library."

Although the library was not built as part of the downtown revitalization effort, it's certainly a wonderful addition that, for Lee, evokes memories of childhood when families would often take Sunday afternoon drives down Dargan Street and through the heart of Florence.

Beginning at Mount Hope Cemetery, families would drive north on Dargan Street, passing such beautiful buildings as the old McClenaghan High School, the old Poynor School and what was known then as the McLeod Mansion at the corner of Dargan and Palmetto streets.

"Of course, that building used to be a funeral home and now serves as the arts council office, but when I was growing up, it was the McLeod Mansion," Lee said. "As long as it's still standing, I don't think it will ever lose that designation."

Across Palmetto, continuing on Dargan, is St. John's Episcopal Church, the oldest church building that has been in continuous use in Florence.

Though Dargan Street and the surrounding areas have deteriorated in recent years, all of these beautiful historical landmarks are still standing today.

"Dargan Street certainly can improve further," Lee said. "The potential is definitely there."

Once the site was chosen, it was time for the architects to present their design ideas for the new library. Lee said he left those plans to the experts, but did render one small piece of advice based on the county's history with leaky roofs on buildings.

"The only thing I suggested was that the building not have a flat roof," he said, with a wink and a grin.

But when the architects submitted their initial design sketches for the new library, Thomason said he and the rest of the Bruce and Lee board were far from impressed.

"The first drawing the architect showed us looked like a two-story brick schoolhouse," Thomason said. "Poor guy, after being highly degraded for awhile, he rolled up his plans and went back to Greenville with instructions to return with a better plan."

"I remember that," Lee said, chuckling. "We told him not to come back to Florence with any Frank Lloyd Wright design."

Both Lee and Thomason said it wasn't the quality of the architects' work that they questioned, but rather the size and scope of the building.

"I don't think in the beginning they knew how big we were talking," Lee said. "But buildings are like highways to some extent. You have to build them for the future. You can't build them for the present. If you do, they're already outgrown by the time they're completed."

As for the foundation's involvement in future endeavors in downtown Florence, Foundation Executive Director L. Bradley Callicott said the board will consider requests concerning downtown redevelopment, but was quick to note that the foundation's scope is much larger than just downtown Florence.

"The foundation's service area is basically the old service area of both hospitals," Callicott said. "So the board has to look at the needs of the entire community, not simply the needs of downtown Florence."

The foundation did, however, award the city of Florence a $500,000 grant last year to aid in the purchase of land on North Irby Street that the city swapped for the Bush Recycling property.

The 4.73-acre Bush site, located in north Florence, is the focal point of a larger 20-acre lot that has been designated the No. 1 catalyst project in the downtown revitalization efforts. Preliminary plans are to convert the site into a park -- not so much in the recreation sense like Freedom Florence, but more like the setting in the Ebenezer Park area.

The foundation recently extended its commitment to Florence County's Library System with the announcement of a $1 million grant to be used to construct a new branch library in Pamplico.

The foundation also is in discussions with the county about providing additional grants to help build other branch libraries throughout the county in the years to come.

"Sure we'd love to build all new libraries, but the limiting factor comes down to what the county is able to fund," Callicott said. "We certainly don't want to increase the tax burden on the residents of Florence County. It may take a little bit of time for them to digest the funding to operate this building before they can move on to building others."

Thomason said he, too, would like the foundation to remain involved in improving the county's library system. However,
he doesn't want to pour money into any investment that won't survive.

"No foundation or organization wants to put up structures that are going to be empty in a matter of a couple of years," he said.

And once a building is built, Lee said, the foundation's work and funding is done.

"We're into bricks and mortar," he said. "We build buildings. We're not in the business of paying to operate them."

No matter what the future brings, all agreed that the new Drs. Bruce and Lee Foundation Library is a library of which all of the members of the foundation's board of trustees and residents of Florence County can be extremely proud for decades to come.

"It's definitely larger than I thought it was going to be, more than I thought it was going to be," Lee said. "But I will say this: I rode by there recently, and I noticed one thing that I just couldn't believe -- parts of that building have actually got a flat roof."

Laughing at his colleague's remarks, Thomason agreed that the building is a beautiful sight to behold, flat roof and all.

"It's even better than I anticipated," he said. "They said they used sandstone because it has a 100-year life. All I can say is I hope I'm around to see that celebration."