With history through his art, cartoonist Lawton Wood brought Spartanburg's past to life

Lawton Wood was not an expressive speaker, nor did he finish high school due to the Great Depression.

One thing he knew was that he could draw. He knew by age 16 that he wanted to pursue a career as an artist.

"Everything he did was built around the fact he could express himself with a pencil and a piece of paper," said Paul Wood, Lawton Wood's son.

Lawton was a self-taught artist who trained through a correspondence course. He went on to decorate store windows in downtown Spartanburg and some of his work was featured in the Herald-Journal. Wood became a freelance cartoonist for the Herald-Journal and created a column, which featured the history of the state.

Spartanburg County students and others will soon get to see his work, which was donated last year by his family to the Spartanburg County Headquarters Library.

County Librarian Todd Stephens said there are big plans for Wood's work to be exhibited, both virtually and at the downtown branch.

"What we'll do is scan it and have it online in a specific online collection so people can see the entire story of his work," Stephens said. "With some of our archival collections, we move to a place having a public exhibit where people can come and look at it in a museum arrangement. It takes a little bit more time, but we do a good bit of that with our archival selections. It's just so visual and tells a beautiful story of his work."

Going back to 'The Beginning' of Lawton Wood

When Wood recognized his artistic ability, he never let his pen leave the paper. He took a brown, wilted piece of paper and wrote "The Beginning," knowing that there were many more to come.

Wood became the art editor of The Scribbler, Spartanburg High School's old literary magazine and newspaper. He used his experience at The Scribbler as self-training and later went on to take cartoon correspondence courses.

"He would do these drawings and send them off to the correspondence course," Paul Wood said. "They would send them back with red lines over them, showing what to do differently, and he'd have to redraw them and send them back again."

In his 20s, Wood worked at the John Graham shoe store in downtown Spartanburg. He still had the ability to use his creative freedom, decorating the store windows with artwork for any occasion or holiday. He didn't just decorate the windows in one store, but Lawton traveled to all seven of Graham's stores across the region to work on signs and other window displays.

"He (John Graham) had seven stores, and gave dad a station wagon," Paul Wood said. "He (Lawton Wood) would take off early in the morning and go to Waynesville, North Carolina. He'd go to Forest City, then Union and Gaffney; he had a studio in all seven stores. He was free to do his thing."

Wood's creativity went beyond drawing.

In 1944, he was drafted into the Navy at age 38 and was stationed in San Diego on the USS Ranger, an interwar aircraft carrier. Paul Wood said his father became interested in photography and would climb high, above the scaffold, to take photos of the entire crew.

"He could take a piece of wood and easily turn it into the likeness of a pony," said Lou Parris, former Herald-Journal Stroller columnist. "He could inspire others who recognize they have this talent and want to develop it. Lawton's wife, Sophie, enjoyed entering sweepstakes through magazine orders. Rather than mail her entry in a drab envelope, Lawton would draw characters, and put a big smile on her face. It paid off. Sophie won a few gadgets from those entries."

Lawton's work became a Spartanburg staple

It wasn't long before everyone in town knew Wood and his drawings. He began doing freelance work for the Herald-Journal during the 1940s for two years, creating a "Know your State" column. Lawton's weekly comics shared history about South Carolina.

Parris said that Wood's "Know your State" was his most notable work.

"It was a history lesson through art," Parris said. "He was guided by a historian who gave him details of importance to South Carolina's history. He drew that scene or the likeness of people and places."

Wood's work was relatable. Herald-Journal readers recognized his talent and followed the story of how he became an artist.

"He was known as a 'well-known Spartanburg amateur artist'," Paul Wood said. "He exhibited at the fair, he shot photography at the fair and even built floats during Christmas time. He even did a series on popular businesswomen. He would take a drawing and put a picture of the woman in the center of the caricature."

Paul Wood said, in 1970, he was helping his father clean out an old trunk, and discovered dozens of drawings and doodles.

"I opened his trunk and saw all his stuff. I said 'Dad, I'm going to decorate the walls of my apartment with your drawings'," Paul Wood said. "He said, 'they're worthless,' and I said 'I can bring ladies up to my apartment and tell them these are some of my dad's etchings.' My mother didn't think it was that funny, but I did start framing them to put on my walls."

Wood's creative bone never left his body, and he continued to embrace it until his death in 1990. In his final days, Paul Wood said his father requested markers, pencils and art supplies.

His last drawing? It was a smiley face, expressing his love for his wife.

To view Wood's collection, make an appointment in the Kennedy room with a Spartanburg County Public Libraries staff member.

This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Cartoonist Lawton Wood brought Spartanburg's past to life through art