GREER, S.C. — I first came across Little Chicago quite by accident in the mid-1970s.

I can’t remember if I was lost (or bewildered as Daniel Boone would say) or if I was out exploring on that lovely spring day. 

Nevertheless, I’ll never forget that my breath was a little taken away as I came to that sleepy country crossroads at the western tip of Spartanburg County. 

The place was literally surrounded by pink flowering peach trees standing like sentinels just beside the two roads that met there. 

And as if that wasn’t beautiful enough, the entire scene was framed by a picturesque panorama of the majestic Blue Ridge mountains. This was Little Chicago, an unforgettable piece of Upstate South Carolina folklore.

    Little Chicago’s most prominent landmark was a tiny country store, typical of the area, that stood on the northeast corner of the intersection of Mount Lebanon and Goodjoin Roads.

The store’s keeper and owner was a well-known local named J. Bloomer Williams, and he was and remains a Little Chicago legend, though he’s been gone for years. 

Bloomer’s store was more of a meeting place than a commercial enterprise. 

Sure, he sold gas from the two pumps outside, and you could also buy nabs, cookies and crackers. There was also the drink box that held ice-cold Coca-Colas being chilled in a slow melting bath of ice. 

It was mainly a meeting place, though, where Bloomer held court around a pot-bellied stove in the winter and a bench outside in the summer. 

Just outside the door stood another Little Chicago landmark. It was a sky-high pole with mileage marker signs pointing to cities across the country and the world. 

Though the accuracy of the distances was questionable, one could stand in Little Chicago and estimate that he was 8,827 miles from Hong Kong. At the same time, he discovered, with a little more confidence, that he was 95 miles from Charlotte. 

Unfortunately, the famous sign was removed years ago after Bloomer’s death and the demolition of the old store building. It would have made a great museum piece!

     The question on most people’s minds must be how Little Chicago got its name. The common tale is that the name was coined sometime in the late ‘20s or early ‘30s after a shooting took place close by related to moonshine whiskey. 

At the time the Capone gang ruled “big” Chicago and killings there were in the newspaper every day. 

So, soon after the shooting at the crossroads, someone — in a rowdy moment fueled by bootleg whiskey — said, “I’m in Little Chicago!” The name stuck.

    These days, both Bloomer and his store are gone. A more modern convenience store stands just across the road from where Bloomer held court. 

And it too, has become a gathering place for locals, complete with a repurposed church pew they affectionately call “The Liar’s Bench.” 

Now new homes stand everywhere, and the peach trees are almost daily being removed.