1609 Crestwood Drive
Built in early 1928 by J. Frank Bailey, Inc. as 209 Crestwood, this residence was purchased by real estate developer Jack Ulmer and his wife, Bessie Brawley, in October 1928. They lived here until 1935 with their daughters, Marie and Julie, and Ulmer’s father, John Ulmer. They subsequently moved to 1605 Hollywood, a two-story residence with completed basement built by Jack Ulmer’s company, Jack Ulmer, Inc.
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1609 Crestwood Drive, 2019. Historic Columbia collection.
Jack M. Ulmer
Jack M. Ulmer was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina in 1888. He moved to Columbia in 1903 and initially worked in sales, including at Ehrlich’s Shoe Company. After completing a year of service at Camp Jackson during World War I, he became a real estate developer. After working at J. Frank Bailey, Inc. on developing Hollywood, he helped establish four different companies: State Realty Company (1920), State Building Company (1923), Jack Ulmer, Inc. (1929), and Biltrite Building Company (1929), which each built multiple homes in downtown Columbia. He often used the slogan, “The House That Jack Built.” His daughters, Marie and Julia, married prominent real estate developers Oliver J. Wolfe (Oliver Wolfe Co.) and Clyde James Nettles (Bestbuilt Building Company), respectively. In 1935, Ulmer cofounded the Home and Federal Savings Loan Association, and he remained employed there as an executive after retiring from real estate in 1943. He died in 1967, one year after stepping down as Chairman of its Board of Directors.
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Advertisement for Jack Ulmer, Inc. Reprinted from The State, July 28, 1929
