McAlister-Smith Funeral & Cremation is an independently owned and operated funeral home and is not part of the national conglomerate that owns Thompson Funeral Home. The building at 200 State Street, West Columbia was built/completed about 1935 and was among among the first of the buildings in the state of SC to be built specifically as a funeral home (to provide funeral services as they were performed at that time). The building was built for, and to the specifications of, John R. “Buddy” Thompson who had started his funeral business in a rented building just down State Street in 1928. In those days the funeral home also provided ambulance service as well as funeral service and was manned 24 hours a day. To facilitate this, much of the second story was living quarters for the Thompson family, but it also had a selection room, while the ground floor was dedicated to business use having a chapel, two visitation/viewing rooms, two bathrooms, a room that was convertible and could be a viewing/visitation room or provide additional seating for the chapel, an arrangements office, an operating room, and a storage room. The building had a full basement where the boiler was located, two additional storage rooms, and a single door garage. There was an enclosed hallway on the second level connecting another building in back of the main facility which had a 7 car garage on the ground level, a two bedroom one bath apartment w/kitchen and dining room on the second floor as well as a large storage area on the second floor accessed by a hand pull freight elevator. When J.R. “Buddy” Thompson opened his business in 1928, the community was named New Brookland (later the name was changed to West Columbia). Buddy was assisted in the early years by his wife Bleeka; his parents, John D. And Della; his baby brother E.L. “Tootsie”, his nephew Roy Price as well as his other siblings (part time) Clifford, Inez Sox, Thelma Morrison, and Minnie Price as well as a few dedicated staff members. The hard work and efforts of the Thompson family was recognized and rewarded by the local communities and the business grew. When air conditioning became available it was installed in the building and a passenger elevator was installed in the 1950’s. Many dedicated staff members were employed throughout the years as the business continued to grow and flourish. In 1963 Buddy and Bleeka’s son John D Thompson began working with the family firm part time. In 1965 the original building had an addition built that included three visitation rooms, an arrangements office and a foyer on the ground level with a full basement beneath adding a large storage room. At the same time another two story building was attached to the original garage which added a 12 car garage on the ground level and a two bedroom, one bath apartment with a kitchen and a large den on the second story together with a large storage area which could be accessed from the original second story storage area built over the 1935 garage. Buddy died in 1969 leaving the business to his wife Bleeka and his brother Tootsie. Thompson received his license and was full time with the family firm. Under John D’s leadership the firm continued to grow and in 1999 John D had the 20,000 sq ft ground level Lexington location on Augusta Road built to better serve the communities (West Columbia, Cayce, Olympia, Columbia, Springdale, Lexington, Gaston, Swansea, South Congaree, Sandy Run, Red Bank, Irmo, Pelion, Chapin, and other outlying areas) that appreciated the quality services provided by the Thompson family and staff. John D’s son J Blake Thompson joined his father in the family business about this time after graduating from the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science and receiving his license. The business continued to grow until 2010 when John D Thompson was stricken by Sudden Hearing Loss Syndrome losing 100% of the hearing in his left ear and 50% of the hearing in his right ear. The SHLS was untreatable and John was unable to function to his own standards resulting in the sale of the business in 2011. John and Blake did retain ownership of both locations and in 2021 the conglomerate that purchased the business chose not to continue to operate the West Columbia location at 200 State Street. John has refurbished the location and is happy to welcome the new tenant McAlister-Smith Funeral & Cremation based in Charleston to the area.
