Beginnings

Shortly after the death of Oliver Cromwell, Charles II was restored to the English throne in 1660. Three years later, in 1663, Charles rewarded eight of his loyal ex-generals by granting the chartered Carolina territory to them. The eight were known as the Lord Proprietors. After seven years the Lords finally managed to arrange for the first settlement, Charles Town, named for King Charles I. It was established in 1670 across the Ashley River from the city’s current location. By 1680 the settlement had grown and had been relocated to its current site. Charleston was the capital of the Carolina colony and the southernmost point of English settlement during the late 1600s.

Because of periodic assaults from Spain and France, who still contested England’s claims to the region, as well raids by American Indians and pirates, Charleston’s colonists erected a fortification wall around the small settlement. The only building to remain from the Walled City is the Powder Magazine (located at 79 Cumberland Street) where the city’s supply of gunpowder was stored.

A plan for the new settlement was laid out in 1680. Land surrounding the intersection of Meeting and Broad Streets was set aside for a Civic Square. In time, this became known as the “Four Corners of the Law” because of the various arms of governmental and religious law located on the square. St. Michael’s Episcopal Church was built on the southeast corner in 1752. The Capitol of the colony was erected across the square the following year. Provincial court met on the ground floor, the Commons House of Assembly and the Royal Governor’s Council Chamber met on the second floor.

Religious Freedom

The earliest settlers were mainly from the Anglican Church in England. But colonial Charleston was also home to Protestants and Catholics of French, Scottish, Irish and German decent. Sephardic Jews (of Spanish and Portuguese ancestry) migrated to the city in such numbers that Charleston became home to one of the largest Jewish communities in North America. Slaves also comprised a major portion of the population, and were active in the city’s religious community. Free black Charlestonians and slaves helped establish the Old Bethel United Methodist Church in 1797, and the congregation of the Emanuel A.M.E. Church stems from a religious group organized in 1791 solely by African Americans, free and slave.

Independence

By the mid-18th century Charleston had become the wealthiest and largest city south of Philadelphia and the center of a successful shipping industry. The relationship between the colonists and England, however, began to deteriorate.

In protest of the Tea Act of 1773, which embodied the concept of ”taxation without representation,” Charlestonians confiscated tea and stored it in the Exchange and Custom House. The following year representatives from all over the colony came to the Exchange to elect delegates to the Continental Congress, the group who ultimately drafted the Declaration of Independence. In 1776 South Carolina declared its independence from the Crown. In 1780 the British attacked the city. William Moultrie from Sullivan’s Island successfully defended the city. By 1780 Charleston came under British control for the next two and a half years. After the British retreated in December 1782, the city’s name was officially changed to Charleston.

In 1788, while delegates were meeting at the Capitol building in Charleston for the Constitutional Ratification Convention, a suspicious fire broke out and destroyed the structure. The meeting was moved to the Exchange. In four years the Capitol building was rebuilt. However, since the state capitol had been moved from Charleston to Columbia, the new building became the Charleston County Court House.

Prosperity

Charleston became more prosperous in the plantation-dominated economy in the years following independence. The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 revolutionized cotton production, and it quickly became South Carolina’s major export. Cotton plantations relied heavily on slave labor.

Slaves were also the primary labor force within the city, working as domestics, artisans, market workers or laborers. Many black Charlestonians spoke Gullah, a dialect which combined African, Portuguese, and English words. By 1820 Charleston had a population of 23,000, the majority of whom were black. In 1822 it was discovered that Denmark Vesey, a free black, planned a massive slave revolt. Five conspirators were hung and panicked white Charlestonians. As a consequence Carolinians severely restricted the activities of free blacks and slaves.

State’s Rights

The idea that state’s rights were superior to the Federal government’s authority came to dominate political discourse in South Carolina in the first half of the 19th century.

During this period over 90 percent of Federal funding was generated from import duties, collected by customhouses such as the one in Charleston.

In 1832 South Carolina passed an ordinance of nullification, a procedure in which a state could in effect repeal a Federal law, directed against the most recent tariff acts. Soon Federal soldiers were dispatched to Charleston’s forts and began to collect tariffs by force.

A compromise was reached by which the tariffs were gradually reduced, but the underlying argument over state’s rights would continue to escalate in the coming decades.

In 1860, the National Democratic Convention convened in Charleston. The convention disintegrated when delegates were unable to summon a two-thirds majority for any candidate. This split the Democratic Party, and led to the election of Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate.

Civil War

On December 20, 1860, the South Carolina legislature voted to secede from the Union. It was the first state to do so. The legislature stated that one of the reasons for secession was the election to the presidency of a man ”whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery.”

On January 9, 1861, Citadel cadets fired the first shots of the Civil War when they opened fire on a Union ship entering Charleston’s harbor. On April 12, 1861, shore batteries under the command of General Pierre G. T. Beauregard opened fire on the Union-held Fort Sumter in the harbor. After a 34-hour bombardment, Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort. The city became the center for blockade running, and was the site of the first submarine warfare. In 1865, Union troops took control of the city. After the defeat of the Confederacy, Federal forces remained in Charleston during the city’s reconstruction. The war had shattered the prosperity of the antebellum city. Freed slaves were faced with poverty and discrimination. As the city’s economy slowly improved, so did the community’s institutions and infrastructure.

Reconstruction

In 1867 Charleston’s first free secondary school for blacks was established, the Avery Normal Institute. General Sherman lent his support to the conversion of the United States Arsenal into the Porter Military Academy, an educational facility for former soldiers and boys left orphaned or destitute by the war. The William Enston Home, a planned community for the city’s aged and infirm, was built in 1889. An elaborate public building, the United States Post Office and Courthouse, was completed in 1896, and signaled renewed life in the heart of the city.

In 1886 Charleston was nearly destroyed by a major earthquake estimated to have a magnitude of 7.6. It was felt as far away as Boston and Bermuda. Few buildings escaped damage. When one contemplates the fires, hurricanes, wars and urban renewal that have plagued the city in the past, it’s amazing how many of Charleston’s historic buildings remain.

Today Charleston boasts of one of the most complete historic districts in the country, with more than 1400 historically significant individual structures. Various organizations focused on securing buildings from inappropriate development through outright ownership. Their efforts, combined with the inclusion of preservation objectives in government regulations had a significant impact on the city.

Historic District Zoning

The city council passed the historic district zoning ordinance on October 13, 1931. Its purpose was “to promote general welfare through the preservation and protection of historic places and areas of historic interest....” For the first time groups or areas of buildings were designated as significant and worthy of protection. The blending of planning and preservation goals was unique and a revolutionary concept for its time.

The city council also created the Board of Architectural Review (BAR) and the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Although the powers of the review board were limited to reviewing demolition requests within the area specified, the formal plan submission and review procedures opened a new avenue for negotiation.

Rehabilitation

During the late 1930s Charleston utilized federal sources of money for preservation purposes. In 1938 when a tornado struck, federal assistance was used to mitigate the damage to historic structures. The city also used available federal funding under Roosevelt’s New Deal to provide public housing. In 1939 the city razed a number of dilapidated buildings outside the historic district defined by the 1931 ordinance. The most valuable antebellum structures were saved and incorporated into the new multi-family housing project. In the following years the Housing Authority of Charleston rehabilitated the Marine Hospital (1833) by Robert Mills and the adjacent City Jail for administrative functions.

In 1944 the Carolina Art Assoc. published the findings of the survey as “This Is Charleston,” illustrating more than 500 of the surveyed structures. The result was the first publication of an architectural inventory of an American city. This simple idea had a far-reaching influence on future work in the city, in other cities, and on the formation of the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1945 Kenneth Chorley, president of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. pointed out the need for an independent, nongovernmental organization which could set its own agenda without ties to any existing organization or city politics.

The result was the establishment of the nonprofit Historic Charleston Foundation, Inc. The foundation could own and operate historic sites following the Colonial Williamsburg model.

Aggressive Purchasing

The 1950s brought about a rethinking of the approach to historic preservation. In 1959 Historic Charleston Foundation began to focus on the rehabilitation of neighborhoods through an aggressive purchase and resale agenda. It targeted the Ansonborough neighborhood, a fine collection of antebellum masonry dwellings. The foundation established a revolving fund and options or outright purchases were made with the idea that if one or two buildings were restored on a street, other buildings would follow.

The foundation placed easements on the properties before selling them. This established control over the rehabilitation and long-term maintenance of the buildings. The buildings were sold as residences to individuals or families. Dilapidated and often abandoned tenements gave way to single family homes.

This program added a new dimension to historic preservation in Charleston. In the 1960s the city council voted to expand the boundaries of the Old and Historic District, nearly tripling its size, to an east-west line that included one-half of the peninsula’s land mass. All the buildings south of US Highway 17 fell under the jurisdiction of the BAR, with the added power to deny demolition permanently.

Preservation Plan of 1974

In 1974 with the adoption of the Feiss-Wright Anderson Survey and Preservation Plan a comprehensive architectural inventory and area plan was available to the public. The first inventory since the 1944 Carolina Art Association effort, the inventory identified more than 2,800 structures. The preservation plan became the centerpiece for planning and zoning. It recommended stronger enforcement of building codes and height restrictions. It also stimulated the city council to extend the Board of Architectural Review’s controls further up the peninsula.

Revitalization

In the 1970s the city commissioned Barton-Aschman Associates to develop a commercial revitalization plan for the historic core of the city. In 1978 the city announced that a hotel/convention complex, to be called Charleston Center, would be constructed on a blighted block at the most critical commercial corner in the city. The proposed complex divided the preservation community. Some saw the development as the centerpiece of much-needed revitalization.

Some saw it as old style urban renewal that would destroy the quality and character of the historic city. Finally after several lawsuits, compromises, and design changes, the center opened eight years later as the “Omni”. In the mid-1990’s the name was changed to “Charleston Place.”

Saved from Hugo

Hurricane Hugo struck the South Carolina coast on September 21, 1989, northeast of the city. Eighty-five percent of the city’s properties were affected. Uninsured or under-insured property owners cited economic hardship and demanded substitute materials and relief from standard construction practices. The city refused to reduce its requirements for compliance with local building codes. The BAR refused to deviate from established standards by unanimous vote. This decision saved countless historic buildings from demolition and inappropriate modification.

Guarding the Past

“Charleston 2000: The City of Charleston’s Comprehensive Plan” outlines historic preservation goals so the city’s past will be guarded for the benefit of future generations. For a century, citizens have fought to preserve the city’s most important buildings. Individuals, organizations, and government have all contributed to the preservation of this magnificent city. As a result Charleston is more than a city much loved by its residents. It is gift from Charlestonians to the world that all can enjoy.

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