City Directories and History: MORDECAI COHEN BUILDING
Constructed circa 1839; altered late- 1880s, 1930
“Mordecai Cohen, who owned property throughout Charleston, including the tenements at 97-101 Broad Street, built a three-and-a-half-story brick structure with a front gabled parapet on his property after the 1838 fire. Miles Drake, a dry goods merchant, purchased the building in 1851, and his family held it until 1912. In the late-nineteenth century Italianate detailing was added, but much of this was removed in 1950 during the ownership of Pastime Amusement Company, a Sottile family real estate firm. Cohen built 293 and 295 King Street as well, but these buildings have experienced even more twentieth-century alteration than their neighbor to the north.”
Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997
Note that M. Drake continued in business at #169 Meeting Street following the Civil War and conducted a massive shoe and boot business.
Other sources of interest: Charleston Tax Payers of Charleston, SC in 1860-61 and the Dwelling Houses of Charleston by Alice R.H. Smith – 1917 The HCF may also have additional data at: Past Perfect and further research can be uncovered at: Charleston 1861 Census Schedule or The Charleston City Guide of 1872
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