George W. Williams Archives - Charleston County

1 Hayne Street or Robertson – Taylor Company

City Directories and History: The correspondence between the George W. Williams Company and Mr. James “Enoree” Anderson of Spartanburg, S.C., in the mid 19th

R&R HISTORY LINK: UPCOUNTRY PLANTERS SHOP

century identifies this as the extensive location of the Williams Wholesale Grocery business. Also see #1 Broad Street as well as #16 Meeting Street for additional information on Mr. Williams. Anderson’s Mill was an early upcountry, S.C. grist mill which remained in operation until ca. 1975.

Bill of sale in 1885 at the traditional location of the Williams Grocery. Courtesy of the Thomas Store Collection, Ridgeway, SC

The 1860 receipt, of Ann H. White of Rock Hill, S.C., states the store was located at 1-3 Hayne Street and 67-71 Market Street. A later receipt states that he was in business with: George W. Williams, E.C. Williams, James H. Taylor, William Birnie and Edwin Platt.

Illustration of this address – Guide to Charleston, S.C. by A. Mazyck, (1875)

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

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R&R HISTORY LINK: SELLING TO THE UPCOUNTRY CONSUMER

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Centenary Methodist Church – Charleston, S.C.

60 Wentworth Street

City Directories and History: CENTENARY METHODIST CHURCH Constructed 1841-42; renovated 1911,1953 Edward Bricked White, architect

“Edward B. White designed one of Charleston’s most chaste Greek Revival buildings for the congregation of Second Baptist Church in 1841-42. Some believe that the giant-order portico exemplifies the challenge to White to compete with the K. K. Beth Elohim Synagogue one block to the south. Lamenting the placement of the doors insisted upon by the building committee, an anonymous critic wrote an essay in the newspaper pointing out its “flawed” design, and a response by the architect indicated his own lament as well. At war’s end the Wentworth Street congregation merged with Citadel Square Baptist and endeavored to sell their church buildings.

Contemporaneously, black members of Trinity Methodist Church left that congregation when offered membership after the war on the condition that they continue to worship in the gallery. After starting a church under the leadership of a New England minister and beginning services at Avery Normal Institute, the leaders negotiated to purchase the Wentworth Street building for $20,000. The requirement that the funds be paid in gold by a specified date nearly ended the transaction, but the congregation was aided in securing the gold by a Trinity member and the wealthy Charleston banker George W. Williams. The church was extensively repaired after the hurricane of 1911 and renovated in 1953. Its congregation has included some of Charleston’s most important African Americans, including the late civil rights leader Septima Poinsett Clark.”

Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997

*** See PDF this page on the connection between the NY Ecc. Society and the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina – Printed in the S.C. Messenger in Nov. 1848.

Access information on numerous Charleston County and South Carolina churches, by clicking the highlighted S.C. Digital Library name.

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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Please enjoy this structure and all those listed in Roots and Recall. But remember each is private property. So view them from a distance or from a public area such as the sidewalk or public road.

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28 Anson Street

City Directories and History: OLD WEILS MATTRESS FACTORY
Constructed before 1872; rehabilitated as condominiums 1990

The Yorkville Enquirer reported on Nov. 22, 1883 – “There was a fire recently at the Charleston Clothing Company. Seven people are employed there and three were killed by the fire. It is known as the Robertson, Taylor and Company. The loss is $60,000.”

The rear, two-story brick section of this building began as a cotton warehouse owned by George W. Williams and later served as the center of a complex belonging to Robertson, Taylor and Company, who processed cotton brought into Charleston from the plantations. The Weils family added the front section of the building in the twentieth century when the structure became a mattress factory; it retained this use until the 1970s. After the Board of Architectural Review had denied applications for demolition for years, a group of investors renovated the entire building as condominiums. The rear of the property borders a tiny thoroughfare called Motley Lane, formerly called Mott’s Lane. It traverses in an L-shaped path from Pinckney Street to Anson Street, accessing small houses and outbuildings of some of the large dwellings facing onto Hasell Street.

The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997

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Please enjoy this structure and all those listed in Roots and Recall. But remember each is private property. So view them from a distance or from a public area such as the sidewalk or public road.

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2 Meeting Street – Historic Carrington and Carr Home

City Directories and History: CARRINGTON-CARR HOUSE

Constructed 1890-92; restored early-1980s

“This large Queen Anne style dwelling at the foot of Meeting Street occupies one of the city’s best sites overlooking White Point Garden and the Charleston harbor. The house replaced a structure destroyed in the earthquake of 1886 and is a good example of the adaptation of Queen Anne

Illustration of this address – Guide to Charleston, S.C. by A. Mazyck, (1875)

decorative elements to Charleston’s vernacular traditions. Waring P. Carrington acquired the site for this house in 1889. Carrington’s wife, Martha Williams, was a daughter of George W. Williams, the wealthy banker who resided at 16 Meeting Street (the Calhoun Mansion). Tradition holds that Williams gave his daughter and son-in-law a wedding gift of $75,000, which was then used to construct their residence. Carrington, a King Street jeweler, purchased two Tiffany windows, now in the first-floor parlor, to celebrate the couple’s fifth wedding anniversary in 1895. The bandstand in White Point Garden was built and donated to the city by Martha W. Carrington in memory of Mr. and Mrs. George W. Williams.”

Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997

Other sources: Charleston Tax Payers of Charleston, SC in 1860-61, Dwelling Houses of Charleston by Alice R.H. Smith – 1917, Charleston 1861 Census Schedule, and a 1872 Bird’s Eye View of Charleston, S.C. The Hist. Charleston Foundation may also have additional data at: Past Perfect

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R&R HISTORY LINK: 16 Meeting Street

Please enjoy this structure and all those listed in Roots and Recall. But remember each is private property. So view them from a distance or from a public area such as the sidewalk or public road.

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IMAGE GALLERY

State Bank Building – One Broad Street

“One of Charleston’s most important and historic commercial addresses. An award winning restoration – 2017.”

1 Broad Street

R&R HISTORY LINK: #16 MEETING STREET

City Directories and History: STATE BANK OF SOUTH CAROLINA BUILDING
Constructed 1853; restored 1978 – Edward C. Jones and Francis Lee, architects

“Jones and Lee, Charleston’s most notable antebellum architectural partnership, designed this three-story brownstone building in the Renaissance Revival style. Damaged by shelling in the Civil War, it was reopened in 1868 for the company of the former blockade runner and Confederate treasurer George Trenholm. The edifice was State Bank of South Carolina, 1 Broad Street, Charleston, Charleston County, SC (2)

Images from: The Library of Congress – HABS Photo Collection

purchased in 1875 for the Carolina Savings Bank owned by George Williams, builder of the imposing house at 16 Meeting Street. Important exterior features include the curvilinear bay with entry door and engaged portico, and the dissimilar lion-headed keystones above each first- floor window. The

interior lobby was restored when the building returned to bank usage in 1978 and still contains its Rococo Revival style plaster cornice and frieze.”

Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997

The Rock Hill Herald reported on Jan. 10, 1903 – “Mr. George W. Williams, has died at the age of 83. He was a banker and one of the richest men in the City of Charleston. With his partner, Daniel Hand he had a very successful grocery, cotton and fertilizer business. He established the Carolina Savings Bank and was head of it until his death.”

Also see the link at 1 Broad Street at the LCDL and ONE BROAD STREET.

Images taken by R&R in Nov. 2015 of the interior spaces uncovered during the months of restoration work. Including fire damage from the Civil War as well as the hole in the roof from a cannon strike.

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

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R&R HISTORY LINK: 268 CALHOUN STREET

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R&R HISTORY LINK: NEARBY HISTORY – COURTENAY AND MORE

R&R HISTORY LINK: NEARBY HISTORY – ST MICHAEL’S CHURCH

R&R HISTORY LINK: NEARBY HISTORY – MILL’S HOTEL BUILDING

Please enjoy this structure and all those listed in Roots and Recall. But remember each is private property. So view them from a distance or from a public area such as the sidewalk or public road.

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IMAGE GALLERY

: Images taken of the building prior to restoration in 2015

: Plaster moulding in the first floor, being carefully reserved during the restoration process.

208 King Street – Charleston’s YMCA Building / Women’s Exchange Building

City Directories and History: Constructed 1889; altered 1950s, 1980; exterior partially restored and interior rehabilitated 1995 – S. W. Foulk, architect; Henry Oliver, contractor.

“Victorian America’s leading designer of YMCA’s, S. W. Foulk of Newcastle, Pennsylvania, designed this pressed-brick, three story building in the Richardsonian Romanesque style to house the Charleston YMCA, which had been organized in 1854. (The 1888 Sanborn Map shows the YMCA housed at the Mill’s Hotel on Meeting Street), With the Charleston business magnate George Walton Williams as chairman of the building committee, Foulk was selected as the architect and funds were raised locally for the construction. The building retains much of its fenestration despite severe mid-twentieth-century alterations. The shop spaces on the ground story are divided by banded, rough-cut stone that also appears in the detailing of the base of the north tower and the arches above the bands of windows. In the twentieth century the roof of the tower and the peak of the central gable were removed and the extensive glass of the large arch was infilled. These exterior features have not been restored.”

Information from:The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997

Also see the Kitchen208 Company.

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User comments welcome — post at the bottom of this page.

Please enjoy this structure and all those listed in Roots and Recall. But remember each is private property. So view them from a distance or from a public area such as the sidewalk or public road.

Thanks!

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