City Directories and History: “The Avery Normal Institute was established during the period of Reconstruction as the first free secondary school for African Americans in the area. Born out of the Saxton School, founded in 1865 by the Reverend Francis L. Cardozo, it was organized with the assistance of the American Missionary Association of New York, which also staffed the school. Ten thousand dollars was obtained from the estate of the northern philanthropist Charles Avery, and further financial aid was given by the Freedmen’s Bureau and local merchants. The school was constructed by 1868 and by 1880 had an enrollment of nearly five hundred students. Although the institute was originally pri-vate and served Charleston’s most promi-nent free African American families, by 1947 it became public and developed a reputation as one of the best schools in the region. This Italianate structure with its arched entry and cupola is now under the aegis of the College of Charleston and functions as a research library and museum for the nineteenth-and early-twentieth-century Charleston black experience.”
Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston – Author, for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997
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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