Charleston Orphan House
The Orphan House — Charleston.
LocationCalhoun Street, Charleston, South Carolina
Coordinates32°47′02″N 79°56′13″W / 32.78384°N 79.93700°W / 32.78384; -79.93700
Built1790
Demolished1956

Charleston Orphan House, the first public orphanage in the United States, was an orphanage in Charleston, South Carolina from 1790 to 1951. Records of the Commissioners of the Charleston Orphan House are held at the Charleston County Public Library, in Charleston. The records consists of the administrative records of the Charleston Orphan House, from its founding in 1790 to its removal in 1951.[1]

History

The Orphan House, 1819-1902.

The Charleston Orphan House was established on October 18, 1790 by the City Council as the first municipal orphanage in the United States.[1][2] The orphanage primarily served poor white children and formed one of South Carolina's earliest educational systems. Before the Orphan House was established, St. Phillip's and St. Michael's parishes provided for destitute children. They ordered men who abandoned their families to pay child support and paid women to care for young children who did not have families. When Charleston was incorporated in 1783, the city had to take on the burden of caring for these children. The city wanted to establish an orphanage as a centralized site of care to save on expenses.[3]

The Orphan House also occupied Revolutionary-War-Era barracks. The council rented a house on Market Street from 1790 until construction on the orphan house building was complete in 1794.[4] The orphanage was within Calhoun (Boundary), King, Vanderhorst, and St. Phillips Streets.[3]

On November 12, 1792, President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the first permanent Orphan House, located on the north side of Boundary Street, which is now present-day Calhoun Street. It formally opened on October 18, 1794. The campus occupied most of the block bounded by Calhoun, King, Vanderhorst, and St. Philip Streets. The Ophan House remained at this site for nearly 150 years.[1]

By 1861, the Orphan House was staffed by 39 employees who cared for 360 children.[4] Residents of the Orphan House were often poor white children with living parents who could not afford to care for them. Orphan House children typically received a few years of school before being hired out as apprentices, farmers, or domestic servants.[3]

Closing of "The Orphan House"

In 1948, the Orphan House was under criticism by the Child Welfare League of America. As a result, the Charleston City Council began to question its operations. Two years later in September 1951, the Charleston Orphan House officially closed[1] and the commissioners of the Orphan House bought roughly 37 acres of a new site called Oak Grove Plantation in North Charleston.[5]

In 1956, the Orphan House building at St. Phillip and Coming streets was torn down to construct a Sears. Twenty-two years later, the Orphan House ceased operations officially in 1978. Currently, the agency now identifies as the Carolina Youth Development Center, which still operates and serves through outreach programs.[5]

The Charleston Archive

Records of the Commissioners of the Charleston Orphan House are held at the Charleston County Public Library, in Charleston. The records consist of the administrative records of the Charleston Orphan House, from its founding in 1790 to its removal in 1951. These include thirteen series, including anniversary records (1804-1861), applications to admit and to remove children from the institution (1796-1929), commissioners’ correspondence (1792-1951), financial records (1790-1959), indenture books (1780-1949), library records (1855-1889), minutes (1790-1953), miscellaneous materials (1778-1951), physicians’ records (1862-1950), printed materials, registers, staff records, and superintendent’s weekly reports (1809-1951). The majority of the records in this archive have been microfilmed, which comprise 54 reels of microfilm.[1] The records are available in the South Carolina Room of the Library.[4]

Architecture

Gentleman architect Gabriel Manigault designed the orphan house's chapel in 1802.[2] Architects Jones and Lee remodeled and enlarged the building in the 1850s.[5] The building was demolished in 1956 to build a Sears Department Store and later the College of Charleston's Joe E. Berry dormitory.[5]

Notable alumni

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Records: Commissioners of the Charleston Orphan House, 1790–1959". www.ccpl.org. Charleston, South Carolina. 1790. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Charleston Orphan House". South Carolina Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  3. 1 2 3 Jones, Newton, B. (1961). "The Charleston Orphan House: 1860-1876". The South Carolina Historical Magazine. 62 (4): 203–214. JSTOR 27566370.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. 1 2 3 Murray, John E. (2013-01-03). The Charleston Orphan House: Children's lives in the first public Orphanage in America. ISBN 978-0-226-92409-0. OCLC 783150297. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Brief history of Orphan House". Post and Courier. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  6. ↑ Jones, Charles Henry (1876). "Appleton's Hand-book of American Travel, Southern Tour". D. Appleton. p. 127. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  7. ↑ King, Edward (1848). The Southern states of North America: a record of journeys in Louisiana, Texas, the Indian territory, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. p. 444. Retrieved 2021-12-13. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
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