OLD THEATER SITE, _Joseph Jefferson, Manager_: In 1793 the Charleston
Theater was built in a corner of Savage’s Green and about the same time
New Street was built. Years afterward Joseph Jefferson, famous and
beloved American comedian, managed a theater in Charleston. He told the
writer that it was at New and Broad Streets, but authorities say that
Mr. Jefferson was mistaken; that he meant another old theater at Friend
(Legare) and Broad Streets. The late Reverend Dr. Robert Wilson told the
writer that this was another mistake, as Mr. Jefferson managed Placides
Theater in Queen Street! Mr. Jefferson’s mother was born in Charleston.
SUGAR FACTORY SITE, _Later a Home of Correction_: According to _The
Courier_ (May 16, 1868) at the west end of Broad Street was Savage’s
Green on which, before the Revolution was built a manufactory for loaf
sugar. For this reason it was known as the Sugar House. It became a Work
House or House of Correction. “The lot, together with the building,”
says _The Courier_, “was afterwards owned by Dr. Le Seignieur, who, in
1807, contemplated the establishment of a cotton manufactory. The plan
was abandoned in consequence of the machinery having been lost on its
passage from Europe.”
SECOND (FLINN’S) CHURCH, _Meeting and Charlotte Streets_: Presbyterians
in Charleston growing in number it was decided that another church was
necessary and thus the Second Church was organized in 1811. Its site is
the highest place within the City of Charleston, about fifteen feet
above mean low water. The tower behind the portico was intended to be
surmounted by a steeple, but this addition has yet to be erected. From
its first pastor, the church is often alluded to as Flinn’s.
ST. MATTHEW’S CHURCH, _403 King Street_: At Christmas, 1867, the corner
stone for St. Matthew’s German Evangelical Lutheran Church was laid. The
church building was dedicated in March, 1872. The tallest spire in
Charleston surmounts the church. An impressive representation of the
Crucifixion is in a stained glass window.
CITADEL SQUARE CHURCH, _328 Meeting Street_: Offspring of the old First
Baptist Church in lower Church Street, the Citadel Square was founded in
1854 and the building dedicated in November, 1856. Members of the
Wentworth Street Baptist Church joined with the Citadel Square. In the
cyclone of 1885 the steeple fell in such manner as to carry away the
front walls of the residence at the northeast corner of Meeting and
Henrietta Streets. Several years ago the church building was renovated,
the already large auditorium made larger. The Citadel Square, deriving
its name from the nickname of the Marion Square which it faces, has one
of the largest Baptist congregations in the South.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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