Pinehurst

Pinehurst is one of 22 communities included in the Columbia Canopy Project. Led by  Columbia Green  and  Historic Columbia , the project commemorates the lives and work of inspiring figures from historically marginalized communities and acknowledges the impacts of structural racism through community histories. Ten trees planted in Pinehurst Park honor community leaders who helped build Pinehurst despite racial injustices and practices that worked to limit it. Use the navigation arrows at the top of your screen to explore other communities included in the Columbia Canopy Project, and read the project's  introduction  to learn more about its scope.

Ten trees planted in Pinehurst Park honor community leaders who helped build Pinehurst despite racial injustices and practices that worked to limit it. Use the map to view the locations of trees planted in Pinehurst Park. Continue scrolling to learn more about these inspiring community leaders.

On the morning of August 13, 1901, John McElree (c.1846-1914) of Columbia real estate firm McElree & Barragan met potential buyers in front of the Richland County courthouse on the northeast corner of Washington and Sumter Streets for an auction of undeveloped lots in Pinehurst. Situated east of Rice Creek Spring Road (Two Notch Road) and north of the old Camden Road (Forest Drive), Pinehurst was advertised as “the prettiest location for residences around Columbia” and as being “in the very heart of a region of pines with whose fragrance the air is laden, morning, noon and night—health-giving, nerve-quieting, sleep-promoting.” ¹  Proclaimed a “lively” event by local newspaper The State, the auction saw 31 of the 50 lots available sell for “good prices,” with the remaining 19 going unsold only due to McElree being “too unwell to go further.” ² 

With its tranquil setting and its proximity to the Waverly streetcar line on the corner of Heidt and Taylor streets, Pinehurst developed steadily in the first half of the 20th century. In 1904, 32 adults called the neighborhood home. Six years later, that number increased to 72 adults. By 1927, 110 adults were living in Pinehurst. In the 1900s, 1910s, and 1920s, Pinehurst was a predominantly white, working-class community. During these decades, most of the neighborhood’s men worked as carpenters, painters, or mechanics for the Southern Railway, while most of its women worked as homemakers or salesclerks in stores downtown. Pinehurst’s Black population during these decades numbered no more than about 25 adults and was a mix of working- and middle-class families. The neighborhood’s Black working class held jobs like those of their white neighbors, apart from its women who worked outside the home as domestic workers as opposed to sales clerks. Occupations held by members of Pinehurst’s Black middle class included teacher, grocer, and dentist. ³  

In addition to steady residential growth, the first half of the 20th century saw two large medical institutions come to the Pinehurst area: Waverly Sanitarium and Providence Hospital. Within a week of resigning from their respective positions as superintendent and second assistant physician at the South Carolina State Hospital in March 1914, Dr. James W. Babcock (1856-1922) and Dr. Eleanora Saunders (1883-1933) opened Waverly Sanitarium in the Clarke House at 2315 Taylor Street. ⁴  Built in 1892 by Julia Hurd Clarke (1860-1894), the niece of American showman P.T. Barnum (1810-1891), this “millionaire’s mansion” was designed by esteemed architect Francis “Frank” McHenry Niernsee (1849-1899) and featured a “large and conveniently planned” interior that included a kitchen; butler's pantry; dining room; parlor; library; billiard room; numerous bathrooms; and a “fine” reception hall finished with “highly polished oak floors, ceiling, and wainscot.” ⁵  Despite the size of the former residence, by the summer of 1914, the private, whites-only hospital began to turn away patients due to a lack of space. ⁶  To meet this demand, Babcock purchased 54 acres of land, where he erected three new buildings by December 1914. Before the end of that year, all patients of the sanitarium had been transferred to the new campus. ⁷  Waverly Sanitarium remained in operation until the late 1960s. ⁸  

Twenty-three years after the founding of Waverly Sanitarium, work began on Providence Hospital in the southwest section of Pinehurst. Built under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church, the hospital was designed by architect/priest Father Michael Joseph Vincent McInerney (1877-1963) of Belmont Abbey, North Carolina. ⁹  Opened in June 1938, the 100-bed, $350,000 institution was administered by the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine, a group of nuns from the Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio. ¹⁰  Although only a couple of blocks east of St. Martin de Porres Church, one of the largest Black Catholic congregations in the state at the time, Providence Hospital remained a whites-only institution until 1963. ¹¹ 

By mid-century, Pinehurst's population numbered about 1,500 people and remained predominantly white and working-class. The neighborhood’s Black population, which numbered about 70 people, lived in a pocket bounded by Pinehurst Road, St. Phillips Street, School House Road, and Margurette Street on the east end of the neighborhood. Economically diverse, this community was a mix of working- and middle-class families. Occupations held by the neighborhood’s Black working class at this time included landscaper, domestic worker, mechanic, brick mason, and mail carrier. Meanwhile, the neighborhood’s Black middle class held occupations such as teacher, school principal, doctor, dentist, and life insurance collector. ¹²  

The final decades of the 20th century saw a significant demographic shift take place in Pinehurst. In 1970, wide-scale integration of Richland County schools occurred as a result of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare’s (HEW) approval of a plan to replace the “freedom of choice” system—which permitted students to attend schools of their (or their parents’) choice—with a zoning system that assigned students to schools based on their address. ¹³  Pinehurst’s white students, who previously attended former white schools A.C. Flora High School and Crayton Junior High School, were assigned to former Black schools C.A. Johnson High School and W.A. Perry Junior High School in the adjacent Barhamville-Kendalltown neighborhood. ¹⁴  Although integration of C.A. Johnson occurred without issue—a group of Black students even organized a committee to welcome white students to the school—and despite the school‘s reputation for producing outstanding graduates, many white parents remained reluctant to send their children to the former Black schools. Indeed, on the first day of the 1970-1971 school year, C.A. Johnson’s principal, Dr. Charles J. Johnson Jr. (1911-1988) (unrelated to the school’s namesake), admitted he was doubtful that the anticipated 20% white-80% Black student population would be achieved as many white students were "transferring, by various means, to A.C. Flora; thus, 'defeating HEW regulations.'" ¹⁵  To ensure their children attended predominantly white schools, many white parents simply left Pinehurst for the homogeneity of newer developments in other parts of Richland and Lexington counties. In their place, working- and middle-class Black families moved into the neighborhood.

Although white flight caused a change in the demographics of Pinehurst, in the final decades of the 20th century, its residents–both new and old–focused their energies on sustaining the tranquility and strength of their community. Among their major achievements, residents organized a neighborhood council, hosted neighborhood parties to promote togetherness, and worked with City of Columbia police officers to discourage crime in the community. Incredibly successful, these community-building efforts have helped Pinehurst remain the welcoming, family-friendly neighborhood it is today. ¹⁶