Conway says historic Black school building must be demolished. SC residents are outraged.
The building that formerly housed the historically Black Whittemore Elementary School in Conway is set to be demolished despite outspoken former students fighting for preservation, city leaders said.
At a community meeting Wednesday, Conway city administrator Adam Emrick said demolition is “the only path forward” after estimating the cost to remove asbestos and fully restore the buildings to be between $14 million $20 million. The city acquired the building in 2018 from Horry County Schools, two years after it was severely damaged in Hurricane Matthew.
Rich in Black history
The site holds two buildings, both of which would need a hefty repair job to bring the buildings back to a usable level, Emrick said. The Whittemore Elementary School is a cornerstone of Conway’s Black community, and was one of the area’s “equalization schools” in the 1950s meant to create racially “separate but equal” educations before fully integrating in 1970.
Several dozen community members attended the meeting, many donned in purple and gold shirts and masks reading “save our school, save our heritage.” Numerous members spoke in favor of preserving the building, calling it a “center of the community.”
“What a strange feeling to be standing on these grounds after so many years,” Rev. Kenneth Floyd, who attended the school, said while addressing the crowd. “The school where African-Americans in the city of Conway had to attend, there was no choice.”
The building would have been eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, but with demolition being recommended by the city’s consultants, that’s no longer an option, Emrick said. Without the national historic recognition, the plan for the site is no longer using federal funding, but will be funded with local money instead, he said.
Emrick and other city officials acknowledged the building’s historic value and the community’s emotional ties to it, but ultimately said the price tag to save the current building was “unfeasible.”
“If it was $600,000 like we thought it was going to be initially, we wouldn’t be here having this conversation,” Emrick said.
What’s next for historically Black SC school site?
It’s unclear what the future holds for the site of the former elementary school. When the building was first acquired by the city, a community center was proposed, which had solid support from the community. But once the estimate for renovation reached several million dollars in the beginning of 2020, a community center in the existing building won’t happen.
Emrick pointed out the increase in construction cost over the last 18 months spurred by the pandemic, and said the renovation would likely be more expensive than their most recent estimate.
However, there will be a “community component” in the city’s plans for the site, Emrick said, though it’s unclear what that component is. Many people, both residents and city leaders, expressed support for an education hub of some sort where children can attend.
The city and outside consultants conducted several studies in the past few years to assess the mechanical, architectural and engineering costs of preserving the building, and all signs pointed to demolition, Emrick said. He added “very bad things” like prostitution and drug use have happened in the building and the city needs to act quickly to stem those.
A potential plan for affordable housing on the site of the elementary school came into view in the summer of 2020, but those plans were squashed before they came across city council, as residents opposed more housing developments in the area, Conway city councilman Larry White said.
Cheryl Moore Adamson, a local pastor who’s involved in trying to save the elementary school building as a former student, said she was concerned about why the site had to be demolished instead of recognized as a national historic place. She added the city could save it if they wanted to, but money was standing in the way.
“All we’re talking about is the will to do,” Adamson said, adding that the Whittemore Racepath Historical Society would discuss the matter with their attorneys to see if there’s a path forward.
This story was originally published October 27, 2021 at 6:25 PM.
