Demolition potentially coming for a historic Black school in Conway SC? What to know.

A blaze that tore through Conway’s historic Whittemore Elementary School even further degraded its stability — forcing city leaders to potentially take prompt action to protect public safety, officials said on Thursday.

“Significant portions of the building are gone and the remainder is structurally compromised ... the risk of public harm is severely elevated by the recent fire,” city spokeswoman June Wood said March 9 via email.

S.C Law Enforcement Division spokeswoman Renee Wunderlich said an arson probe remains active, but the agency’s on-site investigation has concluded.

The council initially planned to meet virtually at 4 p.m. on Thursday to discuss demolition costs and suspend a redevelopment proposal offered by the Whittemore Racepath Historical Society, but the session was postponed.

“After consideration, they (the city council) felt a meeting of this importance should be done in person,” Wood said in an email. That’s now likely to happen at 10 a.m. on March 13. A location has yet to be announced.

In a written statement provided March 9 to The Sun News, Mayor Barbara Blain-Bellamy, whose formative years were spent learning inside Whittemore’s classrooms, said pondering its destruction, while emotional, must be weighed against the city’s best long-term interests.

“City staff and city council are aware of the frequent use of the building by adults for shelter or nefarious activity. Stolen goods have been found inside, and illegal occupants often barricade doors from inside. It is the risk to human life that most troubles me,” Blain-Bellamy said. “Early reports indicate the structural integrity of the building is seriously compromised.”

Wood said data on the number of citations and arrests made in connection with illegal use of the Whittemore property was not immediately available.

Historical society president Cheryl Adamson was among those who pressed Blain-Bellamy and other council members to reconsider the online meeting format.

“We certainly appreciate that they have changed their mind about doing a Zoom meeting so quickly around what is such a critical issue to our community,” Adamson said.

City Council member William Goldfinch IV said he wants to preserve Whittemore, but fears too much damage has been done already.

“Every intention was to remodel the facility and transform it into some type of community center,” Goldfinch said. The city took ownership of the Whittemore site in 2017, when Horry County Schools relinquished it. “Unfortunately given the fire and destruction, I don’t know what’s left to save.”

The 70-year-old building at 1904 Maple Street needed $30 million worth of renovations even before the fire, and city leaders have long said using public dollars to preserve it was not feasible.

“If the city retains ownership of this building, the only path forward probably is demolition,” city manager Adam Emrick told The Sun News in a December 2021 interview. “We would like to see it preserved too, but there comes a point where that can’t happen. And we’ve reached that point.”

In November 2022, the Whittemore Racepath Historical Society presented a $16 million plan that would flip the segregation-era school into a mixed-use hub of culture and living.

The city has until December 2024 to consider any other ideas, but can close the proposal window any time before that at their discretion.

Blain-Bellamy said information expected to made public on Monday from city engineers and other staff will sway her decision about Whittemore’s fate.

“If recommendations by staff and other professionals convince me that the risk to human life is substantial, I — one who loves the building, the memories and the history it represents, will be compelled to support razing the building to the ground,” she said.

Goldfinch said if the building needs to be removed, he’d support turning the area into a recreational space that pays tribute to Whittemore’s contributions to the city.

“I can’t speak for the entire council, but I think everybody would be on board with that,” he said.