Jewish Community Center | Hebrew School of Charleston
In late 1922, the trustees of the “Jewish Community Center and Hebrew School of Charleston” paid Charleston’s Catholic Diocese $22,500 for a former parochial school at 52/54 George Street. (At some point, it appears the property was given a double address—52 and 54 George Street—possibly due to lot size.) The location was convenient to all three of the city’s synagogues, and extensive improvements had already been made. Above a ground-level gymnasium/swimming pool complex, the three-story masonry building had classrooms and a library on the main floor, and a large auditorium on the upper floor. The Charleston Evening Post assured its readers that the facility “compared favorably with Jewish centers in any cities of Charleston’s size.”
In 1927, the school had about a hundred students, but the Great Depression soon took its toll on the Community Center’s finances. By 1938, the mortgage holder was foreclosing on the building, which was used only a few hours a day as a Hebrew school. However, plans were already underway for a new Hebrew school, and by December 1938, its supporters had bought a lot just around the corner at 58 St. Philip Street. The new school took over Jewish education in Charleston and functioned as the Charleston Jewish Community Center until 1964 when the Center sold the building. By that time, they had acquired land and were constructing new facilities in the suburbs west of the Ashley.
According to Discovering Our Past: College of Charleston Histories, the College purchased and “renovated the building to house a private, all-white middle and high school, spearheaded by President George Grice in response to the impending desegregation of public schools in Charleston. College Preparatory School rented the property from the College until 1970.” In 1979, the College of Charleston completed construction of the Albert Simons Center for the Arts on St. Philip Street on the former site of the Jewish Community Center and neighboring buildings.
For more information on the history of the College of Charleston, including St. Philip Street between Calhoun and George streets, see Discovering Our Past: College of Charleston Histories.
Jewish Community Center and Hebrew School of Charleston, 1922
Jewish Community Center and Hebrew School of Charleston, 1922
Purim Ball, Jewish Community Center, early 1920s
Invitation to the Key Club’s April Fool Frolic at the Jewish Community Center, 1927
