South Carolina Department of Archives and History
National Register Properties in South Carolina

Williams Graded School, Charleston County (Pinckney St., Lincolnville)
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Williams Graded School was constructed in 1899 and is believed to have served as a combination school and town hall. It is significant for its association with the citizens of a town populated by blacks that was established in the second half of the nineteenth century by a black man, Richard Harvey Cain, who was prominent in the political and religious life of the state during the era of Reconstruction. In addition, Williams Graded School is one of the few known surviving examples of public buildings associated with the history of blacks in late nineteenth and early twentieth century South Carolina which has remained basically unaltered. Cain was a minister of the Emmanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston, state senator from Charleston County between 1868 and 1870, and later a representative from South Carolina to the United States Congress. Rectangular in plan, the single story frame building with weatherboard siding is set on low brick piers, and metal roofing covers the gable roof. The façade is divided into three bays and has a central bay porch with a shed roof, with exposed rafters and plain square posts. There have been two rear additions. Listed in the National Register August 21, 1980. The Williams Graded School has since burned. Removed from the National Register November 22, 1982.

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