Bounded by the City of Charleston to the south, the Cooper and Ashley Rivers to the east and west, and Dorchester County and unincorporated lands to the north, the City of North Charleston is an eclectic suburban community with shopping and entertainment opportunities and a growing industrial sector. Residents are attracted to North Charleston by rapid job growth, affordability, and the wide range of residential enclaves. Historically plantation land later known later simply as the North Area, North Charleston’s suburban boom began with the Naval Base’s creation in the early twentieth century. Let's exlore a Historic Overview of North Charleston, SC.
Early North Charleston History and the Navy Base
The City of North Charleston was not incorporated until 1972, but its written history begins with the first English settlers to the area in the late seventeenth century. The Wando, Etiwan, Kiawah, and Sewee Native American tribes called the area home at the time of first European contact. The upper peninsula became a plantation landscape as the land was granted. Enslaved people cultivated indigo, rice, and cotton, as well as foodstuffs. Famous horticulturalist Andre Michaux established a large botanical garden on the North Area’s fertile landscape near today’s Aviation Avenue, where he introduced camellias and other exotic plants to the region.
Railroads were a key part of the success of the farming and timber economy both before and after the American Civil War. Liberty Hill, a freedmen’s community dating to 1871, is a reminder of North Charleston’s Black heritage. Black farmers purchased the land circa 1864, making it North Charleston’s oldest neighborhood. Liberty Hill has folk Victorian houses from the 1910s, bungalows, and post-war ranches and cottages.
Located on a high bluff of the Cooper River, former Retreat Plantation became the site of Chicora Park, designed by the Olmsted Brothers in 1899, and in 1901, the federal government purchased the other half of Retreat and adjoining Marshlands Plantation to create a 1,575-acre tract on which to build the Charleston Navy Yard. Workers built and launched new ships from North Charleston and completed repair work to the US Navy’s vessels. The Navy Yard’s work force swelled from 6,000 in 1941 to nearly 26,000 in 1943. Thousands more were employed by defense related textile and munitions companies. During the course of the war, the Navy Yard produced more than 300 new vessels, built with materials from South Carolina-based steelworks in Sumter and Columbia. WestVaco paper and timber company, Pittsburgh Metalurgical, and Charleston Shipbuilding and Drydock all increased their civilian employment at their Lowcountry facilities to meet war production demands. John C. Calhoun Homes, a public housing development constructed with New Deal money, also provided homes to Navy Base workers. Part of the Homes complex was cleared in the early 2000s and is now home to Mixson Community.
Park Circle Begins
Originally owned by the Michie, Prioleau, and Chisolm families and called Oak Grove Plantation in 1779, Park Circle was first developed as a suburb in the early twentieth century. Park Circle was conceptualized following Ebenezer Howard’s innovative 1898 town planning model that incorporated residential, industrial, agricultural, and businesses uses into one community. It was developed by Robert Montague and Edward Durant (Burton Lumber company executives), attorney Henry Buist, former Charleston mayor R. Goodwyn Rhett, future mayor Tristram Hyde, and engineer James O’Hear. A city historical resource survey noted that it was “envisioned by its promoters as a self-sustaining community strategically located between the Cooper River and railroad lines from Charleston to the interior. It was well drained, for productive farms and healthy residences, and large enough to be developed under a unified plan.” The local paper reported in 1912, “the North Charleston project is probably the biggest thing of the sort undertaken in the vicinity of this city,” and the 5,000 acre project would be undertaken by three corporations focusing on farm lands, factories, and residences.
The project would include, “opening many cares of fertile farmlands to white farmers.” Park Circle attracted Navy Base workers and other middle- and working-class industrial workers, and today it draws families and young professionals.
War Booms and Busts
Olde North Charleston was centered around the base, but during World War One and World War Two, new communities began to sprawl to the north and south to accommodate new residents flocking to the Lowcountry for military work. Streetcars brought residents from the north area to downtown Charleston with ease. As cars took over after World War Two, more commuter neighborhoods cropped up across the upper peninsula.
The City of North Charleston notes, “the military bases in North Charleston have brought prosperity to the area in both World Wars and the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. After World War II was over, many servicemen continue to live and work in North Charleston enabling the industrial community to keep up its production. The area of North Charleston sought to become a city as early as the 1940s.” The city was incorporated in 1972. The Navy Base closed in 1997, dealing a severe blow to North Charleston’s economy amounting to a nearly $1.4 billion loss per year. Many people left North Charleston with the closure of its biggest employer. Noisette Company began redeveloping the base in the early 2000s but stalled during the global recession.
North Charleston Today
Over the last two decades, the City of North Charleston has worked hard to attract new businesses and industry to fill the base closure void. The Boeing factory that opened near the Charleston International Airport in 2011 has become a major employer and has also drawn satellite industry and businesses that have cropped up along Palmetto Commerce Parkway and near Boeing’s 1.2 million square foot facility. Mercedes Benz Vans, Trident Medical Center, KapStone Kraft, and Detyens Shipyard are also key employers.
North Charleston has two institutes of higher learning, Charleston Southern University and Trident Technical College. Historic buildings on the Navy Base are being restored and given adaptive uses to house new businesses. For example, Warren Lasch Conservation Lab, Urban Electric, Robert Thomas Ironworks, and Celadon Warehouse are operating on the base campus. East Montague is Old North Charleston’s main street and has restaurants, pubs, and shops, while big box stores and the North Charleston Coliseum are located slightly northward.
Neighborhoods
North Charleston has a broad range of community types and price points for potential residents. Circa 1950s to 1970s subdivisions just off Dorchester Road tend to be the most affordable. Houses in the mature neighborhoods of Whipper Barony and Charleston Heights furthest south are growing in popularity, as are Windsor Hill Plantation, Ashley Heights, and Archdale (which is just outside the city limits) near the Joint Airforce Base. Park Circle remains one of the most highly sought after areas for its architectural character, parks, and main street, and family friendly character. The new urbanist Mixson community on the edge of Park Circle includes apartments, townhouses, standalone residences, shops and restaurants, and a sports club.
Wescott Plantation is a popular golf course community with tastefully designed neotraditional houses on suburban lots. Residents are not required to pay for golf course maintenance unless they want to join the golf club, but everyone has access to walk the course in the evenings. Its also popular because it is serviced by Dorchester 2 School District, which has a strong reputation. Westcott Park is “the Lowcountry’s premier baseball and softball facility”, that also has nature trails and preserved wetlands. The average list price is $365,000, which is sure to increase as North Charleston continues to grow.
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