Even though Hampton Park Terrace is less than three miles from Charleston’s famous Battery, one hundred years ago the area was still a mix of small farms, a dairy, lumber yards, and tiny clusters of small houses. Charleston’s economy was barely sputtering following the Great Earthquake of 1886, and the hostility of Gov. “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman toward the city made matters worse. State taxes wiped out Charleston’s phosphate industry during the 1890s, and a strict liquor law hurt the tourist trade. Cotton declined because of outside competition, and a hurricane in 1893 destroyed the few remaining rice fields.

By the turn of the century, things were looking up. In 1901 alone, the Navy located its new Navy Yard just north of the city, and the South Carolina Interstate and West Indian Exposition (a regional version of a World’s Fair) opened on the grounds of the old Washington Race Course to promote Charleston’s commercial potential. Trolley lines were extended into the upper peninsula, and development edged north.

Meanwhile, Americans were looking to leave crowded, dirty, and often antiquated urban centers to pursue new ideas of clean, modern, suburban comfort.  Historically, Charleston had developed block-by-block and house-by-house. But, by 1911, three developers had acquired almost all of the property west of Rutledge Avenue between Congress Street and Hampton Park and planned over two-hundred lots within two years. Lured by promises of convenience, gracious sidewalks and streetlights, and freedom from the flooding that plagued the lower peninsula, the city’s new business executives and upper-middle class began buying or building homes in Hampton Park Terrace. 

The economy soured after World War I, but by the late 1920s, three-quarters of Hampton Park Terrace had already been built. The houses did not reflect Charleston’s architectural heritage.  Popular magazines created a sense of American architecture of the middle-class, and Hampton Park Terrace followed those trends. The American foursquare is the most common house form, but examples of Spanish Colonial and Tudor Revival homes, bungalows, and other styles can all be found.

Ironically, although the neighborhood had first accommodated those looking to escape urban life, now residents arrive eager to return to urban life. New residents interested in restoring their homes succeeded in having the neighborhood designated a National Register Historic District in 1997.

You can find brief histories of just some of the historic houses that make Hampton Park Terrace such an interesting neighborhood here. If you are interested in others, please contact Kevin Eberle at KEberle@CharlestonLaw.edu.