October



Oct. 1

1768 -- In preparation for the upcoming Assembly elections, Charles Town's mechanics met at the Liberty Tree to nominate candidates who opposed the Quartering Act, Stamp Act, and Sugar Act. Led by Patriot Christopher Gadsden, "many loyal, patriotic and constitutional toasts were drank." The company then marched to Dillon's Tavern to continue the celebration.

1918 -- In a news article about the Spanish flu, government officials said, “The disease itself is not so dangerous . . . .The danger lies in the careless spreading of the disease, and careless treatment, allowing pneumonia or other dangerous maladies to develop."

Oct. 3

1718 -- Col. William Rhett returned to Charles Town, having captured pirate Stede Bonnet and his crew in the mouth of the Cape Fear River. 1918 -- Despite officials' warnings about the Spanish flu, Gov. Richard Manning joined a crowd of Charlestonians at a military parade on Marion Square to promote a fundraiser for the war effort. Later that afternoon, the College of Charleston suspended classes and sent everyone home. Public schools sent home children with symptoms of being sick.

2023 -- Crews demolished Martha Lou's Kitchen on Morrison Drive.

Oct. 5

1780 -- Captured at sea by the British and arrested for high treason, Henry Laurens earned the unique distinction of being the only American ever held prisoner in the Tower of London.

Oct. 6

1804 -- One of Charleston's worst hurricanes tracked along the coast causing significant property damage, though not as much flooding as the Great Hurricane of 1752.

1811 -- A hurricane made landfall south of Charleston, spinning off a tornado that caused much damage in the city.

1839 -- Susan M. Breaker died and was buried at the Bethlehem Baptist Church, where she had been an active member for 40 years.

1918 -- Finally realizing the seriousness of the flu pandemic, the mayor ordered the immediate closure of "all churches and Sunday schools, public and private schools, theatres, movie houses, pool rooms, public and private dances, secret and fraternal associations, sewing circles, card parties, and all other places and forms of congregation." Officials, however, continued fundraising door-to-door for the Liberty Loan program.

Oct. 7

1913 --A Category 1 hurricane made landfall on Cape Island, just north of Charleston. Over the next three days it produced up to 4 inches of rainfall in Charleston and more in the Pee Dee area of the state.

1935 -- Porgy & Bess, an opera by George Gershwin based on the novel Porgy by DuBose Heyward, opened on Broadway. Depicting the lives of black tenants living on "Catfish Row," including members of the famed Mosquito Fleet, the play ran for 124 performances.

Oct. 8

2023 -- Raquel Conchita Lawson Fielding, widow of Judge Bernard Fielding Sr. and Board Secretary of Charleston's largest African-American funeral home, died at the age of 89. She retired in 1998 after 40 years with the U.S. Customs Services, the first African-American woman employed by that ageny. She was active in many local service groups.

Oct. 9

1970 -- Having succumbed to termite damage and carefully demolished, the new Mills House Hotel, rebuilt as closely as possible to the original using as much salvaged building materials as possible, reopened to the public.



Oct. 12

1918 -- State officials made its stash of seized bootleg whiskey available to those with the flu, to be administered only by the Red Cross and only by prescription.

Oct. 13

1775 -- President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the first White House in the District of Columbia, designed by Charleston architectural professor James Hoban. It is generally believed Hoban also designed the S.C. State House (now Charleston County Courthouse), which stands at the city's Four Corners of Law. White House historians note the influence the statehouse had in the design of the presidential mansion.

1931 -- City Council created America's first historical zoning ordinance, protecting Charleston's 18th and 19th century core from demolitions and establishing the city's Board of Architectural Review.

Oct. 14

1918 -- To assist those struggling with the flu, the city opened a public kitchen at Memminger Normal School on Beaufain Street, where families could receive three healthy meals a day.

2023 -- Less than a week after the death of Board Secretary Raquel Conchita Lawson Fielding, Fielding Home for Funerals announced that after 111 years, it was closing its business at 122 Logan St.

Oct. 15

1866 -- Horse-drawn car service began in Charleston.

Oct. 16

1765 -- Mary-Anne Schad, the wife of a plantation overseer, gave birth to their first child, a son. Planters believed that having a married overseer on the property would help keep the overseer more settled and responsible. (Source: South Carolina Women, p. 66)

Oct. 17

1971 -- Aviator daredevil Bevo Howard struck a tree as he pulled out of a stunt at a charity airshow in Greenville, N.C., and was killed in the resulting crash.

2023 -- William T. Farley Jr. died in Mt. Pleasant.



Oct. 18

1765 -- The Planter's Adventure arrived in Charles Town Harbor with the hated Parliamentarian stamps, causing some "very extraordinary and universal commotions. (Source: A Short History of Charleston, p. 49)

1858 -- Eliza(beth) C. Walling Donnely died and was buried at Bethlehem Baptist Church, former site of the St. James Goose Creek Chapel of Ease.

Oct. 19

1997 -- David Byrne, Cracker, and Cowboy Mouth were among the bands that played at the 8th annual 96 WAVEFEST concert.

Oct. 21

1918 -- The official count of Charlestonians ill with the Spanish flu reached its peak of 5,064 cases, including 130 deaths.

Oct. 22

1774 -- Henry Middleton was elected President of the first Continental Congress.

1918 -- Reports of new flu cases began to recede.

2006 -- The original Bowens Island burned to the ground.

Oct. 23

1765 -- An angry mob seeking the whereabouts of the detested tax stamps issued through Parliment's Stamp Act stormed several notable residences in downtown Charleston, including that of Henry Laurens. 1786 -- Dr. Joseph Brown Ladd was mortally wounded in a duel with Ralph Isaacs.

Oct. 25

1742 -- A visitor to Charles Town noted: "matters between the whites and the blacks here are such that one fears to be seen outside the house."

We visit the site of the Liberty Tree on our Revolutionary War tour.

Martha Lou Gadsden opened her soul food restaurant by converting a former gas station on Morrison Avenue in 1983.

We tell the story of Susan Breaker on our Day Along the Cooper River tour. (Photo credit: Leigh Handal)

We visit the "real" Catfish Row on our Charleston Overview tour.

This photograph of the Mills House taken at the end of the Civil war shows the extensive damage to the street. We share the story of the hotel on our Charleston Overview tour. (Image: Library of Congress)

The Charleston County Courthouse, originally the S.C. State House is included on our Charleston Overview tour.

Located at 20 Beaufain Street, Memminger Normal School was established by segregationist and treasurer of the Confederacy Christopher Memminger in 1859.

A Charleston horse-drawn streetcar c. 1897 (Photo credit: Mrs. W.M. Bostwick)

We tell the story of daredevil Bevo Howard on our Lost Charleston tour.

Registered nurse Anna DeCosta Banks was employed by the Ladies Benevolent Society to visit hundreds of sick patients both White and Black.

The only ghost to be referenced on a historical marker in Charleston is that of Dr. Joseph Brown Ladd at 59 Church Street.