"The Block" Historic District Tour

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1. Sit-Ins at the Diamond Department Store, 1958-1960

The Diamond Department Store was established in 1927, and was a state of the art five floor retailer in Charleston, WV. The store was successful even through the Great Depression and expanded enough in the late 1940s to have the first escalators in the state installed. However, the Diamond Department store was only elaborate for the white population of Charleston, as they banned the African American community from the store’s lunch counter and cafeteria. Local activist, Elizabeth Harden Gilmore, and the Congress of Racial Equality staged sit-ins for a year and a half to fight for their right to be treated equally. In 1930, the Diamond Department Store opened their lunch counter and cafeterias to everyone no matter the color of their skin, thanks to the efforts of Gilmore and CORE.

2. Mattie V. Lee Home

Mattie V. Lee was the first African American woman physician from the state of West Virginia, and was heavily involved in efforts to provide housing for female students and as a center for social events. The Mattie V. Lee house was established in 1915 as a safe haven for African American girls who relocated to Charleston, WV in search of employment. Historically, the home served as a social, religious, and cultural center, as well as helping in the process of residents becoming employed. Today the Mattie V. Lee Home is an addiction treatment center for the Prestera Center.

3. Garnet High School

Named for former slave Henry Highland Garnet (1815- 1882), Garnet High School served as one of three Black high schools in Kanawha County, WV. As most schools did, Garnet High School provided a vital cultural tie to members of the community it served. Throughout the era of segregation Garnet High School provided an excellent education for its students despite the limitations which developed under the "separate but equal" system. The school produced many notable alumni including the Reverend Leon Sullivan, medical pioneer John C. Norman, Jr., and television personality Tony Brown. Ivin Lee, the first woman to head a police department in West Virginia and the Executive Director of the West Virginia Human Rights Commission is also a graduate of Garnet High School. Today Garnet is utilized as a career center, a WV exemplary school.

4. Samuel Starks House

This site was home to Samuel Starks, a prominent African-American leader in the Knights of Pythias organization. Built in 1908 in what was largely a historically Black community, Samuel Starks was only able to live in the house for a number of months, for he died the same year the house was completed. Under his tutelage, Starks and the Knights of Pythias were successful in acquiring properties to assist Black business owners and entrepreneurs nationwide with aspirations of land ownership. Sam Starks became West Virginia’s first Black state librarian in 1901. The house was severely damaged by fire in 1981, but was repaired and restored. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. In 2018 the abandoned home caught fire twice in a week, causing the structure to be demolished.

5. Simpson Memorial United Methodist Church

The roots of what eventually evolved into Simpson Memorial United Methodist Church were organized prior to the end of the Civil War in 1865. Early services of Simpson were held in the basement of Asbury Methodist, and were led by a white minister. The Washington Conference of the Methodist Church sent the congregation its first African American minister, Reverend C.O. Fischer in 1866. In 1888, the congregation named themselves Simpson Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church to honor Bishop Matthew Simpson. The church moved a number of times before they established a permanent residence in this location in 1914, and changed the name to Simpson Memorial United Methodist Church in 1939. The church caught fire in 1988, but has since been repaired and restored, and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

6. Elizabeth Harden Gilmore House

Elizabeth Harden Gilmore was a Charleston funeral director and a pioneer in the civil right movement in West Virginia. Gilmore was a leader and one of the founders of the local chapter of Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) that led sit-ins throughout Charleston. She also worked to secure the admission of African American Girl Scouts into the previously all-white Camp Anne Bailey. Gilmore led the first sit-in against the Diamond Department Store’s lunch counter in Downtown Charleston. Thanks to her leadership, the store opened the lunch counter to African American patrons in 1960. In 1988, Gilmore's home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Efforts continue to restore the home and operate it in a way that honors Gilmore's legacy.

This Tour is a Walking Tour.

"The Block" Historic District Tour

Created by Christopher Wilson on September 5th 2017, 5:54:37 pm.

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The Block was West Virginia's first recognized local historic district. This neighborhood remains the center of Charleston's African American community. Many of the historic businesses and homes were demolished to make room for the interstate. Today, only a small portion of the historic homes and institutions remain, but five have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The tour includes these five stops, as well as the site of an important civil rights protest that preceded the famous sit-ins of the early 1960s.

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"The Block" Historic District Tour

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