Penn Center (Saint Helena Island, South Carolina)

Penn School Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark District
Brick Baptist Church
Nearest city	St. Helena Island, South Carolina
Coordinates	32.38830°N 80.57530°W / 32.38830; -80.57530
Area	47 acres (19 ha)
Built	1855
NRHP reference No.	74001824
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	September 9, 1974
Designated NHLD	December 2, 1974

The Penn Center, formerly the Penn School, is an African-American cultural and educational center in the Corners Community on Saint Helena Island. Founded in 1862 by Quaker and Unitarian missionaries from Pennsylvania, it was the first school founded in the Southern United States specifically for the education of African-Americans. It provided critical educational facilities to Gullah slaves freed after plantation owners fled the island, and continues to fulfill an educational mission. Leigh Richmond Miner photographed students and activities at the school.

The campus was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1974. Darrah Hall and Brick Baptist Church on the campus were declared part of Reconstruction Era National Monument in January 2017. In 2019, it became the Reconstruction Era National Historic Park, along with Fort Sumter.

Description and history

The Penn Center is located about one mile south of Frogmore on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The 47-acre (19 ha) campus is divided by the road, and includes a number of historic buildings related to the original function as a school, including classrooms, living spaces for students, teachers, and administrators. The oldest building on the campus is the 1855 Brick Church, built by the plantation owners of the island.

At the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Union Army forces quickly captured Saint Helena Island, prompting the local plantation owners to flee. The military administration of the island partitioned the old plantations, giving the land to the former slaves who lived there. The Penn School was established in 1862 by Laura Matilda Towne, an abolitionist missionary from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as a school for the freed slaves, which was named for William Penn, Quaker champion for human liberty and founder of Pennsylvania. For many years the work was financed by Philadelphia Quaker abolitionists. Ellen Murray, a Quaker teacher, joined her in the work. Charlotte Forten, born into a wealthy free black family in Philadelphia, joined them as the school's first black teacher. The Brick Church was used as an early meeting, educational, and administrative space, and the school's first dedicated educational building was constructed in 1864, from prefabricated parts shipped from Pennsylvania. The school remained an active educational institution, under the leadership of Rossa Cooley and Grace House, for the island's population until 1948, when the state took over public education on the island. The institution then became the Penn Center, with directors including Howard Kester, Courtney Siceloff, John Gadson, Joe McDomick and Emory Campbell, and continued an educational mission for the island's preschoolers and adults, as well as maintaining a museum, cultural center, and conference meeting space. With the creation of the Reconstruction Era National Monument (which in spring 2019 was elevated as an National Historic Park), Brick Baptist Church is protected by a Park Service building easement and Darrah Hall, on the campus of the Penn Center, has been deeded over to the Park Service, as well as the adjacent parking area.

Penn Center played an important part in the civil rights movement, as one of the few places in the Jim Crow south where interracial groups could meet. Martin Luther King and his staff of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference held retreats here in the 1960s. Gantt Cottage, on the Penn Campus, was where Dr. King stayed. A Retreat Center on the water was planned as a safer place for Dr. King to stay, but it was not completed before his death in 1968. It was, however, used by his associates, Rev. Andrew Young and Rev. James Bevel, during the Charleston Hospital Strike of 1969. Notable South Carolina figures in the civil rights movement, including Septima Clark, James McBride Dabbs, Esau Jenkins, and James Clyburn all had connections to Penn Center

Penn Center Buildings

• Brick Baptist Church (1855) (32.389754917802804°N 80.57606867793497°W / 32.389754917802804; -80.57606867793497 (Brick Baptist Church)), Although not part of Penn’s Campus, the Brick Church on the northeast border has always fulfilled a significant role in Penn’s History. Brick Church housed classes as Penn School moved from Oaks Plantation into their dedicated schoolhouse.
• Penn Center Bell Tower (1865), located next to the Benezet House, the Bell Tower housed a brass bell modeled after the Liberty Bell and bearing the inscription "Proclaim Liberty". The bell is now on display at Penn Center's museum.
• Darrah Hall (1882), the oldest building on Penn Center's campus, Darrah Hall has been a community nexus for over a hundred years.
• Alden Sales House (1900), built by the students, Alden Sales House has been used as a thrift shop and milk house.
• Hampton House (Penn Center) (1904) (32.388710°N 80.575835°W / 32.388710; -80.575835 (Hampton House)), was used as on-site housing for teachers and guests.
• Benezet House (1905) (32.388332°N 80.575288°W / 32.388332; -80.575288 (Benezet House)), the female teachers and students used Benezet House as their on-campus residence and this house was the center of home economics training.
• Cedar Cottage (1907), built to house Penn's single female teachers and nurse offices. Cedar Cottage is named after the abundant trees found on St. Helena Island.
• Jasmine Cottage (1911), built by Penn's carpentry students to house teachers.
• Cope Industrial Shop (1912) (32.387897°N 80.576541°W / 32.387897; -80.576541 (York W. Bailey Museum)), this building housed all of the harness-making, wheelwrighting, blacksmith, basketry, carpentry, and cobbling classes. The building today houses Penn Center's York W. Bailey Museum.
• Emory S. Campbell Dining Hall (1917) (32.388493°N 80.575187°W / 32.388493; -80.575187 (Emory S. Campbell Dining Hall)), originally built as a laundry, the Dining Hall accommodates up to a hundred people and provides a variety of local Gullah-Style foods to Conference Center guests.
• Green Learning Center Rosenwald School (1920's), the learning center is utilized by the Program for Academic and Cultural Enrichment (PACE) as a daycare program.
• Pine Grove Cottage (1921), built by students as housing for the school's superintendent, Pine Cottage is used today to house guests of Penn Center.
• Lathers Memorial Dormitory (1922), was a memorial to Agnes Lathers, one of the early teachers at Penn. It was originally a dormitory for male students and teachers and is used today as administrative offices.
• Frissell Community House (1925) (32.389411°N 80.576675°W / 32.389411; -80.576675 (Frissell Community House)), built on the site of the original Penn Center schoolhouse, Frissell has been and is still used as a community gathering place, having even been used by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for training and strategy meetings.
• Butler Building (Penn Center) (1931), built by Penn students, the Butler Building originally served as the place of the home economics departments, the graduates’ meeting room, the boy’s clubhouse, exhibits, and the band room.
• Arnett House (1937), was used as housing for students and teachers from South Carolina State University working in the county schools. It is currently used for conference guests.
• The Potato House (1938), was used to stack sweet potatoes for curing. The Potato House is now fenced in and used for storage of farm machinery.
• Gantt Cottage (1940), the current Gantt Cottage was built by Penn students as a replacement to the original. During the 1960's, Martin Luther King, Jr. stayed at Gantt Cottage as he visited Penn Center for meetings and there wrote his "I Have A Dream" speech.
• Orchard Cottage (1942), built as a teacher's residence.
• The Cannery (Penn Center) (1946), originally built as a dairy barn, the cannery has been used for canning tomato and processing Conch.
• Retreat House and Dock (1968), built during the year of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s death, the Retreat House was planned as a more scenic and meditative place for his meetings over the smaller Gantt Cottage.

Gallery

• 
  Benezet House
• 
  Back view of Darrah Hall
• 
  Orchard Cottage
• 
  Basket making class
• 
  Sewing class
• 
  History class

See also

• Reconstruction Era National Monument
• Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor
• List of National Historic Landmarks in South Carolina
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Beaufort County, South Carolina

Further reading

Jordan, Francis Harold (1991). Across the bridge: Penn School and Penn Center (Thesis). Colleges of Education, University of South Carolina. UMI Number: 9214946.

External links

• Penn Center - History and Photos SCIway.net, South Carolina Information Highway
• Penn Center Historic District, Beaufort County (St. Helena Island), at South Carolina Department of Archives and History
• Official website of the Penn Center, St. Helena Island, South Carolina
• Brick Baptist Church web site