A bust of William Ashmead Courtenay, considered by many persons to have been Charleston's greatest mayor, occupies a niche in the corner of the committee room to the west of the City Council Chamber in City Hall. It is almost as if this likeness of the man who guided Charleston's destinies through its greatest disaster, the 1886 earthquake, watches over the deliberations of the committees which mold the policies of city government.
COURTENAY PUBLIC SCHOOL, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
The following story is reprinted from the
November 24, 1958, issue of
the Belfast Telegraph, of Belfast, Ireland. The feature is part of a
series entitled
"Ulster Names That Adorn U.S. History" and was written by E. R. R.
Green.
Two sons of Edward Courtenay and his wife, Jane Carlisle, emigrated from Newry to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1791. One of the brothers, Edward, established a school in Charleston, and the other eventually settled in Savannah, Georgia. Edward Courtenay had a son, William, born in 1831, who later ran a bookselling and publishing business in Charleston in partnership with an older brother. Later, William Courtenay became head of the business department of the Charleston Mercury newspaper. As a publisher, he was a personal friend of many of the leading literary men of the Old South, who lived in Charleston before the Civil War.
He was elected mayor of Charleston in 1879 and again in 1883, serving eight years in all. In persuading the legislature to establish the State Historical Commission, the equivalent of our Public Record Office, he performed a wider service to the community.
Courtenay was also one of the pioneers of the industrial movement
which had transferred
the bulk of the American cotton industry from New England to the
Southern states where the
raw material is produced. The South in the days before the Civil War
had despised
manufacturing, but the men who rebuilt the war-ravaged Southern states
were well aware of
the importance of industrialization.
The
new era began with
the opening of the Piedmont Mill in the upper part of South Carolina in
1876. Sixteen
years later there were fifty-one mills in South Carolina alone, making
the State first in
the nation in power looms and second in spindles. It was not many miles
away from Piedmont
that William Courtenay built his cotton mill and a village of workers'
houses to which he
gave the name of Newry, in memory of the original family home in
Ireland. He also built a
house at Newry which he called Innisfallen and lived there until he
moved to Columbia, the
state capital, where he spent the last years of his life.
Newry still survives, a typical Southern mill village and one of the
oldest in a cotton
manufacturing area which has expanded greatly in recent years.
Entering on life's duties in early youth
without educational advantages he won
his way to high business and civic positions.
Enterprising, Public Spirited, Liberal.
No one ever lost by his business.
President Chamber of Commerce 1885-'88.
As Mayor of Charleston 1880 - '87
he reorganized the city government,
elevated its finances, initiated permanent
improvements, advanced the cause of education.
Collected the bequest of William Enston
made by will in 1860 and founded
the William Enston Home 1882.
The Colonial Lake & Marion Square
were developed and beautified under his
official influence and effort.
In the calamities of cyclone and earthquake,
1885 - '86, he was active in restoring the city.
In 1887 he was elected a trustee of
The Peabody Education Board.
In 1900 the degree of L.L.D. was conferred
on him by the South Carolina College
and University of Tennessee.
In 1885 the Legislature of S.C. at his suggestion
created the Historical Commission of S.C.
of which he was for years a member.
He died at Columbia, S.C. on March 17th 1908.
Mayor
William Ashmead Courtenay's residence, located at 95 Ashley Avenue,
Charleston, South
Carolina. Courtenay (1831-1908) was mayor of Charleston from 1879 to
1887. He used his
business expertise to professionalize the city administration and made
many permanent
improvements, including the paving of major streets, such as King and
Meeting streets, for
the first time. His home was an older single house which was remodeled
in the Queen Anne
style, sometime between 1883 and 1893. Ashley Avenue was first laid out
as Lynch Street,
for Thomas Lynch (Mazyck & Waddell, illus. 2, 71; Archer, 7; News
& Courier , Sept
. 1, 1882: Sept . 2 , 1883).
Fraser, Walter, Jr.,
"Charleston! Charleston!: The History of a Southern City", University
of South
Carolina Press, 1989, first paperback edition 1991. pp. 303 - 321.
ISBN: 0-87249-643-0
ISBN (paperback): 0-87249-797-6.
The Manuscript
Collection of the
South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC,
29208
Many manuscript
collections listed,
in particular units: #293, 505, 817, 902, 1306, 1307, 1340, 1849, 1923,
2457, 2467 for
COURTENAY, William Ashmead.
Also COURTENAY
FAMILY units # 293, 504,
1185, 2379, and COURTENAY W.C. and COMPANY unit # 1950
The South
Carolina Historial Society
(microfiche in many Public Libraries)
VOL: PAGE - William Ashmead Courtenay 78:259, 80:187-189, 81: 38n, 44n,
Many others, see the SOUTH CAROLINA HISTORICAL SOCIETY INDEX 1900-1931,
1980-1990.
The following
microfilm contains
correspondence between William A. Courtenay and W.L. DePass relating to
their aborted
duel! Catalog listing: Auburn University Library (Auburn, AL). Filmed
from the holdings of
the Charleston Library Society, Charleston, South Carolina.
Author: Courtenay, William A.
Title: Correspondence (microform).
Publication Information:
(S.l. : s.n., between 1861 and 1865)
Description: Microfilm. New Haven, Conn. : Research Publications, (1974).
On reel 83 of 143 microfilm reels ; 35 mm. (Confederate
imprints, 1861-1865 ; reel 83, no. 2564).
15 p. ; 21 cm.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOCATION: CALL NUMBER STATUS:
MADD Microfilm no. 4012 Check Shelf
Collection
Search Request: S=COURTENAY AU Library Catalog
BOOK - Record 2 of 3 Entries Found Long View
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Correspendence
Subjects: DePass, W. L.
Dueling--Confederate States of America.
Notes: Microfilm. New Haven, Conn. : Research Publications, (1974).
On reel 83 of 143 microfilm reels ; 35 mm. (Confederate
imprints, 1861-1865 ; reel 83, no. 2564).
Title from cover.
Correspondence between William A. Courtenay and W.L. DePass
relating to their aborted duel.
Filmed from the holdings of the Charleston Library Society,
Charleston, South Carolina.
Series: Confederate imprints, 1861-1865 ; reel 83, no. 2564.
LOCATION: CALL NUMBER STATUS:
MADD Microfilm no. 4012 Check Shelf
Collection
This page was last updated on August 16, 2017.