#46: The "miracle" of Parker High School, the history of SC horse racing, and a lecture on The Santee Canal
For South Carolina history lovers far and wide! Enjoy weekly SC history and upcoming SC historical events
Dear reader,
Welcome to Newsletter #46 of The South Carolina History Newsletter! I’m so happy you’re here.
I hope you enjoy today’s newsletter, and as always, please feel free to reply to this email with your ideas and suggestions on South Carolina history you’d like to learn more about. I’m only a click away.
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And now, let’s learn some South Carolina history!
Yours truly,
Kate
(Writing from Greenville, SC)
➳ Featured SC History Event
Please enjoy our featured SC History Event below, and click here to visit my SC History Events Calendar that organizes all the upcoming SC history events I have discovered. Please let me know if you’d like to add an event to the calendar! Reply to this email or send me a note at schistorynewsletter@gmail.com.
Thursday, June 6th at 6:00 pm | “Book Launch ~ The Santee Canal: South Carolina's First Commercial Highway” | Charleston Library Society | Charleston, SC | TICKETS: Members ($10), Non-Members ($15)
“A history of one of America's earliest canals and its impact on the people of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Completed in 1800, the Santee Canal provided the first inland navigation route from the Upcountry of the South Carolina Piedmont to the port of Charleston and the Atlantic Ocean. By connecting the Cooper, Santee, Congaree, and Wateree rivers, the engineered waterway transformed the lives of many in the state and affected economic development in the Southeast region of the newly formed United States. In The Santee Canal, authors Elizabeth Connor, Richard Dwight Porcher Jr., and William Robert Judd provide an authoritative and richly illustrated history of one of America's first canals. Never-before published historical plans and maps, photographs from personal archives and field research, and technical drawings enhance the text, allowing readers to appreciate the development, evolution, and effect of the Santee Canal on the land and the people of South Carolina.”
➳ SC History Fun Facts
I.
Did you know that Greenville’s Parker High School was called a “mill town miracle” in Readers Digest magazine in 1941?
A few newsletters ago, we talked about how Greenville, SC became the “Textile Capital of the World” in the late 19th century and early 20th century. By the 1920s, Greenville was dotted by textile mills including Dunean, Woodside, F.W. Poe, Union Bleachery, Brandon, Poinsett, American Spinning, Judson and Monaghan. These mills employed over 5,000 worked who lived, worked, and recreated with their families in “mill villages.” The mill villages had their own elementary “schools, clinics, company stores, and recreation facilities,” but as time passed, the need for a high school for these mill communities became vitally important.
In 1922, a group of mill executives, led by Thomas Parker (the first President of Monaghan Mills), petitioned the SC state Legislature to create the Parker School District. The school district was conceived to “appeal to students by providing desired training in vocational and textile work and promote the welfare of the people of the district.”
On February 17, 1923, the South Carolina Legislature passed Act 369 allowing for the consolidation of several districts (which included 7 mill villages) into one school district, the Parker School District, named after Thomas Parker. The owners recruited Dr. L.P. Hollis (affectionally called “Dr. Pete”) a local YMCA director, to be the school district's first superintendent. Dr. Pete was an energetic and innovative community leader whose lifelong motto was “It Can Be Done.”
The centerpiece of the school district was the Parker District High School, whose first principal was Ellison M. Smith. The new high school building, designed by the J.E. Sirrine Company, cost $120,000.
As he planned the school’s philosophy and curriculum, Dr. Pete was inspired by the philosophy of American education guru John Dewey that emphasized learning by doing. Here is one of John Dewey’s famous quotes:
“Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.”
Parker District High School opened on November 25, 1923. 454 children were enrolled in the first classes of Parker High School in 1923. 5 years after opening, in 1948, 1,600 students were enrolled, making it the largest high school in the state.
Parker High School was special from the start. With the inspiration of John Dewey and the “learning by doing” philosophy, Dr. Pete had succeeded in creating the “first high school vocational training department in the nation” which trained countless students in machine operations, carpentry, masonry and other manual crafts on campus.
When Parker was founded, industrial arts played an important part in both the vocational and college programs. The school’s Textile Department brought many graduates to the textile plants of Greenville. The cosmetology courses at Parker opened the doors for many young women and men in that vocation. The electrical and woodworking departments trained students for architecture and electrical engineering classes in college. The machine shop grads worked in local and military jobs and were ready for engineering classes at college.
Soon, what had begun as a simple vocational school for mill kids “grew into a national laboratory for testing Dewey's theories about education.” Parker was written up in national publications and classes “were often interrupted by visitors from around the world” who came there to observe. The school was described in 1941 as a “mill town miracle” by Reader’s Digest. A.V. Huff, Greenville historian, says Parker “was one of the first schools to sponsor science fairs and field trips that have become the norm in American education.”
Leo Hill, a 1944 Parker graduate and former president of the student body, recalls that the student government was “modeled after the three branches of the federal government. In addition to a president, there was a senate, house and court system. Students made the rules and enforced them. It was a grand way of teaching civics."
The Parker High School Band also brought major accolades to the school. The band received numerous national, state and local awards. According to Parker alum Jim Boling, “the band won an overall state competition and won our division numerous times. We played EXPO 67 in Montreal, the 1969 New York World's Fair, played for President Nixon, and we won almost every Christmas parade entered."
Parker High School received the honor of placement in the Top Ten High Schools Scholastically in America in 1955, 1957, 1960, 1966 and 1971 by the National Education Association. To date, Parker High School is the only South Carolina high school to have achieved this status 5 times.
The school’s architecture also added to its special character. The Parker High School Auditorium is a 7,500 square foot structure constructed in 1938 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It cost $50,000 to build and was part of a $285,000 building project for the school. When Parker High School’s original building was torn down to make way for new structures in the 1960s, the auditorium was spared. In 2000, the auditorium was placed on the National Register of Historic places, and still stands today.
Parker High School served only white students until 1971, when all South Carolina schools were forced to desegregate. Many “projects, surveys, and special elections” were organized to form bi-racial committees to discuss problems and solutions within the school. Every effort was made to “open communication channels” and create racial harmony within the school.
During the 64 years that Parker was a high school, more than 34,500 students graduated from this location. Dr. Pete Hollis was the driving force and innovative leader that made Parker High School such a success. As the textile industry declined and the mills closed down one by one, Parker High School unfortunately closed in 1985 due to low enrollment. However, its legacy of excellence lives on in the aptly named, Legacy Charter School, that now operates on the original Parker campus. Plans are also in progress for a Parker High School museum on campus.
II.
Did you know that horse racing was an important part of South Carolina culture (almost) from the very beginning?
Horse racing, also known as “The Sport of Kings,” emerged in South Carolina as soon as colonists “gained firm footing and began amassing property and wealth enough to emulate the lifestyles of England and the Caribbean.”
Before 1754, most horses in the colony were for general use. They were small, fleet, strong, and descended from horses “brought to Florida by the Spanish and known as the Chicasaw breed.”
Charleston was the “seat of horse racing” in the early years when the sport began to take hold in the colonies. The first record of any public running appeared in the “South-Carolina Gazette in February 1734, announcing a race on Charleston Neck for a prize of a saddle and bridle.” The same year, the city formed its first jockey club.
In 1735, “The York Course” was built, followed by “The Newmarket Course,” which hosted its first race in 1760. By then, rules of racing were established and prizes of silver or gold were awarded.
Many of the early jockeys were slaves. Here is an account of an enslaved man in Charleston, Samuel Williams, whose owner Edward Dane, was likely training him to be a jockey. However, Williams’ training was cut short due to the onset of the Civil War:
My mother and her children fell to the lot of Edward Dane, brother of Thomas. This young gentleman was of a gay disposition; fond of horses and the sports of the day. . . He taught me to ride, and when I could sit my horse well "bare-back" he had a saddle made for me at the then famous "McKinzie's" saddlery, sign of the "White Horse at the corner of Church and Chalmers street. (Gentlemen had their saddles made to order in those days). I would often accompany him "up the road" on horseback to the Clubhouse, there to exhibit my youthful feats of horsemanship, for the divertissement of Mr. Dane and his friends.
Interest in improving horse breeds “was intense” in the years before and after the Revolution. Horsemen from Charleston and inland river settlements began to import fine stallions and mares from England and Virginia.
Organized racing took place at Charleston, Edisto, Jacksonborough, Pocotaligo, and Strawberry Ferry. The Hamptons, Singletons, Richardsons, and others were among the inland families dedicated to enlarging the sport beyond Charleston.
In the Recovery period following the American Revolution brought a huge following to racing. Racing continued to gain popularity Charleston at the new Washington Course, which coincided with a gala social season of fetes, balls, and dinners.
There was also the “elegant and refined” racing scene at Pinewood course, which claimed to rival that of the British course at Goodwood. St. Matthews, Pendleton, Greenville, Barnwell, Newberry, Laurensville, Deadfall, Beaufort, Georgetown, Camden, and Orangeburg all held races during the antebellum era, and some even had registered jockey clubs.
There is not much information on these old racetracks beyond those that existed in Charleston, whose past is best recorded. The Camden Jockey Club “presided over 3 racecourses” during its existence, while the Columbia Jockey Club oversaw events at the Congaree Course. Fans reveled in these glory days of South Carolina horse racing, but the Civil War brought racing in South Carolina to an end, with most properties sold and stables disbanded. Even the South Carolina Jockey Club dissolved and “gave its remaining relics to the Charleston Library.”
However, in the early 20th century, horse racing in South Carolina had a revival. Camden and Aiken made a concerted effort to entice moneyed sportsmen to the region. With the influx of wealthy northern visitors due to the favorable climate, Aiken in particular was able to golf, shooting, and equestrian venues and attractions. In addition to the new racing centers built during the 1930s, an “active South Carolina Turf Club held a circuit during World War II in Newberry, Eutawville, Summerville, St. Matthews, St. Johns, Colleton, Williamsburg, Elloree, and Camden.”
In Camden, Ernest Woodward and Harry Kirkover built Springdale Race Course and created the Carolina Cup Race Meet for steeplechasers in 1930. Horsewoman Marion duPont Scott built Wrenfield, a flat track, in 1936 and hosted a few days of trials during the 1950s. She later added the Colonial Cup to the venue at Springdale, which she purchased in 1954. The Carolina Cup and the Colonial Cup continue as significant stops on the steeplechase circuit.
In Aiken steeplechasing began in 1930, followed by harness racing in 1936, and flat racing in 1942. All these events continue as Aiken’s Triple Crown in the spring. Aiken also hosts a fall steeplechase meet. In Elloree, SC, the Elloree Trials began in 1962 and are still held. Horse racing returned to Charleston with the creation of the Charleston Steeplechase at Stono Ferry.
While it might not be one of the first things that comes to people’s minds when they think of South Carolina, horse racing has been a historic tradition in our state since (almost) the very beginning — and a remnant of our colonial past and ties with Britain.
➳ Quote from an SC historical figure
I.
“Parker High School Alma Mater:
Midst the hum of her industries,
As the beacon's beaming light,
To her Children's best endeavors
Parker High School lends her might.
In honor, truth, and wisdom
She her highest ideals hold,
And makes us ever loyal
To the Purple and the Gold.
When duty calls us onward,
Achievement's goal to find,
Parker ties will ne'er be broken,
Still her sheltering arms entwine.
And across the distant spaces
Tales of fame and prowess bold,
Will reflect the Parker Spirit
And the Purple and the Gold.”
—The Parker High School Alma Mater poem
Sources used in today’s newsletter:
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