9 West Street
A Property in Charleston's Fourth Ward (Formerly Known as 11 West Street)
Boundaries of the Clemson MSHP '24 Study Area
A Timeline of Ownership and Inhabitance in Charleston's Fourth Ward - 9 West St.
1670
Charles Town was first settled by colonists from England at a location on the Ashley River known as Albemarle Point.
1679
Fearing invasion by the surrounding Spanish and Native American threats, the colonists moved the colony to the peninsula defined by the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers.
1712-1715
French Huguenot (Protestant) Isaac Mazyck Sr. purchased 34 acres of land originally deeded to Captain James Moore by the Lords Proprietors of the Carolina Colony described as being to the north of Broad Path and to the west of the "high way" (King Street). This copy of George S. Hunter's 1746 plat of resurvey depicts the general area of Mazyck's 34 acre tract.
August 20, 1731
The legislature of the Carolina Colony ratified "An Act for appropriating the sum of one hundred and four thousand seven hundred and seventy-five pounds one shilling and three pence farthing, towards the payment of the publick debts." Though the title of this act might not suggest it, the passage of this legislation marked the beginning of a series of policy changes that sought to encourage the emigration of foreign protestants to the colony. An enslaved population that outnumbered the free white population and a desire to increase the agricultural productivity of the colony both served as motivators for opening the colony to poor European immigrants.
1732
Religious conflict that had been brewing for decades in Europe saw the expulsion of Southern Germans from the Palatinate Region by invading French Catholics. The South Carolina Gazette reported that German Protestants had begun to arrive in the Carolina Colony by this year.
December 18, 1742
Isaac Mazyck Sr. died sometime between 1735 and 1736. In his will, Mazyck Sr. partitioned his 34 acre tract into individual lots for the children of his children. The two acre lot bound by Archdale Street to the east, by Mazyck(Logan) Street to the west, and by West Street to the north was given to the children of his daughter Mariann Godin [labeled M.G. on the attached 1742 McCrady Plat (Pg. 0090)].
January, 1759
By 1759, the population of displaced Palatines living in Charleston had swelled to sufficient size to warrant the construction of a German Lutheran Church. A group of German immigrants purchased Gran Modell lot number 255 situated on the east side of Archdale Street for the erection of a meeting house. With this religious structure at its center, an enclave of German inhabitance began to develop along Archdale Street.
July 31, 1769
Lot "M.G." is partitioned by Mariann Godin into eight ~50' x 213' lots for her eight children. The northwesternmost lot, distinguished by the number "2" on Archibald Crawford's plat of partition, was given to her daughter Amelia Ann Godin.
1770
By this year, the first reference to the portion of Charleston between King Street and Archdale Street as "Dutch Town" appeared in city newspapers.
1788
Edmund C. Petrie's "Ichonography of Charleston, South-Carolina" shows only two structures extant along West Street by this time. It is unclear if any of these features existed on the lot of 9 West Street.
1819
By 1819, the term "Dutch Town" had all but vanished from the written record. Much of the German population living therein had prospered and moved to more desirable areas of the city by this time, leaving in their void vacancies in tenement-style buildings in a cheap part of town. As a result of neighboring land-uses such as the city's Work House, Jail, burial grounds, and an auxiliary powder magazine, the land value of lots in this portion of the city were depressed. As the prospering Germans moved 'onward and upward,' Charleston's poor population filled the vacuum left in their wake.
1852
The 1852 Bridgens and Allen Map of Charleston indicates that West Street had been almost entirely developed by this time. A deed bearing date April 15, 1851 indicates that a two-story brick house existed on the site
September 17, 1864
Historical newspaper records indicate that a small fire that had broken out on Clifford's Alley had spread to the north and west before being extinguished along West Street. It is possible that the two-story brick house extant on the property at 9 West Street was destroyed in the blaze as C. N. Drie's "1872 Bird's Eye View of Charleston" depicts charred ruins along the eastern half of West Street.
1888 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
By 1888, Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps indicate that 9 West Street (then known as 11 West Street) featured two residential structures. At the front of the property stood a single-story wood frame tenement building with a west-facing piazza. At the rear of the property stood a two-story wood frame tenement building, also with a west-facing piazza.
1902 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
By 1902, little had changed on the property of 9 West Street (then known as 11 West Street). The same single-story and two-story wood frame tenement dwellings with west-facing piazzas detailed on the 1888 Sanborn Map are reflected on this 1902 Sanborn Map.
June 2, 1908
This June 2, 1908 Charleston News and Courier article advertised the sale of the property at 9(11) West Street. The advertisement described the property as featuring "two one-story cottages and one two-story dwelling." This represents an increase in the number of structures extant on the property since 1902.
1929 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
This photograph of an unpublished iteration of Sanborn Fire Insurance Map produced in 1929 indicates that the various structures extant on the 9(11) West Street property in June 1908 have by this point been replaced by a single two-story wood frame structure labeled "F". Note the neighboring structures labeled "F.B." (female boardinghouse, a name given to properties known to house prostitutes).
November 25, 1931
The first evidence of prostitution occurring at 9 (11) West Street appears in the city newspapers on November 25, 1931. Jacqueline (Jackie) Smith is listed as a defendant in a case between Solicitor McGowan and citizens accused of operating "alleged disorderly houses".
July 21, 1938
Another newspaper entry reports the arrest of the same Jacqueline Smith and three other women on disorderly charges. Smith is listed and charged as the operator of the disorderly house and the three other women as being disorderly persons. In twentieth century Charleston, prostitution and vice were often not spoken of directly; as a result, terms like "disorderly" and "baudy" are used in reference to those people and places involved in prostitution.
November 7, 1941
Three years later, Jacqueline Smith is again reported in the city newspapers as having been arrested and charged with operating a disorderly house on West Street.
March 6, 1942
Not even a full year later, Jacqueline Smith was again charged and named in the newspaper. This time, Smith was charged alongside others for "maintaining houses of prostitution." Facing mounting pressure from state-level officials and Naval administrators from the base located on the Charleston Neck, city officials began to crack down on vice in the Holy City in the early 1940s. This is evidenced by the fact that Smith was being charged with facilitating prostitution in plain terms, rather than the aforementioned "disorderly" and "baudy" innuendos.
March 17, 1942
In the same month as Jacqueline Smith's most recent arrest, the South Carolina State General Assembly passed an act that specifically outlawed "Lewdness, Assignation, and Prostitution" and outlined penalties for the breach of such laws. This act represents the first instance of prostitution being illegalized at the state-level in South Carolina.
March 7, 1944
Nearly two years after the illegalization of prostitution in the state of South Carolina, Jacqueline (Jackie) Smith was arraigned and sentenced on charges of "disorderly conduct at a local hotel." For breaching this crime, Smith was sentenced to 25 days in jail. This was the first time in over ten years that Smith had received jail time for her actions as a Madame. Smith's name vanishes from the newspaper record in Charleston after this arrest.
March 5, 1980
This photograph of the structure at 9 West Street provided by the Board of Architectural Review for the City of Charleston demonstrates the change that has occurred to the street-facing façade of the structure over the past forty years. The image at the right is a modern street-view provided by Google Maps. Note the changes in fenestration and exterior finishes.
The structure was subdivided into six distinct condominium units between 1980 and 1986. The property exists today as six separate ~474 square foot apartments. Despite the fact that Charleston's Fourth Ward once existed as a den of vice and sin in the Holy City, properties like this are now valued in the millions of dollars.
Bibliography
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