Wheeler Hill
320 Pickens StreetOnce a predominantly black neighborhood, Wheeler Hill lost most of its African American population during the 1970s and 1980s due to the expansion of the University of South Carolina and the government sanctioned policy of eminent domain. The demolition of structures in Wheeler Hill, which forced the majority of the community’s residents to relocate, happened on a larger scale two decades earlier in the Ward One neighborhood as part of a massive urban renewal effort. The Saxon School on Blossom Street was one of the buildings destroyed in that area at the time.
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![Black youth gather in front of a lunch room that formerly stood at 320 Pickens Street.]()
Black youth gather in front of a lunch room that formerly stood at 320 Pickens Street. Image courtesy John Hensel Photograph Collection, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina
