1100 Block of House Street
In 1956, F.A. Johnson Consulting Group, Inc., in association with Jordan, Jones, & Goulding, introduced a possible renewal plan for the area bordered by Heidt, Millwood, Gervais, and Greene streets. Often identified as "Negro Removal" by displaced black citizens, urban renewal, operating under Columbia's Fight Blight program resulted in either the rehabilitation or demolition of houses deemed dilapidated by city officials.
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This billboard, photographed on Main Street in May of 1963, illustrates City Hall's commitment to participating in this national movement. Image courtesy Joseph Winter Collection, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia
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1113 House Street, 1957. Image courtesy Joseph Winter Collection, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia
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Patsy S. Ceaser, 1957. Image courtesy Joseph Winter Collection, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia
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1113 House Street, 1957. Image courtesy Joseph Winter Collection, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia
Some buildings were rehabilitated under the efforts of Columbia's Fight Blight program. Between September and November of 1957, Joseph Winter chronicled work performed on 1113 House Street, the home of widow Patsy S. Ceaser, who was born about 1878. By Thanksgiving of that year, the elderly homemaker had benefited from the efforts of local youth who held clean-up days and repaired her home.