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1700 Block of Main Street

Site of Marks' Porter and Relish House

In 1828, shortly after moving to Columbia, wealthy Charleston native Alexander Marks (1788-1861) established a boarding house across from the original Masonic lodge. Advertisements in the South Carolina Gazette and Columbia Advertiser claimed it served the 'best Wines and Liquors.' The establishment also boasted a reading room 'containing papers from different parts of the Union,' for patrons who paid a two-dollar annual fee. In 1833, Marks was arrested for violating a religious statute that banned the sale of goods on the Christian Sabbath. A founder of the Hebrew Benevolent Society, Marks argued the ordinance violated his constitutional religious liberties, as practicing Jews observed Saturdays as their Sabbath. Marks relocated his family to New Orleans shortly after the South Carolina Supreme Court dismissed his challenge and upheld the law.

  • Alexander Marks

    Alexander Marks, unknown date and artist. Image courtesy of Paula Stein

  • West side of 1700 block of Main Street, 1978.

    Where today one building stands, formerly there stood one- and two-story commercial buildings that held jewelry, wig and fabric stores, a photography studio, a dry cleaners, a blood bank, and a loan office. Image courtesy Russell Maxey collection, Richland Library

Construction of the Richland County Courthouse in the 1980s irrevocably altered the west side of Main Street's 1700 block. The modern, Brutalist style muncipal structure replaced virtually an entire block's worth of 19th- and early 20th-century commercial buildings of various styles, as the camera lens of photographer Russell Maxey captured in 1978.

34.0087845, -81.03654

NTHP Preservation Award Winner
Historic Columbia

© 2025 Historic Columbia

Administrative Offices
1601 Richland Street
Columbia, SC 29201

Tours
All historic house and garden tours start at the Welcome Center at Robert Mills.
1616 Blanding Street
Columbia, SC 29201

Questions? Call (803) 252-7742.

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