6808 North Main Street
Monteith School
From the late 1800s through the 1960s, African Americans in South Carolina attended segregated schools. In operation between 1890 and 1949, this three-teacher schoolhouse (originally located next to 6505 North Main) is one of the oldest black public schools in Richland County. In 1932, the facility was named for longtime teacher and principal, Rachel Monteith. The matriarch of a well-known Columbia family, Monteith was the mother of Rebecca Monteith, also a faculty member at the school; Henry Monteith, the founder of Victory Savings Bank; and Civil Rights activist Modjeska Monteith Simkins. Her grandchildren include Henrie Monteith, one of three African Americans to desegregate the University of South Carolina on September 11, 1963.
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Monteith School. Historic Columbia collection
