Image ID: ARZW

No. 2. The Orphan House—Charleston, S. C. The ORPHAN HOUSE is situated on the North side of the Calhoun (formerly Boundary) Street, between King and St. Phillip Streets, and occupies the largest portion of the square. The corner stone of this noble Institution was laid in 1792, on the site of the old ramparts erected before the revolutionary war, as a means of defence [sic] from the frequent incursions of Indians into the city. This magnificent building is a Monument to the sagacity, benevolence and energy of John Roberston, its founder. When it was first opened fifteen orphan children were admitted within its walls. In 1853 the building was enlarged and otherwise improved, to meet the demands upon the institution for succor from the fatherless. After these improvements were completed its occupants numbered two hundred and fifty-five. The Institution is supported mainly from the income of funds donated to it from time to time by the benevolent, the deficiency being met by appropriations by City Council. Many who have enjoyed its benefactions have gone forth into the world, and become eminent in Law, Physic and Divinity, and most of them sterling men and women. The occupants of the Institution were removed to Orangeburg whilst the shelling of the City was going on during the late war. In the meantime the municipal business of the City was transacted in the building. After the termination of hostilities the Federal authorities occupied the building as a prison house for Federal Soldiers. The Statue to be seen on the right of the steps, is that of Sir William Pitt, or Lord Chatham, which possesses considerable interest on account of its revolutionary history as follows: At a meeting of the Commons House of Assembly, in May, 1766, then in session in Charleston, on motion of the Hon. Judge Lowndes, it was resolved “that they would make provision to procure from England a marble statue of the Right Hon. William Pitt, for his disinterested and generous assistance afforded them towards obtaining a repeal of the Stamp Act.” The Assembly voted in the Tax Act of that year, £7,000 for the purpose of carrying out the object of the resolution. Wilton, the King’s Sculptor, was employed to execute the statue. He sent two designs–one for a niche, the other for a separate pedestal. The latter design was adopted. On the morning of the 25th of May, 1770, the statue was landed on the wharf, where it was received by the inhabitants of Charleston, and drawn by themselves to the Arsenal, which occupied a portion of the site of the present Guard House, at the corner of Meeting and Broad streets. On the afternoon of the 5th of July, 1770, it was raised at the intersection of Meeting and Broad streets, nearly the whole of the inhabitants from the City being present, including the Speaker and Members of the House of Commons. After it had been successfully raised, the Speaker of the House of Commons proclaimed aloud amid great cheering, the inscription on the base of the Statue, as follows: “In grateful memory of his service to his country in general, and to America in particular, the Commons House of Assembly of South Carolina unanimously voted this Statue of the Right Honorable William Pitt, Esq., who Time shall sooner destroy this mark of their esteem, than erase from their minds their just sense of his patriotic virtues.” At the conclusions of the Speaker’s proclamation, a salute of twenty-six guns was fired, and The bells of St. Michael’s Church were rung. The ceremonies of the day were closed with a public dinner. During the siege of Charleston by the British, in the Revolutionary War, the right arm of the Statue was shot off by a cannon ball, which has never been replaced. In 1794, the General Assembly of the State granted permission to the City Council to remove the Statue, as it obstructed the free use of Meeting and Broad streets. On the 14th March, 1794, it was removed, and subsequently erected in the Orphan House enclosure, where it yet remains, with its mutilated arm, as an historical memorial of Colonial times. During its removal, the Statue fell to the ground, and the head was broken off. [uncredited stereo card]

Library of Congress says: Photograph shows the Charleston Orphan House which was founded in 1790 as the nation’s first municipal orphanage. The front facade is seen from inside the entry gates.