A historic piece of Columbia that was recently demolished is raising awareness about preserving African-American history.
The Waverly Five and Dime is now nothing more than rubble mixed with dirt and a lot of hard feelings.
"We were not informed as a community, and we just don't think it was right," said neighbor Doris Hildebrand.
Hildebrand is talking about the decision by First Nazareth Church to demolish the property after they bought it. The former five and dime was managed by civil rights activist George Elmore.
"It don't have to be beautiful," Hildebrand said. "It's the building itself knowing him and what he did for blacks."
In 1946, Elmore worked with the NAACP to sue the all-white Democratic primaries, which would lead to the landmark case Elmore vs. Rice. The case would pave the way in giving African-Americans the right to vote.
Robin Waites, executive director of the Historic Columbia Foundation, says she didn't learn about the plans for the demolition until late July. In fact, it was the same day the foundation was erecting a historic marker in front of the store.
"It's confusing to me that they would make the effort to get this in place and 6 days later take the building down," Waites said.
Now, Waites is looking ahead and working hard to make sure sites not protected like Carver Theatre and Leevy's Funeral Home never see a demolition permit.
"It's focusing on African-American history, it's focusing on civil rights history, and who were those leaders and what were those events around that time," Waites said.
Mayor Steve Benjamin says he's disappointed by what happened, but remains encouraged about the awareness it's raised. His plan moving forward is simple.
"Aggressively work moving forward to identify every site of historic significance and make sure that whatever the appropriate measures are to protect those sites we are going to do it," Benjamin said.
If you like to make sure historic sites are saved, here's your chance to get involved. There's a panel discussion being held from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. on Thursday, August 18 at the Big Apple and it's free to attend.
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