Mount Pleasant Magazine March/April 2021

60 www. ReadMPM. com | www. VOICE forRea l Es tate. com | www.MountPl easantBu i lder s . com bricks, because the two counties could not agree on who should be responsible for payment. In 1886, the town’s 740 residents were shaken by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake. Vacant lots became refugee camps, as the smell of sulphur hung in the air. But natural catastrophes of another kind were much more common: a total of fifty hurricanes and tropical storms swiped or bashed the coast during the 19th Century. The Spanish- American War in 1898 posed a different type of threat from the sea. Although our area saw no military action, signal masts using flags and lanterns were erected in Mount Pleasant to relay information to the city, in case of an attack. The town militia, the Chicora Rifles, kept a training boat at the mouth of Shem Creek and drilled once a month on a vacant lot. The ferry house burned in 1898, and the ferry began operating from the foot of Hibben Street. Soon, bridges would be built over Cove Inlet and Breach Inlet, and a trolley service would be added from the village to the islands. Even more changes were on the horizon — the Cooper River Bridge would be built a few decades later. Mount Pleasant was about to enter the modern era. prominent gathering places. The Little Theater was in operation, initiated by the Lutheran Church. Townsfolk played the popular card games of Whist and Euchre. And there was the Sunday afternoon stroll along “the front beach,” at the harbor’s edge. When the colony was first established, Mount Pleasant had been part of Berkeley County but was later annexed to Charleston County. In 1882, Mount Pleasant again joined Berkeley County and became the county seat. The courthouse — now the Darby Building — was built on King Street, out of bricks from the Venning family’s brickyard plantation. But the Berkeley County seat was moved back to Moncks Corner in 1895. The Vennings claimed they were never paid for the history Check Out the Coastal Relocation Kit On Page 66! Be fore l oca l bus i nes ses l i ke Pat j ens Grocer y began prov i d i ng pos ta l ser v i ce i n 1875 , res i dent s took a fer r y to the c i t y to pi ck up ma i l .