COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) – Black history is getting new life in the Five Points area. A new housing project was just approved by the city and will transform one of Columbia’s first black hospitals.

The building is at the intersection of Gervais and Harden Street.

Around 1914, the people’s infirmary was built to serve the black community when they were denied admission to predominantly white hospitals. It was run by W.D. Chapelle, Jr., one of the first black doctors in the state. By 1927, the building was listed as vacant.

Over the years, businesses came and went. Now, a developer plans to transform it into a two-unit housing facility.

The project was approved under the Bailey Bill Tax incentive—a program that offsets preservation costs while requiring historic guidelines.

Rev. Michael Buckson, who pastors a nearby church named after Chapelle’s father is is all too familiar with the significance of this building.

“It was a life-saving station,” he said. “This entire community, we’re looking forward to every chance that we get to restore.”

Betsy Kleinfelder, a preservation planner with the city, said it was important to revive.

It’s really going to stand out and show the prominence and success of the Waverly Place community and how important it was to have this established black office and black doctor’s office that was there,” she said.

She says the developer will focus on bringing back the original appearance of the building.

“We want to make sure to recognize and save that fabric that was there. It was just such an important part of the neighborhood,” she said. “So, having that building protected and saved and now having it more like its original appearance is something we really value to make sure that history gets shared and continues to be in place for another 100 and something years for the community.”

Buckson said the restoration will also inspire growth in the area.

“To see this building restored, it will remind us of what was, but at the same time inspire us to what can be,” he said.

Under the Bailey Bill requirements, the developer has two years to finish the project.

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