St. Andrew's Hall, Charleston
St. Andrew's Hall, was a public building in Charleston, South Carolina, on Broad Street. The hall served as headquarters for the St. Andrew's Society of Charleston, South Carolina. It was also an important part of the social life of upper-class Charlestonians. It was used for balls, banquets, concerts, and meetings of organizations like the South Carolina Jockey Club and the St. Cecilia Society. The hall could also be used for lodging, and both President James Monroe and General Marquis de Lafayette stayed there.
On December 19, 1860, delegates from South Carolina met at St. Andrew's Hall to discuss possible secession from the United States. The following day, they met there again and voted 169 to 0 to secede. South Carolina delegates later ratified the Confederate Constitution there on April 3, 1861. South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union.
The St. Andrew's Hall was destroyed during a Charleston fire on 11–12 December 1861.
The description above is accurate..what is MISLEADING in my opinion are the two images on the right. Of the two, the LOWER image CAPTION is the most misleading.... St Andrew's Hall was located on Broad and Orange NOT on Meeting Street and definitely NOT NEXT TO THE CIRCULAR CHURCH...It was TECHNICALLY the FIRST Hall that the Secession Convention met in and voted to secede as stated above. I believe what happened AFTER the vote was the Secession Convention moved the ANNOUNCEMENT of Secession, the next day, to accomodate the local populace in the "Grand Hall" of the Institute Hall on MEETING STREET, which forever after became known as Secession Hall RIGHT NEXT to the Circular Church...The caption on IMAGE two does not clearly differentiate that the Secession Hall referenced was NOT St. Andrew's Hall but was the Institute Hall. Curiously, both St Andrew's Hall and Institute(Secession Hall) BOTH burned down during the big fire.
References
- Calore, Paul. (2002). Naval Campaigns of the Civil War. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.
- Edgar, Walter (1998). South Carolina: A History. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.
- McInnis, Maurie D. (2005). Politics of Taste in Antebellum Charleston. University of North Carolina Press.
- Moise, Warren (2003). Rebellion in the Temple of Justice: The Federal and State Courts in South Carolina During the War Between the States. Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse, Inc.
- Sketch of The St. Andrew's Hall is from the South Carolina Historical Society in Charleston on Chalmers Street
- Historical Markers Data Base website, Site of St. Andrew's Hall Historical Marker Plaque on the chain link fence