McGhee Block
National Register Listing
Street Address:
201-209 Richland Avenue W, Aiken, SC (Aiken County)
Alternate Name:
McGhee Building, C.C. Johnson Drugstore
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Record Number:
S10817702045
Description and Narrative:
The McGhee Block is located on the southwest corner of Richland Avenue W and Newberry Street SW in the center of downtown Aiken. The one-story, painted brick commercial building was constructed in 1920 by the African American-owned McGhee & McGhee, Contractors and Builders. The building’s corner lot gives it frontage on two streets, with an angled entrance at the intersection. Constructed with three primary structural bays divided by masonry firewalls, the building was designed to provide flexible commercial space and to house multiple businesses, most notably Dr. C.C. Johnson’s Drugstore, as well as the offices of McGhee & McGhee. The interior and storefront configurations have been fluid over time as various commercial businesses and restaurants have occupied the spaces. The McGhee Block is locally significant as an intact Jim Crow-era Black-owned commercial building, where local African Americans established professional and commercial spaces for Black employment while providing services to the Black and white communities alike. It is also important for its associations with William McGhee (1876-1938), Albert McGhee (1872-1938) and Dr. Charles Catlett Johnson (1860-1928). The McGhees, who built the McGhee Block in 1920, were two of Aiken’s earliest and most prominent Black contractors and built a number of local residences and public buildings for both the Black and white communities. The McGhee Block is the best representation of their impact on Aiken’s built environment, having served as their professional headquarters and itself being a product of their own labor. Dr. Johnson was an African American who established a medical practice in Aiken about 1905 and became a leader and mentor in the Black medical community for the next two decades. He also owned and operated a drugstore that included a soda fountain that served both Black and white citizens, the only such establishment in Aiken known to have done so during that period. The McGhee Block housed Johnson’s third drugstore location. All three men made important contributions to Aiken not only in their professional capacities but also in advancing the political, social, and educational status of the local Black community during the early twentieth century, despite the strictures of Jim Crow. The Johnson Drugstore, the anchor business of the McGhee Block, moved to another location in 1940, by which time Dr. Johnson and both of the McGhees had passed away. Listed in the National Register January 30, 2024.
Period of Significance:
1920 – 1940
Level of Significance:
Local
Area of Significance:
Ethnic Heritage: Black;Health/Medicine;Architecture;Commerce
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
January 30 2024
