Finley High School
National Register Listing
Street Address:
112 Caldwell St., Chester (Chester County)
Alternate Name:
S.L. Finley High School, Chester Junior High School
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817712021
Description and Narrative:
Finley High School is locally significant in the areas of Education and Ethnic Heritage: Black as the only African American public high school in Chester, South Carolina between 1956 and 1970. Finley High School was established in 1923 as Chester Colored High School, the first Black public high school in the city. The original campus was located about a quarter of a mile north; the school moved to the current site in 1956 with the completion of a new campus as part of the state’s equalization program, an effort to perpetuate a system of “separate but equal” schools in South Carolina in the 1950s. Finley High School is also locally significant under Architecture as as an especially intact example of equalization school design. Its Modern architectural features embody mid-twentieth century trends in educational planning and design as applied through the state equalization program. Its period of significance encompasses its years of service as a segregated school, spanning from its construction in 1956 to 1970, when the school became an integrated junior high school. Finley High School is listed under the Multiple Property Documentation Form for Equalization Schools in South Carolina, 1951-1960, as an intact representation of a typical school built through the state’s school equalization program, which sought to stave off legal challenges to segregation by improving Black school facilities under the principle of “separate but equal.” Listed in the National Register January 28, 2025.
Period of Significance:
1956 – 1970
Level of Significance:
Local
Area of Significance:
Architecture;Education;Ethnic Heritage: Black
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
January 28 2025
