Ansonborough Historic Neighborhood

Captain George Anson acquired a 64-acre tract from Thomas Gadsden, and the streets that followed bore his name and the names of his ships. On April 24, 1838, fire swept the neighborhood from southwest to northeast and erased most of what had been built. The state offered rebuild loans on the condition that brick was used. By the 1950s the area had declined seriously; the Historic Charleston Foundation stepped in with a revolving fund that became a national model for neighborhood preservation.