The real lady street: Columbia road to bear a woman’s name for only the 2nd time
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to note that Celia Saxon Street in Columbia is named for a woman. Matilda Evans Street will be the second road in the city bearing a woman’s name.
Two hundred thirty-four years after Columbia’s founding, the city will for only the second time give a woman’s name to a street.
A road in the BullStreet district will be named for Dr. Matilda Arabella Evans, the first licensed female physician in South Carolina.
Matilda Evans Street will be the second official road name bearing a woman’s name in the city. It will replace the name of Williams Drive and will intersect with Bull Street beside the future Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant.
Celia Saxon Street, near the Drew Wellness Center, is named for a former slave who became a school teacher and was an activist for women’s well-being.
“It’s long overdue,” Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin said of the new street naming. “I want this to be a non-discussion 10 years from now, almost as a matter of course for all of our children, but particularly our little girls, to find it common to look up and see a name that sounds like theirs or their mom’s or grandmothers’ on the street signs of Columbia.”
Dozens of public streets in Columbia bear the names of men, from Huger and Taylor to Pickens and Hampton.
In addition to Celia Saxon Street, just one other is named for a woman: Lady Street, in honor of the nation’s first First Lady, Martha Washington. Her husband, George, was honored with the naming of Washington Street in the city.
In recent years, Columbia officials celebrated the honorary naming of a segment of Lincoln Street near Colonial Life Arena as Dawn Staley Way, in honor of the Gamecock women’s basketball coach.
The city has recognized “this is a gap, currently, in the way we recognize half our population in our public spaces,” said Ann Warner, CEO of the S.C. Women’s Rights and Empowerment Network, or WREN, which works to advance the rights and well-being of women and girls in the state. “This is an opportunity for Columbia to be a leader in terms of innovative ways to celebrate a more inclusive depiction of our history and, by doing that, help create a more inclusive future for our city.”
Evans, an African American woman, broke through major barriers in the early 1900s Jim Crow era.
The Aiken native received her medical degree from the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1867, specializing in obstetrics, gynecology and surgery, according to the Columbia City of Women project, which last year recognized Evans for her significant place in South Carolina history. Evans founded multiple hospitals and clinics in South Carolina’s capital city and played a major role in training nurses, particularly opening doors for black women in the profession.
“For an African American woman to become a physician at that time, it’s just staggering to think about what she must have been up against.” Warner said. “She was a complete trailblazer.”
“She was making history when history wasn’t supposed to be made,” Benjamin said.
The street naming was announced Sunday evening at the 2020 Columbia City of Women celebration, on International Women’s Day. WREN, along with Historic Columbia, are the driving forces behind the City of Women initiative.
The official Matilda Evans Street sign could be unveiled within the month, Benjamin said.
“The coolest thing about this ... is that this is the first, but it won’t be the last,” Benjamin said.
Robert Hughes, developer of BullStreet, called it an honor for the district to have a street named for “one of South Carolina’s most distinguished health care pioneers.” The BullStreet project is a multi-year effort to redevelop the former state mental hospital on Bull Street.
“When the mayor and other community leaders approached us about this opportunity, we jumped,” Hughes said. “Matilda Evans Street will become one of the main entries to the district from Bull Street, where over 43,000 cars per day will see her name. We are appreciative of the opportunity to be a part of commemorating Dr. Evans’ lifetime of accomplishments as a physician to all, advocate for those less fortunate and inspiration for everyone in our community.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2020 at 6:00 PM.
