137 - Mt. Hebron Temperance Hall - West Columbia, SC
N 33° 59.965 W 081° 07.489
17S E 488473 N 3762098
A small building between the current church and cemetery.
Waymark Code: WM9R1Y
Location: South Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 09/22/2010
Views: 5
from the nearby historic marker:
Mt. Hebron United Methodist Church
This congregation, organized ca. 1800 in the home of Martin Hook, built its first house of worship at the Half Way Ground, near here. In 1837 a new church was erected at this site on land donated by John and Elizabeth Roof. Another structure was built here in 1907 and was replaced in 1963 by the present sanctuary.
Temperance Hall
The frame building behind the church was built 1862 by Saludaville Sons of Temperance, a society charted in 1858 that reflected the nationwide movement to combat intemperate use of alcohol. In 1871 the society was recharted as Mt. Hebron Sons of Temperance and probably continued until the State Dispensary was established 1893. The building was restored in 1979.
1982 by Congregation of Mt. Hebron United Methodist Church (Mt. Hebron Church Side); Pineview Ruritan Club (Temperance Hall Side). (Marker Number 32-15.)
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Local tradition and contemporary records indicate that the Mount Hebron Temperance Hall was constructed in 1862 as a meeting room for members of the local temperance group. Located in West Columbia, it is the only identified building constructed specifically for use as a temperance meeting hall remaining in Lexington County. It is associated with the long and generally unsuccessful state and national temperance movement of the nineteenth century. Interest in temperance in South Carolina increased as the nineteenth century progressed. In 1829 the first statewide temperance society was organized, and by 1847 the South Carolina division of the national organization known as the Sons of Temperance had been chartered. In South Carolina local societies were formed as subdivisions of the state organization. One such group formed in the neighborhood of the Mount Hebron Methodist Church. A charter was issued to the Saludavill Division No. 47 by the national division in December 1858. Although many of the members of the temperance society were also members of Mount Hebron Methodist Church, the division did not meet in the church building. The hall is a small, one-story rectangular structure sheathed in weatherboard, with a gabled cypress shingle roof. It stands in the churchyard of the Mount Hebron United Methodist Church. The interior has a single room with wide board flooring and flushboard walls and ceiling. There is no plumbing or wiring. Eventually the church has taken over the temperance hall for use as a Sunday School building and Boy Scout Hut. The building was restored in 1979. Listed in the National Register November 24, 1980.
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