This portion from the C.N Drie’s “Bird’s Eye View of the City of Charleston,” depicts the Hampstead/East Side neighborhood in 1872. During this time, the city of Charleston began to view the East Side as an undesirable subdivision and allocated the city’s incinerator and dump to the neighborhood. Railroad depots were established around the East Side, covering the area in a haze of smoke. The establishment of industry in the East Side with the opening of a cotton factory in 1848 contributed to pollution. The factory almost immediately closed, and the city used the building to house Charleston’s destitute population, only reifying the city’s perception of the East Side as an undesirable eyesore. This perception was undoubtedly intertwined with white government officials’ racist biases. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Download Original File
