Second Sunday Stroll: Waverly

Established shortly after the Civil War on plantation land once owned by Robert Latta, Waverly is recognized as one of Columbia’s first documented suburbs. By the late 1800s, the neighborhood was home to both black and white working- and middle-class residents. Growth, stimulated by railroad and streetcar lines, led to the district’s incorporation into the city limits by 1913. As the South became increasingly segregated during the Jim Crow era, Waverly evolved into a self-contained, self-sustaining black community featuring many middle- and upper-class African American residents, among whom were leaders within spiritual, business, academic and professional circles.