Notable People
The people in the neighborhood are its history. A wide range of people lived here, from men and women who were once enslaved to some of the most important educators and medical professionals in Spartanburg history; from white people who worked at nearby Beaumont Mill to the first city police officers who identified as African American. Some of the occupations we’ve found listed in the US Census for residents include US Mail Porter, cooks at private homes and cafes, teachers in public schools, WPA laborers, brick masons, railroad porters and mechanics, taxi drivers and lawyers. Working people lived among white collars, renters and owners were mixed, and depending on the decade, as much as 25% of the residents were white. Black and white people often lived on different streets, or different sections of streets, but almost as often they lived door-to-door and sometimes in the same boarding house.
We’ve highlighted some especially notable people who lived in the neighborhood and whose history highlights important aspects of Black life in Spartanburg. But so many of the histories remain as yet unnoticed; please send us information about people you know so we can add more notable stories to this history.
Asa Thompson
Mr. Thompson was born in 1871 in a house listed on the 1880 Census as “The Street Behind the College,” later to be named East Cleveland Street. The 1880 and 1900 Censuses show Asa’s father, John, as being a “brick mason” and, in the 1900 Census, his age is listed as 70. John’s occupation and age are interesting for the possibility of his having been part of the group of enslaved workers who were skilled brick masons who helped build Wofford College’s central campus structure, Main Building, which was completed in 1854. The identities of the enslaved builders remain anonymous, but it’s believed by many that the surviving builders may have settled in the area after emancipation.
In any case, the Thompsons were prominent and founding members of the neighborhood. They were among the very first residents and home-owners and maintained a presence on Bell and Jefferson Streets for decades. Asa was a life-time congregant in good standing at Silver Hill United Methodist Church alongside their neighbors, the Hartwell family, whose ancestor, Tobe Hartwell, helped establish the famous church in 1869.
Asa Thompson becomes a legendary figure in Spartanburg’s educational history for his 35-year career and instrumental work in bringing about the building of Cumming Street School, the first Black secondary school in Spartanburg, located just down the road from his childhood home.
Mr. Thompson was educated out of state but returned to teach and eventually became the principal of a Rosenwald school located in the nearby Whitney neighborhood. From January to October of 1919, Mr. Thompson wrote at least one article and three letters to the editor in the Spartanburg Herald, in which he outlined the achievements of “colored schools of the county” and advocated the creation of a Black high school. Mr. Thompson’s arguments for the establishment of secondary education for Black youth in Spartanburg stemmed from his commitment to Booker T. Washington’s platform of general improvement through education. Mr. Thompson also worked for D.A. DuPre at Wofford College, which may have given him contact with Spartanburg civic and education leaders and aided his efforts more generally, and he helped to establish the Bethlehem Community Center in the Highland neighborhood, which provided kindergarten and after school programming for Black youth.
Mr. Thompson died after a long illness at his home on Jefferson Street in 1935. Funeral services were held at Silver Hill ME.
Tobias Hartwell
Tobias Hartwell was formerly enslaved by the second president of Wofford, Alfred Shipp. He owned a home on East Cleveland Street since 1874. Hartwell had a son, Tobias Jr. who then owned a home adjacent to his father on Evins Street. Tobias Sr. was known as the first black cop in Spartanburg. He was not known as a city cop, but more so a greeter at the local bank to whom was also a security guard. Based on the time period, Hartwell probably had little to no enforcement capabilities. They lived in the Back of the College for a long time and there was public housing named after him!
Louvenia Barksdale
Louvenia Barksdale is the most recent resident of those being recognized. She was a very famous teacher at Carver High School, a community leader of the Back of the College, she is always talked about when mentoring the kids. Barksdale started the only Sickle Cell Anemia resource center around, prominently in the Upstate. She ran it for years and it was very important to the Spartanburg community. Barksdale owned a home on Evins Street that sat across from Main Bldg - just next to the eastern driveway of the horseshoe parking loop.