By: Timika M. Wilson, Board Member, Dr. Lawrence W. Long Resource Center
July 29, 2024
The Featured Projects series focuses on historic preservation projects focused on preserving Black history throughout SC. Each project is asked to respond to four prompts. We hope this series helps bring awareness to the stunning number and variety of preservation projects being undertaken across the state, highlights the dedication of our community leaders, and inspires future generations of projects.
Want to feature your preservation project? Send us an email here.
| Provide a brief summary of your project, making sure to include why it’s important for African American historic preservation. |
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| Dr. Lawrence W. Long founded the Union Community Hospital in 1932 after transforming an old house on Main St into a clinic to serve African Americans in the community whose quality of care was impacted due to segregation. This project seeks to restore the over 16,000 square foot building to full use to house nonprofits that provide services within these service pillars – Food, Health, Housing, Education, Employment, Economic Development, and Life Skills. The former hospital building is now owned and operated as the Dr. Lawrence W. Long Resource Center. |
| What motivated you/your community/your team to begin this project? |
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| The L.W. Long Community Resource Center recently rebranded to the Dr. Lawrence W. Long Resource Center to promote, fundraise, and restore this important resource for the community. After it was no longer in service as a hospital in 1975, the Board used the space to promote outreach to address child literacy, drug prevention, and education. Modest Keenan, Jr., now 88 years young, is the Board Chair and has committed to keeping the doors open through his own work ethic and engaging a younger cohort to continue the work of serving the community. He has inspired a younger generation to take up the mantle. While many communities no longer have historic structures right on Main St that are on the National Register of Historic Places, the Union Community Hospital is one of those rare gems still standing. We know that the oral histories, the births, the teaching hospital, and life’s work of Dr. Long, and the Black churches that initially supported funding the hospital are part of a legacy that many do not know about. We continue to tell the stories and seek to preserve the Dr. Lawrence W. Long Resource Center for generations to come. The updated facility will include historical interpretations highlighting African American history and culture in Union, SC. |
| What challenges have you faced in this project? |
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| Funding is always a challenge. But we have noticed that there is a tension between keeping a building utilized while completing updates. In many cases, we have had to complete room by room updates that don’t fully realize the promise of the building. The Board will have to decide to evict tenants to conduct the level of construction preservation required to make the building completely usable for generations to come. Many of the grants for building restoration require matching funds. Our small non-profit doesn’t have the funds to match the necessary grant funding we need. This barrier has stopped some of the progress. But we are excited about some new no cost grants that we are pursuing with the assistance of individuals and organizations that have successfully won grants recently. This is a positive game changer for the Dr. Lawrence W. Long Resource Center. It is a testament to community members coming together to ensure that not only the building is preserved and repurposed, but also the grounds which are ideally suited for a downtown park may be realized. Ultimately, projects of this magnitude take time, patience, planning, and funding. |
| How have you solved problems and found solutions? What advice would you give to others doing this kind of work? |
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| Partner, partner, partner. Individuals and organizations are willing to help for free or provide in-kind services. Leverage those resources. Be open to criticism of your efforts and how marketing and branding can change how others view your project. Be able to tell your story in terms that anyone can understand. Highlight your organization’s Board members that have history with your project. Show the connection of the history of your project to the community through oral histories. Hit record. While it is great to have a trained Oral Historian, it is just as valuable to hit record on your phone to capture a story, a picture, or a video of men and women who are still with us today that have first-hand knowledge of the history of your building and the surrounding area. Many younger generations just don’t know. And we have sought to utilize young people to promote the project on social media and on our new website. |
| For more…. |
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| https://www.drlawrencewlongresourcecenter.org/ Donations can be sent to L.W. Long Resource Center PO Box 411Union, SC 29379 |