Downer Institute, founded in 1843 and originally located 1.5 miles northeast of this site, operated until 1865. It was named for benefactor Alexander Downer (1752–1820), whose will established an orphanage and school at Beech Island. By 1898 the General Assembly, at the request of Aiken County citizens, reestablished Downer School for the community at large, and the school reopened in 1899. Downer Elementary School, successor to the Downer Institute, stood here from 1924 to 1950 and from 1952 to 1986. A one-story school built here in 1924 replaced a two-story school constructed one-quarter mile southwest in 1899, which burned in 1923–24. That building burned in 1950 and was replaced by a second one-story school built in 1952, which served the Beech Island community until Downer Elementary School closed in 1986.