Charleston City Market stands on the site of one of Charleston’s oldest public facilities in continuous use. Earlier markets, dating to the city’s relocation to the peninsula around 1680, sold meat, fish, and vegetables at different sites, but after the American Revolution the city sought to consolidate this activity at the present location, then a creek and marsh extending from Meeting Street to the Cooper River and briefly designated Canal or Channel Street. In March 1788, six neighbors, including Charles Cotesworth Pickney, donated land for a market, and by 1792 some marsh and creek had been filled and a 200 foot long brick market stood near Meeting Street. In late 1793, the city converted that structure to house refugees from Santo Domingo, and because a market had not been erected within the specified time, the land reverted to its original owners. After the property was again donated in 1804 and construction resumed, the Centre Market opened on 1 August 1807 with separate sheds for fresh meats and vegetables, while sheds for fish and small meats opened later. There the city’s population, both slave and free, gathered daily to sell and buy locally raised commodities and imported delicacies. Market Hall, designed by E.B. White and built for meetings of the Market Commissioners and others, opened in 1841 on the site of the original depot for country wagons. The rise of grocery stores and refrigeration in the early twentieth century weakened the market’s vitality and its fortunes steadily declined, but renewal projects beginning in the 1970’s spurred revitalization of the market and surrounding area. The City of Charleston completed the historic restoration of Market Hall in 2003, and in 2010 the market sheds were completely restored in partnership with the City Marker Preservation Trust. The market was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1975. Despite damage from fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and an earthquake, the City Market continues to function in the heart of the Historic District as one of Charleston’s most cherished institutions.
