ROBERT GOODWYN RHETT Elected mayor December 8, 1903, succeeding J. Adger Smyth. Re-elected December 8, 1907. Succeeded by John P. Grace, December 1911.
Born 1862, died April 16, 1939, buried at Magnolia Cemetery.
Son of Albert Moore Rhett and Martha Goodwyn, married Helen Smith Whaley 1888; married Blanche Salley 1906.
Member, St. Philip's Episcopal Church.
Educated at Porter Academy and the Episcopal High School of Virginia; University of Virginia, M. A. (1883) and LLB (1884); admitted to bar 1884.
Practiced law with Trenholm & Rhett, and with Trenholm, Rhett, Miller & Whaley.
President of South Carolina Loan & Trust Company and Peoples National Bank.
President of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, 1916-1918. Chairman of state highway commission, 1920-1926.
Author, Charleston: An Epic of Carolina. Crawford, Geddings Hardy. Who's Who in South Carolina. A Dictionary of Contemporaries Containing Biographical Notices of Eminent Men of South Carolina. Columbia, 1921. (http://books.google.com)
Garlington, J. C. Men of the Time. Sketches of Living Notables. A Biographical Encyclopedia of Contemporaneous South Carolina Leaders. Spartanburg: Garlington Publishing Co., 1902. (http://books.google.com)
"R. G. Rhett Passes Away. Rites Today." Charleston Evening Post, April 17, 1939.
"R. Goodwyn Rhett Dies at 77; Last Rites at 4 Today." News and Courier, April 17, 1939.
Rhett, Robert Goodwyn. Charleston: An Epic of Carolina. Richmond: Garrett & Massie, 1940.
Year Book 1907, City of Charleston, So. Ca. Charleston, 1908.
Year Book 1914, City of Charleston. Charleston, 1915.
Photos
Rhett,RG_500x500.jpg) |
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/pictures/
R. Goodwyn Rhett, 1916. |
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Preservation Society of Charleston
R. Goodwyn Rhett bought 116 Broad Street in 1902. In his obituary, the News and Courier remarked that "his home was famous for his hospitality." Rhett's most prominent guest was William Howard Taft, who visited Charleston in 1909 and again in 1910.
Thought to have been built for John Rutledge ca. 1763, 116 Broad Street was renovated in the Italianate style ca. 1853. The ornamental ironwork was added at the same time. |
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American Memory, Library of Congress http://memory.loc.gov
"Roman Catholic Cathedral, burnt by the great fire in 1861 and Dr. Gadsden's house damaged during the bombardment of Charleston." George Barnard photograph, 1865. |
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Sanborn Company map, 1902
116 Broad Street and surrounding neighborhood, 1902. |
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Bishop Roberts and W. H. Toms, The Ichnography of Charles-Town at High Water. London, 1739
Broad Street, 1739, showing approximate location of 116 Broad Street. |
116Broad1788Map_500x500.jpg) |
Ichnography of Charleston, South Carolina. Surveyed by Edmund Petrie for the Phoenix Fire Company of London, 1788
116 Broad Street is depicted on this 1788 map. |
116Broad1888Sanborn_500x500.jpg) |
Sanborn Company map, 1888
116 Broad Street in 1888, two years after the earthquake. |
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