Byrnes Downs

Front: Byrnes Downs dates to the 1940s and was one of several West Ashley subdivisions created to relieve WWII-era housing shortages. It was built by Long Construction Co. on farmland bisected by the Atlantic Coast Line R.R., now the West Ashley Greenway. Construction began in 1944 and the first home was sold in 1945. Children attended Albemarle and St. Andrew’s Schools. The nearly 90-acre neighborhood is bounded roughly by Coburg Rd., Colleton Dr., Campbell Dr., and U.S. 17. Reverse: Byrnes Downs was named for prominent S.C. politician James F. Byrnes, a native of Charleston and friend of the Long family. It was first developed by the V-Housing Corporation to house white defense workers. By the 1950s it included about 370 homes, each based on one of five design models, as well as commercial properties along U.S. 17. The Byrnes Downs Garden Club organized in 1948 and soon after planted more than 100 oak trees, many still found on neighborhood streets.