Railroad Corner

Front: For decades this was the site of an African American business district known as Railroad Corner. The Corner extended northwest from the intersection of Russell and Boulevard Sts. and was known by that name as early as the 1870s, when it was a white commercial area. Black-owned businesses began opening in the 1900s and predominated within a few years. It was sometimes referred to as Maxwell’s Corner after early Black entrepreneur John Moreau Maxwell who opened a grocery store in 1904. Reverse: Railroad Corner became an important commercial and cultural hub for the Black community of Orangeburg. Among the businesses that operated over the years were a movie theater, law office, hotel, photography studio, auto dealership, pharmacies, restaurants, bars, barber shops, grocery stores, and shoe shops. Some had Black as well as white clientele. Activity at Railroad Corner peaked in the mid-20th century and declined in the years after desegregation.