The Property - Mather Memorial Site
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The BHMA Memorial Site remains intact and prominent near the corner of Campbell and DeKalb streets, following the completion in 2017 of the Cedarbrook Apartments complex and tennis center that have been built where Mather's school buildings once stood.

Nestled under mature existing shade trees, the memorial retains its park-like look, as promised by apartment developer Greenway Residential Development LLC, a N.C.- based firm. Newly planted trees eventually will help screen the site from the drugstore that had been built on the corner facing DeKalb Street.

The BHMA Memorial Site still features a reproduction of the semi-circular sign above the pillars that once led to Browning Hall, the girl's dormitory/multipurpose building. A walkway leads to informational display boards, one of which (the biographical "Eagles Fly High") is now a few yards to the left, where a bench still encircles a large tree. Another tree with an encircling bench at the right of the site is no longer there.

Mather is mentioned again on a marker podium down Campbell Street in front of the Camden Classically Carolina Tennis Center, which is located about where Mather's boy's brick dormitory, built in 1950, stood. See photo gallery of the area in the first link above.

The BHMA Memorial Site resulted from efforts by alumni to secure a lasting physical presence and legacy for the school. Starting in 1984 (the year after Mather closed) under then-BHMA-NAA President James Clyburn, the BHMA National Alumni Association endeavored for more than 15 years to repurpose the property and original Mather buildings, or purchase it. Read details in the "Alumni efforts" link above.

The site is part of what the city now calls the Campbell Street Corridor, which calls attention to the area as a center of African American life and culture. Click the links in the box at the right for more information.
News
> Alumni efforts to save, re-purpose the property
(continued on next page)
> Closeups of the BHMA Memorial Site's history display boards
> Closeups of the "Eagles Fly High" biography display board
> Photos of the BHMA Memorial Site and Redeveloped Property (2018)
About Campbell Street Corridor
Campbell St. Story
Narrated video (Mather segment begins at timestamp 6:03)
Campbell St. Corridor Brochure
(Must have Adobe Flash installed to view)
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Boylan-Haven-Mather Academy NATIONAL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Boylan-Haven-Mather Academy (Camden, SC) 1887-1983