L. Mendel Rivers Federal Building marker unveiling

June 7, 2021

Please join the city of Charleston, members of L. Mendel Rivers’ family and family, and representatives from The Dewberry Hotel at 10 a.m., Sunday, June 6, 2021, at The Dewberry Hotel, 334 Meeting Street, for the L. Mendel Rivers Federal Building marker unveiling ceremony.

The program will include remarks from Margaret (Peg) Rivers Eastman; Carl Borick, Director, The Charleston Museum; Chaplain, Major General Dondi E. Costin, USAF (Ret.) President, Charleston Southern University; John Dewberry, President, The Dewberry; Joseph P. Riley, Jr., Former Mayor, City of Charleston; John Tecklenburg, Mayor, City of Charleston.

The text that appears on the marker is below:

Federal Building

Built 1964-65, this was originally a federal office building that housed more than 30 agencies of the U.S. government. Plans to relocate a federal building here began as early as 1939, but World War II delayed the effort into the 1950s. It was the first major federal building project completed in postwar S.C. Designed by Charlestonian John Califf of Lyles, Bissett, Carlisle, and Woolfe, the seven-story Modernist building drew both praise and criticism upon its completion.

In 1972, Congress officially renamed the building for Lucius Mendel Rivers (1905-1970). A Berkeley County native and 29-year U. S. Congressman, Rivers secured valuable military projects for the Charleston area and helped ensure the building’s completion, later keeping an office here. Federal agencies and legislators occupied the building until 1999, after which it was threatened with demolition. It remained vacant until being renovated and reopened as a hotel in 2016.

SPONSORED BY THE CHARLESTON MUSEUM AND THE L. MENDEL RIVERS LIBRARY AT CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY, 2019

WHO:           Margaret (Peg) Middleton Rivers Eastman; Carl Borick, Director, The Charleston Museum; Chaplain, Major General Dondi E. Costin, USAF (Ret.) President, Charleston Southern University; Joseph P. Riley, Jr., Former Mayor, City of Charleston; John Tecklenburg, Mayor, City of Charleston; John Dewberry, President, The Dewberry

WHAT:         L. Mendel Rivers Federal Building marker unveiling ceremony

WHERE:     The Dewberry Hotel, 334 Meeting Street

WHEN:        10 a.m., Sunday, June 6, 2021