Borough Project collection

Ansonborough Homes, commonly referred to as the Borough by its residents, was a public housing community on the East Side of Charleston. Ansonborough Homes officially opened to residents in 1940 and was one of a number of federally funded public housing communities built during the 1930s and 1940s in Charleston. Ansonborough Homes was a thriving community for over forty years, but the discovery of contaminated soil at a city playground across the street from the northern border of the property in July 1989 and extensive damage and flooding from Hurricane Hugo in September 1989 eventually led to the Charleston Housing Authority deciding to cease operations in the community, relocate any remaining residents, and demolish the homes on the property. The contamination is thought to have been caused by a coal gas operation that operated adjacent to the city playground for nearly 100 years. In 1997, after the displacement of the residents and demolition of the homes, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared that while there was evidence of contamination, the levels of pollutants were low enough as to not interfere with its use. Beginning in 1998, the City of Charleston began receiving development proposals for the former site of Ansonborough Homes. Charleston pursued mixed-use development in the Borough leading to private development and the creation of a new park instead of replace the public housing. In 2019, the Gadsden, a luxury condominium complex, finished its construction atop the former site of the Borough community.