‘It’s a historic building’: Descendants make case to save C.C. Johnson building in Aiken | Aiken Area News
McGhee said he feels connected to the building because it was built in 1920 by a partnership between African-American business owners C.C. Johnson and William McGhee Sr., his maternal grandfather and fraternal grandfathers.
“In the early 1900s, these two gentlemen came to Aiken,” Bill said . “One [Johnson] was very educated: a doctor, a pharmacist and so forth. And one [McGhee] was a builder.”
Dr. Johnson moves to Aiken
Johnson came to Aiken in the early 1900s from Virginia via Columbia and Washington, D.C.
A listing in the Simms’ Blue Book and National Negro Business and Professional Directory – a listing of Black professionals – says Johnson was born on Dec. 28, 1860, in Orange County, Va., to Louis and Mary (nee Reed) Johnson.
Orange County, Va., is located in the center of a triangle connecting Charlottesville, Va., Richmond, Va., and Washington, D.C. It is the home of the estate of James Madison, the fourth president of the United States and the lead author on the U.S. Constitution.
The listing said Johnson’s family moved to Washington, D.C., when he was a child.
Many Blacks moved to the nation’s capitol after the Civil War for more economic opportunities.
Johnson received an Bachelor of Arts degree from Howard University in 1885 and a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1888.
Howard University, located in Washington, D.C., was founded to educate Blacks after the Civil War. It is named for a former commissioner of the Freedman’s Bureau who was a hero in the Civil War.
“Upon his graduation in medicine, (Johnson) at once began the practice of medicine of his profession in the city of Columbia, S.C., meeting with much success,” the listing continues. “After a quarter of a century practice, he retired and moved to Aiken, S.C., where he now resides.”
McGhee said Johnson came to Aiken because he knew a doctor in Augusta who suggested that there was an opportunity in Aiken for a Black doctor. He said later the Augusta doctor told Johnson that there was a drug store for sale – doctorates of medicine allowed doctors to be pharmacists, too – so Johnson could have his practice and a drug store, too.
