Charleston County Public Library opens Main at Morrison on Monday, Oct. 5, at 1142 Morrison Drive. For the next year and a half or more, that is where downtown goes to borrow books. But the old Main Library at 68 Calhoun St. did several jobs, and one building on the upper peninsula can't take all of them. Holds and browsing go to Morrison Drive. Notary appointments and an extra set of computers are a few blocks away on King Street. The South Carolina Room, the library's collection of local history, genealogy and historic-property records, has left the peninsula entirely.
That last move gets the least attention, and it matters most to anyone who owns or loves an old Charleston house. Before getting to it, here is how the pieces line up.
Three Addresses, One Library Card
| What you need | Where it is now | When |
|---|---|---|
| Browsing, holds pickup, returns, computers, printing | Main at Morrison, 1142 Morrison Drive | Mon–Thu 9 a.m.–8 p.m., Fri 9 a.m.–6 p.m., Sat 9 a.m.–5 p.m., closed Sunday |
| Local history, genealogy, historic-property research | South Carolina Room, 1248 Camp Road | By appointment, weekdays and Saturdays |
| Notary, Chromebooks, mobile printing, a second set of computers | John L. Dart Library, 1067 King St. | Mon–Thu 9 a.m.–7 p.m., Fri 9 a.m.–6 p.m., Sat 9 a.m.–5 p.m., closed Sunday |
| Creative Studios | Baxter-Patrick, Bees Ferry, Keith Summey, St. Paul's/Hollywood, Wando | Varies by branch |
The Dart hours shown are the ones the library posted for the week of Oct. 5. Check them before you go if you're counting on that last hour on a Thursday, since Dart closes an hour before Morrison does.
What Fits in 6,300 Square Feet
Main at Morrison has about 6,300 square feet of public space. The library says it will offer collections for children, teens and adults, holds pickup, interlibrary loan help, public computers and internet, printing and copying, an exterior return, staff help, and "limited space for select events and programs." Parking is free, which the Calhoun Street location could never promise.
The September board packet adds a little more about the layout. It describes separate youth and adult areas, public computers and seating, space for "light programming," and room for Trident United Way, whose Center for Strong Families is staying with the library during the renovation.
The shelves themselves were planned in advance. According to the board minutes, staff did a large weeding before the closure, pulling books that weren't checked out often. Seasonal titles, extra copies and space-hungry items like cookbooks are being kept in back. If a title you've borrowed for years isn't on the open shelves, a hold is the faster way to get it.
The library hasn't said everything about the new site. Its Main at Morrison page has a "Main Room Booking Hours" row, but the published material doesn't confirm whether community groups can reserve rooms there. It also hasn't said where large programs and auditorium-sized events will go during the closure. Book clubs and neighborhood associations that used to meet on Calhoun Street should call before assuming they have a room.
Monday's opening also ties up a few loose ends from the summer. The Calhoun Street book drops closed Aug. 1, and since then returns have gone to any other branch. Starting Oct. 5, Morrison adds its own exterior return. Holds pickup, which the library had sent to Keith Summey North Charleston Library, comes back downtown to Morrison.
The Room That Left the Peninsula
The South Carolina Room used to fill the second floor of the Calhoun Street building. It holds a non-circulating collection of books, maps, microfilm, clipping files and research databases covering more than 300 years of South Carolina history, with a focus on Charleston and the Lowcountry. The library lists historic property research first among its uses, ahead of vital records, Revolutionary War and Civil War service records, and genealogy projects. It also serves as the reading room for The Charleston Archive, a collection of manuscripts, images and rare books about the city's political, economic, cultural and topographical history.
For a peninsula homeowner trying to date a piazza, trace earlier owners, or understand what a lot looked like before the current house, this is the room. It closed May 1, three months before the rest of Main, and the library's board minutes say it reopened to the public on Sept. 8 at 1248 Camp Road.
The Camp Road room works differently, and the board minutes spell out the details.
- Appointments only. Contact the room at 843-805-6956 or [email protected] to book. Appointments are available Monday through Friday as well as Saturday.
- Plan on about two hours. That is the standard appointment. You can stay longer if nobody is booked after you.
- Watch where you park. The library says parking is limited, which is why visits are scheduled. It also warns that library users can't park in the shopping center across the street and could be towed.
- Say what you're researching when you call. The room already asks out-of-town researchers to get in touch ahead of time so staff can pull the right materials. The same courtesy makes a two-hour slot much more productive for a downtown address.
One small error to watch for: a City Paper story from April printed the address as "248 Camp Road." The library's current page says 1248.
A Union Hall on Borrowed Time
The building now housing Main at Morrison has its own peninsula history. It opened in 2002 as the hall of International Longshoremen's Association Local 1422. It was designed by the firm Harvey Gantt founded, and over the years it hosted political rallies, banquets and weddings. The union later moved its operations to a 17-acre site on Corporate Road near Leeds Avenue and I-526, which it bought in 2019.
In April 2025, the Post and Courier reported that the roughly 4.5-acre Morrison Drive property sold for $24.5 million to Morrison OZB LLC, led by California developer Daniel Pourbaba of Category Co. The paper reported that the buyer proposed tearing down the hall for mixed-use residential and commercial buildings. It described the area as one where industrial uses were giving way to apartments, tech businesses and restaurants. That plan was reported in 2025, and we found no later public update on whether it has changed. Charleston County Council approved a two-year lease of the hall for library use. That lease runs longer than the roughly 18 months the library expects construction to take, but Main at Morrison is a stopgap, and it has a set end date.
What Comes Back to Calhoun Street
The renovation is the last phase of the library improvements Charleston County voters approved by referendum in 2014. The building was formally handed to contractor MB Kahn on Oct. 1, which moves the project out of relocation and into construction.
The library's published plans put children and teens together on one floor, refresh the public spaces, and expand programming areas with families in mind. In 2025 the Post and Courier reported more detail: the second floor would become the youth floor, adult materials would move to a quieter third floor, staff would get more space, and the auditorium and meeting-room screens and projectors would be upgraded. The paper named Liollio as the architect the library was working with during planning. It also reported a construction estimate of $7.8 million, plus $3.2 million set aside for architecture, permitting, contingency and unforeseen costs.
The library hasn't announced a reopening date. Its only public estimate is about 18 months of work counted from the Aug. 1 closure. Until then, Morrison Drive is the downtown library for daily use, Camp Road is where Charleston's house histories are kept, and Dart at 1067 King St. is the nearest branch for a notary appointment or a spare computer.
If you're looking into the history of a downtown house, whether you own it or are thinking about it, the team at Oyster Point Real Estate Group is glad to compare notes before you book your time at the South Carolina Room. Contact us at 72 King Street.
