For Immediate Release – September 2, 2026
Historical Marker Dedication to Celebrate Legacy of Palmetto School and Florence County Foster Home for Negro Children
Media Contacts:
Scotty Davis, City Manager – 843-665-3113 or sdavis@cityofflorencesc.gov
Erica Johnson, PhD, Co-Director of African and African American Studies, Francis Marion University, EJohnson@fmarion.edu
FLORENCE, SC – A historical marker recognizing the history and legacy of the Palmetto School and Florence County Foster Home for Negro Children will be dedicated at 6 p.m. Tuesday, September 15, at 1511 Stokes Road.
The Palmetto School, a rural school for Black children in Florence School District 1, opened around 1920. The wooden schoolhouse sat on two acres and was rebuilt using Works Progress Administration materials after a fire in 1941. By 1945, the school served more than 60 students and included a cafeteria and piano for music classes.
After the school closed following the reorganization of the school district, the building became the Florence County Foster Home for Colored Children in October 1953. Under the leadership of Dr. Iola Jones, the Florence Council of Negro Women helped establish the home, securing a 20-year lease and raising funds with support from Florence County and the surrounding community.
Women such as Lubertha Myers worked to provide opportunities for the children through community support, including teaching them to garden and connecting them with individuals who could teach them trades. The Florence Council of Negro Women purchased the property in 1967 for $2,002. The foster home closed in 1969 after serving more than 300 Black children.
The property continued to serve the community, reopening in 1978 as the Bethune-Jones Career Center and School of Cosmetology. In 1994, the Pee Dee Community Action Agency acquired the property and opened the Bethune Jones Child Development Center, which operated as a Head Start center.
From a rural school and foster home to a cosmetology school and Head Start center, the property has provided education, care and hope for generations of young Black people in Florence County. The historical marker was prepared by Universities Studying Slavery at Francis Marion University to recognize this important history and the leadership of Black women who worked to serve their community.
The dedication program will include remarks from Jerry W. Yarborough Jr., chair of Florence County Council; EJ McIver, Florence 1 Schools board member; Modestine Samuel, president of the Florence Section of the National Council of Negro Women; Lethonia Barnes, mayor of Florence; Dr. Erica Johnson, co-director of African and African American Studies at FMU; and Scotty Davis, city manager.
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