The Old Exchange - History at a Glance

OLD EXCHANGE -- HISTORY AT A GLANCE
1718	Stede Bonnet "the Gentleman Pirate" and crew are imprisoned on this site in the Court of Guard prior to their hanging.
1771	The Royal Exchange and Custom House is completed.
1773	British tea is seized and stored in the Exchange cellars.
1774	South Carolina elects delegates to the First Continental Congress in the Great Hall.
1776	South Carolina drafts its first constitution and declares independence from Great Britain at the Exchange.
1780	General William Moultrie hides 10,000 pounds of gunpowder in the cellar of the Exchange.
1781	Colonel Isaac Hayne is imprisoned in the Exchange by the British for violation of his parole.
1788	South Carolina ratifies the U.S. Constitution in the Great Hall.
1791	George Washington is entertained at the Exchange several times during his Southern Tour.
1815	The Post Office moves into the Exchange.
1913	Congress deeds the Old Exchange to the South Carolina State Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
1965	The Half-Moon Battery portion of the city’s fortification is excavated beneath the cellar of the Exchange.
1966	The Provost Dungeon is opened for tours.
1976	The State of South Carolina leases the Exchange Building from the S.C. State Society of the D.A.R. preparatory to restoring the building.
1981	Restored and remodeled, the Old Exchange opens to the public.

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122 East Bay Street, Charleston, SC 29401
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Historic images courtesy of Old Exchange Archives, SC Historical Society, Library of Congress,
Images of American Political History, and University of California-Riverside. All rights reserved.