One of the largest public spaces in BullStreet District now honors Page Ellington’s name.
As of this week, City of Columbia officials and the Parks and Recreation Department celebrated the grand opening of Columbia’s newest 20-acre public park located at 1640 Freed Dr. right behind SEGRA Park at the ceremonial ribbon cutting. The park will be run by the city and features a fenced in dog park, shelters, a two-acre pond, and running + walking trails.
Who is Page Ellington? Only a footnote from 1912 mentioned and identified Page Ellington as a “useful servant” at his death at Bull Street’s mental hospital. Bobby Donaldson, a history professor at the University of South Carolina + director of the school’s Center for Civil Rights History and Research, found this footnote and thought naming Columbia’s newest public park would be the perfect way to commemorate him.
Enslaved at birth in North Carolina, Ellington later moved to the capital city, and became a self-taught architect and builder. He was a member of the Columbia Board of Health in 1875 with Richard T. Greener.
Ellington ran for and served on the city council as an election manager for Ward 4, and had a closer relationship with Dr. James W. Babcock as he assisted him with all of the buildings at the State Hospital. He helped design churches, other buildings throughout Carolina, and multiple properties on BullStreet, 1 of which was severely damaged in last year’s fire and is now being built into new apartments.
