NEWBERRY — There are two locations in the City of Newberry that recognize Dr. Julian Edward Grant (1900-1997) and the work he did for the African-American community in Newberry.
The first location honoring Grant is Dr. Julian E. Grant Park (located on Vincent Street at Cline Street). The park was renamed from Vincent Street Park in 2014 to honor Grant.
The park is where the Peoples Hospital, the only hospital for African-Americans in Newberry County from 1937-1952, once stood. Grant was the founder of the Peoples Hospital.
The historical marker that stands at the park reads as follows:
“Peoples Hospital, the first and only hospital for African-Americans in the county from 1937 until Newberry County Memorial Hospital was desegregated in 1952, stood here until 1970. It was founded by Dr. Julian Edward Grant (1900-1997), who practiced medicine in Newberry County for more than fifty years. Grant, a native of Marlboro County, was educated at Claflin University and Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., before moving to Newberry in 1930. Grant, recognizing the need for a hospital for Blacks in Newberry, organized a board of trustees from the community. By 1935 the board acquired this site, with a two story, seven-room frame house on a two-acre lot, for $1,500. The house, renovated and fitted with medical equipment, opened as Peoples Hospital in 1937. The building, later the Vincent Street Community Center after the hospital closed in 1952, was demolished in 1970 to build Vincent Street Park.”
In 2016, Newberry College installed a historic plaque at the original home site of Grant, the home he lived in when he moved to Newberry in 1930.
As we reported in October of 2016, Grant and his wife, Grace, raised their family in a modest brick home on the corner of Lindsay and Cheek Streets. The lot was purchased by Newberry College from Dr. William Dufford and his siblings, who lived in the adjacent property in what is now the Dufford Alumni House.
Bricks and concrete blocks from the original Grant House were conserved during demolition of the home and used to construct the historic marker now installed on the edge of the property.
The following text appeared on the commemorative plaque:
“Dr. Julian Edward Grant (1900-1997), physician, hospital administrator, and advocate for social justice, was described at his death as “a gentle healer, humanitarian, peacemaker and friend to all who knew him.
“Dr. Grant and his wife, Grace Funchess Grant (1910-1993) lived in a house on this site for many years and raised their family here.
“Dr. Grant, a native of Marlboro County, S.C., graduated from Claflin University in Orangeburg in 1925 and Meharry Medical College, in Nashville, Tenn., in 1929. He moved to Newberry in 1930.
“The only African-American doctor in Newberry County at the time, he was often paid in produce or livestock by patients who could not afford to pay anything else. Since there was no hospital in Newberry County for Blacks in the early 1930s, Grant urged the African-American community to organize and fund one. His group bought a two-story frame house at the corner of Vincent and Cline Streets for $1,500 in 1935 and opened the Peoples Hospital there in 1937. It was the only hospital for Blacks in the county until Newberry County Memorial Hospital desegregated and the two hospitals merged in 1952.
“Dr. Grant continued to practice medicine, retiring in 1979 after 49 years’ service. He was awarded the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest civilian honor, by Gov. David Beasly in 1995.
“Vincent Street Park, a city park near the site of Peoples Hospital, was renamed Dr. Julian E. Grant Park in his memory in 2014.”
Grant’s hard work and legacy will now be remembered in the City of Newberry for generations to come.