The Cogswell Building on East Bay Street was the home of the Evans & Cogswell Printing Company. Prior to the Civil War they printed stamps, bank notes, bonds, certificates of stock, executive documents, medical publications, and military manuals. They even lithographed the Ordinance of Secession, one of the most fateful documents in American history. During the Civil War they produced some of the Confederate currency, government bonds and various books. To escape the clutches of the Northern army, the company was moved to Columbia, SC, where it was burned down in 1865… but that’s another story.
A local's eye view
