Boylan-Haven-Mather Academy

Founded in 1886 in Jacksonville, Florida, the school was named for a benefactor, Ann Boylan DeGroot, treasurer of the Newark Conference. She'd hoped to atone for, and change the image of, her family, which had operated two large plantations. In 1901, the school established a nurse training department, which later became Brewster Hospital – the first for African Americans in Jacksonville.[1]

Founded in 1885 in Savannah, Georgia, the school was named for Bishop Gilbert Haven, based on an earlier school founded by Mrs. S.M. Lewis and Mrs. M.C. Bristol of the Atlanta Mission. It lasted until 1932, when its isolated location, low student enrollment and poor facilities resulted in a merger with the Boylan School.[1]

Created in 1932 in Jacksonville, this was the merger of the Boylan and Haven schools.

Founded in 1887 in Camden, this was the brainchild of Sarah Babcock, a Plymouth, Massachusetts teacher who'd opened a short-lived Freedmen's Bureau school in 1867 before purchasing the 27-acre Thomas Lang plantation. When she became corresponding secretary of the New England Southern Conference, she urged the group to establish a girls' school on the property. The school was named Browning Model Home and Industrial School in honor of benefactor Fanny O. Browning. In 1890, it enrolled its first male students, and the Conference purchased the land from Babcock, who'd married Rev. James Mather. In 1900, at Babcock Mather's request, Browning Home was renamed Mather Academy in honor of her husband.[2]

Mather Academy expanded its curriculum over the years, offering grade levels from kindergarten through high school, and accepting applicants from across the nation. In 1928, it was one of the first S.C. schools for African Americans to offer a 12th grade. In 1934, Mather's high quality of education earned it a Class A school rating—a distinction held at the time by only three other schools in the state.

The combination of black students co-existing peaceably and equally with white teachers and administrators during segregation made Mather an "oasis" of race relations.[3] A gymnasium and auditorium in the administration building/girls' dormitory were the preferred sites in the region for many sporting events, concerts, pageants and plays. The Christmas Pageant attracted a large cross-section of the Camden community.[2]

In 1959, the Women's Division of Christian Service of the Methodist Board of Missions closed the Boylan-Haven School in Florida and merged it with Mather Academy in Camden to economize finances.[4]

In 1983, the Methodist Women's Division, part of the General Board of Global Ministries, closed Boylan-Haven-Mather Academy because of the Board's new mission priorities, rising costs, and the school's declining enrollment brought on by factors such as integration and increased educational opportunities in the public sector. The Women's Division ordered the buildings torn down in 1995 and began selling the land. A memorial site and historical marker in Camden identify the school's former location.