Frogtown

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Frogtown is a small neighborhood in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, that lies roughly between the neighborhoods of Shandon and Rosewood, near Midlands Technical College. Bounded on the west by Kilbourne Road and comprised of the houses on the dead end fragments of Monroe Street and Heyward Street, both of which are immediately to the east of Kilbourne, Frogtown got its name from a legendary flood that was followed by an equally astounding infestation of frogs. These sections of Monroe and Heyward are linked by a common African-American heritage and a working class tradition that dates back to at least the 1920s. The land was once a large rock quarry that was abandoned and subsequently filled with rainwater, forming a small pond from which the eponymic frogs came.

Two features that unify the community of Frogtown are the New Shiloh Baptist Church (at 3819 Monroe St.) and "The Tree," the latter of which is named after a large oak tree that sits on the Monroe St. side of an empty lot that connects via a path to another empty lot on Heyward St. Residents of Heyward and Monroe commonly pass through these lots, rather than walking around by going "up the hill" to Kilbourne Rd. Residents also volunteer in keeping these lots mowed and cleaned; the city of Columbia even empties the trash can for the lot on the Monroe St. side, though there is no house there. These lots form the site of informal gatherings, fish fries, community cookouts, card games, and (with the use of an extension cord) often a place for watching athletic events on television.

[edit] 2004 Community Action Committee

According to the notes of the secretary of the short-lived community action committee, on 12 April 2004, City Manager Charles P. Austin and Roland D. Smallwood (Community Liaison for the City of Columbia) convened a small meeting in New Shiloh Baptist Church. (Columbia Mayor Bob Coble, Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine, and Captain Carl Burk of the Columbia Police Department also attended briefly.) The meeting was called to mediate disputes among members of the community, particularly those concerning what some in the neighborhood considered to be "shiftless loitering" in the aforementioned vacant lots by non-residents of Frogtown. The meeting quickly devolved into an old dispute over the name of the community: some wanted to be called Shandon Annex, while others liked Milford, Shiloh, or Frogtown. The meeting broke up before much was accomplished, but another meeting was scheduled for April 24, 2004.

According to the secretary's notes, at 7:00 p.m. on April 24, the Community Liaison, Mr. Smallwood, brought up the fact that the city had, some time ago, accepted a grant proposal to provide two computers for the community, but because there was never a place provided to house these computers, they were never delivered. No one present seemed to recall what he was talking about, though some suggested that the computers could be housed in New Shiloh Baptist Church. One resident remarked that this would "blur the line between church and state," and this remark upset one of the New Shiloh deaconesses in attendance. Before the meeting could once again deconstruct into factionalism, the members moved on to the planning stage. The following categories were written upon a board:

• New drainage system
• Clean sweep
• Solid waste
• Economic development
• Beautification
• List of property owners
• Lights on pathway from Heyward to Monroe
• Neighborhood sign with a statement to the effect of ". . . Established 1920"
• Sidewalks
• Street paving
• Spray for mosquitoes
• Plant trees
• SCE&G should move power lines to the back of properties, instead of roadside
• Speed bumps: Dept. of Trans.
• Police patrol
• Building on vacant lots
• Repairing homes

It is difficult to tell whether the city has followed up on any of these suggestions: as of June 2006, there has not been another community meeting of this sort.