Jenkins Orphanage

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The Jenkins Orphanage was established in 1891 by Rev. Daniel J. Jenkins in Charleston, South Carolina. Jenkins was a former slave turned minister who, upon stumbling across homeless youths, decided to organize an orphanage for young African American children, the first of its kind in Charleston. The original site of this orphanage was at 20 Franklin St. in the Old Marine Hospital. This National Historic Landmark, designed by Robert Mills, served as home of the orphanage from 1895 to 1939.

[edit] Jenkins Orphanage Bands

The orphanage took in donations of musical instruments. Not being a musician, Jenkins hired two local Charleston musicians — P.M. "Hatsie" Logan and Francis Eugene Mikell — to tutor the boys in music. Upon its establishment, it became the first and only black instrumental group organized in South Carolina. The band's debut was on the streets of Charleston with the permission of the mayor, police chief, and Chamber of Commerce. The Jenkins Orphanage Band, wearing discarded Citadel uniforms, performed throughout the United States and even toured England raising money for the support of the orphanage. They played in inaugural parades of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft. It appeared at the St. Louis Exposition and the Anglo-American Exposition in 1914. It has toured the USA from coast to coast, and has played in Paris, Berlin, Rome, London, and Vienna. Although as many as five bands were on tour during the 1920s, the band ceased to exist in the 1980s.^[1]