GREENVILLE, S.C. — Greenville City Council voted unanimously Monday, Nov. 9, to buy the building that once housed the Greenville Cultural Exchange Center, the former museum on Arlington Avenue that told the story of Black life in the Upstate.
Greenville is set to spend $850,000 on the building, which sits at 700 Arlington Ave. Most of that, $579,500, comes from state money set aside in the 2026-27 budget for preserving historic property. Council members are adding $200,000 from their own discretionary funds, and the rest comes from city sources. The vote came at the Greenville Convention Center, where council is meeting while City Hall is under renovation.
A packed room urged council to protect the site. The center opened in 1987 under Ruth Ann Butler, a civil rights activist who died in 2025, and for years served as the city’s only African American history museum. Its collection was boxed up and stored after she died.
District 3 Councilman Ken Gibson said the city plans to lease the property to a nonprofit that would carry on Butler’s work as a cultural exchange center with exhibits and artifacts. He said the nonprofit could bring in other local history groups. The city has not set a timeline or announced who will run the center, and Gibson said he does not know when it could reopen.
The funding ordinance cleared first reading and must still win a second vote at a later date, and the purchase is contingent on that money.
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