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Former Mayor Palmer Gaillard Jr. Dies in Car Accident


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Ex Charleston Mayor J. Palmer Gaillard dies in Car Accident

It's sad that someone so active at an advanced age dies this way. His legacy is expansion of the city limits into West Ashley and James Island, and construction of the city Auditorium, that bears his name. He also provided great leadership during the integration period. He recently wrote a book. I need to see if I can get a copy.

Charleston is probably the only large city in the US to have only two mayors in 48 years (assuming Riley doesn't extend the run even further with a 9th term).

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It's sad to see that he died this way but I'm sure that he'll be well remembered by the people of the city of Charleston for his civic efforts and accomplishments.

What a sad end to a great man...If not for Gaillard's expanding Charleston west of Ashley, Charleston would be probably be smaller than Mt. Pleasant today...

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What a sad end to a great man...If not for Gaillard's expanding Charleston west of Ashley, Charleston would be probably be smaller than Mt. Pleasant today...

That's a scary thought. Imagine a Charleston without West Ashley, Daniel Island, Cainhoy and a few other areas. Instead of approx. 106,000 residents, the population would be closer to the Greenville and Mt. Pleasant size of 56,000 residents. With such a smaller population would Charleston have been able to afford such public facilities and events such as the Aquarium, the Riley baseball stadium, Spoleto, and the Waterfront Park? I'm doubtful.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I read about this in the P & C earlier this month and was truly saddened. This man was one of the main reasons Chas is the city it is today. He is one of the reasons why Chas is still challenging to be the largest city in the state. Note that annexations on James Island started with Mayor Gaillard as well. I just wish he had been mayor longer...the skyline of Chas might have been different. Many of the city's midrises were built under his tenure.

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  • 4 weeks later...

He also provided great leadership during the integration period.

:( I was with you until you got to this point. I know its nice to make people seem like saints when they pass on, but this is just not true. I'll provide some more balance to this when I get back home to my papers. Gilliard annexed West Ashley and James Island, but at the time North Charleston was part of the city of Charleston. A few other things I wanna say. But Id rather have factual information in front of me first before I go off of vague memory.

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:( I was with you until you got to this point. I know its nice to make people seem like saints when they pass on, but this is just not true. I'll provide some more balance to this when I get back home to my papers. Gilliard annexed West Ashley and James Island, but at the time North Charleston was part of the city of Charleston. A few other things I wanna say. But Id rather have factual information in front of me first before I go off of vague memory.

No part of present day North Charleston, has ever been part of Charleston. If the reliability of your facts in regards to integration is similiarly flawed, then please do not post such erroneous information about a deceased person (and recently so) who cannot defend themselves.

I do not remember the integration of Charleston, but I was relying on the P&C's account.

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I welcome any input that is fact based. Opinion-based comments should be respectful of the recently deceased, IMO.

Perhaps this opportunity will give everyone a chance to evaluate Mr. Gaillard's life. Ex-State Senator Herbert Fielding will specifically address the integration issue.

SC ETV to air program on Gaillard's life

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