He helped save Beaufort’s dying downtown. How the city will remember Henry Chambers
Former mayor Henry C. Chambers will be memorialized Friday for his relentless efforts to establish a beautiful waterfront that remains downtown Beaufort’s marquee attraction.
The City of Beaufort will celebrate the legacy of Chambers near the flagpole at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park at 3:30 p.m. with the unveiling of new signs in his honor.
Chambers died in 2018. He was 89.
When the seven-acre park opened in 1979, it was dedicated to Chambers and named after him, with a plaque that is easy to miss, according to a city news release. Informally, it is known as Waterfront Park.
Chambers, who was elected mayor in 1969 and served for 20 years, fought hard for the park, and many times was opposed by members of City Council, the city said.
But Chamber’s vision “saved the town of Beaufort,” Duncan Fordham, longtime downtown business owner, said in a video tribute to Chambers.
When Chambers was elected, the fishing industry that had sustained Beaufort was in decline, and the waterfront was an unsightly mishmash of old buildings and dilapidated docks, a news release says. The marsh was little more than a dumping ground.
Chambers saw Beaufort’s potential
Chambers, a Beaufort native, saw the potential for a beautiful park along the Beaufort River, and the economic boost it would deliver to his city. He went to work, looking for money from federal sources, meeting on a regular basis with Sen. Strom Thurmond, and enlisting allies throughout the state and federal governments.
Ultimately, the park cost $5.3 million.
Former Mayor Billy Keyserling and former City Councilmember Edie Rogers led the drive to memorialize Mayor Chambers.
“Henry C. Chambers had the vision and tenacity to ‘bring back’ a dying downtown Beaufort by creating an environmental and commercial destination to draw people from the greater Beaufort area and from across the region to enjoy our natural resources in what was then the center of commerce for the region,” Keyserling said in the news release.
Chambers’ son, Bill, an architect, designed the bronze lettering that is affixed to the new signage on a brick wall near the amphitheater.
The cost of the memorial is about $10,000, and was funded through the City’s Beaufort Pride of Place program. Pride of Place is funded through donations, not tax money.
This story was originally published May 19, 2021 at 4:25 AM.
