Susan Pringle Frost (January 21, 1873 – October 6, 1960) was the organizer and first president of the

Preservation Society of Charleston Founded in 1920, the Preservation Society of Charleston is the oldest community-based historic preservation organization in the United States. Susan Pringle Frost founded the organization, first known as the Society for the Preservation of Old Dwell ...

. She was a leader in the suffrage movement in

Charleston Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoundlan ...

, South Carolina and an important proponent of the

preservation Preservation may refer to: Heritage and conservation * Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible * ''Preservation'' (magazine), published by the Nat ...

of Charleston's historic buildings.

Formative years

Susan Pringle Frost was born in 1873 to Francis LeJau Frost and Rebecca Brewton Pringle in the Miles Brewton House, a house which her family had owned since 1765. When her family's plantations and her father's fertilizer business declined, Frost returned to Charleston from school in North Carolina and began taking stenography classes so she could help support her family.

Business career and activism

In 1901, Frost started working as the secretary for

Bradford Gilbert Bradford Lee Gilbert (March 24, 1853 – September 1, 1911) was a nationally active American architect based in New York City. He is known for designing the Tower Building in 1889, the first steel-framed building anywhere and the first skysc ...

, the architect for the 1901–1902 South Carolina Interstate and West Indian Exposition in Charleston, South Carolina. She began working in real estate in 1909 while she was a court reporter, and she opened her own real estate office in 1920. In 1913, she formed the Equal Suffrage League in Charleston and also joined the National Women's Party. The Joseph Manigault House on Meeting Street was threatened with demolition for a gas station. In response, on April 21, 1920, Frost convened the first meeting with 31 others of the Society for the Preservation of Old Dwellings. That organization became the

. Frost combined both her interest in real estate and preservation when she bought many historic buildings in Charleston, restored them, and then resold them. She was especially involved in the area near East Bay Street and Tradd Street; her decision to paint a house a pastel color after restoring it was a precedent for other restorations of houses that are today known as

Rainbow Row Rainbow Row is the name for a series of thirteen colorful historic houses in Charleston, South Carolina. The houses are located north of Tradd St. and south of Elliott St. on East Bay Street, that is, 79 to 107 East Bay Street. The name Rainbow Ro ...

Death, funeral and legacy

Frost died at the Miles Brewton House on October 6, 1960. Her funeral was held at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Charleston. She was added to the South Carolina Hall of Fame in 2015."Charleston Preservation Pioneer Dies," ''The Charlotte Observer'', October 8, 1960, p. 3.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frost, Susan Pringle 1873 births 1960 deaths People from Charleston, South Carolina American suffragists Historical preservationists