Wilson operated the museum on a shoestring budget until her death in 1959. Wilson purchased the building and established the Old Slave Mart Museum, which initially displayed African and African-American art. A car dealership and showroom operated in the building in the 1920s, necessitating the expansion of the rear of the building. In 1878, the Old Slave Mart was converted into a tenement dwelling, with a second floor added. When Union forces occupied Charleston beginning in February 1865, the slaves still imprisoned at Ryan's Mart were freed. Slave auctions at Ryan's Mart were advertised in broadsheets throughout the 1850s, some appearing as far away as Galveston, Texas. In addition to slaves, the market sold real estate and stock. The building's auction table was 3 feet (0.91 m) high and 10 feet (3.0 m) long and stood just inside the arched doorway. Oakes purchased Ryan's Mart, and built what is now the Old Slave Mart building for use as an auction gallery. Ryan's Mart originally consisted of a closed lot with three structures - a four-story barracoon or slave jail, a kitchen, and a morgue or "dead house." One such market was Ryan's Mart, established by City Councilman and broker Thomas Ryan and his business partner James Marsh. After the city prohibited public slave auctions in 1856, enclosed slave markets sprang up along Chalmers, State, and Queen streets. Throughout the first half of the 19th century, slaves brought into Charleston were sold at public auctions held on the north side of the Exchange and Provost building. The unique façade of the Old Slave Mart consists of 20-foot (6.1 m) octagonal pillars at each end, with a central elliptical arch comprising the entrance.
The building originally measured 44 feet (13 m) by 20 feet (6.1 m), but an extension in 1922 gave it its current dimensions. The front (south side) faces the cobblestone-paved Chalmers Street. The Old Slave Mart is a 67-foot (20 m) by 19-foot (5.8 m) brick structure with a stuccoed façade. The Old Slave Mart Museum has operated on and off since 1938. Slave auctions were held at the site until approximately 1863 in 1865, the Union Army occupied Charleston and closed Ryan's Mart. The market was established in 1856 by Charleston City Councilman Thomas Ryan, after a citywide ban on public slave auctions made private facilities necessary. The Old Slave Mart was originally part of a slave market known as Ryan's Slave Mart, which covered a large enclosed lot between Chalmers and Queen streets. Today, the building houses the Old Slave Mart Museum. In 1975, the Old Slave Mart was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its role in Charleston's African-American history. Constructed in 1859, the building is believed to be the last extant slave auction facility in South Carolina. The Old Slave Mart is a building located at 6 Chalmers Street in Charleston, South Carolina that once housed an antebellum slave auction gallery. 6 Chalmers Street, Charleston, South Carolina
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