On Friday, June 10th, a group of community leaders will take part in an Eastside Celebration at Philip Simmons Park in Hampstead Square (3 Aiken Street). The event begins at 5 pm and will include Mayor John Tecklenburg, City Councilmember Robert Mitchell, Police Chief Luther T. Reynolds, Philip Simmons Foundation Project Administrator Rossie Colter, and Eastside Community Development Corporation President Shelia Fields. The event is family-friendly and free to attend.
The Eastside Celebration will include remarks from city officials and neighborhood leaders, a recognition of Philip Simmons' 110th birthday – which took place June 9th – and a pop-up Piccolo Spoleto performance by the band Momentum. To mark Simmons' birthday, there will be free birthday cake for those who attend.
Food will be available to purchase from Briele's Catering & Special Events and community groups such as Eastside Community Development Corporation, Eastside Garden Club, Charleston Parks Conservancy, and Early College High School will be present, as well as the Charleston Police Department.
Columbus Street between Hanover Street and East Hampstead Square will be closed from 2 pm to 11 pm on Friday.
THE CITY PROVIDED THE FOLLOWING BIOGRAPHY FOR PHILIP SIMMONS:
Philip Simmons (right) was born on Daniel Island on June 9, 1912. He attended local schools and learned from local blacksmith Peter Simmons, who ran a shop at the foot of Calhoun Street. Philip Simmons moved into the specialized fields of ornamental iron in 1938, and fashioned more than 500 decorative pieces of ornamental wrought iron: gates, fences, balconies, and window grills.
In 1982, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded Philip Simmons its National Heritage Fellowship, the highest honor that the United States can bestow on a traditional artist. This recognition was followed by a similar award by the South Carolina state legislature for “lifetime achievement” and commissions for public sculptures by the South Carolina State Museum and the city of Charleston.
Philip Simmons was inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame in Myrtle Beach on January 31, 1994. The “Order of the Palmetto” the highest award given in the state, was presented to him by Governor David Beasley in 1998. In May of 2001, Philip Simmons received the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor’s Award for “Lifetime Achievement in the Arts.”
Pieces of his work have been acquired as well by the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution; the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico; the Richland County Public Library, Columbia, the Atlanta History Center in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Daniel Island Company on Daniel Island.
In 1989, the vestry and congregation of his church (St. John’s Reformed Episcopal Church, 91 Anson Street in downtown Charleston), dedicated the grounds of the church to develop a commemorative landscaped garden as a tribute to his exceptional mastery of wrought iron and in recognition of his inspirational character and self-assurance.
