The Charlestown Library Society was organized by seventeen young gentlemen of various trades and professions who wished to avail themselves of the latest publications from Great Britain. At first, the elected librarians safeguarded the Library’s materials in their homes. From 1765 until 1778, it resided in the upstairs of Gabriel Manigault’s liquor warehouse.

In 1792, the collection was transferred to the upper floor of the Statehouse, currently the County Courthouse at Broad and Meeting. From 1835 until its 1914 move to the current King Street location, the Charleston Library Society occupied the Bank of South Carolina building at the corner of Church and Broad Streets. That building was paid for with “Brick” memberships, a permanent membership for a one-time lump sum: several of these memberships are still in use, generations later, by Charleston families.