The Florence C. Benson Elementary School, constructed circa 1953–1955 at 226 Bull Street in Columbia, is a significant example of post-World War II school architecture and one of the city’s important surviving resources associated with African American education. Originally known as Wheeler Hill Elementary School, the one- and two-story concrete-block and red-brick-veneer building was designed by Columbia architect James B. Urquhart. Its low-pitched roofs, broad bands of windows, simple geometric forms, and three-wing “finger plan” reflect the functional character and Modern architectural influences of the period. The building contained eighteen classrooms, a library, nurse’s office, kitchen, and combined cafeteria-auditorium.

The school was constructed as an “equalization school” for African American children in the Wheeler Hill community, replacing the overcrowded Celia Dial Saxon Elementary School. It opened in 1955 with approximately 270 students in grades one through six and was renamed Florence C. Benson Elementary School in 1958 in honor of a longtime teacher. The school remained an important institution for Wheeler Hill until closing in 1975, and its surviving building is one of the last physical reminders of the historic African American neighborhood. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2009, the property is significant for its associations with education, architecture, and the history of racial segregation in Columbia.