Columbia has seen a lot - from the earliest days of the United States to the present day. It's been on the cutting edge and just behind the leaders in a number of instances.
Take a look at Columbia's wide thoroughfares. Contrary to what you might think, they are not a recent development but were actually planned for in the 1700s. That's right! Columbia is the nation's second planned city, right behind New Haven, CT, and was established as the state's new capital in 1786. In a vote of 11-7, the name Columbia, the United States' female personage, was chosen over Washington.
The grid for the city was set up with 400 blocks in a two-mile square near the river. The perimeter streets were 150 feet wide and the remaining streets were 100 feet wide. Those are not arbitrary numbers, but were based upon the belief that mosquitos could not travel more than 60 feet without having a little snack.
Columbia is the site of the world's first fully-electrified textile mill. Cotton made the South the natural location for textile mills, and the Columbia Mills Building, which opened in 1894 and now houses the South Carolina State Museum, was fully powered by electricity from day one. That makes the building itself the Museum's largest artifact.
Few of the city's buildings date back before 1865. Much of the city was burned by General Sherman during the Civil War, except, ironically, the First Baptist Church where the State's Order of Secession was drafted and approved.
The building that now houses the Mast Store was constructed in the 1870s during the Reconstruction Era. It's housed many different businesses over the course of time – including an undertaker's parlor, a bar, and two City of Columbia retail destinations – Efird's and Lourie's. Each served the people of the Midlands for over 40 years each.
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We Are Not Alone
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“In nature, nothing exists alone.” — Rachel Carson, 1962
Our world is changing. Maybe there was a boat leaving Middle Earth that we missed. But you don’t need Galadriel to tell you that mankind is having an effect on the planet. And despite chilling warnings and obvious struggles around us as Nature fights to survive humanity, we continue to pollute and punish the earth and, as a direct result, ourselves. -
Old-Fashioned Spring Cleaning
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No one deep-cleaned like my grandma. She would gather her good old reliables, her trusted cleaning supplies she’d used since they were invented probably, and with her patented elbow grease and will power, she’d refresh, restore, and renew the whole house in one day. -
Prepping Your Garden for Spring Planting
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I’ve been planning my 2019 garden “grow-list” since summer. Been mulling over varieties I loved, waffling on giving poor-show plants a second chance or not, and basically mapping out 2019 in my garden-crowded head … and dreaming. Because that’s what we gardeners do. Dream. A lot. -
Spring Cleaning, But Outside
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Warmer temperatures beckon us all to shake off the winter blues, put on a light jacket, and head outside. The call of spring is a primal urge to celebrate the end of the long nights and short days, to be outside again feeling the warmth of the sun, to begin anew. In this season of renewal, many of our local partners need your help to welcome residents and visitors who are also experiencing the whispers calling them to explore.
The location of the Mast Store in Columbia has a long retail history to live up to! The building itself is a product of the Reconstruction era...we bet you know why. In the early days, it housed several different businesses for various lengths of time; however, the majority of the building's history beginning in the early 1900s is shared by two businesses that called it home for over 40 years each.
*Photo courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C.
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