Columbia is the capital city of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-most populous city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. It is the center of the Columbia, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 829,470 in 2020 and is the 7th-most populous urban center in the Deep South and the 72nd-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the nation. The name Columbia is a poetic term used for the United States, derived from the name of Christopher Columbus, who explored for the Spanish Crown. Columbia is often abbreviated as Cola, leading to its nickname as "Soda City".
The governor of South Carolina is the head of government of South Carolina. The governor is the ex officio commander-in-chief of the National Guard when not called into federal service. The governor's responsibilities include making yearly "State of the State" addresses to the South Carolina General Assembly, submitting an executive budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced.
Benedict College is a private historically black college in Columbia, South Carolina. Founded in 1870 by northern Baptists, it was originally a teachers' college. It has since expanded to offer majors in many disciplines across the liberal arts. The campus includes buildings in the Benedict College Historic District, a historic area listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The South Carolina State House is the building housing the government of the U.S. state of South Carolina, which includes the South Carolina General Assembly and the offices of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina. Located in the capital city of Columbia near the corner of Gervais and Assembly Streets, the building also housed the Supreme Court until 1971.
The Illinois Governor's Mansion is the official residence of the governor of Illinois. It is located in the state capital of Springfield, Illinois, near the Illinois State Capitol building, and the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. The Italianate-style Mansion was designed by Chicago architect John M. Van Osdel with a modified 'H' shaped configuration with a long central section, and the front and back on the sides of the 'H'. The 16-room manor was completed in 1855 and was first occupied by governor Joel Matteson, who held the official grand opening on January 10, 1856. It is one of the oldest historic residences in the state of Illinois and one of the three oldest continuously occupied governor's mansions in the United States. In 1898 alterations to the exterior added neoclassical elements. In 1972, the Illinois Governor's Mansion Association was founded as a charitable corporation to assist in the maintenance and programming at the mansion. The Mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
Samuel Sloan was a Philadelphia-based architect and best-selling author of architecture books in the mid-19th century. He specialized in Italianate villas and country houses, churches, and institutional buildings. His most famous building—the octagonal mansion "Longwood" in Natchez, Mississippi—is unfinished; construction was abandoned during the American Civil War.
The Indiana Governor's Residence is the official home of the family of the governor of Indiana and is located in Indianapolis, Indiana. In use since 1973, it is the sixth official residence of Indiana's governors. The current tenant is Governor Eric Holcomb.
The North Carolina Executive Mansion is the official residence of the governor of North Carolina and their family. Building began in the year 1883 and it was designed by architects Samuel Sloan and A.G. Bauer. The first occupants, Governor Daniel G. Fowle and his daughter, Helen Whitaker Fowle, moved into the unfinished building in January 1891. It is an example of Queen Anne style architecture.
The West Virginia Governor's Mansion is a historic residence located next to the Kanawha River in Charleston, West Virginia and is the official residence of the governor of West Virginia.
The South Carolina State Hospital was a publicly funded state-run psychiatric hospital in Columbia, South Carolina. Founded in 1821 as the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum, it was one of the first public mental hospitals established in the United States. The Mills Building, its first building, was designed by early American architect Robert Mills, and is a National Historic Landmark. The hospital had more than 1,000 patients in 1900, but with the transition of mental health facilities to community settings, it closed in the late 1990s. While buildings on the campus were temporarily used for inpatient services into the early 2000s, they were not part of the State Hospital, but other inpatient facilities of the agency. Several buildings on its campus housed offices and storage facilities of the state's Department of Mental Health until approximately 2014. In October 2014, the Department sold the first parcels of the property into private ownership and received the first sale proceeds. The William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute remained on the campus until 2015, when it moved to a new facility on Department's Northeast Columbia Campus. As of January 2021, 100% of the South Carolina State Hospital property had been transferred to private ownership. Proceeds from the sale of the Bull Street property must be used to benefit patients of the Agency. As of August 2020, the SC Mental Health Commission had authorized the expenditure of $10 million of the proceeds, $6.5 million, for the development of additional community housing for patients.
Georgia's Old Governor's Mansion is a historic house museum located on the campus of Georgia College & State University (GCSU) at 120 South Clarke Street in Milledgeville, Georgia. Built in 1839, it is one of the finest examples of Greek Revival architecture in the American South, and was designated a National Historic Landmark for its architecture in 1973. It served as Georgia's executive mansion from 1839- 1868, and has from 1889 been a university property, serving for a time as its official president's residence. It is an accredited museum of the American Alliance of Museums and in 2015 was named an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.
The McMaster School, built in 1911, is an historic building located at 1106 Pickens Street on the corner of Senate Street in Columbia, South Carolina. It was designed by noted Columbia architect William Augustus Edwards of the firm of Edwards and Walter. Edwards and his partner, Frank C. Walter, designed sixteen schools according to standardized guidelines established by the state legislature in 1905. The architects chose a Renaissance Revival style with H-shaped floor plans used as the standard for the state in buildings designed and constructed by other architects. The State newspaper declared it the "handsomest school building in Columbia" when it opened in 1911.
Millwood is the site and ruins of an antebellum plantation house at 6100 Garner's Ferry Road, Columbia, South Carolina. Owned by Colonel Wade Hampton II and his wife Ann Fitzsimmons Hampton, it was the boyhood home of their first son Wade Hampton III and other children. He later became a Confederate general and later, South Carolina governor, and U.S. Senator.
The Woodrow Wilson Family Home is located in Columbia, South Carolina and was one of the childhood homes of the 28th President Woodrow Wilson. He lived in the house from 1871 to 1875.
The South Carolina State Arsenal in Charleston, South Carolina was built in 1829 in response to the alleged 1822 slave revolt led by Denmark Vesey. The alleged uprising never came to fruition and Vesey was publicly hanged in 1822. In 1842 the South Carolina Military Academy, a liberal arts military college, was established by the state legislature, and the school took over the arsenal the following year as one of 2 campuses, the other being the Arsenal Academy in Columbia, South Carolina. The school became known as the Citadel Academy because of the appearance of its building. From 1865 to 1881, during Reconstruction, Federal troops occupied the Citadel, and the school was closed. Classes resumed in 1882 and continued in this building until the school was relocated to a new campus on the banks of the Ashley River in 1922.
Horry-Guignard House is a historic home located at Columbia, South Carolina. It was built before 1813, and is a two-story, late Federal style, modified I-house type frame dwelling. The front facade features a one-story, full-width balustraded porch supported by square columns. During the winter of 1813–1814, the main hall was widened from six feet to eleven feet. To do this, the house was sawed in half and the two ends were pulled apart to rest on two new foundations. It was probably built by Peter Horry (1747-1815), a Revolutionary War Colonel and Brigadier General of the South Carolina Militia. Later, the house was acquired by John Gabriel Guignard (1751-1822), the Surveyor General of South Carolina from 1798 to 1802. Guignard is responsible for the early design of the city and laid out the first streets of Columbia.
Columbia Historic District I is a national historic district located in the Arsenal Hill neighborhood at Columbia, South Carolina. The district encompasses nine contributing buildings and includes a complex of fine mansions and attractive homes built before the American Civil War. The buildings are in the Greek Revival, Italianate, Classical Revival, and the “Columbia Cottage” styles. They include the Governor's Mansion, Caldwell-Hampton-Boylston House, Lace House, and Palmetto Iron Works and Armory.
The President of The Citadel is the chief administrator of The Citadel. Previously known as the Superintendent, the title was changed in 1921 during the tenure of Colonel Oliver J. Bond.
The Arsenal Academy was a military academy in Columbia, South Carolina, originally established in 1842 as an independent school by the state of South Carolina. In 1845, the academy became a component of the South Carolina Military Academy, in which first year cadets underwent their initial year of training before completing their studies at the larger Citadel Academy in Charleston, South Carolina. The school was burned by Sherman's forces in 1865 and never reopened.
