Columbia is the capital of South Carolina, and located at the edge of the Appalachian Mountains. There is an incredible list of colleges, universities and private schools in Columbia offering the highest level of education as well as an intense love of their sports teams. The area supports their teams with the multitude of stadiums. Basketball scoreboards are lit with the team colors and any visitor will soon join in with the excitement. If you see Columbia today, it’s hard to believe that it started out with many hurtles to overcome as a city.

The location of Columbia is important, as it offered new settlements easier navigation on the river areas that were often almost impossible to navigate. The population grew due to the incredible power of water driven mills, combined with their location. The name of the city was selected as a somewhat poetic contraction of Christopher Columbus. The founding fathers felt the name would lend a sense of beauty and elegance to the already overwhelmingly lovely countryside.

In the 1800’s there was a great focus on building educational facilities. Colleges and universities were carefully constructed under the watchful eyes of the city government. The Civil War wreaked havoc on Columbia as it was officially part of the Confederate side and was almost completely burned to the ground during the invasion of the Union forces; led by General Sherman.

Apparently, industries viewed Columbia as almost a blank slate for investment and growth. They took advantage of the devastation to bring in textile mills. Growth and progress was slow for Columbia until the 1940’s when they reactivated Fort Jackson as a military base. Columbia still maintained much of its southern attitudes and racial discrimination. The refusal to change kept the progressive companies from building in Columbia. This was a painful lesson, but one that became a focus for change. In the 1960’s the University of South Carolina became one of the first universities in the country to admit Black American students. In 1965, Newsweek magazine praised the city of Columbia for their intensity of liberating attitudes. It seems that Columbia, South Carolina became one of the more enlightened cities, before any of the others.

The revitalization of Columbia took off like a rocket. The arts, music, museums and culture began to pervade throughout the area. Columbia was being celebrated as the city for all things and attracted a multi-culture population. Sports fans reveled in the new found teams in hockey, baseball and even rugby. Stadiums were built to house the ever growing demand for the loyal fans to see their teams play. Columbia became the location for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in both 1996 and in 2000 with the addition of hosting the NBA Exhibition Games. Visiting fans streamed to Columbia, attracted by the history and old world charm combined with the gentle southern attitude that Columbia became so well known for. It seems to be the basketball games that draw most of the attention and the basketball scoreboards are key to the games.

Columbia also became renowned for their variety of music festivals: Jazz and Blues aficionados arrived in droves to attend the many concerts in the area. Many people relocated due to the beauty of the area and both CNNMoney and US News and World Report added Columbia as one of the top locations to live and retire.

Columbia had taken its simple beginnings and combined history, progress and an enlightened attitude to attract some of the best minds and talent from around the country. Today, Columbia continues to be the center of all things progressive. They have a lot to be proud of.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia,_South_Carolina