Editing Columbia, South Carolina (section)

===19th century===
[[File:Robert Mills House.jpg|thumb|right|[[Robert Mills House]], built 1823]]
In 1801, South Carolina College (now the [[University of South Carolina]]) was founded in Columbia. The original building survives. The city was chosen as the site of the state college in an effort to unite residents of the [[Upstate South Carolina|Upcountry]] and the [[South Carolina Lowcountry|Lowcountry]] after the American Revolutionary War.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Timeline |url=https://www.sc.edu/about/our_history/university_history/timeline/index.php |access-date=August 23, 2023 |website=www.sc.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lesesne |first=Henry H. |date=August 15, 2022 |orig-date=June 28, 2016 |title=University of South Carolina |url=https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/university-of-south-carolina/ |access-date=August 23, 2023 |website=South Carolina Encyclopedia |language=en-US}}</ref> The leaders of South Carolina kept a close eye on the new college: for many years after its founding, commencement exercises were held in December while the state legislature was in session.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lucas |first=Marion Brunson |title=Sherman and the burning of Columbia |date=1976 |publisher=Texas A & M University Press |isbn=0-89096-018-6 |edition=1st |location=College Station |oclc=2331311}}</ref>

Columbia received its first charter as a town in 1805. An intendant and six wardens governed the town. [[John Taylor (South Carolina governor)|John Taylor]], the first elected intendant, later served in both houses of the General Assembly, both houses of Congress, and eventually was elected as governor. By 1816, some 250 homes had been built in the town and a population was more than 1000.

In 1828, the [[Elias Marks#South Carolina Female Collegiate Institute at Barhamville|South Carolina Female ''Collegiate'' Institute]] was founded by [[Elias Marks]] for the higher education of young women.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/barhamville-academy/ |title=Barhamville Academy|last=Gergel |first=Belinda F. |date=14 September 2016 |website=South Carolina Encyclopedia |publisher=Univ. of S.C. |access-date=20 October 2022}}</ref> (The word ''Collegiate'' was added to its charter in 1835.) Since the school was located on 500 acres in the Barhamville area of Columbia, it was often informally called Barhamville Institute or Barhamville Academy. "...it was the first and only school of its character at the South. It was of a very high class..."<ref>{{cite book |last=Sims |first=James Marion |author-link=J. Marion Sims |date=1884 |title=The Story of my life |location=New York |publisher=D. Appleton |page=102}}</ref> The Barhamville Institute closed in 1867 due to the economic dislocation of the Civil War.

Columbia became chartered as a city in 1854, with an elected mayor and six aldermen. Two years later, Columbia had a police force consisting of a full-time chief and nine patrolmen. The city continued to grow at a rapid pace, and throughout the 1850s and 1860s, Columbia was the largest inland city in the Carolinas. Railroad transportation served as a significant cause of population expansion in Columbia during this time. Rail lines that reached the city in the 1840s primarily transported cotton bales, not passengers, from there to major markets and the port of Charlestown. Cotton was the chief commodity of the state and lifeblood of the Columbia community; in 1850, virtually all of the city's commercial and economic activity was related to cotton. Cotton was sent to New York and New England's textile mills, as well as to England and Europe, where demand was high.

"In 1830, around 1,500 [[slavery in the United States|slaves]] lived and worked in Columbia; this population grew to 3,300 by 1860. Some members of this large enslaved population worked in their masters' households. Masters also frequently hired out slaves to Columbia residents and institutions, including South Carolina College. Hired-out slaves sometimes returned to their owners' homes daily; others boarded with their temporary masters."<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|url=http://slaveryatusc.weebly.com/urban-slavery-in-columbia.html|title=Urban Slavery in Columbia|work=Slavery at South Carolina College, 1801–1865:<br />The Foundations of the University of South Carolina|access-date=September 14, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140722215524/http://slaveryatusc.weebly.com/urban-slavery-in-columbia.html|archive-date=July 22, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

====Civil War====
{{Main|Capture of Columbia|Columbia, South Carolina, in the American Civil War}}
Columbia was of considerable importance to the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] during the [[American Civil War]]. Columbia was the site of the first Southern secession convention, which assembled in the [[First Baptist Church (Columbia, South Carolina)|First Baptist Church]] on December 17, 1860. Secession may have been declared in Columbia, were it not for a smallpox outbreak that moved the convention to Charleston, where South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union on December 20.{{Sfn|Lucas|1976|p=23}} A considerable military infrastructure sprung up in Columbia. The state arsenal was located in Columbia, along with the state military academy. The University of South Carolina grounds were converted into a military hospital since its role as an educational institution had been made moot after its entire student body volunteered for the Confederate Army.{{Sfn|Lucas|1976|p=24}} Numerous industrial facilities produced war materiel. By 1865, it was also the Confederacy's last breadbasket. All of these factors combined to make it the obvious next target for General [[William Tecumseh Sherman|William T. Sherman]] after his successful [[Sherman's March to the Sea|March to the Sea]] captured [[Savannah, Georgia]].{{Sfn|Lucas|1976|p=30}}

The Union Army, under Gen. Sherman, captured the city on February 17, 1865.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sherman |first1=William Tecumseh |title=Burning of Columbia, South Carolina |date=2009 |publisher=Great Neck Publishing |page=384}}</ref> Much of the city was destroyed by fire between the 17th and 18th. The idea that General Sherman ordered the burning of Columbia has persisted as part of the [[Lost Cause of the Confederacy]] narrative. However modern historians have concluded that no one cause led to the burning of Columbia and that Sherman did not order the burning. Rather, the chaotic atmosphere in the city on the occasion of its fall led to the ideal conditions for a fire to start and spread. As a newspaper columnist noted in 1874, "the war burned Columbia."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lucas |first=Marion Brunson |title=Sherman and the burning of Columbia |date=2021 |isbn=978-1-64336-246-5 |edition=2nd |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |location=Columbia, South Carolina |pages=11–13 |oclc=1261302122}}</ref>

[[File:Wade Hampton equestrian statue, Columbia, SC IMG 4747.JPG|thumb|right|Equestrian statue of General and later [[governor of South Carolina|Governor]] [[Wade Hampton III|Wade Hampton, III]], known for his opposition to [[Reconstruction Era|Reconstruction]]]]

====Reconstruction era and beyond====
During the Reconstruction era, when African-American Republicans were among the legislators elected to state government, Columbia became the focus of considerable attention. Reporters, journalists, travelers, and tourists flocked here to see a Southern state legislature whose members included freedmen (former slaves), as well as [[people of color|men of color]] who had been free before the war. The city began to rebuild and recover from the devastating fire of 1865; a mild construction boom took place within the first few years of Reconstruction. In addition, repair of railroad tracks in outlying areas created more jobs for residents.

By the late 19th century, culture was expanding in the city. In 1897 the Columbia Music Festival Association (CMFA) was founded<ref>{{cite web|title=Mission|url=http://www.cmfaonline.com/OurAssociation/Mission.aspx|publisher=Columbia Music Festival Association|access-date=August 23, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120924020540/http://www.cmfaonline.com/OurAssociation/Mission.aspx|archive-date=September 24, 2012}}</ref> by Mayor William McB. Sloan and the city aldermen. It was headquartered in the Opera House on Main Street, which also served as City Hall. Its role was to book and manage concerts and events in the opera house for the city.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Columbia Music Festival Association |url=https://cmfaonline.com/ |access-date=2022-11-06 |website=cmfaonline.com}}</ref>