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Take a step back into historic Columbia when you visit the Olympia Mill Village Museum. Located at 1170 Olympia Avenue, off of one of the main roads in the Mill District, the museum is divided into three separate areas, each of which are full of fascinating facts and artifacts about the district.

House Museum

The main exhibit is the Mill Village House Museum. The house, a traditional saltbox style,  was previously privately owned and rented to various mill village workers from 1900 to 1942. The house then became the property of the Parker family until 1996 when it became a piece of residential and rental property. The Olympia Mill Village Museum Foundation purchased the property in 2014. 

Inside the house, you can see a recreation of a 1901 school classroom that could have been found at the Olympia School. The schoolroom replication houses original desks as well as workbooks from former students that attended the school during the early 1900s. In fact, one of the workbooks on the desks is from the museum owner’s grandfather who attended the original school. 

As you move through the four downstairs rooms, you can also see a detailed replication of what a mill village house would have looked like in the early 1900s when the mills were operating at their peak. The replication includes a living room, kitchen, and bedroom, with period artifacts presented  in each of the rooms. Just off the living room, there is a small nook that has the preserved original walls and flooring of the house, and the walls throughout are covered with photographs that tell the story of the mills and their workers.

Annex

The annex of the house stores relics related to Olympia High School’s sports teams, including men’s and women’s basketball, cheerleading, football and marching band. Inside the annex, you can trace the storied 120-year history of the school and see the history come alive through the collections of artifacts. 

There is also a section at the back of the annex that has a log of all of the veterans who currently reside or previously resided in the Mill District. Near the logs are the original flags that were raised when the Doughboy statue across the street from 701 Whaley was originally erected. 

Outdoor Exhibits

The outdoor exhibits at the Olympia Mill Village Museum help create a complete picture of life in Columbia’s Mill Village. The outdoor exhibits present features of the local village architecture, stories about past local businesseses, and anecdotes about Mill Village residents that all help you feel as if you are back in the early 1900s experiencing mill village life first-hand. 

The museum is open every Friday and Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. It is also open by appointment on weekdays. You can contact the owners by calling them at 803-719-7138 or by emailing them at ogmvmuseum@gmail.com. You can also make a donation to help continue the preservation of mill district life here. Come experience Mill Village history in-person today!