To join the Olympia Mill Village Museum Newsletter, please email your name and a brief description of your interest in the museum to ogmvmuseum@gmail.com

Summer 2023

Check out our YouTube Channel and the latest promotional video: The Olympia Mill Village Museum Tour

Summer 2022

Summer is bringing new excitement to our Olympia Mill Village Museum and Community Space with a variety of activities, events, and meetings.  We are OLYMPIA STRONG!

MAY/JUNE

• We initiated our 2022 Donor Campaign with a mail out requesting donations to our Reserve Fund for operating expenses.  So far, fifty-six Loyal Lintheads have responded and we have almost reached our 2022 Budget Goal.  We are grateful to ALL our donors.

• We organized a group of Olympia Community Stakeholders (residents, tenants, property managers, property owners, business interests, RC officials) to improve communication and quality of life in our community.

• We are working on Community issues:  trucks, garbage roll carts, crime prevention, blight, tenant/property owner issues. 

• Provided meeting space for We Are Olympia Community Organization planning for next year. 

• We represented Olympia Neighborhood in Richland County’s Neighborhood Block Party on June 23, where nine neighborhoods met new friends and  enjoyed good food and music. 

• Thanks to Richland County Grants program for 2022.  Our RC FY 22 Discretionary Grant helped fund the outdoor Trolley Bell Exhibit, new signage, and other program expenses . The RC FY 22 

• H-Tax Grant funded the  development of our new web site and marketing expenses. 

JULY

• We will install our Storm Windows (funded by Campbells’ Wrecker, Lindau Chemicals, Blue Cross Blue Shield of SC, South Carolina Humanities) to protect  and insulate our historic building.

• We learned we have been awarded $5000 FY23 Discretionary Grant from Richland County to start our House Museum New Roof Fund.

• OGHF Board will work to increase our Volunteer Team and add OMVM Board Members

• Collaboration with USC for “Welcome to Olympia Neighborhood” for students and community members to meet and greet each other.

AUGUST--“Welcome to Olympia Neighborhood” Drop-in Event, August 27 -- 11:00—2:00

• Plan to join us

• Museum tours

• Food truck for refreshments

• “Cocky,” USC Campus Police, RCSD CAT, residents, Museum Volunteers, and Lintheads will be there to help meet and greet

Come join us for all these events. We are open on Fridays and Saturdays from 11:00—4:00, and admission is free.   Follow us on our FB page “Friends of Olympia Mill Village Museum” and visit our new web site: olympiamillvillagemuseum.org. 

April 25, 2022

NEWS—Spring 2022

Olympia Mill Village Museum if off to a great start in 2022 with several projects in the works:

In January we called on local businesses to fund our Storm Windows  Project.  These custom storm windows will provide protection for our original historic windows from vandalism and they will ensure energy savings and insulation.  We are so grateful to Lindau Chemicals, Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina, South Carolina Humanities, Campbell’s Wrecker Service,  and KW Beverages for their support. We added concrete to our parking area to finish that project.

In February we dedicated our beautiful historical marker and added another outdoor exhibit—an original Trolley Bell from the 1930s.

Our Board of Directors met in March to approve our 2022 budget and revised our Olympia Granby Historical Foundation By-Laws.  We had 8 University of Tennessee Knoxville come plant shrubbery and do some landscaping.

April brought additional volunteers—15 students for UofSC’s BIG Event came and did spring cleaning and other chores. We will see the storm windows installed,  and our annual fund-raising campaign in May.

For this Summer we have a “Local Artists”  planned, with a “Welcome Back UofSC Students” event planned for the Fall. 

Come join us for all these events. We are open on Fridays and Saturdays from 11:00—4:00, and admission is free.   Follow us on our FB page “Friends of Olympia Mill Village Museum” and visit our new web site: olympiamillvillagemuseum.org.

April 21, 2022

Young People Do It Again!

By Sherry Jaco, Olympia Mill Village Museum, April 2022

Wow! Amazing young people did it again! While thousands of students from the University of South Carolina were preparing to cheer our Lady Gamecocks to victory last Saturday, a dedicated group of young people had ”community service’ on their minds. As part of U of SC’s BIG Event for student volunteers, hundreds of students fanned out over Columbia to provide services to local non-profits. Common work sites include homes, schools, parks, and nonprofit organizations. Project Sites are chosen on a non-need basis, so anyone in the community could request volunteers for simple tasks like house/yard work, or litter cleanups.  Some volunteers served as participants in activities that aid in connecting community members. Students were happy to be a part of any task that uplifts the citizens of the greater Columbia. Dr. Julian Capel, along with Melat Tarekegne, both from the Department of Student Life and Community Outreach, helped organize the event. They work year-round on this important community event, and their leadership encourages greater participation from students.

One of the program beneficiaries, led by Ms. Maxene Small, Case Manager with SBPUSA.ORG https://sbpusa.org/ ,had volunteers assist some local seniors as part of the 2015 Flood Program City of Columbia.  Ms. Small says, “We truly appreciate the remarkable assistance we received from this event. With had over thirty volunteers providing assistance to our seniors, moving items into a POD, packing up the home and placing items in the garage, clearing debris from the back yard, and other laboring tasks to assist with the disaster recovery process.” On April 2nd, Olympia Mill Village Museum was delighted to welcome fifteen energetic young women from U of SC sorority Epsilon Sigma Alpha. After a tour of the Olympia Mill School, the workers got busy mopping and dusting inside the museum, while others worked outside watering shrubbery and clearing away fallen branches. We even had four teams walking our neighborhood tagging roll carts and getting them off the streets. We are so grateful to be a part of this BIG Event, and we celebrate these young people for their service to Olympia Mill Village and to the greater Columbia area. We are sending out a special “Thank You” to all the sisters of the Epsilon Sigma Alpha service sorority for getting our museum spring cleaning done, but their biggest contribution is the lovely energy and spirit they shared! It was truly a very BIG Event for us! For more info go to www.olympiamillvillagemuseum.org or check us out on our FB page at “Friends of Olympia Mill Village Museum.”

February 13, 2022

Historical Marker Dedication

By Dr. Sherry Jaco

There was excitement in the air on Super Sunday, February 13, when the Olympia Mill Village Museum dedicated its beautiful historical marker. The marker officially acknowledges the house museum as the location of the first Olympia Mill School (1901—1909) and is a permanent tribute to Olympia Mill Village heritage. The Olympia Mill Village Museum and Community Space’s mission is to preserve the unique local history and culture of the historic Olympia and Granby Mill Villages. It also provides meeting space for cultural, educational, and community building activities. The museum has three components: House Museum which tells the story of “Life in the Olympia Mill Village in the Early 1900s.” Outdoor Exhibits share architectural information and local businesses during that time. Olympia School Annex houses trophies, photos, and artifacts of the 120 year-old school, which remains in operation today. The museum, located at 1170 Olympia Avenue, Columbia SC, 29201 is open on Fridays and Saturdays from 11:00—4:00 with free admission. We are honoring our past while looking forward to the future.

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The double-sided marker reads:

OLYMPIA MILL SCHOOL (1901—1909)

One of approx. 300 homes built 1900—01 for workers at nearby Olympia Cotton Mill, this 6-room duplex housed the first Olympia Mill School. Organized by first teacher and principal Mary “Mamie” Boozer (1874-1917) at the behest of company leaders and county school officials, the school opened Oct. 1901 in one-room of this house with about thirty pupils whose families came to the mill village seeking work and a better life. Enrollment at the Olympia Mill School grew quickly, and by 1902 there were three large classrooms in this frame building as the house’s interior partition walls were removed to allow more space. By l909, around 240 students attended Olympia School each day with 8 teachers. For a time, it was the largest school in Richland County. In fall 1909, the school moved into a new 2-story brick building in an adjacent lot just southeast. The house was also used in 1916-1917 for additional classroom space due to overcrowding in the school next door.

Monument Erected by Olympia-Granby Historical Foundation

OLYMPIA GRANBY HISTORICAL FOUNDATION

Founded in 2013, the Olympia Granby Historical Foundation’s mission is to establish

and maintain the Olympia Mill Village Museum to tell the story of “Life in the Mill Village in the

Early 1900s.” The museum serves as a repository for photos and artifacts from the lives of

people who grew up here. The Olympia School Annex tells the history of Olympia High School

with trophies, yearbooks, and a collection of memorabilia.

With the help of Olympia Community Education Foundation’s leaders, Joby Castine and

Bobby Davis, the museum property was purchased in 2014 and developed with community wide

donations from OGHF Founding Members and grants. Under the guidance of Olympia Granby

Historical Foundation’s leaders, Johnny Henry, Emily Boone Walker, Bonnylin Henry, Jake

Jaco, Sherry Hall Jaco, Staci Richey, support from Council Women Dalhi Myers and Allison

Terracio, grants from Richland County Conservation Commission and Community

Development, the museum opened in November 2018.

The Olympia Mill Village Museum belongs to ALL the people who have contributed to its

success and it also serves as an Olympia Community Meeting Space.

WE ARE LINTHEAD STRONG!