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History · Olympia

37% of Olympia’s homes were built before 1940

4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 257 buildings. Below: maps from 1944 on.

4on the National Register
37%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Olympia’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A historic districtThe Olympia Mill Village Historic District takes in 257 historic buildings.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Olympia are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Olympia’s homes were built before 1945.Landmarks on the Register4 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

4 listings protect 260 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
260
each building in a district counts
first listed
1995
Olympia Armory
Olympia ArmoryOlympia Union Hall, built 1946Olympia Mill School, built 1901Olympia Mill Village Historic District
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Modern Movement1
Art Deco1
Moderne1
Olympia ArmoryModern Movement
Olympia Union HallBuilt 1946
Olympia Mill SchoolBuilt 1901
All 4 listings
Olympia Mill Village Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2018

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Help out

Start Olympia’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Olympia’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Olympia, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Olympia yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Olympia is an urban unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Richland County, South Carolina, United States. It was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census with a population of 1,087. The CDP is in western Richland County, bordered to the north by the city of Columbia, the state capital, and to the west, across the Congaree River, by the city of Cayce. The eastern half of the CDP is residential, while the western half is occupied by the Columbia Quarry of Vulcan Materials. Four locations in the CDP are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Olympia Armory is on Granby Lane in the northeast part of the CDP, the Olympia Mill School is on Olympia Avenue …

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Olympia, 1901 to 1946

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1901BuiltOlympia Mill School is built
  3. 1944On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 1946BuiltOlympia Union Hall is built
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Olympia on the map, 1944 to 1982

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Olympia. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Olympia on the 1944 USGS mapOlympia on the 1972 USGS mapOlympia on the 1982 USGS map1944Edmund sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Olympia.

Famous people

Famous people close to Olympia

Nobody well known was born in Olympia itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Stanley DonenAmerican film director and choreographer · b. 1924
C
Charles Bolden23rd Administrator of NASA and astronaut · b. 1946
A
Aziz AnsariAmerican actor, stand-up comedian, screenwriter… · b. 1983
Angie StoneAmerican singer and actress · b. 1961
Teyonah ParrisAmerican actress · b. 1987
Jermaine O'NealAmerican basketball player · b. 1978
Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Gone or out of use
Columbia Quarrymine
1cemetery inside Olympia
Olympia

Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Columbia148 historic placesA−Cayce3 historic placesC−

Questions about Olympia’s history

What is on the National Register in Olympia?

4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Olympia Armory (listed 1995, the first), and 1 historic district, the Olympia Mill Village Historic District, with 257 contributing buildings. 260 historic buildings in all.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From the National Register of Historic Places (4), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.