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The Hampton-Preston Mansion and Gardens is closed on Sunday, May 18. All other sites and tours will run as scheduled, including Free Sunday at the Museum of the Reconstruction Era.

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2100 Block of Stark Street

Effects of Segregated Communities

Like other heavily African American neighborhoods, Lower Waverly received municipal improvements and services decades later than other (often more affluent) Columbia suburbs. Among the improvements made was street paving, which still hadn't occurred on Stark Street in 1961. 

Many long-time Lower Waverly residents remember sections of their neighborhood blighted by trash. Garbage pick-up did not become a reliable service within the district until the mid-20th century. Columbia's Fight Blight efforts in January of 1967 included remedying such problems found within the Millwood area.

  • stark street

    Pavement of Stark Street, 1961. Image courtesy Joseph Winter Collection, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia

  • fight blight 1967

    Millwood Cleanup, 1967. Image courtesy Joseph Winter Collection, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia

Durham Carter considers the costs of segregated living on community development

34.002775144868, -81.016216633798

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Historic Columbia

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1601 Richland Street
Columbia, SC 29201

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All historic house and garden tours start at the Gift Shop at Robert Mills.
1616 Blanding Street
Columbia, SC 29201

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