Best Web Design in Columbia, SC (2026)

Web Design for Columbia, South Carolina

Columbia is South Carolina's capital, laid out in 1786 as one of the nation's first planned cities near the state's geographic center. Nicknamed 'Soda City' from the postal shorthand 'Cola,' it was where secession began in 1860 and where much of the town burned during Sherman's 1865 march. Today the University of South Carolina, Fort Jackson, and a lively Main Street farmers market define its character.

AppWT works with Columbia, SC businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About Columbia

Also known as. Soda City. Cola. The Capital City. River City.

History. Created in 1786 as a planned state capital near the geographic center of South Carolina; the name Columbia (for Christopher Columbus) won a legislative vote 11-7 over 'Washington' Designed as a 400-block, two-mile square, making it one of the first planned cities in the United States Site of the December 1860 convention that began South Carolina's secession from the Union Largely destroyed by fire in February 1865 as Union forces under General Sherman occupied the city The University of South Carolina was founded here in 1801 as South Carolina College

Local economy. Major employers include the South Carolina state government, the University of South Carolina, and the Prisma Health hospital system Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina and Palmetto GBA are large private employers Fort Jackson is the U.S. Army's largest Basic Combat Training installation Historically a textile center; Columbia Mills opened in 1894 as the world's first fully electric-powered textile mill (later the South Carolina State Museum)

Culture and community. Soda City Market fills several blocks of Main Street every Saturday and was voted Best Farmers Market in USA Today's 10Best Readers' Choice Awards in 2025 St. Patrick's Day in the Five Points district is one of the city's biggest annual events South Carolina Gamecocks football draws around 80,000 fans to Williams-Brice Stadium The Gamecocks women's basketball team won NCAA national championships in 2017, 2022, and 2024 Columbia Fireflies minor league baseball

What makes Columbia distinct. The 'Soda City' nickname came from postal workers abbreviating Columbia to 'Cola' The city brands itself 'Famously Hot'; it recorded a high of 113 degrees Fahrenheit on June 29, 2012 Doolittle Raiders trained near Columbia in 1942 before their famous bombing raid on Tokyo The path of the 2017 total solar eclipse passed directly over the city Early Washington Street was paved with wooden blocks that buckled and floated during heavy rains

Columbia Landmarks and Local Life

• South Carolina State House - whose exterior bronze stars mark where Sherman's cannon fire struck in 1865
• Riverbanks Zoo & Garden - home to roughly 3,000 animals
• EdVenture Children's Museum - one of the largest of its kind in the Southeast
• Robert Mills House and the historic Congaree Vista district
• Congaree National Park nearby - one of few places in the world with synchronous fireflies