The South Carolina State Museum opened on October 29, 1988 and is located on its largest artifact, the Columbia Mills Building, which first opened in 1894 as the first totally electric textile mill in the world.

The Museum today is visited monthly by 15,000 to 20,000 visitors from all over the United States and other foreign countries. With an estimated 98,000 square feet of exhibition space, this State Museum is among the largest museums in the Southeast. It has 4 large floors with exhibits covering South Carolina’s history, art, science, and technology. In the next coming years, there are also plans to expand the museum’s exhibit space to 101,000 square feet.

The South Carolina State Museum has been honored and recognized as an outstanding tourism attraction and also because of its adaptive use of the historic building.