Elmwood Park Historic District
National Register Listing
Street Address:
Roughly bounded by Elmwood Ave., Main St. and the SAL RR tracks, Columbia, SC (Richland County)
NRHP Nomination
NRHP Boundary Increase
Record Number:
S10817740100
Description and Narrative:
Elmwood Park Historic District is a turn-of-the-century suburb developed at a time of major suburban growth in the Columbia area. The district is a collection of 279 primarily residential properties, 219 of which are considered contributing. The district’s resources date from the turn of the twentieth century to 1940. Elmwood Park’s southern boundary, Elmwood Avenue, was the northern border of the city of Columbia. There had been scattered settlement in the area since at least 1872, but no planned suburban growth until 1891 when the first part of the neighborhood was platted on land off Main Street. The bulk of what would become Elmwood Park was used as a fairgrounds until 1903. The area developed rapidly as land became available. Many of the houses in the suburb typify the trend in architecture away from elaborate styles and toward “the comfortable house.” Styles range from the numerous Queen Anne, Four-Square, and gable-front houses, to a few Colonial Revival houses. One-story structures are predominantly Craftsman influenced. Brick bungalows are evident as infill from the 1920s and 1930s. There are also a number of shotgun houses in the earliest developed part of the neighborhood. Two neighborhood schools in the district are typical of school design of the day, being monumental in scale. Logan School is the work of well-known local architect, J. Carroll Johnson, chief draftsman for Wilson & Sompayrac. James Burwell Urquhart, another prominent Columbia architect, designed Wardlaw Junior High School. As a nearly intact suburb, Elmwood Park illustrates the shift in Columbia, and nationwide, to the suburbs. Listed in the National Register May 3, 1991; Boundary increase May 13, 2002.
Level of Significance:
Local
Area of Significance:
Architecture;Social History
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
May 3 1991
Date of Boundary Increase:
May 13 2002
