1972 Map of Southwest Columbia

About this map

The Congaree River serves as a geographic and industrial divide in this early 1970s survey, separating the urban sprawl of Columbia and its University of South Carolina from the growing western suburbs. The map captures the significant transportation infrastructure of the era, from the Columbia Metropolitan Airport to the converging lines of the Southern and Seaboard Coast Line railroads. Settlement patterns are dense in West Columbia and Cayce, while the southern reaches near Dixiana and South Congaree maintain a landscape defined by natural drainages like Congaree Creek and industrial operations including several sandpits.