Can museums revitalize Main Street? In municipalities around the country, mayors and town councils see new proof that they do. Some point to Florence County, S.C., where a new museum has sparked economic revitalization and renewed civic pride. And at $307 per square foot to build, it shows how modest means and lofty aims bring outsize results.

Located in the northeastern corner of South Carolina in its so-called Pee Dee region, the downtown museum is hailed as a magnet for “foot traffic,” said Florence Mayor Stephen Wukela, calling it “nothing short of a fantastic, Smithsonian-quality museum.”

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