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Columbia is a census-designated place in Howard County,
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...
. It is one of the principal communities of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. It is a planned community consisting of 10 self-contained villages. Columbia began with the idea that a city could enhance its residents' quality of life. Creator and developer James W. Rouse saw the new community in terms of human values, rather than merely economics and engineering. Opened in 1967, Columbia was intended to not only eliminate the inconveniences of then-current subdivision design, but also eliminate racial, religious and class segregation. Columbia proper consists only of that territory governed by the Columbia Association, but larger areas are included under its name by the U.S. Postal Service and the Census Bureau. These include several other communities which predate Columbia, including Simpsonville, Atholton, and in the case of the census, part of Clarksville. The census-designated place had a population of 104,681 at the
2020 United States Census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to off ...
. It is the second most populous community in Maryland after Baltimore.


History


Origins

Columbia was founded by James W. Rouse (1914-1996), a native of Easton, Maryland. In 1935, Rouse obtained a job in Baltimore with the Federal Housing Administration, a New Deal agency whose purpose was to promote home ownership and home construction. This position exposed Rouse to all phases of the housing industry. Later in the 1930s he co-founded a Baltimore mortgage banking business, the Moss-Rouse Company. In the 1950s his company, by then known as James W. Rouse and Company, branched out into developing shopping centers and malls. In 1957, Rouse formed Community Research and Development, Inc. (CRD) for the purpose of building, owning and operating shopping centers throughout the country. Community Research and Development, Inc., which was managed by James W. Rouse and Company, became a publicly traded company in 1961. In 1966, Community Research and Development, Inc. changed its name to The Rouse Company, after it had acquired James W. Rouse and Company in exchange for company stock. By the early 1950s Rouse was also active in organizations whose goals were to combat
blight Blight refers to a specific symptom affecting plants in response to infection by a pathogenic organism. Description Blight is a rapid and complete chlorosis, browning, then death of plant tissues such as leaves, branches, twigs, or floral orga ...
and promote urban renewal. Along the way, he came to recognize the importance of comprehensive planning and action to address housing issues. A talented public speaker, Rouse's speeches on housing matters attracted media attention. By the mid-1950s he was espousing his belief that in order to be successful, cities had to be places where people succeeded. In a 1959 speech he declared that the purpose of cities is for people, and that the objective of city planning should be to make a city into neighborhoods where men, women, and their families can live and work, and, most importantly, grow in character, personality, religious fulfillment, brotherhood, and the capacity for joyous living. In the early 1960s, Rouse decided to develop a new model city. Rouse's ideas about what a new model city should be like were informed by a number of factors, including his personal Christian faith as well as the goal for his company to earn a profit, influences that he did not consider to be incompatible with one another. After exploring possible new city locations near
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...
, Georgia, and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, Rouse focused his attention between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., in Howard County, Maryland.


Howard County land acquisition

In April 1962, Mel Berman, a longtime Howard County resident who was also a member of the CRD's Board of Directors, saw a sign on Cedar Lane in Howard County advertising for sale. Berman reported the option to the CRD and a decision was made to purchase the land. This was the first of 165 land purchases made by Rouse over the next year-and-a-half. In order to keep land costs low, Jack Jones, an attorney from Rouse's firm of Piper Marbury, set up a grid system to secretly buy land through dummy corporations like the "Alaska Iron Mines Company". Some of these straw purchasers included Columbia Industrial Development Corporation, 95-32 Corporation, 95-216 Corporation, Premble, Inc., Columbia Mall, Inc., Oakland Ridge Industrial Development Corporation, and Columbia Development Corporation. Robert Moxley's firm Security Realty Company (now Security Development Group Inc), negotiated many of the land deals for Jones, becoming his best client. CRD accumulated , 10 percent of Howard County, from 140 separate owners. Rouse was turned down in financing from David Rockefeller, who had recently cancelled a planned Rouse "Village" concept called Pocantico Hills. The $19,122,622 acquisition was then funded by Rouse's former employer Connecticut General Life Insurance in October 1962 at an average price of $1,500 per acre ($0.37/m2). The town center land of
Oakland Manor Oakland or Oakland Manor is a Federal architecture, Federal style stone manor house commissioned in 1810 by Charles Sterrett Ridgely in the Howard District of Anne Arundel County Maryland (now Howard County). The lands that became Oakland Manor we ...
was purchased from Isadore Guldesky who was turned down from building high-rises on the site by Rob Moxley's brother, County Commissioner and land developer Norman E. Moxley. Sensing that he had a key property, he requested $5 million for his , signing an agreement by hand on a land plat. The competition between Rouse and Guldesky carried over to the competing Tysons Corner Center and Tysons Galleria projects, with each hiring their competitor's employees. By late 1962, citizens had elected an all- Republican three-member council. J. Hubert Black, Charles E. Miller, and David W. Force who campaigned on a low-density growth ballot, but later approved the Columbia project. The Howard County Planning Commission Chairman Wilmer Sanner declared, "if this adds to the orderly development of the county, that's what we are looking for." That July, Sanner sold the majority of his Simpsonville farm to Howard Research prior to the public announcement. In October 1963, the acquisition was revealed to the residents of Howard County, putting to rest rumors about the mysterious purchases. These had included theories that the site was to become a medical research laboratory or a giant compost heap. Despite the moniker of being a "planned city", the planning for the city occupied Rouse officials for most of 1964 after the announcement while marketing director Scott Ditch was brought from Baltimore's
Cross Keys Cross Keys or Crosskeys may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Crosskeys, Wales ** Crosskeys railway station ** Crosskeys College, a campus of Coleg Gwent * Crosskeys Bridge, a swing bridge in Lincolnshire, England * The Cross Keys (disambiguat ...
development to promote the project to community groups. In December 1964 the zoning was rejected by planning director Tom Harris Jr. for handing nearly all planning control to the developer. A media push was instituted to approve the zoning by Dorris Thompson of ''
The Howard County Times ''The Howard County Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Howard County, Maryland. Although it claims to trace its origins to 1840, it was founded in 1869 as ''The Ellicott City Times'', a weekly newspaper. In 1958 its name was changed to ''The Ho ...
'', Seymour Barondes of the Howard County Civic Association, and Anita Iribe of the League of Women Voters. In June 1965 zoning was approved for the project, and Howard Research and Development entered into a $37.5 million construction deed backed by the property. Development was temporarily stalled in October 1965 when James and Anna Hepding of Simpsonville sued the planning board, stating New Town zoning was a form of spot zoning benefiting a sole property owner. The case was dropped when developer Homer Gudelsky purchased the estate. Ten years later, former Councilman Charles E. Miller stated that if he could do it over again, he wouldn't have voted to approve Columbia. He felt exploited and felt the
subsidized housing Subsidized housing is government sponsored economic assistance aimed towards alleviating housing costs and expenses for impoverished people with low to moderate incomes. In the United States, subsidized housing is often called "affordable hous ...
would become a problem for the rest of the county. Miller had been defeated in the November 1974 Howard County Council elections, in part as a result of the changed political landscape that Columbia's development brought. In early 1976, a ''Columbia Flier'' editorial charged that Miller was a fear-mongering reactionary who had a personal vendetta against Columbia, Rouse and Columbia residents.


Unveiling and growth

At the unveiling on June 21, 1967,
James Rouse James Wilson Rouse (April 26, 1914 – April 9, 1996) was an American businessman and founder of The Rouse Company. Rouse was a pioneering American real estate developer, urban planner, civic activist, and later, free enterprise-based philanthr ...
described Columbia as a planned new city which would avoid the leap-frog and spot-zoning development threatening the county. The new city would be complete with jobs, schools, shopping, and medical services, and a range of housing choices.
Property tax A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inher ...
es from commercial development would cover the additional services with which housing would burden the county. The urban planning process for Columbia included not only planners, but also a convened panel of nationally recognized experts in the social sciences, known as the Work Group. The fourteen member group of men and one woman,
Antonia Handler Chayes Antonia "Toni" Handler Chayes (born July 21, 1929) is a United States lawyer and educator who served as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Manpower and Reserve Affairs) from 1977 to 1979 and as United States Under Secretary of the Air Force fr ...
, met for two days, twice a month, for half a year starting in 1963. The Work Group suggested innovations for planners in education, recreation, religion, and health care, as well as ways of improving social interactions. Columbia's open classrooms, interfaith centers, and the then-novel idea of a health maintenance organization (HMO) with a group practice of medical doctors (the Columbia Medical Plan) sprung from these meetings. The community's physical plan, with neighborhood and village centers, was also decided. Columbia's "New Town District" zoning ordinance gave developers great flexibility about what to put where, without requiring county approval for each specific project. In 1968, vice-presidential candidate Spiro Agnew referenced Columbia to reporters, saying, "Government should act as a catalyst to encourage the local governments to encourage industry and business to move next to a planned community," and "I want to lessen the density in the ghettos, and concurrently rebuild the ghetto areas." In 1969, County Executive Omar J. Jones felt that the increase in tax base was lagging behind the need for infrastructure as the operating budget doubled to $15 million in three years. Crime rates shot up around the county by 30-50% a year, with hot spots around the development. By 1970, the project required additional financing to continue, borrowing $30 million from Connecticut General, Manufacturers Hanover Trust, and Morgan Guaranty. In 1972, amendments to New Town zoning proposing to place a maximum height for buildings and maintain the original density limit of 2.2 units per acre were opposed by Rouse allies including the Columbia Association, the Ellicott City Businessman's Association and the Columbia Democratic Club. By 1974, the amount owed reached $100,000 million, prompting partner Connecticut General to consider bankruptcy. An effort to create a special taxing district in 1978 and an effort to incorporate with a mayor in 1979 failed. In 1985 Cigna (Connecticut General) divested itself of the project for $120 million. By 1990 Howard Research and Development owed $125,162,689. In 2004 the project was sold to
General Growth Properties GGP Inc. (an initialism of General Growth Properties) was an American commercial real estate company and the second-largest shopping mall operator in the United States. It was founded by brothers Martin, Matthew and Maurice Bucksbaum in Ceda ...
, which went bankrupt in 2008. General Growth Properties submitted a plan for increasing density throughout Columbia in 2004 which was unanimously voted down. Ownership of the project fell to the previous Rouse subsidiary the Howard Hughes Corporation. Howard Hughes submitted a new plan to increase density in 2010 under the Ulman administration that passed unanimously. Columbia has never incorporated; some governance, however, is provided by the non-profit Columbia Association, which manages common areas and functions as a homeowner association with regard to private property. The first boards were filled entirely with Rouse Company appointees. The first manager of the Columbia Association was John Estabrook Slayton (d. 1967). For Slayton's contributions to the early planning of Columbia, the community center in the
Wilde Lake Wilde Lake is a man-made drainage reservoir dug in 1966 and also named after the surrounding "village" of neighborhoods located in Columbia, Maryland, just north and west of Columbia Town Center. The village was the first part of Columbia's "New ...
village, Slayton House, was named for him. Wilde Lake was the first village area to be developed in Columbia; accordingly, the town's first high school was
Wilde Lake High School Wilde Lake High School is a secondary school located in Columbia, Maryland's Village of Wilde Lake, United States, one of 12 public high schools in Howard County. The school is centrally located in Howard County, and its district borders that ...
, which opened in 1971 as a "model school for the nation". Constructed in the open classroom style, it was razed in 1994 but reconstructed on the same site in 1996.


Master plan

To achieve the goals set forth by the Work Group, Columbia's Master Plan called for a series of ten self-contained villages, around which day-to-day life would revolve. The centerpiece of Columbia would be The Mall in Columbia and man-made Lake Kittamaqundi.


Villages and neighborhoods

The village concept aimed to provide Columbia a small-town feel (like Easton, Maryland, where James Rouse grew up). Each village comprises several neighborhoods. The village center may contain middle and high schools. All villages have a shopping center, recreational facilities, a community center, a system of bike/walking paths, and homes. Four of the villages have interfaith centers, common worship facilities which are owned and jointly operated by a variety of religious congregations working together. Most of Columbia's neighborhoods contain single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and apartments, though some are more exclusive than others. The original plan, following the neighborhood concept of Clarence Perry, would have had all the children of a neighborhood attend the same school, melding neighborhoods into a community and ensuring that all of Columbia's children get the same high-quality education. Rouse marketed the city as being "color blind" as a proponent of Senator Clark's fair housing legislation. If a neighborhood was filled with too many purchasers of a single race, houses would be blocked until the desired ratio was met. * Village – Neighborhoods (in order of residential opening) **
Wilde Lake Wilde Lake is a man-made drainage reservoir dug in 1966 and also named after the surrounding "village" of neighborhoods located in Columbia, Maryland, just north and west of Columbia Town Center. The village was the first part of Columbia's "New ...
– (Est. 1967) Bryant Woods, Faulkner Ridge, Running Brook ** Harper's Choice – (Est. 1968) Longfellow, Swansfield, Hobbit's Glen ** Oakland Mills – (Est. 1969) Thunder Hill, Talbott Springs, Stevens Forest ** Long Reach – (Est. 1971) Phelps Luck, Jeffers Hill, Locust Park, Kendall Ridge ** Owen Brown – (Est. 1972) Dasher Green, Elkhorn, Hopewell ** Town Center – (Est. 1974) Vantage Point, Banneker, Amesbury, Creighton's Run, and Warfield Triangle ** Hickory Ridge – (Est. 1974) Clemens Crossing, Hawthorn, Clary's Forest ** Kings Contrivance – (Est. 1977) Macgill's Common, Huntington, Dickinson ** Dorsey's Search – (Est. 1980) Dorsey Hall, Fairway Hills ** River Hill – (Est. 1990) Pheasant Ridge, Pointers Run Columbia takes its street names from famous works of art and literature: for example, the neighborhood of Hobbit's Glen takes its street names from the work of J. R. R. Tolkien; Running Brook, from the poetry of Robert Frost; and Clemens Crossing, from the work of Mark Twain. The book ''Oh, You Must Live in Columbia!'' chronicles the artistic, poetic, and historical origins of the street and place names in Columbia.


Further expansion

"The Downtown Columbia Plan" is a 2010 amendment to the county's General Plan of expansion. It is a framework for the revitalization of Downtown Columbia over the next thirty years. Development plans for downtown projects in the years ahead will include details for that project such as neighborhood design guidelines, environmental restoration, public amenities and infrastructure. These development plans must adhere to the framework of the Downtown Columbia Plan as required by the zoning legislation. Over the life of the Downtown Columbia development project, as much as 13 million square feet of retail, commercial, residential, hotel and cultural development is planned. To be accomplished in three phases, the plan calls for the formation of the non-profit Columbia Downtown Housing Corporation to build an additional 5,500 units of low income housing placed downtown in exchange for increased zoning density for other projects. Additional development includes 4.3 million square feet of commercial office space, 1.25 million square feet of retail space, 640 hotel rooms, Merriweather Post Pavilion redevelopment and a multi-modal transportation system. The Downtown Columbia Plan also has
sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...
features, including goals for saving water and energy, and for ecology and livability. Columbia's master developer, the Howard Hughes Corporation, is heading up the expansion project. The project is projected to cost $90 million and will outline development in the community for the next 40 years.


Geography

Because Columbia is unincorporated, there is confusion over its exact boundaries. In the strictest definition, Columbia comprises only the land governed under covenants by the Columbia Association. This is a considerably smaller area than the census-designated place (CDP) as defined by the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...
. The CDP has a total area of , of which are land and , or 0.80%, are water. The CDP includes a number of older communities which do not lie within the CA's purview, including the Holiday Hills, Diamondback, and Allview subdivisions and the former town of Simpsonville, as well as some land on the east side of Clarksville. These areas are not part of the "new town", and are not directly served by its amenities. Some of these areas are included in Columbia ZIP codes by the post office, and some are not. Columbia is located in central Maryland, southwest of Baltimore, northeast of Washington, D.C., and northwest of Annapolis. The community lies in the Piedmont region of Maryland, with its eastern edge at the
fall line A fall line (or fall zone) is the area where an upland region and a coastal plain meet and is typically prominent where rivers cross it, with resulting rapids or waterfalls. The uplands are relatively hard crystalline basement rock, and the coa ...
. The climate tends to hot, humid summers and cool to cold and wet winters. There are occasional large amounts of snowfall that happen every year. The primary landforms in Columbia are rolling hills and stream valleys; Columbia's road network is laid out to follow the terrain, with many winding streets and cul-de-sacs. Elevations range from about above sea level. Most of Columbia is drained by the Middle Patuxent and Little Patuxent rivers. There are three artificial lakes, created by damming of tributary streams during community construction. In 1965, the Rouse Company leased of farmland staged for development, and earmarked of oak forest for timber harvesting. The company developed a sapling planter to replant sections of cleared land that would use Columbia's
W.R. Grace William Russell Grace (May 10, 1832 – March 21, 1904) was an Irish-American politician, the first Roman Catholic mayor of New York City, and the founder of W. R. Grace and Company. Early life Grace was born in Ireland in Riverstown near the ...
-developed fertilizers. An outer ring of greenspace was abandoned early in the project because the combination with the already required river buffers would have reduced profitable land available for building. Along with Symphony Woods, many other stands of mature trees have been temporarily maintained in Columbia, including the large Middle Patuxent Environmental Area in the western part of the community between Harper's Choice and River Hill villages, protecting much of the river valley from development.


Climate

Columbia has a humid subtropical climate, with cool winters and hot, muggy summers.


Demographics

''NOTE: The CDP includes considerable areas which are not part of the planned community.'' As of July 2019, Columbia is a majority minority community, with non-Hispanic whites constituting 47.3% of the population.


2020 census


2010 census

The 2009-2013 census estimates report the median income for a household in the CDP was $99,877. The per capita income for the CDP was $46,374. About 4.1% of families and 6.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.8% of those under age 18 and 6.4% of those age 65 or over.


2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 88,254 people, 34,199 households, and 23,118 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 3,202.0 people per square mile (1,236.4/km2). There were 35,281 housing units at an average density of 1,280.0 per square mile (494.3/km2). The racial makeup of the CDP was 66.52% White, 21.47% Black or African American, 0.26% Native American, 7.30% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 1.63% from other races, and 2.76% from two or more races. 4.12% of the population were
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...
or Latino of any race. 14% of Columbia's residents were
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
, 11% Irish, 10%
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...
, 5% Italian, 4% Polish, 2% Russian, 2% Scottish, 2%
Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...
, 2% Chinese, 2% Korean, 2% Sub-Saharan African, 2%
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, and 2% West Indian. There were 34,199 households, out of which 35.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.4% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.4% were non-families. 25.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.09. In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 26.3% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 34.1% from 25 to 44, 25.5% from 45 to 64, and 7.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.7 males.


Economy

James Rouse James Wilson Rouse (April 26, 1914 – April 9, 1996) was an American businessman and founder of The Rouse Company. Rouse was a pioneering American real estate developer, urban planner, civic activist, and later, free enterprise-based philanthr ...
conceived of a city, not a suburban bedroom community, and a large area on the eastern edge was allocated for industrial purposes. The centerpiece of this aspect of the development was a
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...
appliance plant on a site previously operated as a cattle farm. After an injunction attempt was blocked in 1969, the plant began operations in 1972, peaking at 2,300 of the predicted 12,000 jobs. It was closed in 1990, with all but of the property being sold back to Howard Research and Development. One section of the property was subsequently redeveloped for big box retail; the remainder became the large Gateway Commerce office complex, still being expanded. In 1968, Bendix Field Engineering moved to a new facility on the historic Woodlawn Plantation where it was used for engineering activity. Howard County purchased the vacant facility creating the Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship in 2011, which relocated to the vacant Patuxent Publishing building in 2014. There is still a smaller industrial area to the south of this, but by and large East Columbia is dominated by commercial real estate—office, retail, and wholesale—in contrast to the original plan, which saw the Town Center area as the commercial center of Columbia. The U.S. federal government is the source of many jobs for Columbians. Several large U.S. Department of Defense installations and R&D facilities surround Columbia, the largest being the National Security Agency at Fort George G. Meade, and the Applied Physics Laboratory south of Columbia, both pre-dating the establishment of Columbia. Companies which have had research facilities in the area include W.R. Grace and Company. Further afield, many Columbians commute to government and government contractor jobs in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. area. Companies based in Columbia include W.R. Grace and Company,Columbia CDP, Maryland
." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on February 26, 2010.
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, PetMeds, MICROS Systems, Martek Biosciences, Integral Systems, GP Strategies Corporation,
Corporate Office Properties Trust Corporate Office Properties Trust is a real estate investment trust that invests in office buildings, mostly in the suburbs of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It primarily leases to the U.S. government or companies in the arms industry. ...
, and the consumer research company Nielsen Audio (formerly Arbitron). When
MaggieMoo's MaggieMoo's Ice Cream and Treatery is a chain of independently owned and operated franchised stores that specialize in serving ice cream and other desserts. The first MaggieMoo's opened in 1989 in Kansas City, Kansas. At its peak, the brand ha ...
was an independent company, its headquarters was in Columbia.


Shopping

The Mall in Columbia, located in Town Center, is a large regional shopping mall with three anchor department stores ( Nordstrom,
Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...
, and JCPenney), a multiplex movie theater, and more than 200 stores and restaurants. There are several other major competing shopping centers in East Columbia, including Dobbin Center strip mall opened in 1983, Snowden Square big box retail on the remainder of the GE industrial site, Columbia Crossing I and II big box retail started in 1997, and Gateway Overlook. Columbia's nine "village centers" provide residents with nearby shopping as well, often including supermarkets, gas stations, liquor stores,
dry cleaners Dry cleaning is any cleaning process for clothing and textiles using a solvent other than water. Dry cleaning still involves liquid, but clothes are instead soaked in a water-free liquid solvent. Tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene), kno ...
, restaurants, and hair salons. The village centers are laid out so that individual stores are not visible from the road, unlike traditional strip malls. The arrangement is criticized because it makes it difficult for newcomers and non-residents to know what shopping is available; it is praised for eliminating much of the garishness of roadside America. The village centers have evolved over time. The Oakland Mills Village Center had a traditional Village Center layout—stores located off a central corridor—until its demolition in the late 1990s. It has since been replaced with a more traditional strip mall managed by
Cedar Realty Trust Cedar Realty Trust, Inc. is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers in the Mid-Atlantic states. Investments As of December 31, 2019, the company owned 56 properties containing 8.3 million square feet, inc ...
. The Rouse Company abandoned the village center concept in 2002, selling off the assets to Kimco Realty for $120 million. The Kings Contrivance Village Center underwent major construction in 2007 and 2008 when a new Harris Teeter supermarket was added to the center, but maintained the original character of stores around a central corridor and plaza. Owen Brown village center is now managed by GFS Realty, and the Long Reach Village center was declared blighted and purchased by Howard County for resale in 2014.


Arts and culture


Entertainment and performing arts

In the absence of nightclubs, Columbia relies on local bars to bring in bands. Sonoma's (in Owen Brown) and Nottingham's Tavern and The Green Turtle (near Dobbin Center) regularly bring in groups to perform. Merriweather Post Pavilion, a well-known outdoor concert venue, attracts many prominent performers. In addition, there are several performing arts organizations that present professional theater, including Toby's Dinner Theatre, Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts and the Young Columbians which have produced the area premieres of several musicals. Columbia also offers chamber music concerts, children's programs, community outreach programs, master classes, and pre-concert lectures and discussions through the Candlelight Concert Society, a non-profit organization formed by Columbia residents to provide chamber music concerts since 1972.


Howard County Library System

Howard County Library System (HCLS) is consistently top rated among the nation's public library systems according to Hennen's American Public Library Ratings (HAPLR). Two of the six branches of the Howard County Library System are in Columbia, including the Central Branch in Town Center and the East Columbia Branch in Owen Brown.


Historic sites

Two historic buildings in Columbia, Dorsey Hall and Woodlawn, were listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1973. Both were once homes of prominent Howard County citizens. Most historic buildings, mills and plantations within Columbia that qualified for the register, such as
Oakland Manor Oakland or Oakland Manor is a Federal architecture, Federal style stone manor house commissioned in 1810 by Charles Sterrett Ridgely in the Howard District of Anne Arundel County Maryland (now Howard County). The lands that became Oakland Manor we ...
, were not submitted by Rouse company affiliates.


Religion

Rouse believed that individual churches were a waste of developable land. Dr. Stanley Hallet advised the 1964 work group to economically abandon "The extravagance of church life" in favor of ecumenical establishments that focused resources on retreat centers and non-profit religious corporations. The Rouse Company discouraged individual congregations from purchasing land from the company. In 1966 the Columbia Religious Facilities Corporation was founded to lease interfaith centers to congregations. On June 22, 1969, $2.5 million in church donations applied to the CFRC to purchase Columbia land and build an interfaith facility in the village of Wilde Lake. The organization formed the Interfaith Housing Corporation (now the Columbia Housing Corporation) to purchase 300 units of low and moderate income housing in the development with Federal Housing Authority funding.


Parks and recreation

Recreation has always been an important part of the Columbia concept. The homeowners association, the Columbia Association, known to many in Howard County as "CA", builds, operates and maintains most of these facilities. CA operates a variety of recreational facilities, including 23 outdoor swimming pools, five indoor pools, two water slides, ice and roller skating rinks, an
equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...
center, a sports park with miniature golf, a skateboard park, batting cages, picnic pavilions, clubhouse and playground, three athletic clubs including the 24/7 Supreme Sports Club, numerous indoor and outdoor tennis, basketball, volleyball, squash, pickleball, and racquetball courts, and running tracks. In February 2006 LifeTime Fitness (a Minnesota company) opened a 24/7 health club at the edge of the Columbia Gateway industrial park. This facility includes one outdoor and two indoor pools (with water slides), racquetball courts, basketball courts, fitness equipment, and pilates and yoga facilities. There are three lakes ( Lake Kittamaqundi,
Lake Elkhorn Lake Elkhorn is a reservoir located in the Owen Brown area of Columbia, Maryland. It is Columbia's third and largest lake. Its main features are a small dam and a park with a picnic pavilion and a two-mile (3 km) walking path around the ...
, and
Wilde Lake Wilde Lake is a man-made drainage reservoir dug in 1966 and also named after the surrounding "village" of neighborhoods located in Columbia, Maryland, just north and west of Columbia Town Center. The village was the first part of Columbia's "New ...
) surrounded by parkland for sailing, fishing, and boating; of paths for jogging, strolling and
biking Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
; and 148
tot lot A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people w ...
s and play areas. Nine village centers, 15 neighborhood centers, and four senior centers provide space for a large variety of community activities. There are a variety of fairs and celebrations throughout the year, including entertainment on the lakefront of Lake Kittamaqundi during the summer and the Columbia Festival of the Arts. Columbia also has garden plots for rent, under the guidance of the Columbia Gardeners, which has been in existence since the 1970s. There are about 350 garden plots at three sites in Columbia, with each garden rented for a nominal fee (at one time $30 per year). Chiara D'Amore's Community Ecology Institute's Freetown Farm, founded in 2016, uses hands-on gardening to educate people and cultivates communities where people thrive together. Freetown farm was built on the site of Columbia's last working farm. The name ''Freetown farm'' refers to the area's historical name and its ties to the Underground Railroad. It features a NAACP garden and donates the much of the food that is raise to local food banks. In 2017, Columbia FC, a soccer club based in Columbia was founded. Consisting of former Howard County students and transfer players, the sports club made their debut in Maryland's Major Soccer League Division I on September 8, 2019.


Education

Columbia's public schools are operated by the Howard County Public School System. As of the 2007–2008 school year, the following high schools served some part of Columbia: * Atholton *
Centennial {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at a ...
* Hammond * Howard * Long Reach * Oakland Mills * River Hill *
Wilde Lake Wilde Lake is a man-made drainage reservoir dug in 1966 and also named after the surrounding "village" of neighborhoods located in Columbia, Maryland, just north and west of Columbia Town Center. The village was the first part of Columbia's "New ...
Most of these schools also serve students from outside Columbia, as is also the case with some middle and elementary schools.


Colleges and universities

There are no conventional four-year colleges or universities in Columbia, but several other college-level programs have facilities there.
Howard Community College Howard Community College (HCC or Howard CC) is a public community college in Columbia, Maryland. It offers classes for credit in more than 100 programs, non-credit classes, and workforce development programs. In addition to the main campus in C ...
is located near the town center, while the
University of Phoenix University of Phoenix (UoPX) is a private for-profit university headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1976, the university confers certificates and degrees at the certificate, associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree leve ...
, American Career Institute,
Lincoln College of Technology Lincoln Tech is an American group of for-profit postsecondary vocational institutions headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey. Each campus is owned and operated by Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (), a provider of career-oriented post ...
,
Loyola University Maryland Loyola University Maryland is a private Jesuit university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established as Loyola College in Maryland by John Early and eight other members of the Society of Jesus in 1852, it is the ninth-oldest Jesuit college in t ...
, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland University of Integrative Health, and
Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...
have facilities on the east side of town at Columbia Gateway Business Park. In 1966,
Howard Community College Howard Community College (HCC or Howard CC) is a public community college in Columbia, Maryland. It offers classes for credit in more than 100 programs, non-credit classes, and workforce development programs. In addition to the main campus in C ...
(HCC) was founded by the Board of Education in Howard County and formally authorized by the Howard County Commissioners Charles E. Miller, J. Hubert Black, and David W. Force. In addition to its original campus in Columbia, it now has satellite campuses in Mount Airy, Laurel, and East Columbia, in the Columbia Gateway Business Park.


Infrastructure


Transportation


Public transit

Columbia's initial plan called for a minibus system connecting the village centers on a distinct right-of-way that allowed denser development along the route. The routes were not constructed, though minibuses were operated by the Columbia Association under the name "ColumBus". These were eventually taken over by Howard County. Six Howard Transit bus routes served Columbia and connected it with its neighboring areas (such as Ellicott City and BWI Airport) until they were replaced by
Regional Transportation Agency of Central Maryland Regional Transportation Agency of Central Maryland, locally referred to as the RTA, is a transit organization developed to establish a more effective and efficient public transportation system across Central Maryland. The RTA is made up of multi ...
(RTA) in 2014. Several
Maryland Transit Administration The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) is a state-operated mass transit administration in Maryland, and is part of the Maryland Department of Transportation. The MTA operates a comprehensive transit system throughout the Baltimore-Washingt ...
(MTA) routes provide access to and from both Washington and Baltimore; MTA weekday commuter bus service connects Columbia to the Washington Metro system. There are no rail stations within Columbia, although the Dorsey
MARC Train MARC (Maryland Area Rail Commuter) is a commuter rail system in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. MARC is administered by the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) and operated under contract by Alstom and Amtrak on track owned ...
station is served by RTA buses. RTA provides local bus service as well as the
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional government agency that operates transit service in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA was created by the United States C ...
and
Maryland Transit Administration The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) is a state-operated mass transit administration in Maryland, and is part of the Maryland Department of Transportation. The MTA operates a comprehensive transit system throughout the Baltimore-Washingt ...
. RTA Bus Routes include: 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 501, and 503. OurBus offers intercity bus service from Columbia to New Brunswick, New Jersey and
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.


Roads

Columbia has a number of roadways that serve the community (see below). All of these highways allow Columbia access to nearby Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and Annapolis. * U.S. Route 29 Columbia Pike, runs north–south connecting Columbia to Ellicott City and Washington, D.C. * Interstate 95, runs north–south connecting Columbia to Baltimore and Washington, D.C. * MD 32 Patuxent Freeway, runs east–west connecting Columbia to Sykesville and Annapolis. * MD 100 Paul T. Pitcher Memorial Highway, runs east from U.S. Route 29 connecting Columbia to Glen Burnie. * MD 175 Rouse Parkway, a central artery that runs east–west from the Town Center to Jessup. * MD 108 Clarksville Pike-Waterloo Road, forms the northern boundary of the community by running east–west from Clarksville to Ellicott City.


Healthcare

Medical care is available at Howard County General Hospital, affiliated with Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Columbia Medical Plan was founded in 1967 as a health maintenance organization (HMO) available to citizens of Columbia. In more recent years, however, this plan has divided into separate medical groups that simply share the Twin Knolls buildings. Today, there is a
Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente (; KP), commonly known simply as Kaiser, is an American integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield. Kaiser Per ...
facility located in the Columbia Gateway industrial park. There are also a number of clinics, such as the Righttime Medical Care center and Patient First.


Notable people

* Stephen Amidon, author, whose 2000 novel, ''The New City'', is set in a fictionalized Columbia in the 1970s * Bob Beaumont (1932–2011), founder of Citicar, an electric automobile manufacturer from 1974 to 1977 * Jayson Blair, disgraced former ''New York Times'' reporter * Zach Brown, linebacker for the NFL's Washington Redskins * Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize–winning author *
Dan Charnas Daniel Louis Charnas (born August 30, 1967) is an American author, radio host and record company executive. He is considered to have played a role in the creation of hip-hop journalism. A native of New York City, Charnas graduated with honors ...
, journalist and author of "The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop" * Frank Cho, creator of ''Liberty Meadows'' comic strip *
George Colligan George Colligan (born December 29, 1969) is an American jazz pianist, organist, drummer, trumpeter, educator, composer, and bandleader. Early life and education Colligan was born in New Jersey and raised in Columbia, Maryland. He attended the P ...
, New York–based jazz pianist *
Cristeta Comerford Cristeta Pasia Comerford (born October 27, 1962) is a Filipino-American chef who has been the White House executive chef since 2005. She is the first woman and first person of Asian origin to hold the post. Early life Cristeta Comerford was bor ...
, White House executive chef *
Jack Douglass John Patrick "Jack" Douglass (born June 30, 1988), better known as jacksfilms, is an American YouTuber. Douglass began his online career in 2006. His YouTube channel initially consisted of infomercial parodies, sketches, and comedic music video ...
, internet personality on YouTube *
Mary Downing Hahn Mary Downing Hahn (born December 9, 1937) is an American writer of young adult novels and a former school librarian. She is known for books such as ''Stepping On The Cracks'' and ''Wait Till Helen Comes''. She published her first book in 1979 and ...
, award-winning author of young adult literature * Brent Faiyaz, singer and record producer * Kevin Frazier, journalist and TV broadcaster * Gallant, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter *
Alicia Graf Mack Alicia Graf Mack (''née'' Alicia J. Graf, born 1978/1979) is an American dancer and teacher. She danced with Dance Theatre of Harlem and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and taught at Washington University in St. Louis, Webster University, an ...
, dancer, director of dance division at
Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely ...
*
Justin Gorham Justin Terrell Gorham (born August 6, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for Rytas Vilnius of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL). He played college basketball for the Towson Tigers and the Houston Cougars. High school caree ...
(born 1998), basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League * Tom Green, ultra-runner * Greg Hawkes, keyboardist for new wave band The Cars * David Hobby, professional photographer and author of the Strobist.com lighting blog * Stephen Hunter, Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic and author *
Julia Ioffe Julia Ioffe (; russian: Юлия Иоффе, Yuliya Ioffe; born 18 October 1982) is a Russian-born American journalist. Her articles have appeared in ''The Washington Post'', ''The New York Times'', ''The New Yorker'', ''Foreign Policy'', ''Forbe ...
journalist * Kerry G. Johnson, award-winning caricaturist, cartoonist and children's book illustrator * Robert Kolker, author and editor * Mark Levine, New York City Council member * Laura Lippman, award-winning mystery author *
Steve Lombardozzi Stephen Paul Lombardozzi Sr. (born April 26, 1960) is a former American professional baseball player who was a second baseman for the Minnesota Twins and Houston Astros for six Major League Baseball seasons. As part of the Twins' world champio ...
, former professional baseball player *
Steve Lombardozzi Jr. Stephen Anthony Paul Lombardozzi Jr. (born September 20, 1988) is an American professional baseball second baseman and left fielder who is a free agent. He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Nationals, Baltimo ...
, professional baseball player * Suzanne Malveaux, CNN reporter *
Aaron Maybin Aaron Michael Maybin (born April 6, 1988) is a former linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) and the Canadian Football League (CFL). His college football career was at Penn State University where he received consensus All-American hon ...
, defensive end for NFL's New York Jets * Aaron McGruder, animator and cartoonist ( ''The Boondocks'') * Edward Norton, Academy Award–nominated actor and grandson of James Rouse, made his professional debut at age 8 at Toby's Dinner Theatre in the Town Center * Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit * Toby Orenstein, theater director and founder of Toby's Dinner Theatre, Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts, and the Young Columbians * Randy Pausch, professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, author of '' The Last Lecture'' * Ian Jones-Quartey, writer, storyboard artist, animator and voice actor (
OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes ''OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes'' is an American animated television series created by Ian Jones-Quartey for Cartoon Network. The show is based on Jones-Quartey's pilot ''Lakewood Plaza Turbo'', which was released as part of Cartoon Network's 2013 Su ...
) *
Elise Ray Mary Elise Ray (born February 6, 1982) is an American gymnast who represented the United States at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and the 1999 World Championships. She was the head gymnastics coach at the University of Washington from 2016 to 2020. ...
, Olympic gymnast * James W. Rouse, urban planner, real estate developer and philanthropist; grandfather of actor Edward Norton * Peter Salett, singer-songwriter *
Christian Siriano Christian Vincent Siriano (born November 18, 1985) is an American fashion designer and member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). Siriano first gained attention after winning the fourth season of American design competition ...
, fashion designer, winner of fourth season of '' Project Runway'' (born in Columbia) * Dave Sitek, guitarist and music producer, member of the band TV on the Radio * Linda Tripp, central figure in the Monica Lewinsky scandal *
Terry Virts Terry W. Virts (born December 1, 1967) is a retired NASA astronaut, International Space Station Commander and colonel in the United States Air Force. Background and education Virts was born in Baltimore, Maryland, but considers Columbia, Mary ...
, astronaut * Void, punk band *
Greg Whittington Greg Whittington (born February 17, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for Hapoel Be'er Sheva of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. After a tumultuous college career with Georgetown, Whittington began his professional caree ...
, basketball player * Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, inventor of the jet engine * Oprah Winfrey, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist; Winfrey lived in Columbia during the time she worked at WJZ in Baltimore between 1976 and 1983


Sister cities

Columbia is a
sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...
to the planned cities of Cergy-Pontoise, France, and Tres Cantos, Spain. The Columbia Association International and Multicultural Programs Advisory Committee organizes a summer exchange program for French and Spanish students enrolled in Howard County Public Schools. In 2013, CA announced its new sister city relationship with Tema, a port city in Ghana. The official celebration was marked with a Ghana Fest on November 17, 2013. An advisory committee planned to sign the official SCI agreement by 2015. In 2016, Cap-Haïtien, Haiti became a sister city followed by Liyang, China in 2018. * Cergy-Pontoise, France (1977) * Tres Cantos, Spain (1990) * Tema, Ghana (2013) * Cap-Haïtien, Haiti (2016) * Liyang, China (2018)


Related cities

The Rouse Company The Rouse Company, founded by Hunter Moss and James W. Rouse in 1939, was a publicly held shopping mall and community developer from 1956 until 2004, when General Growth Properties (GGP) purchased the company. Beginnings - Moss-Rouse Company ...
, now owned by the Howard Hughes Corporation, owns and operates multiple HUD Title VII-New Town planned community developments along with Columbia. These include The Woodlands, Texas, Bridgeland Community, Texas, and Summerlin, Nevada.


References


Further reading

*Joseph Rocco Mitchell and David L. Stebenne, ''New City Upon A Hill: A History of Columbia, Maryland'' (The History Press, 2007) *Missy Burke, Robin Emrich and Barbara Kellner,
Oh, you must live in Columbia: The origins of place names in Columbia, Maryland
' (2008) *Barbara Kellner,
Columbia – Images of America
'


External links


Columbia Association, Inc.

Columbia Archives

Columbia Maryland
* Stephen Amidon talks to Kojo Nnamdi about growing up in Columbia in the 1970s
interview

"A haven for interracial love amid relentless racism: Columbia turns 50"
by DeNeen L. Brown, ''The Washington Post'' July 21, 2017 {{Authority control Census-designated places in Howard County, Maryland Planned cities in the United States Populated places established in 1967 1967 establishments in Maryland