Town Center is one of the ten villages in Columbia,

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 to ...

, United States, first occupied in 1974. The Town Center is a non-contiguous, diverse area, and the most urban-like, ranging from multi-level high density apartments, homes and office buildings to single family homes."Town Center"
towncenter.columbiavillages.org, accessed May 30, 2009 The six residential neighborhoods in the village include Amesbury Hill, Banneker, Creighton's Run, Lakefront, Vantage Point, and Warfield Triangle.

Names and history

The town center is constructed on the grounds of

Oakland Manor Oakland or Oakland Manor is a 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 were patented by John D ...

, a former slave plantation. Construction started in 1966, with sidewalks linking major amenities added in 1984.

Original attractions

Columbia Exhibit Center is the facility built to market the project to visitors. The building was designed by the firm of Gehry, Walsh and O'Malley. The site hosted 215,000 in its first year. Vantage Point is in the tract patented by John Dorsey as Dorsey's Adventure in 1688. The name comes from a poem by

Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloq ...

, and the street names are from Frost and

William Cullen Bryant William Cullen Bryant (November 3, 1794 – June 12, 1878) was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the ''New York Evening Post''. Born in Massachusetts, he started his career as a lawyer but showed an interest in poetry ...

. It contains a house, Historic Oakland, built in 1811 by

Charles Sterrett Ridgely Charles Sterrett Ridgely (1781 – 1847) was an American land developer and legislator. Biography Charles parents were John Sterrett a privateer, and Deborah Ridgley. His father purchased 1,696 acres patented as Felicity from Mathias Hammond s ...

. The Town Center village offices are in Historic Oakland. Oliver's Carriage House, a stable built by Robert Oliver, is on the grounds and is currently home to Kittamaqundi Community, a non-denominational religious congregation. Amesbury Hill was originally set aside as an estate area for Rouse Company executives and was part of the Mercer Tract. Mercer Tract was owned by the parents of

Lucy Mercer Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd ( Lucy Page Mercer; April 26, 1891 – July 31, 1948) was an American woman who was best known for her affair with US president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Background Lucy Page Mercer was born on April 26, 1891, in Washington, ...

, the personal secretary to

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

. Creighton's Run, developed in 1979, was named for the boss of the construction company. Banneker was first occupied in 1992, named for Banneker Road. The road was named for

Benjamin Banneker Benjamin Banneker (November 9, 1731October 19, 1806) was an African-American naturalist, mathematician, astronomer and almanac author. He was a landowner who also worked as a surveyor and farmer. Born in Baltimore County, Maryland, to a fr ...

."How Streets were Named and other Interesting Facts"
columbiamaryland.com, accessed May 30, 2009 Vantage House is a 13-story Life Care Retirement Community built in place of an 18th-century historical residence and opened in October 1990.

Redevelopment efforts

The Town Center is also referred to as "Downtown Columbia" due to its central location within Columbia, as well as the

new urbanism New Urbanism is an urban design movement which promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually inf ...

-style redevelopment project under construction since 2010. The new development also created four new distinct neighborhood areas: *Crescent, located south of the Merriweather-Post Pavilion and will be accessed off of Broken Land Parkway *Lakefront, located west of Lake Kittamaqundi *Symphony Overlook, located just north of Symphony Woods Park and south of the Columbia Mall Food Court *Warfield, located in between Broken Land Parkway and Governor Warfield Parkway. In 1998 the first apartments were occupied in Warfield Triangle, named for Governor Warfield Parkway, in turn named for Governor

Edwin Warfield Edwin Warfield (May 7, 1848March 31, 1920) was an American politician and a member of the United States Democratic Party, and the 45th Governor of Maryland in the United States from 1904 to 1908. Early life Edwin Warfield was born to Alber ...

Services and entertainment

The lakefront of

Lake Kittamaqundi Lake Kittamaqundi is a man made reservoir located in Columbia, Maryland in the vicinity of the Mall in Columbia as well as Merriweather Post Pavilion. It is also adjacent to offices and visible from US-29. The lake was created by The Rouse C ...

with the iconic ''People Tree'' sculpture, is the heart of the village, and the whole town. The lake's name is a Piscataway Indian word described by the Columbia Association as "meeting place", or "Place of the Old Great Beaver" by Native American research. In the summer, the

Columbia Association Columbia Association (CA) is a management organization for the financing, and maintenance of common-use facilities of The Rouse Company planned development of Columbia, Maryland. Organizational structure CA was originally named The Columbia Park a ...

offers live entertainment and/or movies daily at the Kittamaqundi lakefront.

The Mall in Columbia The Mall in Columbia, also known as the Columbia Mall, is the central shopping mall for the planned community of Columbia, Maryland, United States. It has over 200 specialty stores and the anchor stores are AMC Theatres, Lidl, Main Event Enter ...

, a large shopping and entertainment mall, is located within Town Center. The Central Library of Howard County opened in 1981, and is located at the intersection of Little Patuxent Parkway and South Entrance Road.

Public transit

Columbia Town Center is a major hub for the

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 ...

bus service. The central station is located at the Columbia Mall, directly west of the Main Entrance, Restaurant Row, and

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

. MTA and Metrobus provide service to this location as well. In 2016, Howard County launched its first bike share pilot program for Columbia. The bike share will span across the Town Center from

Howard County General Hospital Howard County General Hospital is a 225-bed, not-for-profit health care provider located in Columbia, Maryland. History Prior to the construction of Howard County General, most emergency services were provided outside Howard County. In Baltimor ...

at Cedar Lane to Blandair Park in Oakland Mills Village.

References

External links

Town Center Community Association

The Mall in Columbia within Town Center

{{coord, 39, 13, 0, N, 76, 51, 18, W, display=title, type:city_region:MD-US Columbia, Maryland Populated places in Howard County, Maryland Planned cities in the United States Populated places established in 1974 1974 establishments in Maryland Villages in Howard County, Maryland