Columbia

Sister cities

• Cergy-Pontoise
• Liyang
• Tres Cantos
• Tema
• Cap-Haïtien

History

Before European colonization in the 1600s, the area that is now Columbia served as farming and hunting grounds for indigenous peoples including the Piscataway and Susquehannock peoples. Columbia was founded in 1967 by James W. Rouse, 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 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…

Geography

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. 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 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-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 land available for building. | date = March 2012 }}

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  87,752
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  71,407
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  65,111
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  62,985
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  62,330
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  59,713
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  58,626
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  57,637

Largest nearby schools

• Reservoir High
  High · Fulton · 1,837 students · 15.2:1 ratio
• Howard High
  High · Ellicott City · 1,741 students · 15.7:1 ratio
• Marriotts Ridge High
  High · Marriottsville · 1,716 students · 17:1 ratio
• Long Reach High
  High · Columbia · 1,714 students · 13.7:1 ratio
• Mount Hebron High
  High · Ellicott City · 1,621 students · 15.3:1 ratio
• Atholton High
  High · Columbia · 1,467 students · 15.6:1 ratio
• River Hill High
  High · Clarksville · 1,424 students · 17:1 ratio
• Oakland Mills High
  High · Columbia · 1,401 students · 13.7:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2025-10-27
  4 km E of Riverside, Maryland
• M 2.6 — 2021-06-25
  2 km SE of Woodlawn, Maryland
• M 2.81 — 2019-09-15
  5 km ESE of East Berlin, Pennsylvania
• M 3.03 — 2016-01-17
  3 km NE of Ranson, West Virginia
• M 3.6 — 2010-07-16
  5 km NNW of Barnesville, Maryland
• M 3.05 — 2010-06-03
  4 km ENE of Franklintown, Pennsylvania