Columbia, Maryland


Columbia is located in the central part and is the second largest city in the U.S. State of Maryland. Columbia is a very young city. It is known as a working suburb of both Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. The city was in 2010 ranked as the number 2 on Money magazine's list of Best Places to Live in America. Columbia is situated in the Baltimore-Washington corridor and has received international recognition for its innovative planning.



To See And To Do In Columbia


  • Visit the Mall
  • Concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion
  • Historic Ellicott City
  • The Lakefront Summer Concert Series
  • The Antique Shows
  • Symphony Woods
  • The Town Center Lakefront
  • The Wine Festival
  • The Columbia Festival of the Arts
  • The Centennial Park
  • The African Art Museum
  • Columbia Sports Park


History Of Columbia - Timeline


In 1798, the Dorsey Hall was built. In 1809, the Christ Church Guilford was completed. In 1811, the Oakland Manor stone manor house was completed. In 1840, the Woodlawn house was build. It was a two-story stone house built on a slave plantation. In 1840, the Oakland Mills Blacksmith House and Shop was built.

Columbia was developed by the company Howard Research and Development, led by its founder James Rouse. In 1963 James Rouse announced that his company had acquired 14,000 acres and planned to build a city were Columbia today is. Detailed planning for the new city proceeded from 1963 to 1964. The company began to build the city in 1966.

Lake Kittamaqundi and Wilde Lake were carved out of fields. Ground was broken for the first commercial buildings in Town Center and the residential neighborhood of Bryant Woods. In July 1967, Columbia's first residents moved in. They moved into the first village to be developed in Columbia, Wilde Lake, a reservoir and also the name of the surrounding neighborhood. Also in 1967, the concert venue, the Merriweather Post Pavilion, opened.

In 1971, the Mall in Columbia opened and the Wilde Lake High School opened as a model school for the nation. In 1972, the Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts was formed. In 1976, the talk show host, Oprah Winfrey, moved to Columbia where she worked for WJZ-TV with the six o'clock news. In 1979, the Toby's Dinner Theatre was formed in Columbia. In 2007, the city celebrated its 40th birthday.

In 2019, Money magazine ranked Columbia as one of the best places to live in, along with Germantown.

Fun fact: The actor Edward Norton is the grandson of Columbia's founder, James Rouse.