Columbia’s post office opened in 1874, and 5 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 29% of U.S. towns · #144 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it
Most of Columbia was built recently: 0.8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1970.
The Columbia post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1967. Five smaller post offices, Centre Village (1863), Oakland Mills (1866) and Guilford (1874), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 8,815 in 19702020 census: 104,681152 years
How historic is Columbia?
C
More historic than 29% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Columbia post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1967.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Columbia’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Columbia is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns, #144 of 261 in Maryland. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Columbia’s overall grade.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Columbia ranks #307 on History.
Few Maryland towns list much on the Register (a typical Maryland town has 0.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Columbia’s 1.0 sits near the middle of its state (48% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 10 historic buildings outnumber those of 76% of U.S. towns.
Newer cities are common at Columbia’s size: in the typical U.S. city of 100,000 or more, 5% of homes predate 1940.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. The pre-1940 share (±0.3 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1967.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Columbia’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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 Resea…
Passages that mention Columbia, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Statistical gazetteer of the state of Maryland, and the District of Columbia1856 · page 137Read the page →
Read the text
The portion of territory ceded by Maryland to the General Government, and incorporated with the District of Columbia, was set off between 1790 and 1800. The number of its inhabitants in the latter year should be properly taken into account, in stating the population of Maryland, when the second census was taken. But the figures could not be conveniently admitted into the tables. The number of whites, with whom were reckoned a few free colored persons, was- 8,144, and of slaves, 2,072. Adding these amounts to the figures in the lines referring to the census of 1800, it will be seen that but for this cession of terri-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Statistical gazetteer of the state of Maryland, and the District of Columbia1856 · page 113Read the page →
Read the text
important town in Maryland after Baltimore, was founded in 1745, and was named after Frederick, son of Charles, Lord Baltimore. It was made the county town on the formation of the county of Frederick in 1748. Georgetown, now in the District of Columbia, was laid out on a plot of sixty acres in 1751 ; and being a port of deposit for the produce of a large and fertile district of country and the head of navigation in the Potomac, it grew rapidly in population and trade.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Columbia, 1809 to 1995
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Columbia post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1967.
How does Columbia rank for history?
Columbia is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns, #144 of 261 in Maryland. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Columbia?
5 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Christ Church Guilford (listed 1978, the first), and 1 structure. 10 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Columbia?
0.8% of Columbia’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1983.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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