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History · Columbia

19% of Columbia’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1902 on and the census since 1800.

0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Columbia’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Columbia are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1860 and 1970, then more than doubled.On the map since 19023 editions of the USGS map, 1902 to 1984. Watch Columbia change.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Columbia, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Columbia’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Columbia’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Columbia, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,400180018501900195020001,265 in 1860Low: 162

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1860 and 1970, then more than doubled.

23 censuses, 1800–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Columbia’s Wikipedia page.

On the map

Columbia on the map, 1902 to 1984

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Columbia. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Columbia on the 1902 USGS mapColumbia on the 1942 USGS mapColumbia on the 1984 USGS map1902Cherryfield sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Columbia.

The story

How Columbia came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Columbia.

Read it all →

Many of the major events of Columbia's past have been summarized in this section from local texts, newspaper accounts, and from the recollections of residents.

Prior to settlement from families who originated in southern Maine, Native American settlements had existed along the Pleasant River. One is documented in Maine State records and another was present at Saco Falls. The earliest Euro-American settlers arrived from Addison, then known as Township 6, by traveling up the Pleasant River. The first family was William and Noah Mitchell in the 1750s.

ChaptersNative Americans and early settlementGovernment and industryEducationReligionFarming, forestry and maritime industriesHistoric structures and land use activitiesTransportationSelected reference

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Columbia, 1796 to 1906

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 18th century
  2. 1796Post officeThe Columbia post office opens
  3. 19th century
  4. 1855Born hereSara J. Dorr is born here
  5. 1860CensusPopulation peaks at 1,265
  6. 1887Post officeThe Epping post office opens
  7. 20th century
  8. 1902Post officeThe Epping post office closes
  9. 1902On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  10. 1906Post officeThe Columbia post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Columbia had its own post office from 1796 to 1906. Another post office, Epping, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Columbia
1796–1906
Epping
1887–1902
17901910today
Hamlets and corners on the map
EppingGeorgetownLittle River Corner
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Columbia
ColumbiaMailey Hill

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Columbia Falls5 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCherryfield9 historic placesA+Harrington1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Columbia’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.