Columbia

In October 1963, the Rouse Company announced to the citizens of Howard County, Maryland, that it had acquired more than 21 square miles --one tenth of the county's total land area-- for the purpose of building a new city.

In disclosing his company's plans to a rural Howard County citizenry, James W. Rouse, Chairman of The Rouse Company Board of Directors, described his vision for the new city. Columbia, because it would be planned from the beginning, would avoid the sprawl, waste and inconveniences that have come to typify small scale development. The new city, he said, would provide jobs and recreation, shopping and health care, commercial and industrial development, along with a broad range of housing choices.

Long before construction began in Columbia, the city's first planners met with a group of 18 educators and sociologists, all experts in their fields, to help determine what the city's social objectives should be and how they might be reflected in the physical plan. Columbia was also thought of as a group of neighborhoods within villages, almost like a system of small towns, a city that is open to everyone-people of all ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.

Actually, by the time the land was acquired, the city itself still had no name. Columbia was chosen because it already appeared on roadmaps in the form of "Columbia Pike." In addition, James Rouse said, "it embraced both Maryland and Washington, D.C. and, Columbia had kind of a hallelujah sound."

From October 1963 to November 1964, company planners created a general plan for the city, detailing land uses, densities, development pace, and economics. In November 1964 the Columbia plan was presented to the people and government of Howard County, along with a request for a new kind of zoning which would permit higher residential densities and greater flexibility in mixing land uses. In August 1965, the County adopted a "New Town District" zoning ordinance and granted zoning for Columbia's development.

Months later, in January 1966, construction began on Columbia's first village-Wilde Lake. The first residents moved to Columbia in 1967. When Columbia is completed, there will be approximately 100,000 people living in a series of villages around the city's downtown.

Columbia, a bold hope at ground-breaking in 1966, is now a city giving shape and meaning to its original goals--physical, social and economic. Columbia residents have reacted to the new environment with initiative and vitality, bringing in a broad and continually expanding list of education, recreation, entertainment, civic and political activities.

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