Editing Columbia, Maryland (section)

== History ==
=== Origins ===
Before European colonization in the 1600s, the area that is now Columbia served as farming and hunting grounds for indigenous peoples including the [[Piscataway people|Piscataway]] and [[Susquehannock]] peoples.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.howardcountymd.gov/history |title=Howard County's History |publisher=[[Howard County, Maryland]] |access-date=2023-08-22 |archive-date=August 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230822072922/https://www.howardcountymd.gov/history |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://dnr.maryland.gov/land/Documents/Stewardship/Howard-2022-LPPRP-Draft.pdf |title=Howard County Land Preservation, Parks and Recreation Plan Update |publisher=[[Maryland Department of Natural Resources]] |access-date=2023-08-22 |archive-date=August 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230822072923/https://dnr.maryland.gov/land/Documents/Stewardship/Howard-2022-LPPRP-Draft.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Columbia was founded in 1967 by [[James Rouse|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.<ref>Unless otherwise noted, this section is derived from {{cite book| title=New City Upon a Hill: A History of Columbia, Maryland|author1=Joseph R. Mitchell |author2=David Stebenne |date=March 31, 2007 | pages=28–56 |publisher=Arcadia |isbn=9781614230991}}{{open access}}</ref> 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.<ref>"C.R.D. Board Backs Swap of Stock With Rouse Firm," ''The Baltimore Sun'', February 9, 1966, p. C11</ref><ref>"Suit Filed to Void Rouse's Recent Acquisition of Firm," ''The Baltimore Sun'', August 21, 1966, p. FE29</ref>

By the early 1950s Rouse was also active in organizations whose goals were to combat [[urban decay|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 men, women, and their families can live and work, and, most importantly, grow in character, personality, religious fulfillment, brotherhood, and the capacity for joyous living.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

In the early 1960s, Rouse decided to develop a new model city. Rouse's ideas about what a new model city should be like were informed by a number of factors, including his personal Christian faith as well as the goal for his company to earn a profit, influences that he did not consider to be incompatible with one another.<ref name=Numrich/> After exploring possible new city locations near [[Atlanta]], Georgia, and [[Research Triangle|Raleigh-Durham]], North Carolina, Rouse focused his attention between Baltimore and [[Washington, D.C.]], in Howard County, Maryland.

=== Howard County land acquisition ===
In April 1962, Mel Berman, a longtime Howard County resident who was also a member of the CRD's Board of Directors, saw a sign on Cedar Lane in Howard County advertising {{convert|1309|acre}} for sale. Berman reported the option to the CRD and a decision was made to purchase the land. This was the first of 165 land purchases made by Rouse over the next year-and-a-half. In order to keep land costs low, Jack Jones, an attorney from Rouse's firm of [[DLA Piper|Piper Marbury]], set up a grid system to secretly buy land through dummy corporations like the "Alaska Iron Mines Company".<ref>{{cite book |title=Property and Law |first1=Charles Monroe |last1=Haar |first2=Lance |last2=Liebman |publisher=Little, Brown |page=685}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Reforming Suburbia: The Planned Communities of Irvine, Columbia, and The Woodlands |author=Forsythe |page=114}}</ref> Some of these straw purchasers included Columbia Industrial Development Corporation, 95-32 Corporation, 95-216 Corporation, Premble, Inc., Columbia Mall, Inc., Oakland Ridge Industrial Development Corporation, and Columbia Development Corporation. Robert Moxley's firm Security Realty Company (now Security Development Group Inc),<ref name=Sachs>{{cite news| newspaper=The Baltimore Sun| title=Developer envisions 22 homes on 10 acres of Dasher Homestead; Moxley has ties to Columbia's birth| date=November 16, 1993| author=Adam Sachs}}</ref> negotiated many of the land deals for Jones, becoming his best client.<ref name=Sachs /><ref name="New City">{{cite book| title=New City Upon a Hill: A History of Columbia, Maryland |author1=Joseph R. Mitchell |author2=David Stebenne}}</ref>{{rp|57}} <ref>{{cite book| title=Columbia| author=Barbara Kellner| page=10}}</ref> CRD accumulated {{convert|14178|acre|km2}}, 10 percent of Howard County, from 140 separate owners. Rouse was turned down in financing from [[David Rockefeller]], who had recently cancelled a planned Rouse "Village" concept called Pocantico Hills.<ref name="New City"/>{{rp|58}} The $19,122,622 acquisition was then funded by Rouse's former employer [[Cigna|Connecticut General Life Insurance]] in October 1962 at an average price of $1,500 per acre ($0.37/m<sup>2</sup>). The town center land of [[Oakland Manor]] was purchased from Isadore Guldesky who was turned down from building high-rises on the site by Rob Moxley's brother, County Commissioner and land developer [[Norman E. Moxley]]. Sensing that he had a key property, he requested $5 million for his {{convert|1000|acre}}, signing an agreement by hand on a land plat.<ref>{{cite book |title=Columbia and the New Cities |author=Gurney Breckenfeld |page=233}}</ref> The competition between Rouse and Guldesky carried over to the competing [[Tysons Corner Center]] and [[Tysons Galleria]] projects, with each hiring their competitor's employees.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Washington Post |title=H. Max Ammerman Dies; Development Suburban Malls |date=November 1, 1988}}</ref>

By late 1962, citizens had elected an all-[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] three-member council. J. Hubert Black, [[Charles E. Miller]], and David W. Force who campaigned on a low-density growth ballot, but later approved the Columbia project.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stebenne |first1=David |last2=Mitchell |first2=Joseph Rocco |date=2007 |title=New City Upon a Hill: A History of Columbia, Maryland |publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]] |page=48 |isbn=9781614230991}}</ref> The [[Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning|Howard County Planning Commission]] Chairman Wilmer Sanner declared, "if this adds to the orderly development of the county, that's what we are looking for."<ref name="New City"/>{{rp|56}} That July, Sanner sold the majority of his {{convert|73|acre|adj=on}} [[Simpsonville, Maryland|Simpsonville]] farm to Howard Research prior to the public announcement.<ref>{{cite book| title=Maryland State Archives Book 440| pages=80–82}}</ref> In October 1963, the acquisition was revealed to the residents of Howard County, putting to rest rumors about the mysterious purchases. These had included theories that the site was to become a [[medical research]] laboratory or a giant [[compost]] heap. Despite the moniker of being a "planned city", the planning for the city occupied Rouse officials for most of 1964 after the announcement while marketing director Scott Ditch was brought from Baltimore's [[Village of Cross Keys|Cross Keys]] development to promote the project to community groups.<ref name="New City"/>{{rp|56}} <ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |title=Rouse Official Oversaw Naming Of Columbia's Streets, Helped Gain Harborplace Approval |date=June 20, 2009 |author=Jacques Kelly}}</ref>
 
In December 1964 the [[zoning]] was rejected by planning director Tom Harris Jr. for handing nearly all planning control to the developer. A media push was instituted to approve the zoning by Dorris Thompson of ''[[The Howard County Times]]'', Seymour Barondes of the Howard County Civic Association, and Anita Iribe of the [[League of Women Voters]].<ref name="New City"/>{{rp|64}} In June 1965 zoning was approved for the project, and Howard Research and Development entered into a $37.5 million construction deed backed by the property.<ref>{{cite news| newspaper=The Baltimore Sun| title=Columbia's first 25 years: a chronology| url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1992/06/14/columbias-first-25-years-a-chronology/| date=June 14, 1992| author=Columbia Archives| access-date=June 8, 2013| archive-date=February 1, 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201233301/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1992-06-14/news/1992166270_1_columbia-association-merriweather-post-pavilion-wilde-lake| url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="oag.state.md.us">{{cite web| title=HOWARD COUNTY, MARYLAND et al. v. HOWARD RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION et al.| url=http://www.oag.state.md.us/Courts/1990/1990_04_16.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060923132849/http://www.oag.state.md.us/Courts/1990/1990_04_16.pdf |archive-date=2006-09-23 |url-status=live| access-date=February 14, 2014}}</ref> Development was temporarily stalled in October 1965 when James and Anna Hepding of Simpsonville sued the planning board, stating New Town zoning was a form of [[spot zoning]] benefiting a sole property owner. The case was dropped when developer [[Homer Gudelsky]] purchased the estate.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |title=Flashbacks |date=October 17, 1990}}</ref> Ten years later, former Councilman Charles E. Miller stated that if he could do it over again, he wouldn't have voted to approve Columbia. He felt exploited and felt the [[subsidized housing]] would become a problem for the rest of the county.<ref>{{cite news| title=At youthful age of 10, Columbia is feeling like a grown-up new town| newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]| date=June 19, 1977| author=Michael J. Clark| page=B1}}</ref> Miller had been defeated in the November 1974 Howard County Council elections, in part as a result of the changed political landscape that Columbia's development brought. In early 1976, a ''Columbia Flier'' editorial charged that Miller was a fear-mongering reactionary who had a personal vendetta against Columbia, Rouse and Columbia residents.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Columbia Flier |title=Middle Patuxent: a solid proposal |date=January 15, 1976}}</ref>

=== Unveiling and growth ===
[[File:View looking southwest - Blandair, 6651 Highway 175, Columbia, Howard County, MD HABS MD-1149-6.tif|thumb|[[Blandair]], a historic plantation located in the center of Columbia]]
At the unveiling on June 21, 1967, [[James Rouse]] described Columbia as a [[planned community|planned new city]] which would avoid the [[Urban sprawl|leap-frog]] and spot-zoning development threatening the county.<ref name="leap"/> The new city would be complete with jobs, schools, shopping, and medical services, and a range of housing choices. [[Property tax]]es from commercial development would cover the additional services with which housing would burden the county. The [[urban planning]] process for Columbia included not only planners, but also a convened panel of nationally recognized experts in the [[social science]]s, known as the Work Group. The fourteen member group of men and one woman, [[Antonia Handler Chayes]], met for two days, twice a month, for half a year starting in 1963.<ref name="New City"/>{{rp|68}} The Work Group suggested innovations for planners in education, recreation, religion, and health care, as well as ways of improving social interactions. Columbia's [[open classroom]]s, [[Interfaith worship spaces|interfaith centers]], and the then-novel idea of a [[health maintenance organization]] (HMO) with a group practice of medical doctors (the Columbia Medical Plan) sprung from these meetings. The community's physical plan, with neighborhood and village centers, was also decided. Columbia's "New Town District" zoning ordinance gave developers great flexibility about what to put where, without requiring county approval for each specific project.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

[[File:Former Rouse Headquaters.jpg|thumb|Former Rouse Headquarters]]
In 1968, vice-presidential candidate [[Spiro Agnew]] referenced Columbia to reporters, saying, "Government should act as a catalyst to encourage the local governments to encourage industry and business to move next to a planned community," and "I want to lessen the density in the ghettos, and concurrently rebuild the ghetto areas."<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Washington Post |title=Agnew Says Vice President Should Quit in a Major Rift |author=Richard Reeves |date=August 25, 1968}}</ref> In 1969, County Executive Omar J. Jones felt that the increase in tax base was lagging behind the need for infrastructure as the operating budget doubled to $15 million in three years.<ref name="Ellen Hoffman">{{cite news| newspaper=The Washington Post| title=New Towners, The Voiceless Marylanders: Columbia Citizens Seeking More Say| author=Ellen Hoffman| date=September 26, 1969}}</ref> Crime rates shot up around the county by 30–50% a year, with hot spots around the development.<ref>{{cite news| newspaper=The Washington Post| title=Howard County Boom Malignant or Benign?| date=September 19, 1972| author=Tom Huth}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| newspaper=The Washington Post| title=Rural Howard County Goes on a Crime Alert| date=December 11, 1971}}</ref> By 1970, the project required additional financing to continue, borrowing $30 million from Connecticut General, [[Manufacturers Hanover Trust]], and [[Morgan Guaranty]]. In 1972, amendments to New Town zoning proposing to place a maximum height for buildings and maintain the original density limit of 2.2 units per acre were opposed by Rouse allies including the [[Columbia Association]], the Ellicott City Businessman's Association and the Columbia Democratic Club.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |title=Rouse campaigning against Columbia zoning amendments |date=June 22, 1972 |author=Michael J. Clark}}</ref> By 1974, the amount owed reached $100,000 million,{{dubious|date=October 2015}}<!--that's 100 billion--> prompting partner Connecticut General to consider [[bankruptcy]]. An effort to create a special taxing district in 1978 and an effort to incorporate with a mayor in 1979 failed.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |title=Plan to Incorporate Columbia Faces Defeat |author=Micheal J. Clark |date=February 21, 1979}}</ref> In 1985 Cigna (Connecticut General) divested itself of the project for $120 million. By 1990 Howard Research and Development owed $125,162,689.<ref>{{cite book| title=A Biography of James Rouse| page=234| author=Joshua Olsen}}</ref><ref name="oag.state.md.us"/> In 2004 the project was sold to [[General Growth Properties]], which went bankrupt in 2008. General Growth Properties submitted a plan for increasing density throughout Columbia in 2004 which was unanimously voted down.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |title=Howard Week |date=September 19, 2004}}</ref> Ownership of the project fell to the previous Rouse subsidiary the [[Howard Hughes Corporation]]. Howard Hughes submitted a new plan to increase density in 2010 under the [[Kenneth Ulman|Ulman]] administration that passed unanimously.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

Columbia has never [[Municipal corporation|incorporated]]; some governance, however, is provided by the non-profit Columbia Association, which manages common areas and functions as a [[homeowner association]] with regard to private property. The first boards were filled entirely with Rouse Company appointees.<ref name="Ellen Hoffman"/> The first manager of the Columbia Association was John Estabrook Slayton (d. 1967). For Slayton's contributions to the early planning of Columbia, the community center in the [[Wilde Lake, Columbia, Maryland|Wilde Lake]] village, Slayton House, was named for him. Wilde Lake was the first village area to be developed in Columbia; accordingly, the town's first [[High school (North America)|high school]] was [[Wilde Lake High School]], which opened in 1971 as a "model school for the nation". Constructed in the open classroom style, it was razed in 1994 and reconstructed on the same site, reopening in 1996.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

=== Master plan ===
To achieve the goals set forth by the Work Group, Columbia's Master Plan called for a series of ten self-contained villages, around which day-to-day life would revolve. The centerpiece of Columbia would be [[The Mall in Columbia]] and man-made [[Lake Kittamaqundi]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Columbia Jewish & Kosher Guide 2024: Kosher Info in Columbia, Maryland |url=https://www.totallyjewishtravel.com/Kosher_Tours-TL5881-columbia_maryland-Vacations.html |access-date=2024-06-28 |website=www.totallyjewishtravel.com}}</ref>

==== Villages and neighborhoods ====
[[File:Columbia Lake Front.jpg|thumb|The lakefront in Downtown Columbia sits upon [[Lake Kittamaqundi]]]]
The village concept aimed to provide Columbia a small-town feel (like [[Easton, Maryland]], where James Rouse grew up). Each village comprises several neighborhoods. The village center may contain middle and high schools. All villages have a shopping center, recreational facilities, a community center, a system of bike/walking paths, and homes. Four of the villages have [[Interfaith worship spaces|interfaith centers]], common worship facilities which are owned and jointly operated by a variety of religious congregations working together.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/heres-a-suburban-experiment-cities-can-learn-from/2017/07/11/c737165e-4d1f-11e7-bc1b-fddbd8359dee_story.html |title=Here's a suburban experiment cities can learn from |last=Hurley |first=Amanda |date=July 13, 2017 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=January 24, 2019 |archive-date=January 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123144541/https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/heres-a-suburban-experiment-cities-can-learn-from/2017/07/11/c737165e-4d1f-11e7-bc1b-fddbd8359dee_story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Most of Columbia's neighborhoods contain single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and apartments, though some are more exclusive than others. The original plan, following the neighborhood concept of [[Clarence Perry]], would have had all the children of a neighborhood attend the same school, melding neighborhoods into a community and ensuring that all of Columbia's children get the same high-quality education. Rouse marketed the city as being "color blind" as a proponent of [[James Clark Jr.|Senator Clark]]'s [[Housing discrimination in the United States|fair housing]] legislation. If a neighborhood was filled with too many purchasers of a single race, houses would be [[Civil Rights Act of 1968|blocked]] until the desired ratio was met.<ref name="New City"/>{{rp|85}}
* Village – Neighborhoods (in order of residential opening)
** [[Wilde Lake, Columbia, Maryland|Wilde Lake]] – (Est. 1967) Bryant Woods, Faulkner Ridge, Running Brook
** [[Harper's Choice, Columbia, Maryland|Harper's Choice]] – (Est. 1968) Longfellow, Swansfield, Hobbit's Glen
** [[Oakland Mills, Columbia, Maryland|Oakland Mills]] – (Est. 1969) Thunder Hill, Talbott Springs, Stevens Forest
** [[Long Reach, Columbia, Maryland|Long Reach]] – (Est. 1971) Phelps Luck, Jeffers Hill, Locust Park, Kendall Ridge
** [[Owen Brown, Columbia, Maryland|Owen Brown]] – (Est. 1972) Dasher Green, Elkhorn, Hopewell
** [[Town Center, Columbia, Maryland|Town Center]] – (Est. 1974) Vantage Point, Banneker, Amesbury, Creighton's Run, and Warfield Triangle
** [[Hickory Ridge, Columbia, Maryland|Hickory Ridge]] – (Est. 1974) Clemens Crossing, Hawthorn, Clary's Forest
** [[Kings Contrivance, Columbia, Maryland|Kings Contrivance]] – (Est. 1977) Macgill's Common, Huntington, Dickinson
** [[Dorsey's Search, Columbia, Maryland|Dorsey's Search]] – (Est. 1980) Dorsey Hall, Fairway Hills
** [[River Hill, Columbia, Maryland|River Hill]] – (Est. 1990) Pheasant Ridge, Pointers Run

Columbia takes its street names from famous works of art and literature: for example, the neighborhood of Hobbit's Glen takes its street names from the work of [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]; Running Brook, from the poetry of [[Robert Frost]]; and Clemens Crossing, from the work of [[Mark Twain]]. The book ''Oh, You Must Live in Columbia!'' chronicles the artistic, poetic, and historical origins of the street and place names in Columbia.<ref>{{cite web| title=Publications: Books| url=http://www.columbiaarchives.org/index.cfm?action=content.sub&page=publications_books&oid=5| work=Columbia Archives| publisher=[[Columbia Association]]| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725185839/http://www.columbiaarchives.org/index.cfm?action=content.sub&page=publications_books&oid=5| archive-date=July 25, 2011}}</ref>

=== Further expansion ===
"The Downtown Columbia Plan" is a 2010 amendment to the county's General Plan of expansion. It is a framework for the revitalization of Downtown Columbia over the next thirty years. Development plans for downtown projects in the years ahead will include details for that project such as neighborhood design guidelines, environmental restoration, public amenities and infrastructure. These development plans must adhere to the framework of the Downtown Columbia Plan as required by the zoning legislation. Over the life of the Downtown Columbia development project, as much as 13 million square feet of retail, commercial, residential, hotel and cultural development is planned.<ref>{{cite web| title=DOWNTOWN COLUMBIA PLAN: A General Plan Amendment| url=http://planhoward.org/downtown_columbia_plan.pdf| publisher=Howard County, Maryland| access-date=October 2, 2012| date=February 1, 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131209103631/http://planhoward.org/downtown_columbia_plan.pdf| archive-date=December 9, 2013| url-status=dead}}</ref>

To be accomplished in three phases, the plan calls for the formation of the non-profit Columbia Downtown Housing Corporation to build an additional 5,500 units of low income housing placed downtown in exchange for increased zoning density for other projects.<ref>{{cite news| newspaper=Patuxent| title=Group hopes to provide affordable housing in downtown Columbia| author=Lindsey McPherson| date=September 24, 2012}}</ref> Additional development includes 4.3 million square feet of commercial office space, 1.25 million square feet of retail space, 640 hotel rooms, Merriweather Post Pavilion redevelopment and a [[Intermodal passenger transport|multi-modal transportation system]].<ref>"FAQ Downtown Columbia, MD." Howard County, Maryland. 2012. <http://www.columbiamd.com/plan/faq/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021145717/http://www.columbiamd.com/plan/faq/ |date=October 21, 2012 }}> Retrieved October 2, 2012</ref>

Columbia's master developer, the Howard Hughes Corporation, is heading up the expansion project. The project is projected to cost $90 million and will outline development in the community for the next 40 years.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/columbia/ph-ho-cf-council-votes-november-delay-1117-20161109-story.html |title=Howard County Times |last=Waseem |first=Fatimah |date=November 9, 2016 |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |access-date=February 19, 2017 |archive-date=February 20, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170220015250/http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/columbia/ph-ho-cf-council-votes-november-delay-1117-20161109-story.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>