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=== First Western settlements === In 1724, [[John Wright (businessman)|John Wright]], an English [[Quaker]], traveled to the Columbia area (then a part of [[Chester County, Pennsylvania|Chester County]]) to explore the land and proselytize to a Native American tribe, the [[Shawnee]], who had established a settlement along Shawnee Creek. Wright built a [[log cabin]] nearby on a tract of land first granted to George Beale by [[William Penn]] in 1699, and stayed for more than a year. The area was then known as "Shawanatown". When Wright returned in 1726 with companions Robert Barber and Samuel Blunston, they began developing the area, Wright building a house about a hundred yards from the edge of the Susquehanna River in the area of today's South Second and Union streets. Susanna Wright later built Wright's Ferry Mansion, what is now the oldest existing house in Columbia, dating to 1738. She lived in this house with her brother James and his wife Rhoda, and possibly the first of their many children. The home is open for tours as a house museum and is located at Second and Cherry streets. Robert Barber constructed a [[sawmill]] in 1727 and later built a home near the river on the Washington Boro Pike, along what is now [[Pennsylvania Route 441|Route 441]]. The home still stands, across from the Columbia [[sewage treatment|wastewater treatment plant]], and is the second oldest in the borough (after Wright's Ferry Mansion). Samuel Blunston constructed a mansion called Bellmont atop the hill next to North Second Street, near Chestnut Street, at the location of the present-day Rotary Park playground. Upon his death, Blunston willed the mansion to Susanna Wright, who had become a close friend. She lived there, occasionally visiting brother James, ministering to the Native Americans, and raising [[silkworm]]s for the local silk industry, until her death in 1784 at the age of 87. The residence was demolished in the late 1920s to allow for construction of the [[Columbia–Wrightsville Bridge|Veterans Memorial Bridge]]. In 1729, after Wright had petitioned William Penn's son to create a new [[County (United States)|county]], the provincial government took land from Chester County to establish [[Lancaster County, Pennsylvania|Lancaster County]], the fourth county in Pennsylvania. County residents – Indians and colonists alike – regularly traveled to Wright's home to file papers and claims, seek government assistance and redress of issues, and register land [[deed]]s. The area was particularly attractive to [[Pennsylvania Dutch]] settlers. During this time, the town was called "Wright's Ferry".
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