COLUMBIA CITY, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

'Columbia City' is a neighborhood in the Rainier Valley area of south Seattle, Washington. It was dense forest, inhabited by the local Native Americans, until the arrival of the Rainier Valley Electric Railway from Downtown in 1891. A lumber mill was built soon after, and in 1891 settlement began in earnest in "Columbia," named either for Christopher Columbus or the song "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean" (listen). Three streets in the neighborhood bear names of other famous explorers, a Columbia Street already existing Downtown: Ferdinand Street after Magellan, Hudson Street after Henry Hudson, and Americus Street after Amerigo Vespucci.
Columbia incorporated as "Columbia City" in January 1893. Annexation to the City of Seattle came in 1907 following a petition by citizens to the City Council to hold a special election on the matter. Although opposition to annexation had initially been strong due to citizens' desire for local control, the March 5 vote was overwhelming: 109-3 in favor of annexation to Seattle. Consolidation occurred on May 3, 1907.
In 1905, the newly-renamed Seattle, Renton and Southern Railway extended south to Renton. In 1912 the streetcar line went bankrupt and was reorganized as the Seattle and Rainier Valley Railway. Its last run was just after midnight on January 1, 1937. Meanwhile, Columbia City's ambitions to become a seaport were thwarted with the completion of the Lake Washington Ship Canal in 1917, which lowered Lake Washington by nine feet and caused Wetmore Slough to dry up. The former slough was used as a dump from 1941 to 1963, and is now Genesee Park.)
Part of Columbia City was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 as the Columbia City Historic District, bounded on the north by S. Alaska Street, on the south by S. Hudson Street, on the east by Rainier Avenue S., and on the west by 35th Avenue S.
Its main thoroughfares are Rainier Avenue S. and Martin Luther King Jr. Way S. (north- and southbound) and S. Alaska Street (east- and westbound).
As of 2007, Columbia City is one of Seattle's most diverse areas in terms of income and ethnicity. By the 1970s, the neighborhood had fallen into poverty, housing stock had deteriorated, and many storefronts along Rainier Avenue S. were vacant. Columbia City has, however, undergone gentrification since the mid 1980s, resulting in restoration of many of the older homes. Today, the pedestrian business district along Rainier Avenue S. includes several restaurants, a newly opened (2004) movie theater, and the national headquarters of the Freedom Socialist Party.

Contents

External links

External links

★ Columbia City

★ Columbia City Beatwalk, a monthly community celebration

★ Columbia City Farmers' Market

★ Columbia Citizens Wiki

★ Citizens' photo gallery

★ Columbia City cybertour from HistoryLink.org

★ Rainier Valley Historical Society

★ Guide to the Columbia City Records 1893-1913