Vecindarios de Seattle: Columbia City -- Historia Abreviada

  • By Cassandra Tate
  • Posted 6/02/2001
  • HistoryLink.org Essay 3327
See Additional Media

Columbia City, un vecindario histórico en el sudeste de Seattle, comenzó como un poblado desarrollado por el promotor J. K. Edmiston, que construyó una línea férrea eléctrica desde el centro de Seattle a través de Rainier Valley a lo largo de la ruta que ahora sigue Rainier Avenue. Columbia City se incorporó como una ciudad independiente en 1893 y fue anexada a Seattle en 1907. Fabricantes tales como Hitt Fireworks Company y Heater Glove Company sostuvieron la economía local hasta la Segunda Guerra Mundial, cuando el vecindario se convirtió en el hogar de trabajadores de defensa, y Hitt Fireworks pasó a la producción militar. Columbia City declinó en los años de post-guerra, alcanzando su punto más bajo a fines de la década de 1970 cuando el crimen era una gran preocupación y muchos comercios estaban vacíos. En las décadas subsiguientes, una combinación de esfuerzos públicos y privados ayudó a revitalizar el área. La comunidad comercial local ganó la condición de Distrito Histórico para Columbia City en 1978, ayudando a preservar el ambiente histórico del vecindario. Los comercios una vez vacíos se han convertido en restaurantes, oficinas, una galería de arte y otros negocios.


Sources:

Robey G. Banta, “Columbia City History Has Much of Human Interest,” Duwamish Valley News, April 7, 1916; Edmond S. Meany, Origin of Washington Geographic Names (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1923), 53; Paul Dorpat, “Rainier Valley’s Electric Railway,” The Seattle Times, July 10, 1983; “Notice to Board of County Commissioners, King County,” filed Nov. 18, 1892, and “Election to Incorporate the Town of Columbia,” filed Jan. 12, 1893, both in City of Columbia Records, 1893-1913, City of Seattle, Municipal Archives; Rainier Valley Heritage News, Winter 2001; incorporation papers for Columbia Manufacturing Company, Hitt Fire-Works Company, and Heater Glove Company, King County Incorporation Papers, Puget Sound Regional Archives, Bellevue, Washington; "Centennial History: Columbia City, Rainier Valley, 1853-1991," dated 1992, comp. by Carey Summers for Pioneers of Columbia City, Rainier Valley Historical Society, Seattle, Washington; Mary Ann Balch, “Hitt Fireworks provided early-century drama,” South District Journal, June 26, 1996; “Columbia City Historic District,” National Register of Historic Places Inventory, Nomination Form, 1978; Cassandra Tate Interviews with Buzz Anderson, April 18, 2001, Eugenia Woo, April 19, 2001, and Gloria Hitt Cauble, May 30, 2001, Columbia City, Washington.
Note: This essay was revised slightly on October 26, 2011.


Licensing: This essay is licensed under a Creative Commons license that encourages reproduction with attribution. Credit should be given to both HistoryLink.org and to the author, and sources must be included with any reproduction. Click the icon for more info. Please note that this Creative Commons license applies to text only, and not to images. For more information regarding individual photos or images, please contact the source noted in the image credit.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
Major Support for HistoryLink.org Provided By: The State of Washington | Patsy Bullitt Collins | Paul G. Allen Family Foundation | Museum Of History & Industry | 4Culture (King County Lodging Tax Revenue) | City of Seattle | City of Bellevue | City of Tacoma | King County | The Peach Foundation | Microsoft Corporation, Other Public and Private Sponsors and Visitors Like You