Columbia, Missouri
Columbia /kəˈlʌmbiə/ is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri.[8] Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the three-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth most populous with an estimated 128,555 residents in 2022.[9][10][11]
As a Midwestern college town, Columbia maintains high-quality health care facilities, cultural opportunities, and a low cost of living.[12] The tripartite establishment of Stephens College (1833), the University of Missouri (1839), and Columbia College (1851), which surround the city's Downtown to the east, south, and north, has made Columbia a center of learning. At its center is 8th Street (also known as the Avenue of the Columns), which connects Francis Quadrangle and Jesse Hall to the Boone County Courthouse and the City Hall. Originally an agricultural town, education is now Columbia's primary economic concern, with secondary interests in the healthcare, insurance, and technology sectors; it has never been a manufacturing center. Companies like Shelter Insurance, Carfax, Veterans United Home Loans, and Slackers CDs and Games, were founded in the city. Cultural institutions include the State Historical Society of Missouri, the Museum of Art and Archaeology, and the annual True/False Film Festival and the Roots N Blues Festival. The Missouri Tigers, the state's only college athletic program which sponsors FBS football, play football at Faurot Field and basketball at Mizzou Arena as members of the rigorous Southeastern Conference.
The city rests upon the forested hills and rolling prairies of Mid-Missouri, near the Missouri River valley, where the Ozark Mountains begin to transform into plains and savanna. Limestone forms bluffs and glades while rain dissolves the bedrock, creating caves and springs which water the Hinkson, Roche Perche, and Bonne Femme creeks. Surrounding the city, Rock Bridge Memorial State Park, Mark Twain National Forest, and Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife Refuge form a greenbelt preserving sensitive and rare environments. The Columbia Agriculture Park is home to the Columbia Farmers Market.
The first humans who entered the area at least 12,000 years ago were nomadic hunters. Later, woodland tribes lived in villages along waterways and built mounds in high places. The Osage and Missouria nations were expelled by the exploration of French traders and the rapid settlement of American pioneers. The latter arrived by the Boone's Lick Road and hailed from the culture of the Upland South, especially Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. From 1812, the Boonslick area played a pivotal role in Missouri's early history and the nation's westward expansion. German, Irish, and other European immigrants soon joined. The modern populace is unusually diverse, over 8% foreign-born. White and black people are the largest ethnicities, and people of Asian descent are the third-largest group. Columbia has been known as the "Athens of Missouri" for its classic beauty and educational emphasis, but is more commonly called "CoMo".[2]
Education[edit]
Almost all of the Columbia city limits, and much of the surrounding area, lies within the Columbia Public School District.[90] The district enrolled more than 18,000 students and had a budget of $281 million for the 2019–20 school year.[91]
While 95.4% of adults age 25 and older in the city have a high school diploma.[92] In 2022, Columbia Public Schools recorded a 67.7% attendance rate, lower than the state average of 76.2%.[93] Last year’s graduation rate for the class of 2022 was 90%, while the class of 2021’s graduation rate was reported at 89%. According to statewide numbers for 2022, Missouri’s overall graduation rate was 91.16%.[94] The Columbia school district operates four public high schools which cover grades 9–12: David H. Hickman High School, Rock Bridge High School, Muriel Battle High School, and Frederick Douglass High School. Rock Bridge is one of two Missouri high schools to receive a silver medal by U.S. News & World Report, putting it in the Top 3% of all high schools in the nation.[95] Hickman has been on Newsweek magazine's list of Top 1,300 schools in the country for the past three years and has more named presidential scholars than any other public high school in the US.[95] There are also several private high schools located in the city, including Christian Fellowship School, Columbia Independent School, Heritage Academy, Christian Chapel Academy, and Tolton High School.[96]
CPS also manages seven middle schools: Jefferson, West, Oakland, Gentry, Smithton, Lange, and John Warner. John Warner Middle School first opened for the 2020/21 school year.
A very small portion of the city limits is in Hallsville R-IV School District.[90] The sole high school of that district is Hallsville High School.
The United States census estimated that 55.3% of adults ages 25 and up in Columbia hold a bachelors degree or higher.[92] While only 31.2% of Missourians hold a bachelor’s degree.[97]
The city has three institutions of higher education: the University of Missouri, Stephens College, and Columbia College, all of which surround Downtown Columbia. The city is the headquarters of the University of Missouri System, which operates campuses in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Rolla. Moberly Area Community College, Central Methodist University, and William Woods University as well as operates satellite campuses in Columbia.
Infrastructure[edit]
Transportation[edit]
The Columbia Transit provides public bus and para-transit service, and is owned and operated by the city. In 2008, 1,414,400 passengers boarded along the system's six fixed routes and nine University of Missouri shuttle routes, and 27,000 boarded the Para-transit service.[98] The system is constantly experiencing growth in service and technology. A $3.5 million project to renovate and expand the Wabash Station, a rail depot built in 1910 and converted into the city's transit center in the mid-1980s, was completed in summer of 2007.[99][100] In 2007, a Transit Master Plan was created to address the future transit needs of the city and county with a comprehensive plan to add infrastructure in three key phases.[101] The five to 15-year plan intends to add service along the southwest, southeast and northeast sections of Columbia and develop alternative transportation models for Boone County.
The city is served by Columbia Regional Airport. The closest rail station is Jefferson City station, in the state capital Jefferson City.
Columbia is also known for its MKT Trail, a spur of the Katy Trail State Park, which allows foot and bike traffic across the city, and, conceivably, the state. It consists of a soft gravel surface for running and biking. Columbia also is preparing to embark on construction of several new bike paths and street bike lanes thanks to a $25 million grant from the federal government.[102] The city is also served by American Airlines at the Columbia Regional Airport, the only commercial airport in mid-Missouri.
I-70 (concurrent with US 40) and US 63 are the two main freeways used for travel to and from Columbia. Within the city, there are also three state highways: Routes 763 (Rangeline Street & College Avenue), 163 (Providence Road), and 740 (Stadium Boulevard).
Rail service is provided by the city-owned Columbia Terminal Railroad (COLT), which runs from the north side of Columbia to Centralia and a connection to the Norfolk Southern Railway. Columbia would be at the center of the proposed Missouri Hyperloop, reducing travel times to Kansas City and St. Louis to around 15 minutes.[103]