Columbia sits on the Lancaster County bank of the Susquehanna, directly across the river from Wrightsville, and it has more river history packed into it than almost any town on our list. It started as a ferry crossing, came within a single vote of becoming the nation's capital, and spent the 1800s as a canal, rail and iron town. Most of its housing dates from that run.
Wright's Ferry and a near miss with history
Quakers led by John Wright settled here in 1726, and Wright was granted a patent to run a ferry across the Susquehanna in 1730. The settlement was known as Wright's Ferry until 1788, when it took the name Columbia, and it became an incorporated borough in 1814. In 1789 the town was put forward as the site of the new national capital. When Congress voted on it in 1790, Columbia lost by one vote.
Wright's Ferry Mansion, built in 1738 by Susanna Wright, is the oldest house still standing in Columbia. The borough is also home to the National Watch and Clock Museum on Poplar Street is one of the few museums anywhere devoted entirely to timekeeping.
The river crossing has its own Civil War chapter. On June 28, 1863, during the Gettysburg campaign, Columbia residents and Pennsylvania militia burned the covered bridge to Wrightsville to keep Confederate troops from crossing. The Veterans Memorial Bridge that links the two towns today opened in 1930.
A canal, rail and iron town's housing
The Pennsylvania Canal reached Columbia in 1833, the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad opened in 1834, and from about the 1850s to 1900 the area around the borough ran a string of anthracite iron furnaces. Warehousing, tobacco processing and boat building filled in the rest. That industry built most of what you see downtown, and the Columbia Historic District, listed on the National Register in 1983, reflects it: more than 800 contributing buildings, mostly residential and largely Late Victorian, across the business district and the neighborhoods around it.
For windows and doors, that means a lot of original wood sash in tall, narrow openings and entry doors that have had well over a century to settle into their frames. Openings from that era were framed by hand, so we measure every one on site before ordering a replacement window rather than assuming the house next door tells us anything. When the old sash is still sound, a window repair can be the better answer, and our article on single-pane windows walks through how to weigh the two on a house this age.
The same goes for doors. A worn threshold, a sagging hinge side or a latch that won't catch is often a door repair; a frame that's rotted at the bottom or an opening that's shifted out of square is more likely a door replacement. Our repair or replace guide covers how we make that call, and our page on older homes covers plaster walls and pre-1978 paint, both of which come with most of Columbia's historic housing.
Exterior changes in the historic district
Columbia has a Historic Architecture Review Board. It's an advisory board that reviews exterior changes to buildings in the historic district that are visible from a public right-of-way, using the Secretary of the Interior's Standards, and makes recommendations to Borough Council. If your house is in the district and the work faces the street, check with Borough Hall before a product is chosen. We'd rather plan around that review from the start than adjust an order afterward.
Frequently asked questions
Do window or door changes in Columbia's historic district need borough review?
Exterior changes visible from a public right-of-way in the historic district go through the borough's Historic Architecture Review Board, which makes recommendations to Borough Council. Check with Borough Hall before choosing a product, and let us know what applies so we can plan the job around it.
Can original wood windows in an old Columbia house be repaired instead of replaced?
Often, if the wood is still sound. Sticking sash, broken balances and failed glazing are repairable. We'll tell you which openings are worth saving and which have gone too far.
Is Columbia the town across the river from Wrightsville?
Yes. Columbia is on the Lancaster County side of the Susquehanna, Wrightsville is on the York County side, and the Veterans Memorial Bridge connects them. We work on both sides of the river.