The New International Encyclopædia/Columbia (Pennsylvania)

COLUMBIA. A borough in Lancaster County, Pa., 28 miles southeast of Harrisburg; on the Susquehanna River, here more than a mile wide, and on the Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia and Reading railroads (Map: Pennsylvania, E 3). It is an important industrial centre, its manufactures including boilers and engines, iron, laundry machinery, silk, lace, shirts, wagons, brushes, flour, novelties, malt liquors, stoves, etc. Wrightville, on the west bank of the river, is connected with the borough by one of the longest bridges in the United States. The place was founded in 1726 by English Quakers from Chester County, and was for many years called Wright's Ferry. In 1789 it was proposed to locate the capital of the United States here. In June, 1863, the original bridge was burned to prevent the Confederate troops from marching on Philadelphia. Population, in 1890, 10,199; in 1900, 12,316.