When Wright returned in 1726 with companions Robert Barber and Samuel Blunston, they began developing the area, Wright building a house about a hundred yards from the edge of the Susquehanna River in the area of today's South Second and Union streets. Susanna Wright later built Wright's Ferry Mansion, what is now the oldest existing house in Columbia, dating to 1738. She lived in this house with her brother James and his wife Rhoda, and possibly the first of their many children. The home is open for tours as a house museum and is located at Second and Cherry Streets.

In the spring of 1788, citizens named the town 'Columbia' in hopes of convincing the newly born Congress to select it as the nation's capital, a plan George Washington favored. When Congress finally got around to voting on the proposal in 1790, it fell one vote short. Later, Columbia narrowly missed becoming the state's capital. Harrisburg was chosen instead as it was closer to the center of the state (splitting hairs if you ask me).

Formerly known as Wright's Ferry, Columbia is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. The first settlement was founded in 1726 by Colonial English Quakers from Chester County led by entrepreneur and evangelist John Wright. The establishment of the eponymous Wright's Ferry, the first commercial Susquehanna crossing in the region, inflamed territorial conflict with neighboring Maryland but brought growth and prosperity to the small town, which was just a few votes shy of becoming the new United States' capital.

The area around present-day Columbia was originally populated by Native American tribes, most notably, the Susquehannocks, who migrated to the area between 1575 and 1600 after separating from the Iroquois Confederacy.

In 1724, John Wright, an English Quaker, traveled to the Columbia area (then a part of Chester County) to explore the land and proselytize to a Native American tribe, the Shawnee, who had established a settlement along Shawnee Creek. Wright built a log cabin nearby on a tract of land first granted to George Beale by William Penn in 1699, and stayed for more than a year. The area was then known as "Shawanatown."

the 1900 collection / columbia

Each image has been scanned from original glass plate negatives which were composed and exposed circa 1890-1910 by various unknown photographers of the day. All images have been carefully restored to eliminate most dust and scratches contributed by time, but leaving the deteriorated emulsion edging representative of the age and condition of glass plates of this period. These giclée prints have been printed on high-quality archival paper using archival inks. They are a keepsake, a visual historic document, and a beautiful impromptu moment in time.
Please review the introductory EDITIONS section for pricing and ordering.