Columbia is a city in Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Missouri. Columbia is a Midwestern college town, home to the University of Missouri, a major research institution also known as MU or Mizzou. In addition to the university and surrounding Downtown Columbia are Stephens College and Columbia College, giving the city its educational focus and nearly 40,000 college students. It is the principal city of the Columbia metropolitan area, population 215,811, and the central city of the nine-county Columbia–Jefferson City–Moberly combined statistical area with 415,747 residents. The city is the fastest-growing municipality in Missouri, with a growth of almost 40% since 2000, and a population estimated at 130,000 in 2024. Columbia is among the most-educated cities in the United States with about half of citizens being college graduates and about a quarter holding advance degrees.
Boone County is located in the U.S. state of Missouri. Centrally located the state's Mid-Missouri region, its county seat is in Columbia, which is Missouri's fourth-largest city and location of the University of Missouri. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the county's population was listed as 183,610, making it the state's eighth-most populous county. The county was organized November 16, 1820, removed from the former larger Howard County of the old federal Missouri Territory of 1812-1821, and named for the famous Western explorer and settler of Kentucky, then recently deceased Daniel Boone (1734-1820), whose kin largely populated the Boonslick area, having arrived in the 1810s on the Boone's Lick Road.
Fulton is the largest city in and the county seat of Callaway County, Missouri, United States. Located about 22 miles (35 km) northeast of Jefferson City and the Missouri River and 20 miles (32 km) east of Columbia, the city is part of the Jefferson City, Missouri, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 12,600 at the 2020 census. The city is home to two universities, Westminster College and William Woods University; the Missouri School for the Deaf; the Fulton State Hospital; and the Fulton Reception and Diagnostic Center state prison. Missouri's only nuclear power plant, the Callaway Plant is located 13 miles southeast of Fulton.
The Missouri State Capitol is the home of the Missouri General Assembly and the executive branch of government of the U.S. state of Missouri. Located in Jefferson City at 201 West Capitol Avenue, it is the third capitol to be built in the city. The domed building, designed by the New York City architectural firm of Tracy and Swartwout, was completed in 1917.
John William "Blind" Boone was an American pianist and composer of ragtime music.
The Columbia Cemetery in Columbia, Missouri has been in use as a cemetery since 1820. The cemetery historically contains, White, African-American, and Jewish sections. Located in the cemetery are a vernacular stone receiving vault (1887), and a Romanesque Revival style mausoleum (1911).
The David Gordon House and Collins Log Cabin were two historic homes located at Columbia, Missouri. The David Gordon House is a two-story, frame I-house. The 13-room structure incorporated original construction from about 1823 and several additions from the 1830s, 1890s and 1930s. The Collins Log Cabin was built in 1818, and is a single pen log house of the story and a loft design. They represent some of the first permanent dwellings in Columbia. The house, located in what is now Stephens Lake Park burned after arson in the early 1990s. The log cabin survived has been relocated from Stephens Lake Park to the campus of the Boone County Historical Society.
The Guitar House, previously known as Confederate Hill, is a historic home located in Columbia, Missouri. It was built between 1859 and 1862 and is a two-story, Italianate style dwelling. It has a low-pitched hipped roof, tall slender windows with segmented arches, decorative eave brackets, and a single-story front porch with square supports. The house was constructed by David Guitar, an officer in the Union forces during the American Civil War. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.
Sanborn Field is an agricultural experiment field, located on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia, Missouri. Established in 1888, it was the first facility in the United States intended to measure erosion and run-off for differing crops and agricultural practices. Work at Sanborn Field was influential in the establishment of soil conservation policy in the United States. The field was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.
Graham Cave is a Native American archeological site near Mineola, Missouri in Montgomery County in the hills above the Loutre River. It is located in the 356 acre Graham Cave State Park. The entrance of the sandstone cave forms a broad arch 120 feet (37 m) wide and 16 feet (5 m) high. Extending about 100 feet (30 m) into the hillside, the cave protects an historically important Pre-Columbian archaeological site from the ancient Dalton and Archaic period dating back to as early as 10,000 years ago.
Downtown Columbia is the central business, government, and social core of Columbia, Missouri and the Columbia Metropolitan Area. Three colleges — the University of Missouri, Stephens College, and Columbia College — all border the area. Downtown Columbia is an area of approximately one square mile surrounded by the University of Missouri on the south, Stephens College to the east, and Columbia College on the north. The area serves as Columbia's financial and business district and is the topic of a large initiative to draw tourism, which includes plans to capitalize on the area's historic architecture and Bohemian characteristics. The downtown skyline is relatively low and is dominated by the 10-story Tiger Hotel, built in 1928, and the 15-story Paquin Tower.
Greenwood, also known as Greenwood Heights, is a historic home located at Columbia, Missouri. It was built about 1839, and is a two-story, "T"-plan, Federal style red brick farmhouse on a stone foundation. It is one of the oldest remaining structures in Boone County, Missouri. Today the house is under private ownership.
The University of Missouri is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. Founded in 1839, MU was the first public university west of the Mississippi River. It has been a member of the Association of American Universities since 1908 and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity."
Maplewood is a historic home located in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It was built by Slater Ensor Lenoir and his wife Margaret Bradford Lenoir in 1877. It is a two-story, Italianate style brick dwelling. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
Morris Frederick Bell was an American architect known primarily for his institutional buildings but also for his domestic and commercial structures. His best known work is the David R. Francis Quadrangle the historic center of the University of Missouri including Jesse Hall. He also designed state correctional schools in Boonville, Chillicothe, and Tipton; and state mental hospitals in Fulton, Higginsville, and Nevada. Bell, a democrat, was also active in civic life, especially Masonic organizations. He trained and employed William Lincoln Garver as an assistant. Garver would later go on to have a stand-alone career.
The Boonslick, or Boone's Lick Country, is a cultural region of the state of Missouri along the Missouri River that played an important role in the westward expansion of the United States and the development of Missouri's territorial and subsequent statehood in the early 19th century. The Boone's Lick Road, a longtime historic route paralleling the north bank of the Missouri River from southeast to northwest, between St. Charles and Franklin, Missouri. It was the primary thoroughfare for settlers moving westward from the major river port on the Mississippi River of St. Louis and the first capital of the old federal Missouri Territory (1812-1821), in the early 19th century. St. Louis was also a major settlement town since the 17th and 18th century era along with the nearby, across the river upstream to the east, of French colonial settlements Kaskaskia and Cahokia in the adjacent Illinois Country of the New France colonial empire of the old Kingdom of France, leading from its capital in Quebec in the north, and east of the Great Lakes and extending southward through the central Mississippi River Valley down to the lower river port of New Orleans on the Gulf of Mexico and in French Louisiana, the heartland and central watershed of the North American continent. St. Louis was also important because of its proximity to the confluence of the central Mississippi with the Ohio River flowing from the northeast and the Missouri River streaming from the far western Rocky Mountains northwest in the earlier federal Louisiana Territory (1804-1812), organized after the sale of the huge uncharted Louisiana Purchase of 1803, from the Emperor Napoleon I / Napoleon Bonaparte of France for $15 million dollars
8th Street, more commonly known as the Avenue of the Columns, is an urban street in downtown Columbia, Missouri. It connects the University of Missouri and Francis Quadrangle to the Boone County Court House and the Columbia City Hall. The avenue has long symbolized "town and gown" in this Midwestern college town. Sitting in the center of Francis Quad on the south are the 6 ionic columns of the former Academic Hall, aligned with these on the north are the 4 doric columns of the former Boone County Courthouse. William Jewell, the first mayor of Columbia, is said to be responsible for this decision. The domed Jesse Hall and its corinthian columns are also in the alignment. The street is also home to the Tiger Hotel, the Guitar Building, and the offices of the Columbia Missourian. Civic planning efforts have focused on in-fill development and beautification. In 2014, it became the center of a controversy over the decision to build single-use student housing despite mixed-use and ground floor retail being the focus of community planning. In 5 blocks, the street crosses two National Register of Historic Places districts.
Boone County Historical Society was established in 1924. Located in Columbia, Missouri, United States, the Boone County Historical Museum has been collecting, preserving and exhibiting artifacts and records of the people of Boone County, Missouri.
Daniel Boone Hays House, also known as Hays Farm, is a historic home near Defiance, St. Charles County, Missouri. It was built between about 1826 and 1836, and is a two-story, "L"-plan, stone dwelling. The house measures approximately 42 feet wide and 52 feet deep. It was built by Daniel Boone Hays (1789-1866), an early settler and grandson of the famous pioneer Daniel Boone.
