The Old Columbia Public Grounds Co.

The Old Columbia Public Grounds Company grew from founder Samuel Wright’s desire to provide a lasting public benefit to Columbia by reserving the valuable riverfront ground for the town’s inhabitants to place lumber, while forbidding buildings there. This land, lying along the river bank near a dirt road that gave access to the ferry, shad batteries, and receivers of lumber and produce, was used free of charge by those involved in river transportation until Wright’s death in 1811. After Columbia was incorporated as a borough in 1814, management of the land was assigned to the Grounds Company, and on April 10, 1826, The Old Columbia Public Grounds Company was incorporated with a board of members. The group also held stock in the Columbia Water Company, which helped it acquire land from John L. Wright that became Locust Street Park. From 1832 to 1834, the company granted the Columbia and Philadelphia Railroad a right of way through the eastern edge of the river shore, increasing the value of the rented shore lots to $339.00. In 1832 it also allowed John Lowery to wharf the shore for $2,000.00, a step soon followed by other shore owners that made loading and unloading merchandise more practical. The company continued renting the river shore lots until 1854, and the river lots were later leased to the Railroad Company from 1876 to 1915. In 1854, it bought additional land from John L. Wright bounded by Lancaster Avenue, Cemetery Road, and Cherry Street for what became Locust Street Park.

Columbia, Pennsylvania · United States