Columbia Township is one of the twelve townships of Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 4,446 people in the township. Originally one of Ohio's largest townships by area at its inception in 1791,[6] it gradually shrank to one of the smallest by the early 1950s.[7]
Name
Columbia Township is named after the Columbia settlement, which Benjamin Stiles founded in 1788 as part of the Ohio Company of Associates' expansion from the Allegheny Mountains westward. This settlement represents the earliest recorded white settlement in the ancestral territory of the Native American Shawnee people.[6] Columbia is located in the historical Miami Valley, near Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airport and now part of Cincinnati'sColumbia-Tusculum neighborhood.[1][2] Statewide, other Columbia Townships are located in Lorain and Meigs counties.
Historic Marker - Columbia settlement
History
Columbia Township was formed in 1791, a year after Hamilton County was organized, when the court of general quarter sessions of the peace divided the southern part of the county into Columbia, Cincinnati, and Miami townships, each extending from the Ohio River north past the present-day Butler County line. Each township was assigned a standard cattle brand; historians have considered Columbia Township to be the county's first township, on account of its cattle brand of "A". The township's boundaries were defined as[8][2][6]
Beginning at the foot of the second meridian east of Cincinnati on the Ohio bank; thence north to the third entire (or military) range; thence east to the Little Miami; thence down the Miami to Ohio river; thence down the Ohio to place of beginning.
Columbia Township was one of the largest townships in Ohio, larger than some present-day counties. The three townships included virtually all the white residents of the Symmes Purchase; in the midst of the Northwest Indian War, battles often small-scale, tit-for-tat series of armed skirmishes that pitted Indigenous Native American tribes against white settlers and the United States military continued until the Treaty of Greenville.[2]
The township gradually shrank as Hamilton County's population grew. In 1795, upon the signing of the Treaty of Greenville, the court of general quarter sessions of the peace created Deerfield and Dayton townships out of the northern reaches of Columbia Township.[9] In 1803, the county commissioners created Sycamore Township from the northern half of Columbia Township[10] and, in turn, created Symmes Township from Sycamore Township's eastern half between 1820 and 1826.[11] In the early 1840s, Spencer Township was carved out of the southwestern part of Columbia Township.[2]
From the 1920s, car ownership spurred additional growth in the southwestern corner of the township. Mariemont was developed as a car-centric community in 1922. The completion of Columbia Parkway in 1938 caused Cincinnati to annex surrounding unincorporated land, leading Indian Hill and Mariemont to incorporate as villages in 1941, followed by Fairfax in 1951. Unlike in other parts of Ohio, most villages in southwestern Ohio withdrew from their surrounding townships via paper townships, reducing the township to one of the smallest in Ohio by the early 1950s.[12][7] One exception was Fairfax, which only withdrew on January 1, 2010, due in part to city residents' low tax contribution compared to their influence on township elections.[13][14]
Columbia Township invested $75,000 through its partnership to support Mariemont's development of the next segment of the Murray Path extension, a rail trail.[when?] In 2021 the path was extended to Columbia's Plainville Business District and historic Madison Place neighborhood.[citation needed]
Geography
Located in the eastern part of Hamilton County, Ohio, the township currently consists of eight disconnected parcels:[15]
Ridge & Highland/Red Bank is the largest parcel in the township. Its western part contains several big-box stores, its central part mainly contains a segment of Interstate 71, and its eastern part contains a few residential subdivisions. It is mainly surrounded by the Cincinnati neighborhoods of Kennedy Heights, Pleasant Ridge, and Madisonville, but is bordered by Silverton and Madeira to the northeast.[16]
Norwood Green is the westernmost parcel, mainly of Fenwick Park. It is bordered by Norwood to the south and Pleasant Ridge in Cincinnati to the north.[16]
Ridgewood contains a residential subdivision. It is bordered by Amberley to the north and east, Pleasant Ridge in Cincinnati to the south, and Golf Manor to the west.[16]
The Stewart Road Area is the northernmost parcel, containing residences. It borders Sycamore Township on the north, Madeira to the east, and Silverton to the west[16]
The Camargo Road Area is mostly wooded with a few residences on its eastern fringe. It is bordered by Madeira to the north, Indian Hill to the east, and Madisonville in Cincinnati to the west.[16]
Madison Place covers two parcels each of which is a residential subdivision. These border Indian Hill to the east, Madisonville in Cincinnati to the west, and Mariemont to the south.[16]
Plainville is a parcel that stretches along the northern bank of the Little Miami River; it contains a commercial district and some residential subdivisions in its central portion but is otherwise mainly undeveloped. It borders Fairfax to the west, Mariemont and Indian Hill to the north, Terrace Park to the east, and Anderson Township to the south.[16]
Some of the remaining township lands, which cover only about 2.5 sq mi (6 km2), are unsuitable for development, especially along the banks of the Little Miami River.[15]
Populations & People - As of the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau, the median age within the township was 32. Languages spoken at home were 93.4% English, 3.6% Spanish, 2.9% Other Indo/European, and 0.2% Asian/Pacific Island languages. The township ages under 18 were 20.1%, 18-65 is 56.6%, and over 65 was 13.3%. [4]
Income & Poverty - According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the estimated median household income for the township was $54,316. Income breakdown by family types: Families - $99,688; Married couple families - $138,730; Nonfamily households - $37,312. The population living below the poverty line was 22.8%, with under 18 years at 26.9%, 18 - 64, 24.1%, and over 65 at 9.8%. [4]
Education - The percentage of people in the township with a bachelor's degree or higher was 50.3%. The population of school enrollment from Kindergarten to 12th Grade was 46.2% [4]
Employment - About 68.1% of the township's population were employed. The average travel time to work was 20.2 min. The means of transportation as follows: Drive Alone – 69.1%, Carpool – 7.7%, Public Transportation – 1.1%, Walked – 3.0%, Bicycle – 0.6%, Taxi/Motorcycle – 3.4% and work from home, 15.2% [4]
Health - The percentage of people without Health Care Coverage in the township 6.8%, and the disabled population was 11.4%[4]
Families & Living Arrangements - There were 1,913 households, of which 20.1% had children under 18. The average family size was 3.15. The total households by type were married couples: 34.0%, male householders with no spouse present, 32.8%, and female householders with no spouse present, 28.8%. [4]
Race & Ethnicity - There were 2,165 housing units. The race and ethnic makeup of the township was 59.9% White, 35.3.8% Black or African American, 0.2% American Indian Native American, 1.54% Asian, 1.0% from some other race, and 2.1% two or more races. [4]
Government
The township is governed by a three-member board of trustees, who are elected in November of odd-numbered years to a four-year term beginning on the following January 1. Two are elected in the year after the presidential election, and one is elected in the year before it. There is also an elected township fiscal officer [18] who serves a four-year term beginning on April 1 of the year after the election, which is held in November of the year before the presidential election. Vacancies in the fiscal officership or on the board of trustees are filled by the remaining trustees.
Joint Economic Development Zone (JEDZ)
On November 5, 2013, the residents of Columbia Township voted to establish a Joint Economic Development Zone (JEDZ) and to implement an earnings tax on individuals working in the Zone and on net profits from businesses in the Zone, in partnership with the Village of Fairfax.[citation needed][1]
