Columbia Sites

Columbia elementary received additions via the Works Progress Administration shortly after its construction 1937. This Italianate-style building appears in very good condition. The facility was built in the current location in 1936 replacing the one-room school that served during the towns existence as a major gold mining area in the mid to late 19th century, most likely in line with the New Deal sponsored archaeological research that resulted in the town being changed into a state park in 1946. In 2007, major additions were added to the campus and the 1937 building has become just an additional classroom or administration...

The State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA) financed a $25,000 appropriation "which employed 65 research workers out of the Bancroft Library of U.C. Berekey and 56 additional workers put to work in the field to gather the necessary information to provide for the restoration of the old town of Columbia, in Tuolumne County." According to the Mariposa Gazette, efforts were being made in 1934 to have a local Mariposa County ghost town Hornitos being made into a state park in a similar way to what was occurring in Columbia California. Like most Mother Lode towns of the Gold Rush era gold was discovered...