Columbia City was founded in 1867 by Jacob and Joseph Caples.

In 1870, the town had aspirations of becoming the terminus for Ben Holladay's Willamette Valley railroad.

[6] The same year, Portland became the terminus of the west-side line, but the railroad never reached Columbia City.

[6] In 1902 the Columbia and Nehalem Valley Railroad was built as a forest railway towards Yankton.

Images They were ideally situated due to the channel coming so close to shore.

[8] This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F (22.0 °C).

18.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

19.9% were of German, 11.9% English, 11.0% Irish, 7.9% American, 6.5% Norwegian and 5.3% Scottish ancestry according to Census 2000.

19.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.