Gov. Warfield Parkway was a dirt road, and Wilde Lake Interfaith Center was an empty area good for stargazing.
Among the shops in the Wilde Lake Village Center were a butcher and a pipe emporium, and the Bryant Woods Elementary School had not been built.
This was the Columbia Helen Ruther remembers as one of the first to move to the planned community 40 years ago.
“There wasn?t a lot here, so it was fun,” she said.
Ruther, who moved to Bryant Gardens in October 1967 and now lives in Town Center, is helping to update a list of the so-called Columbia Pioneers who moved to the area by December 1968. A committee of about 10 Columbia residents is calling around to update addresses.
The list from 1992, when it was last updated, has about 240 addresses, and the committee is expecting about 100 people to attend the reunion, said Karol Hess, who also is helping in the process.
“I am amazed at the number of people that are still here, some of them in their same homes,” said Hess, who moved in August 1967.
Karen Everhart, who moved to Columbia when her former husband got a job building one of Columbia?s dams, said she remembers when the neighborhood bank was in a trailer before room became available in the then-new Wilde Lake Village Center.
“It?s grown so rapidly,” she said.
Are you a pioneer?
» A group of early Columbia residents is reaching out to connect with other pioneers who settled into Columbia by Dec. 31, 1968.
» The pioneers will be a part of a reunion party to be held June 22, as Columbia celebrates its 40th birthday.
» Early residents may send their names, addresses and phone numbers to Karol Hess at [email protected] or call 410-381-0154.
