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Anoka County Multi-Jurisdictional All Hazards Mitigation Plan 33 emerged and a city began. On July 21, 1921 the Charter of the City of Columbia Heights was adopted and the city was formed. City parks of Prestemon, Gauvitte and McKenna were all named for members of this first city council. Ava Ostrander, first woman elected to the council in 1924 also has a park named for her. Columbia Heights is an older community with structures dating back to the early 1900’s. Approximately 2/3 of the community was built right after WWII between the early 1950’s thru the mid 1960’s. 86% of our community is residential with the other 14% as commercial or industrial etc. Many buildings in the “downtown” area are 50 to 80 years old. The City of Hilltop located in the center of our community is entirely surrounded by Columbia Heights. Columbia Heights population from the 2010 census was 19,496, which is down approximately 3,000 from its high in the 1970’s but up almost 1000 from 2000. The city is a fully developed, urban community that is beginning to see areas of redevelopment. By the time parks were considered, most of the high ground was taken, leaving low-lying areas for parks. These areas were filled in and parks developed. Huset Park was the first Columbia Heights Park and was originally called City Park. It was renamed for a Lutheran minister, Elmer Huset of First Lutheran Church and City Manager for a time. The Jefferson pavilion building was constructed in 1959 on the eastern portion of Huset Park. Columbia School was built in 1894 at 41st and Central. In 1911, the south portion of the school was built. This building was razed in 1967. Oakwood School was built in 1915 and closed as a public school in 1974. It is now the home of Oak Hill Baptist Church. Silver Lake School built in 1922, closed in 1981 and became the new home of First Lutheran Church. In December of 1926, Columbia Heights High School on 41st Ave between Jackson and Van Buren became the first high school in Anoka County. It became the Columbia Junior High School in 1961 and in 1981 it was sold to the Northwestern Electronics Institute and operated as a technical college until NEI merged with Dunwoody in 2002. The City purchased the property and tore the structure down. The site became the new home of the Police and Fire Departments when the new Public Safety building opened in 2009. The property surrounding Silver Lake was mostly privately owned and had a privately run beach. In 1920, when a man drowned in the lake, the lake was dynamited in an attempt to find the body. This destroyed many of the natural springs, and water levels dropped greatly. A pipe was laid to the lake from the Minneapolis reservoir since it was felt this was too valuable a resource to allow it to become a swamp. Apparently, some of the springs have reactivated and with storm run-off, the lake levels have remained adequate without additional pumping of water into it. City of Columbus The City of Columbus is located in east central Anoka County in the northerly portion of the Twin Cities metropolitan area. The city is 48 square miles with an elevation of 919 feet at Latitude 45.26 N and Longitude –93.07 W. Wetlands and open water bodies dominate the landscape, as they constitute nearly two-thirds of the city. Some of this area is located within State owned Wildlife Management Areas (WMA), including the Carlos Avery WMA and Lamprey Pass WMA, which make up over one-third of the city. Rural residential uses comprise 9,306 acres of land, including 3,645 acres of wetland and floodplain. Nearly 2,400 acres of land, which is neither encumbered by wetlands nor floodplain, remain vacant or agricultural use.