Columbia City was established in 1891 as a streetcar suburb by J. K. Edmiston , the owner of the Rainier Avenue Electric Railway . Edmiston had built the line and a lumber mill on the site of old-growth forests to aid in the rebuilding of Downtown Seattle after the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 . The site was later named " Columbia " and plotted for homes , and incorporated in 1893 as " Columbia City " . The city was annexed by the city of Seattle in 1907 after Edmiston sold the railway and left the fledgling town , who felt their tax base was too small to support the area 's growth . The Rainier Avenue line would cease operations on January 1 , 1937 , in order to pave Rainier Avenue ; service was replaced by motor buses , after an unsuccessful attempt to extend the Seattle Municipal Street Railway to the area
Great Seattle Fire
Great Seattle Fire
Columbia City station