Columbia Avenue Historic District

Columbia Avenue, filled with beautiful historical homes, landscapes, and gardens. Located in the heart of Fort Wayne's first subdivision, Lakeside Park.

The Columbia Avenue Local Historic District is significant as a late 19th-early 20th century "streetcar suburb" that clearly demonstrates the early growth of suburban housing developments along the active streetcar lines. Through the efforts of local residents, the 700-1200 blocks of the Columbia Avenue corridor historic district was established in 2007 as a means of stabilizing the neighborhood and retaining its historic character.

Primarily constructed between 1893 and 1925, the houses in this district vary from large, two story homes to one-story cottages and represent the popular architectural styles of of the time: Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Craftsman, and American Foursquare. The homes have uniform setbacks with modest front yards and narrow side yards. Streets are bordered by green park strips and concrete sidewalks. Mature trees fill the neighborhood!

Columbia Avenue is the primary eastern route from the downtown area carrying thousands of cars per day. Upon crossing the Columbia Avenue Bridge and driving along the avenue, the character of this suburban development is immediately evident.

Local historic listings require that the Fort Wayne Historic Preservation Commission review any future conspicuous exterior changes to the property. This does not affect regular repair and maintenance procedures that do not involve a conspicuous exterior change, nor does it mean that buildings/structures cannot be altered or demolished, or that new buildings cannot be constructed.

Although a dozen or so of the original beautiful homes in the Columbia Avenue Historic District were constructed as duplexes or double-homes, many of them today house more than one single family. When the 1950's era emerged and new construction was underway in either direction of the city, many of the home owners moved to newer subdivisions and converted their older, inner-city historic homes into income properties.

Now, in the 21st century, many of these homes are being run down by tenants who don't care mainly because they don't own them and also because the current owners are not keeping up with general maintenance or preservation! Those of us who care greatly for this neighborhood understand that if nothing is done over a period of time, these once beautiful homes will eventually become "more work than it's worth"! However, there are still several homeowners on Columbia Avenue that are doing everything they can to preserve not only their own house, but the neighborhood in general.

If you have a greater love for Fort Wayne and want to help make sure that our city, our homeowners, and our history is proudly preserved, please do what you can! We are working with ARCH as well as the Fort Wayne Preservation Committee to make sure that Columbia Avenue is only going up-hill and that we as a community can continue to be a beacon of hope and history for hundreds of years to come!