Columbia is a city on the James River in Brown County, South Dakota.  An early variant name was Allentown. The city derives its present name from the song "Hail, Columbia".  

   By 1883, two steamer boats were moving goods and passengers on the James River from Columbia north to Jamestown. They were named the Nettie Baldwin and the Fannie L. Peck. Sailboats and yachts also began appearing on Lake Columbia. The town contained four banks, two general stores, a courthouse, a school taught by their first teacher, George B. Daly, a railroad roundhouse and turntable in anticipation of becoming the fast advancing railroad hub, a grocery store, the four-story Grand Hotel, a meat market, a drug store, a dray service, two jewelry stores, a men’s clothing/furnishing store, a machinery business, several saloons, several rooming houses, a novelty store, a grocery store, a number of blacksmith shops, two doctors, four lawyers, a newspaper called the Columbia Sentinel published by C.E. Baldwin, and the Columbia Business College created by Professor Hildebrandt. Columbia was also the county seat, and the county fairgrounds and race track were built to the north and east of town. It was a huge trade center, attracting business from a radius of 40 miles from the city in all directions. 

    In 1887, Columbia lost the county seat to Aberdeen, and river shipping was abandoned by most for railroad shipping. Panic spread as people and businesses scrambled to minimize their losses. Entire city blocks of this once sprawling, growing town literally disappeared. Businesses, buildings, and homes were either moved elsewhere, or dismantled for materials. The once magnificent courthouse was used as a school by the remaining residents until 1910. 

Even though economic and physical disasters stopped Columbia from being a Capital City, as of 2023, Columbia is getting back their vision.