Columbia
Item
Title
Columbia
Creator
James Queen
American, c. 1820–1886
After William Sanford Mason
American, 1824–1864
American, c. 1820–1886
After William Sanford Mason
American, 1824–1864
Date
c. 1850
Materials
Lithograph with hand coloring
Measurements
16-1/2 x 22-1/2 in. (41.9 x 57.1 cm)
Description
This picturesque town on the Susquehanna River, located about halfway between Harrisburg and the Pennsylvania state line, was almost the nation’s capital.
In 1730, John Wright, an evangelical Quaker who had settled in the area to preach to the local inhabitants, was granted a license to run a ferry across the Susquehanna. He constructed a ferry house and a tavern on the east shore, and the town that grew up around these buildings came to be known as Wright’s Ferry. In 1788, Wright’s grandson, Samuel Perry, who was the proprietor of Wright’s Ferry at the time, led a movement to rename the town Columbia, in honor of Christopher Columbus, and then petitioned the U. S. Congress to select it as the capital of the new nation. When Congress took up the issue in 1790, Columbia fell one vote short.
James Queen drew this lithograph for the publisher Peter Duval after a painting by Philadelphia artist William Sanford Mason, a member of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts whose career flourished during the 1850s. Mason apparently choose Laurel Hill as his vantage point, looking across Columbia toward the Susquehanna River, with Mud, Garden, and Heisey Islands standing prominently in its midst.
Adapted from the entry written by Judith Hansen O’Toole for the 1980 Pennsylvania Prints exhibition catalogue.
In 1730, John Wright, an evangelical Quaker who had settled in the area to preach to the local inhabitants, was granted a license to run a ferry across the Susquehanna. He constructed a ferry house and a tavern on the east shore, and the town that grew up around these buildings came to be known as Wright’s Ferry. In 1788, Wright’s grandson, Samuel Perry, who was the proprietor of Wright’s Ferry at the time, led a movement to rename the town Columbia, in honor of Christopher Columbus, and then petitioned the U. S. Congress to select it as the capital of the new nation. When Congress took up the issue in 1790, Columbia fell one vote short.
James Queen drew this lithograph for the publisher Peter Duval after a painting by Philadelphia artist William Sanford Mason, a member of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts whose career flourished during the 1850s. Mason apparently choose Laurel Hill as his vantage point, looking across Columbia toward the Susquehanna River, with Mud, Garden, and Heisey Islands standing prominently in its midst.
Adapted from the entry written by Judith Hansen O’Toole for the 1980 Pennsylvania Prints exhibition catalogue.
Source
Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University, partial gift and purchase from John C. O’Connor and Ralph M. Yeager.
Identifier
86.421
Rights
This image is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. Other uses are not permitted.