Forest Acres' Identity Crisis

[GMoxley]

Anyone know the history behind Forest Acres and why the residents decided to incorporate a new city rather than join columbia?

[DigitalSky]

I always assumed it was part of Columbia, until now.

[sonofaque86]

It's like a city in the middle of Columbia..It makes no sense

[Hybrid0NE]

I always assumed it was part of Columbia, until now.

How did you not know that? You must drive pretty fast along Two Notch, Forest and Beltline to miss all of those "City of Forest Acres" signs. lol...

[sonofaque86]

lol...Forest Acres make sure you know you're passing through..I mean their city limit signs are all over the place. lol..u can be on the same road and see 3 forest acre city limit signs. lol

[UrbanSoutherner]

Here is a history from the City of Forest Acres website. It was incorporated in 1935 as a tiny community. I would guess that there was gap between Columbia and Forest Acres back then since most of the housing in the area today seems to be from the 1950s and beyond.

[waccamatt]

I grew up in Forest Acres back in the 70's. It was "way out" in the suburbs then; now it is practically "in-town", lol.

[krazeeboi]

I guess Columbia couldn't draw them in like it did Eau Claire and Old Shandon.

[803metlife]

I think it's rather stupid. There's different sections around Columbia that doesn't get counted in our census. The most dissapointing one is after passing the adventure museum it's brookln-cacye. I can estimate a uncounted 20,000-30,000 more people. This would boost the census.

[sonofaque86]

How about Broad River...The city limits literally surround them around the river and near DJJ and thats about 21,000 that doesn't even get counted.

[GMoxley]

The figures I've seen, say forest acres has about 10000 people. That would definately be a nice boost for the cola population.

Here's a map of the boundaries of Forest acres. That little sliver you see going up to the north, goes all the way to the other side of 77.

[Spartan]

How did you get the city boundaries on that map?

Here is a map of the Columbia area municipalities:

[sonofaque86]

Here's another one too!

[GMoxley]

How did you get the city boundaries on that map?

Great maps...Here's the site that I used:http://maps.huge.info/

[krazeeboi]

Our cities look like moths ate through them.

[waccamatt]

Our cities look like moths ate through them.

They did; the dreaded South Carolina Legislative Moth.

[sonofaque86]

According to this April 11 city council meeting. Forest Acres is trying to get their own zip code so they can start using Forest Acre mailing addresses instead of Columbia mailing addresses.

[Temeteron]

According to this April 11 city council meeting. Forest Acres is trying to get their own zip code so they can start using Forest Acre mailing addresses instead of Columbia mailing addresses.

I dont understand that concept.......here in Massachusetts, there are towns ex. Roslindale, West Roxbury, Newton, Jamaica Plains, Burlington, etc. but they are still considered Boston.........Why is Columbia not like that, Forest Acres is right in the middle of Columbia and isnt a part of the city population....thats ridiculous

[CorgiMatt]

I dont understand that concept.......here in Massachusetts, there are towns ex. Roslindale, West Roxbury, Newton, Jamaica Plains, Burlington, etc. but they are still considered Boston.........Why is Columbia not like that, Forest Acres is right in the middle of Columbia and isnt a part of the city population....thats ridiculous

South Carolinians have a long history of not wanting to be told what to do by any type of government, be it federal, state, county or municipal. The state was the first to secede from the Union because, even though slavery was going to end eventually anyway and everyone knew it, this state did not want the federal government telling it what to do. Forest Acres used to be an unincorporated part of the county. Faced with the choice of becoming part of an encroaching big bully Columbia (their perspective - not mine -- proud Columbia resident here) or establishing a smaller sweet little town, enough of that area's dwellers chose the latter and the town of Forest Acres was born. There is no town to it, though, because there is not one piece of property in it that is urban by design. That will change with the redevelopment of Richland Mall into Midtown at Forest Acres. I have considered going to Forest Acres town council meetings just to stand up for Columbia pride and antagonize them. They have a plan to do streetscaping at all major gateways into Forest Acres. I have a plan to push hard to have Columbia City Council and the Columbia horticulture department pick up where Forest Acres leaves off at all Forest Acres gateways that are also Columbia gateways when driving in the opposite direction, so that the Columbia gateways make the Forest Acres gateways look sad in comparison.

[Spartan]

Forest Acres is technically a city, but for all intents and purposes it is Columbia. If a Forest Acrean(?) were to go somewhere and be asked where they are from, they would probably say Columbia. It acts more as a neighborhood of Columbia than a separate city, much like those areas in Boston I'm sure. It is not really suburban Columbia either. I have always considered it to be in town.

[sonofaque86]

Yeah....It's basically a neighborhood...It's in the MIDDLE of Columbia...Just not counted in city population...The addresses are even Columbia...Maybe one day they'll wanna join, but they're trying to become their own little seperate city inside of another.

[waccamatt]

I dont understand that concept.......here in Massachusetts, there are towns ex. Roslindale, West Roxbury, Newton, Jamaica Plains, Burlington, etc. but they are still considered Boston.........Why is Columbia not like that, Forest Acres is right in the middle of Columbia and isnt a part of the city population....thats ridiculous

Tem, those are all separate government entities, just like Forest Acres. I can't imagine anyone living in Forest Acres telling anyone from out of state anything except that they are from Columbia.

[krazeeboi]

Apparently, Forest Acres is wanting ensure that it has a distinct identity from Columbia by creating a visioning plan, emphasizing green space, recreation and community cohesiveness. One aspect of the plan is to create gateway signs at six entrances to the city.

Interesting quote:

[sonofaque86]

I doubt anybody says they are from Forest Acres, even traveling around the state identifies with the city....I didn't even know Forest Acres was a seperate city until about two years and I lived in Columbia all my life...I always saw I Columbia address or whatever and figured it was Cola...lol

[BrasilnSC]

People in Forest Acres don't want to be associated with Columbia only when it gives them a bad rap. Otherwise, I'm sure they say they are from Columbia. And why not? There are some great things happening here, Forest Acres should be part of the city and considered one of it's nicer neighborhoods.