Our Neighborhood's history

In 1911, the  Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary moved to its current location at one of Columbia’s highest points, thus lending the neighborhood the moniker of “Seminary Ridge”.  

Until 1922, growth of the area remained steady, and talks began about the town being annexed into the city.  Efforts to do so between 1927 and 1929 were ultimately unsuccessful.  In 1933, Eau Claire took steps to become less reliant on the city, including establishing its own utility facilities using federal grant money.  Growth began to occur again in the post-WWII boom of suburban expansion.  The town remained reliant on Columbia, however, with most residents commuting to the city for work, recreation, and commercial activity.  By 1955, Eau Claire had a population of approximately 12,000.  Annexation talks were renewed, and finally realized that year when the majority of Eau Claire residents voted to be annexed into the city of Columbia.  

In the decades following annexation, the demographics and prosperity of the Eau Claire area began to shift.  By the 1980s, city leadership realized the need to preserve the historical importance and integrity of the area.  The city acquired the Ensor-Keenan House to use as a meeting and event space, and also renovated the Print Building.

Currently, the Seminary Ridge neighborhood covers approximately .21 square miles, or more than 130 acres; the neighborhood is bounded by Monticello Road to the west, Columbia College Drive to the North, and N. Main Street to the east.  Due to the long history of the neighborhood, a variety of home styles can be seen within the neighborhood, including examples of what are commonly referred to as “kit houses”.

Referred to locally as the “Print Building”, it was constructed between 1912 and 1914.  Upon its completion, the building served as the offices and printing plant for the American Lutheran Survey, a national periodical.  When the American Lutheran Survey ceased operations in 1928, the Print Building became the town hall for Eau Claire, and also housed the town’s fire department.  The building sits at the opposite end of Ensor Avenue from the Ensor-Keenan House, and at the conjunction of North Main Street and Monticello Road.  The building’s clock tower can be seen from over a mile away under certain conditions.  Currently, the building houses offices for several City of Columbia departments, including the headquarters for the Columbia Police Department’s North Region, as well as a public meeting space.

Previously parts of the community were noted in the 1992 “City-wide  Architectural Survey and Historic Preservation Plan” by John Bryan. The  plan is commonly referred to as the Bryan Survey. In that 1992 survey  the area was recommended for Architectural Conservation District.  Portions of the Seminary Ridge Neighborhood became a local historic  district in February 2013. Due to the significant amount of original  features still present on the dwellings, Seminary Ridge received the highest level of designation, Architectural Conservation District. The district is comprised of approximately 168 properties, consisting of  mostly bungalows and vernacular residences.

Years later, after discovering the difficulty of being allowed to make certain improvements to their homes, several residents expressed  concern that the regulations were too restrictive, not allowing certain  changes, such as replacing old windows with new energy efficient windows or replacing wood siding with cement fiber siding.  Conversations with Councilman Sam Davis and city planners revealed the need that a change  would have to come from the neighborhood and that it would need to start  with the neighborhood association.

Several residents started surveying the neighborhood within the  Seminary Ridge boundaries and obtained the following information: There  are approximately 168 properties in the Seminary Ridge Historic  District. Not all of the properties within the Seminary Ridge  Neighborhood boundaries are included in the boundary lines for the  historic district. The Lutheran Seminary owns 12 properties, the  Lutheran Church owns 3, and the City of Columbia owns at least two of  the properties. Several other property owners own more than one  property, meaning that at least 30 properties are owned by 7 owners  giving us around 150 property owners or less. 55 properties have vinyl  windows, 11 properties have aluminum or steel windows, 93 have wood. 4  have aluminum siding, 4 have asbestos siding, 86 have brick, 2 (at least) have brick/asbestos, 5 (at least) have brick/vinyl, 3 are a  combination of brick and wood, 1 is steel, 1 has a hardboard composite  siding, 34 have vinyl siding, 17 have mostly wood siding. 1 house is  made of block. Approximately 35% of residential properties already had energy efficient windows.

There were 41 active rental properties.. There are 4 historic landmarks  identified by the City of Columbia in Eau Claire: Ensor-Keenan House,  Eau Claire Town Hall, The Lutheran Seminary, and the Survey Publishing Building. Only the Ensor-Keenan House is within the borders of the  Seminary Ridge historic district. None of the other residential  properties meet the requirements to be designated on the Historic  Register. 

A petition was circulated and several property owners gathered the  signatures of over 60 neighbors that were interested in repealing the  historic overlay from our neighborhood. Discussions were started with  the SRNA in the fall of 2017 and at the November meeting a vote was  taken to remove the Architectural Conservation designation and study the  possibility of adopting a less restrictive overlay such as a Protection  Area overlay. City planners were notified and they met with members of  the SRNA Executive Committee to lay out the necessary steps. 

Residents and property owners turned out in force to attend a city led meeting on February 1, 2018, at which the planners gave them information on the  available options. The neighborhood association again met on February  20th to discuss our options and affirm our previous motion to remove the  current zoning overlay and replace it with a Protection Area overlay with a minimum number of restrictions. The city planners, led by Amy  Moore, again met with neighbors on March 1st and March 6th to workout an  acceptable plan. Notifications were mailed out for the February and  March meetings with the city planners, as well as being circulated via email and Facebook. At a meeting on March13th, residents and property owners overwhelmingly affirmed that plan and voted to accept the  guidelines as presented. The Protection Area overlay offered the best of  both worlds, Seminary Ridge would remain a historic district, allowing  residents to still take advantage of the Bailey Bill, and property  owners would be allowed to make upgrades to their homes that had  previously not been allowed.

Residents and property owners from the Seminary Ridge neighborhood  attended and spoke at a Planning Commission meeting on April 9th where  the commissioners voted to approved the proposed changes. They again  attended and spoke a special called DDRC meeting on April 30th where the  commission voted to recommend the zoning changes to city council. Signs were posted throughout the neighborhood for the Planning  Commission meeting on April 9th, the DDRC meeting on April 30th, and the  City Council Zoning meeting on May 15th. Every resident and property owner had the opportunity to offer their opinions about the changes, and many of them did, with the vast majority being in favor.

Columbia City Council approved those recommendations in May and again in June of 2018. These new guidelines allow property owners to bring their homes up to newer standards and yet guide development in  ways that maintain the character of the Seminary Ridge Neighborhood and discourage those elements which may threaten the historical integrity  and quality craftsmanship of structures in the area.