after the civil war improvements on the railroad contributed to a decided growth of population in the old township of south orange the general character of the citizenry underwent a significant change and residents known as "commuters" began to emerge in numbers in  a state law required that columbia become a graded school by  the old two-story wooden building erected in  was found to be woefully inadequate for the growing community one resident complained that "in very cold weather with stoves at red heat it is impossible to raise the temperature in the room above  degrees and in such a place are sown the seeds of suffering disease and death"