Eleazar Wheelock was an American Congregational minister, orator, and educator in present-day Columbia, Connecticut, for 35 years before founding Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. He had tutored Samson Occom, a Mohegan who became a Presbyterian minister and the second Native American to publish writings in English. Before founding Dartmouth, Wheelock founded and ran the Moor's Charity School in Connecticut to educate Native Americans. The college was primarily for the sons of American colonists.

Columbia is a town in the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, United States. The population was 5,272 at the 2020 census. Originally a part of Lebanon, known as the North Society or Lebanon's Crank, Columbia was incorporated in May 1804. The town was named for patriotic reasons after the national symbol "Columbia". Columbia offers pre-kindergarten through 8th grade education in town at Horace W. Porter School, while high school students have a choice of attending four nearby high schools; E. O. Smith High School, Bolton High School (Connecticut), Coventry High School, and Windham Technical High School, part of the Connecticut Technical High School System).