Columbia is a city in and the county seat of Boone County, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1820 as the county seat and home to the University of Missouri, it had a population of 108,500 at the 2010 census, and it is the principal city of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, the state's fourth most populous metropolitan area. As a midwestern college town, the city has a reputation for progressive politics, public art, and powerful journalism. The tripartite establishment of Stephens College (1833), The University of Missouri (1839), and Columbia College (1851) has long made the city a center of education, culture, and athletic competition. These three schools surround Downtown Columbia on the east, south, and north; at the center is the Avenue of the Columns, which connects Francis Quadrangle and Jesse Hall to the Boone County Courthouse and the City Hall. Originally an agricultural town, today the cultivation of the mind is Columbia's chief economic concern. Never a major center of manufacturing, the city also depends on healthcare, insurance, and technology businesses. Several companies—Shelter Insurance, Carfax, and Slackers CDs and Games among them—were founded in the city. Cultural institutions include the State Historical Society of Missouri, the Museum of Art and Archaeology, and the annual True/False Film Festival. The Missouri Tigers, the state's only major athletic program, play football at Faurot Field and basketball at Mizzou Arena as members of the Southeastern Conference.