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                                    Columbia



                           COLUMBIA SPECIAL FUND, INC.


                                Supplement to the
                     Columbia Special Fund, Inc. Prospectus
                             dated February 24, 1997


     On August 14, 1997, Columbia Funds Management Company ("CFMC"), the Fund's
current investment advisor, Columbia Management Co. ("CMC"), Columbia Trust
Company ("CTC"), the Fund's transfer agent, and Columbia Financial Center
Incorporated ("CFCI"), the Fund's Distributor, announced that they had entered
into an agreement to be acquired by Fleet Financial Group, Inc. ("Fleet"). Under
the agreement, CFMC, CMC, CTC and CFCI will become subsidiaries of Fleet
National Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fleet. The agreement calls for CFMC,
CMC, CTC and CFCI to operate as autonomous business units of Fleet, and there
are no plans to change the Fund, the portfolio manager for the Fund, or the key
individuals responsible for providing account services.

     The proposed change in ownership of CFMC will, however, cause an
"assignment" (as that term is defined under the Investment Company Act of 1940
(the "1940 Act")) of the Fund's advisory contract with CFMC. Under the 1940 Act
and the investment advisory contract, an assignment results in the automatic
termination of the investment advisory contract. At a meeting held on September
26th, 1997, the Board of Directors of the Fund approved a new investment
advisory contract between the Fund and CFMC and recommended that the new
investment advisory contract be submitted to the Fund's shareholders for
approval. The essential terms of the new investment advisory contract approved
by the Board, including the investment advisory fees, are the same as those
under the current investment advisory contract.

     Shareholders of the Fund will be receiving a proxy statement describing the
transaction with Fleet in more detail and seeking shareholder approval of the
new investment advisory contract. Subject to the receipt of such approval and
the satisfaction of certain other conditions, it is presently anticipated that
the closing of the transaction will occur by the end of the year.



                               September 30, 1997