Columbus, Georgia


Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it officially merged in 1970. Columbus is the third-largest city in Georgia and the fourth-largest metropolitan area. According to the 2019 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, Columbus has a population of 195,769 residents, with 303,811 in the Columbus metropolitan area. The metro area joins the nearby Alabama cities of Auburn and Opelika to form the Columbus–Auburn–Opelika Combined Statistical Area, which has a 2017 estimated population of 499,128.
Columbus lies southwest of Atlanta. Fort Benning, the United States Army's Maneuver Center of Excellence and a major employer, is located south of the city in southern Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties. Columbus is home to museums and tourism sites, including the National Infantry Museum, dedicated to the United States Army's Infantry Branch. It has the longest urban whitewater rafting course in the world constructed on the Chattahoochee River.

History

Beginnings

This was for centuries and more the traditional territory of the Creek Indians, who became known as one of the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast after European contact. Those who lived closest to white-occupied areas conducted considerable trading and adopted some European-American ways.
Founded in 1828 by an act of the Georgia Legislature, Columbus was situated at the beginning of the navigable portion of the Chattahoochee River and on the last stretch of the Federal Road before entering Alabama. The city was named for Christopher Columbus. The plan for the city was drawn up by Dr. Edwin L. DeGraffenried, who placed the town on a bluff overlooking the river. Across the river to the west, where Phenix City, Alabama, is now located, Creeks still lived until they were forcibly removed in 1836 by the federal government to make way for European-American settlers.
The river served as Columbus's connection to the world, particularly enabling it to ship its commodity cotton crops from the plantations to the international cotton market via New Orleans and ultimately Liverpool, England. The city's commercial importance increased in the 1850s with the arrival of the railroad. In addition, textile mills were developed along the river, bringing industry to an area reliant upon agriculture. By 1860, the city was one of the more important industrial centers of the South, earning it the nickname "the Lowell of the South", referring to an important textile mill town in Massachusetts.

Civil War and Reconstruction

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, the industries of Columbus expanded their production; this became one of the most important centers of industry in the Confederacy. During the war, Columbus ranked second to Richmond in the manufacture of supplies for the Confederate army. The Eagle Manufacturing Company made textiles of various sorts, but especially woolens for Confederate uniforms. The Columbus Iron Works manufactured cannons and machinery, Greenwood and Gray made firearms, and Louis and Elias Haimon produced swords and bayonets. Smaller firms provided additional munitions and sundries. As the war turned negative, each faced exponentially growing struggled shortages of raw materials and skilled labor, as well as worsening financial opportunities. In addition to textiles, the city had an ironworks, a sword factory, and a shipyard for the Confederate Navy.
Unaware of Lee's surrender to Grant and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Union and Confederates clashed in the Battle of Columbus, Georgia, on Easter Sunday, April 16, 1865, when a Union detachment of two cavalry divisions under Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson attacked the lightly defended city and burned many of the industrial buildings. John Stith Pemberton, who later developed Coca-Cola in Columbus, was wounded in this battle. Col. Charles Augustus Lafayette Lamar, owner of the last slave ship in America, was also killed here. A historic marker erected in Columbus notes that this was the site of the "Last Land Battle in the War from 1861 to 1865."
Reconstruction began almost immediately and prosperity followed. Factories such as the Eagle and Phenix Mills were revived and the industrialization of the town led to rapid growth; the city outgrew its original plan. The Springer Opera House was built on 10th Street, attracting such notables as Irish writer Oscar Wilde. The Springer is now the official State Theater of Georgia.
By the time of the Spanish–American War, the city's modernization included the addition of trolleys extending to outlying neighborhoods such as Rose Hill and Lakebottom, and a new water works. Mayor Lucius Chappell also brought a training camp for soldiers to the area. This training camp named Camp Benning grew into present-day Fort Benning, named for General Henry L. Benning, a native of the city.

Confederate Memorial Day

In the spring of 1866, the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus passed a resolution to set aside one day annually to memorialize the Confederate dead. The secretary of the association, Mrs. Charles J. Williams, was directed to write a letter inviting the ladies of every Southern state to join them in the observance. was written in March 1866 and sent to representatives of all of the principal cities in the South, including Atlanta, Macon, Montgomery, Memphis, Richmond, St. Louis, Alexandria, Columbia, and New Orleans. This was the beginning of the influential work by ladies' organizations to honor the war dead.
The date for the holiday was selected by Elizabeth "Lizzie" Rutherford Ellis. She chose April 26, the first anniversary of Confederate General Johnston's final surrender to Union General Sherman at Bennett Place, North Carolina. For many in the South, that act marked the official end of the Civil War.
In 1868, General John A. Logan, commander in chief of the Union Civil War Veterans Fraternity called the Grand Army of the Republic, launched the Memorial Day holiday that has become observed in the entire United States. General Logan's wife said he had borrowed from practices of Confederate Memorial Day. She wrote that Logan "said it was not too late for the Union men of the nation to follow the example of the people of the South in perpetuating the memory of their friends who had died for the cause they thought just and right."
While two dozen cities across the country claim to have originated the Memorial Day holiday, Bellware and Gardiner firmly establish that the holiday began in Columbus. In The Genesis of the Memorial Day Holiday in America, they show that the Columbus Ladies Memorial Association's call to observe a day annually to decorate soldiers’ graves inaugurated a movement first in the South and then in the North to honor the soldiers who died during the Civil War.

20th century

With the expansion of the city, leaders established a university, founded Columbus College, a two-year institution, which later was developed as Columbus State University, now a comprehensive center of higher learning.
The city government became consolidated with the county in 1971, the first of its kind in Georgia.
Expanding on its industrial base of textile mills, the city is the home of the headquarters for Aflac, Synovus, and TSYS.
During the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the subsidized construction of highways and suburbs resulted in drawing off the middle and upper classes, with urban blight, white flight, and prostitution in much of downtown Columbus and adjacent neighborhoods. Early efforts to halt the gradual deterioration of downtown began with the saving and restoration of the Springer Opera House in 1965. It was designated as the State Theatre of Georgia, helping spark a historic preservation movement in the city. This has documented and preserved various historic districts in and around downtown.
Through the late 1960s and early 1970s, large residential neighborhoods were built to accommodate the soldiers coming back from the Vietnam War and for those associated with Ft. Benning. These range from Wesley Woods to Leesburg to Brittney and Willowbrook and the high-end Sears Woods and Windsor Park. Large tracts of blighted areas were cleaned up. A modern Columbus Consolidated Government Center was constructed in the city center. A significant period of urban renewal and revitalization followed in the mid- to late 1990s.
With these improvements, residents and businesses have been attracted to formerly blighted areas. Municipal projects have included construction of a softball complex, which hosted the 1996 Olympic softball competition; construction of the Chattahoochee RiverWalk; construction of the National Civil War Naval Museum at Port Columbus, construction of the Coca-Cola Space Science Center, the expansion of the Columbus Museum, and road improvements to include a new downtown bridge crossing the Chattahoochee River to Phenix City. During the late 1990s, commercial activity expanded north of downtown along the I-185 corridor.

21st century

During the 2000s, expansion and historic preservation continued throughout the city. South Commons has been revitalized. This area combines the 1996 Olympic softball competition complex, A. J. McClung Memorial Stadium, Golden Park, the Columbus Civic Center, and the recently added Jonathan Hatcher Skateboard Park. The National Infantry Museum has been constructed in South Columbus, located outside the Fort Benning main gate.
Columbus has a center for the fine and performing arts. RiverCenter for the Performing Arts, which opened in 2002, houses Columbus State University's music department. In 2002, Columbus State's art and drama departments moved to downtown locations. Such initiatives have provided Columbus with a cultural niche and with vibrant and modern architecture mixed among older brick facades.
The "Ready to Raft 2012" campaign is a project that created an estimated 700 new jobs and is projected to bring in $42 million annually to the Columbus area. The project resulted in the longest urban whitewater rafting venue in the world. This, in addition to other outdoor and indoor tourist attractions, led to around 1.8 million visitors coming to Columbus during fiscal 2015, according to the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau.
In upcoming years, the city predicts that an additional 30,000 soldiers will be trained annually at Fort Benning due to base realignment and closure of other facilities. As a result of this, Columbus is expected to incur a major population increase.

Geography

Columbus is one of Georgia's three Fall Line Cities, along with Augusta and Macon. The Fall Line is where the hilly lands of the Piedmont plateau meet the flat terrain of the coastal plain. As such, Columbus has a varied landscape of rolling hills on the north side and flat plains on the south. The fall line causes rivers in the area to decline rapidly towards sea level. Textile mills were established here in the 19th and early 20th centuries to take advantage of the water power from the falls.
Interstate 185 runs north-south through the middle of the city, with nine exits within Muscogee County. I-185 runs north about from its beginning to a junction with I-85 just east of LaGrange and southwest of Atlanta. U.S. Route 27, U.S. Route 280, and Georgia State Route 520 all meet in the interior of the city. U.S. Route 80 runs through the northern part of the city, locally known as J.R. Allen Parkway; Alternate U.S. Route 27 and Georgia State Route 85 run northeast from the city, locally known as Manchester Expressway.
The city is located at.
According to the US Census Bureau, the city has a total area of, of which are land and are covered by water.

Climate

Columbus has a humid subtropical climate. Daytime summer temperatures often reach highs in the mid-90°Fs, and low temperatures in the winter average in the upper 30s. Columbus is often considered a dividing line or "natural snowline" of the southeastern United States with areas north of the city receiving snowfall annually, with areas to the south typically not receiving snowfall every year or at all. Columbus is within USDA hardiness zone 8b in the city center and zone 8a in the suburbs.

Cityscape

Columbus is divided into five geographic areas:
in Downtown on July 4, 2009
The Columbus Metropolitan Area includes four counties in Georgia, and one in Alabama. The Columbus-Auburn-Opelika, GA-AL Combined Statistical Area includes two additional counties in Alabama. A 2013 Census estimate showed 316,554 in the metro area, with 501,649 in the combined statistical area.

Demographics

Racial composition2010199019701950
White46.3%58.9%73.3%68.8%
—Non-Hispanic whites43.7%57.5%72.2%n/a
Black or African American45.5%38.1%26.2%31.2%
Hispanic or Latino 6.4%3.0%1.4%n/a
Asian2.2%1.4%0.2%—

As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Columbus had a total population of 189,885, up from 186,291 in the 2000 Census. The 2010 Census reported 189,885 people, 72,124 households, and 47,686 families residing in the city. The population density was 861.4 people per square mile. The 82,690 housing units had an average density of 352.3 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 46.3% White, 45.5% African American, 2.2% Asian, 0.2% Native American, 0.14% Pacific Islander, and 1.90% from other races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 6.4% of the population.
Of the 69,819 households, 34.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.7% were married couples living together, 19.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.7% were notfamilies; 26.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.08.
In the city, the population was distributed as 25.6% under the age of 18, 11.9% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 19.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $41,331, and for a family was 41,244. Males had a median income of $30,238 versus $24,336 for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,514. About 12.8% of families and 15.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.0% of those under age 18 and 12.1% of those age 65 or over.

Religion

Columbus has roughly 200 Christian churches, with the Southern Baptist Convention being the largest denomination by number of churches. Columbus is also home to three Kingdom Halls for Jehovah's Witnesses, and one Greek Orthodox Church. Other religions are represented by two synagogues, two Seventh-day Adventist churches, three mosques, a Hindu temple, and a Unitarian Universalist congregation.

Economy

Companies headquartered in Columbus include Aflac, TSYS, Realtree, Synovus, and the W. C. Bradley Co.

Top employers

According to Columbus' 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:
#Employer# of employees
1Fort Benning38,958
2Muscogee County School District6,300
3TSYS4,690
4Aflac3,670
5Columbus Regional Healthcare System3,180
6St. Francis Hospital, Inc.3,000
7Columbus Consolidated Government2,910
8Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia 1,650
9Columbus State University1,360
10Pratt & Whitney1,200

Arts and culture

Points of interest

Museums

Columbus is served by one major indoor shopping mall, Peachtree Mall, which is anchored by major department stores Dillard's, Macy's, and J.C. Penney. The total retail floor area is 821,000 f2t. Major strip malls include Columbus Park Crossing, which opened in 2003, and The Landings, which opened in 2005. Columbus is also served by The Shoppes at Bradley Park, a lifestyle center.
MidTown contains two of the city's early suburban shopping centers, both recently renovated and offering local shops, restaurants, and services.

Major venues

Below is the list of major venues in the city of Columbus:
Columbus is home to nine historic districts, all listed in the National Register of Historic Places listings in Muscogee County, Georgia. They are:

Parks and recreation

Columbus is home to upwards of 50 parks, four recreation centers, four senior centers and parks, and Standing Boy Creek Wildlife Management Area.

Walking trails

The Chattahoochee River whitewater opened in 2012. After both the Eagle & Phenix Dam and the City Mills Dams were breached, river flow was restored to natural conditions, allowing the course to be created. The course is the longest urban whitewater rafting and kayaking in the world, and has been ranked the world's best manmade whitewater course by USA Today. It also features the Blue Heron Adventure, a zip-line course connecting users from the Georgia side of the river to the Alabama side on an interstate zip-line over the Chattahoochee River. The course continues with several zip-lines and a ropes course on the Alabama side and completes with another zip-line back to Georgia.
It has become a hub for whitewater kayakers, with outstanding standing waves year-round. In mid-winter it is referred to as the "Wintering Grounds" for big wave surfing athletes and enthusiasts.

Law and government

Elected officials

Mayor

Primary and secondary education

The Muscogee County School District holds preschool to grade 12, and consists of 35 elementary schools, 12 middle schools, and nine high schools. The district has over 2,000 full-time teachers and over 31,899 students.

Libraries

Columbus is served by four branches of the Chattahoochee Valley Libraries:

Public

Infrastructure

Transportation

Airport

The Columbus Airport is the metro area's primary airport and the fourth-busiest airport in Georgia. It is located just off I-185, exit 8. It is served by ExpressJet Airlines' Delta Connection service, offering several daily flights to Atlanta.

Highways

Into the 1960s, passenger trains of the Central of Georgia Railway made stops there, including the north-south Chicago-Florida trains, the Illinois Central Railroad's City of Miami, and Seminole. Other trains included local Central of Georgia trains to Atlanta and Albany.

Notable people

Sister cities

Columbus has these official sister cities: