The Columbus Historic Riverfront Industrial District is located next to the Chattahoochee River and stretches from 8th St. N. to 38th St., Columbus. Many of the old industrial building still stand and have been repurposed. Today Columbus University uses many of the old building for class room and dormitories.
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| One Arsenal Place at Columbus Ironworks |
One Arsenal Place occupies the old drop-forge shop and warehouse for the Columbus Ironworks. The foundry served as an arsenal of the Confederacy, producing ammunition, mortar and rifled cannon. Boilers, steam engines, and armored plate were manufactured beginning in 1862, when the complex was designated as the Confederate States Naval Ironworks.
From 1877 to 1971, this building housed the Southern Plow Company, a subsidiary of Columbus Iron Works. The firm manufactured cast iron goods and agricultural implements, including cotton planters, harrows, cultivators, hay presses, cane mills, and plows.
Columbus Iron Works is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a National Historic landmark in 1978.
Source: Historic marker mounted on the main entrance and the rear entrance to the building.
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Kinfolks Corner
10th street at Front Avenue |
From the 1840s, this building stood among others of its type at this historic downtown intersection. Known traditionally is “Kinfolks Corner,” the area was the meeting place for generations of citizens from Columbus and neighboring Alabama counties. Its importance is substantial by the redevelopment of this section which includes a U.S. Department of Interior National Historic Landmark District. Carson McCullers (1917-1967), Columbus born author of international renown, alluded strongly to this culturally diverse to corner in her celebrated 1946 novel,
The Member of the Wedding.
Source: Historic marker mounted on the side of the building.
In 1851 the Eagle Mill, one of the pioneer textile plants of Columbus was built on this site to manufacture cotton and woolen goods.
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Eagle & Phenix Mills
Front Ave between 12th and 13th Sts |
During the war the mill manufactured goods for the Confederacy and the state of Georgia. Products included grey uniform tweed, cotton duct for tents cotton stripes for army shirts, cotton jeans, osnaburgs sheetings, rope and India rubber cloth. Federal forces burned the mill April 17, 1865. It rose from the ashes in 1866 as Eagle & Phenix Mills, the added name to signify its rebirth. The present plant consists of a series of mills.
Source: Historic marker at the old mill, GHM 106-18 Georgia Historical Commission 1955
The building set empty for years before it was bought to be remodeled into luxury condominiums and apartments as a part of the larger redevelopment of the Columbus Riverfront District.
From the American Heritage Dictionary (on-line):
Osnaburgs (noun) - A heavy, coarse cotton fabric, used for grain sacks,