{"nrhp_refnum":"94000665","name":"Weracoba-St. Elmo Historic District","other_names":["Lakebottom","See Also:St. Elmo","Highland Hall"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by 13th and Virginia Sts., 13th, 15th, 16th and Cherokee Aves. and Talbotton Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Columbus","county":"Muscogee County","state":"GA","lat":32.485121476000046,"lon":-84.96755388423767,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1994-07-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development","Landscape Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large residential, recreational, educational and commercial historic district in midtown Columbus, Muscogee County, Georgia, centered on Weracoba (Lakebottom) Park and the St. Elmo area. It contains 413 contributing resources, mostly houses built in the 1920s and 1930s, plus two antebellum houses.","why_significant":"The district holds one of the city's and perhaps the state's largest and most intact concentrations of 1920s and 1930s middle-class suburban housing in Craftsman Bungalow, Tudor Revival, Neoclassical Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival styles. It also includes the antebellum St. Elmo and Highland Hall, the early amusement park that became Weracoba Park, and the 1939 St. Elmo Shopping Center. The form ties the area to streetcar-era suburban growth, school and park planning, and social patterns in Columbus.","narrative":"Weracoba/St. Elmo, also known as Lakebottom, is a multi-use neighborhood in midtown Columbus, Georgia, shaded by mature hardwood trees. It combines eight subdivisions of middle-class homes, a large public park, a school and a small shopping center. Of about 440 surviving houses, most were built in the 1920s and 1930s, in Craftsman Bungalow, Tudor Revival, Neoclassical Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival styles, and the historic fabric remains largely intact. The area's roots lie in antebellum suburban estates, represented by St. Elmo, built around 1830, and Highland Hall, from the 1850s. Weracoba Park began in 1890 as Wildwood Park, a private amusement area developed by John Flournoy's Columbus Railroad Company to boost streetcar ridership and nearby land sales. The city bought part of it in 1924, with a portion becoming the site of Columbus High School. St. Elmo School (1930) and the St. Elmo Shopping Center (1939) add civic and commercial character.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Greek Revival; Colonial Revival, Neoclassical Revival, Tudor Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival; Bungalow/Craftsman; Moderne","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as a vibrant multi-use area in current use; houses and park remain in use, St. Elmo school now serves as school system administrative offices.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:42.802285-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/94000665.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000665/b312d4fb73-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000665/b312d4fb73-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Ken Owens Photography","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Elmo_Shopping_Center_Weracoba-St._Elmo_Historic_District.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ken Owens Photography</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Elmo_Shopping_Center_Weracoba-St._Elmo_Historic_District.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93209154","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q141796666"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/muscogee-county/weracoba-st-elmo-historic-district-94000665/"}