Columbus Historic Riverfront Industrial District

Along the east bank of the Chattahoochee River in Columbus, Georgia, four separate areas preserve the mills and dams that harnessed the river's fall-line drop of 125 feet. The district covers City Mills, Eagle and Phenix Mills, Muscogee Mills, Columbus Iron Works and the Bibb Mill, which together span more than a century of industry. The Bibb Mill is a 1,010-foot brick building whose rope-drive power system ran until 1954. City Mills includes the 1869 corn mill built by Horace King, a noted Black contractor, along with a flour mill and turbines that still partly function. Muscogee Mills produced the city's first commercial electricity in 1882 and has ornate brick facades. Eagle and Phenix kept its three original mills and its powerhouses. The district was listed because these buildings and dams show how water power evolved into mechanical and electrical power in the South, and because of their architecture.