This Richardsonian Romanesque-inspired home was built for Henry Lindsay Woodruff (1851-1921), next door to his brother Ernest Woodruff’s former home. It is one of two homes in the High Uptown Historic District associated with Mr. Woodruff. Henry was a prominent businessman in his own right, serving as the president and general manager of Empire Mills for thirty-three years. One of his sons, George Cecil “Kid” Woodruff, Sr. (1888-1968), was the coach for the University of Georgia football team from 1923-1927 and was considered instrumental in bringing the program to national prominence.
High Uptown Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This modest Greek Revival Georgian cottage was the home of Ernest Woodruff (1863-1944) and Emily Winship Woodruff (1867-1939). Woodruff was a highly successful banker and entrepreneur, best known for his takeover of the Coca-Cola Company from Asa Griggs Candler in 1919. His son, Robert W. Woodruff (1889-1985), who was born in this house, would lead the soft drink behemoth for over 30 years (1923-1955), transforming it into the world’s most recognized brand. He was commonly referred to as “Mr. Coca-Cola” in the press.
High Uptown Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This Eastlake-influenced Queen Anne home was built for Joseph Simpson Garrett (1831-1923), a wholesale liquor and tobacco retailer in Columbus who was the patriarch of a family that has been referred to as the “Whiskey Garretts“. Garrett served the Confederacy, ultimately as the commanding colonel of the Seventh Alabama Calvary. As the threat of prohibition and local option sales of alcohol loomed over his business, Garrett and his sons continued their business in Baltimore, with great success. Col. Garrett remained in Columbus, where he was appointed postmaster circa 1899. He sold the house to banker Osborn C. Bullock (1852-1929) in 1910 and moved onto a plantation outside the city. Bullock’s widow, Minnie Drane Bullock (1857-1937) lived here until her death, and their daughter, Margaret Bryan Bullock Schaefer (1900-1985), was the last family member to reside here.
High Uptown Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This Greek Revival cottage was built circa 1838-1840 for Philip Thomas Schley (1798-1862) at the site of the present First Presbyterian Church. Schley came to Columbus at the request of his brother, Georgia Governor William Schley, to command the Muscogee Blues, a militia company active in the Indian Wars. Circa 1855-1858, the house was moved and rebuilt at this location.
The family of Columbus merchant George Henry Peabody (1807-1880) briefly occupied the house during the Civil War. Their son, George Foster Peabody (1852-1938), became a prominent financier and philanthropist. He purchased the Warm Springs property that became famous for its association with Peabody’s friend, future president Franklin Delano Roosevelt and is also the namesake of the Peabody Award.
Later owners were descendants of James H. Warner (c. 1830-1866), who was the commander and superintendent of the Confederate States Naval Iron Works (aka the Columbus Iron Works).
High Uptown Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Alexander-McGehee-Woodall House, photographed by Frances Benjamin Johnston, Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South, 1939. Courtesy Library of Congress. Public domain.
This raised Greek Revival cottage was built for Robert B. Alexander (1811?-1850) between 1843-1845 and sold a few years later to the McGehee family. Alexander was a native of Putnam County and a lawyer who served as a Superior Court judge of the Chattahoochee Circuit. The house was originally located a block south of its present location, on the site of the first Muscogee County court house, but was moved to save it from demolition. Col. Allen Clements McGehee (1826-1903) purchased the property from interim owner Laurence Rooney in 1872. After his death, his daughter, Virginia Ethel McGehee Woodall (1879-1949) resided in the home for the rest of her life. It is used as an office today.
High Uptown Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This house was built for John Blackmar (1853-1931) in the Queen Anne style in 1884. It was redesigned in 1909 to its present appearance, a hybrid of two of the most popular styles of the era: Neoclassical Revival and Colonial Revival. The architect for the update was Henrietta Dozier, the first professional female architect in Georgia, and the first formally trained female architect in the South. She added the portico, porte cochere, solarium, and dormers on the roof.
Susie Blackmar (1895-1981), one of Jack and Susie Wellborn Blackmar’s (1860-1941) five children, was married here to John Tyler “Jack” Ellis (1890-1958) in 1918 and resided here until her death in 1981. In the 1940s, while their son John D. Eisenhower was stationed at Fort Benning, General Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower, the future president and first lady, were guests of Mrs. Ellis. Since Mrs. Ellis’s death, the house has served as a residential care home, funeral home, antiques store, and presently, a pediatrician’s office.
High Uptown Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Columbus, like Georgia’s other Fall Line cities, is defined by a dramatic shift in elevation [124 feet over a 2 mile stretch], and its lifeblood has always been the Chattahoochee River. Historically, the river’s waters ran freely over rocks and shoals and were known as the Falls of the Chattahoochee. Chutes de la Chattahoutchie, an 1838 painting by the French naturalist Francis de la Porte depicted a wild and scenic waterway and the river retained this wildness until it was dammed by Eagle and Phenix Mill [1882] and City Mills [1907] to provide the power which made their industries possible. Smaller dams were built earlier in the 19th century, but did not have the impact of the aforementioned examples.
The Falls of the Chattahoochee vanished as the mills grew over time. In the mid-2000s, a plan to breach and remove those dams took hold in an effort to make the Chattahoochee wild again and provide new tourism opportunities for Columbus.
The breaching of the Eagle and Phenix Mill dam in 2012 and the City Mills dam in 2013 brought back a resource which had vanished over a century ago. The Falls of the Chattahoochee, which had been important to the area since the days of Native Americans, once again flow through the city and have created what has been called one of the best urban whitewater runs in the nation.
The river reclamation has been a driver of revitalization in Columbus, and while I generally don’t make endorsements, I would direct you to the experienced folks at Whitewater Express.
They’ll gladly take you on an amazing adventure if you’re of a mind to get wet and get your adrenaline flowing.
Whether you’ve never done whitewater or you’re an old pro, they will make your experience worthwhile. It’s a great day trip if you’re in the area.
The Bradley opened in 1940 and showed its last first-run feature in 1977. It reopened for a time as a live entertainment venue but I ‘m not sure of its present status.
Some of you may have noticed that I’ve been posting from all over the place, unlike my usual fashion of posting multiple locations from a more specific area. I’m presently cleaning up thousands of old photos on the website, as well as repairing issues that happened when I rolled all the websites into one. It’s a grueling background process which will make Vanishing Georgia infinitely better, but much of it won’t be obvious for a long time. In the process of doing this work, which will take about a year, I’m discovering many photographs that somehow never got published. I just wanted to let everyone know. Thanks as always for your support.
Columbus Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
