Tag Archives: Georgia Black History

Liberty Theatre, 1925, Columbus

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The exterior of the Liberty Theatre featuring a brick facade, windows with decorative elements, and a green construction fence in front.

Construction began on the Liberty Theatre in 1924 and was completed in 1925. When it was built 100 years ago, it was the first Black theatre in Columbus, and significantly, the only such venue within the Martin Theatres chain. Though not substantiated, it is believed that local architect T. Firth Lockwood, Jr., was responsible for the design.

Beginning as a silent movie house and transitioning to talkies, the Liberty was also a vibrant live entertainment space. Marian Anderson, Ella Fitzgerald, Ethel Waters, Lena Horne, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and the big bands of Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and Fletcher Henderson all performed here.

The Liberty closed in 1974, as desegregated theatres in other areas of Columbus took business away from the location. After years of abandonment, restoration and removal of a 1955 makeover, brought the Liberty back to life. It reopened as a live performance space and cultural arts center in 1996. As the fencing would indicate, it is now going through another renovation and is presently closed.

National Register of Historic District

Edmonds-Farley Realty Company, 1947, Columbus

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Mid-century storefront and home to the first black real estate company in Columbus, GA, Farley Real Estate.

This simple commercial storefront, located just down 5th Avenue from Tole’s Undertaking in the Liberty District, was the office of Farley Real Estate, the first Black-owned real estate company in Columbus. Edwin Edward Farley (c. 1902 – 1956) was the visionary owner of the business. Farley and his wife Ella were realtors and developers and were very involved in their community. They built the first Black subdivision in Columbus, known as Carver Heights, beginning in 1946. E. E. was a Morehouse College graduate and led the Columbus chapter of the NAACP and served as executive secretary of the Army and Navy YMCA at Fort Benning. His association with area Civil Rights leaders, including Dr. Thomas H. Brewer, Primus King, and A. J. McClung, was instrumental in bringing the annual Tuskegee-Morehouse football game to Columbus.

When Farley died in 1956, Ella continued the real estate business, selling it to Booker Edmonds in 1971. The name was changed to Edmonds-Farley and was still in business as of 2021. Today, the building is home to Chirp Glass Studio.

William Henry Spencer House, 1912, Columbus

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Exterior view of a historic yellow house with green shutters, featuring a large porch with white columns, surrounded by well-manicured hedges and a pathway. Home of William Henry Spencer, pioneering Black educator of Columbus, GA.

This home was built for William Henry Spencer (1857-1925) by the Dudley Lumber Company in 1912. At a time when most African-Americans didn’t own their own homes, this was on par with any of the new construction in Columbus at the time.

According to Muscogee County Schools, William Henry Spencer “was a student in the Columbus public school system, the old Asbury Chapel, during the age of segregation. Dr. Spencer was an exemplary student who excelled in school and attained high honors. After obtaining his teaching certificate, he embarked on a fifty-year career in education.”

“As an educator, Dr. William Henry Spencer was the principal of the former Fifth Avenue School and the supervisor of the Negro Educational Department. He was dedicated to improving the curriculum of segregated schools and worked to establish courses in the fine arts and vocational arena.”

“Since African-American students in Columbus, Georgia had to travel as far as Atlanta to move beyond the ninth grade, Dr. Spencer began working towards opening an accredited high school for African-Americans in Columbus. Dr. Spencer’s determination result in the fruition of the aforementioned school. Sadly, he passed away on May 30, 1925, five years before the school was built. The school was originally built on Tenth Avenue, and it was named William Henry Spencer High School in his honor.”

Visit Historic Columbus for photos and a great essay about the life and influence of Spencer.

National Register of Historic Places

John Spencer Roberts House, Circa 1850, Columbus

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Front view of the International Funeral Home, also known as the John Spencer Roberts House, featuring a white building with black shutters, a set of steps leading to the entrance, and greenery in the front yard.

This Greek Revival cottage is thought to have been built for John Spencer Roberts, the founder of Georgia Webbing & Tape, an early Columbus industrial concern, though further information on Mr. Roberts or his company has not been easy to locate. By 1896, it was home to Joseph Hecht (1844-1917) and Adele Kober Hecht (1859-1920). The Hechts were Austrian Jews who came to Columbus in the 1860s and later established Hecht’s Candy Company, a successful wholesaler.

It’s been home to Charles E. Huff’s International Funeral Home for many years.

National Register of Historic Places

Folk Victorian House, Columbus

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A weathered two-story house covered with vines and surrounded by shrubs, under a clear blue sky.

This Folk Victorian home is located directly beside Charles E. Huff’s International Funeral Home, so I can only presume it was at sometime associated with that business, perhaps as the home of the owner or as coffin storage. If anyone knows, please share.

Tole’s Undertaking, Circa 1910, Columbus

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A brick building featuring arched doorways and multiple windows, originally constructed as Tole's Undertaking. It has decorative elements such as white diamonds and a shaped top.

An architectural survey notes that this building was “constructed by Alex Tole as Tole’s Undertaking. The business was founded in 1892 and Alex Tole was one of the few who could afford to buy a stained glass picture of himself in his church, the First African Baptist Church. It is uncertain if he ever saw the finished window prior to his death in 1915. Mr. Henry Tole (Alex Tole’s brother) took over the business after his brother’s death. The “837 Club” would meet on the second floor of the building and consisted of men who would get together and play cards, etc. They rented the space from the Funeral Home.”

Pierce Office Building, Circa 1920, Columbus

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Historic Pierce Office Building, a Black landmark on Ninth Street in Columbus, Georgia, showcasing red brick architecture and large windows.

Richard A. Pierce was the first to develop 9th Street as an exclusive business district for the Black community. The intersection of 9th Street and 5th Avenue was called the Magic Corner for its central location and the Pierce Building was known as the Ninth Street Mecca. According to the Colored Columbus Directory and Year Book of 1926-1927, Richard A. Pierce (1877-1934) was a highly successful entrepreneur. He was the owner of this structure, which housed the Ninth Street Drug Store, an insurance office, a dental office, Ethel Spencer’s piano school, Anne Spencer’s Accessory Store, and the Pierce Auditorium, a third floor entertainment space which featured live dances and other entertainment. He also owned the Pierce Pocket Billiard Parlor and more than eighty tenant dwellings. He was the largest Black property owner in Columbus in his time.

Like the neighboring Sconiers Building, the Pierce Office Building is a landmark of Black Columbus and should be considered for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. Richard Pierce and John L. Sconiers were pioneers in Black business in the Jim Crow era, and succeeded in spite of the challenges that were inherent to their interests.

Sconiers Building, Circa 1921, Columbus

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Historic Sconiers Building in Columbus, Georgia, featuring a florist storefront and several upper-story windows. The three-story brick building is situated at the corner of Ninth Street and Fifth Avenue, showcasing its architectural significance.

The corner of 9th Street and 5th Avenue was the commercial and cultural center of Black Columbus throughout much of the 20th century in an area known as the Liberty District. John Leonard Sconiers, Sr., (1884-1959) was one of its biggest boosters. His Sconiers Funeral Home, originally located in the small house to the left of the Sconiers Building, was established here circa 1916 and is the oldest Black-owned business in Columbus.

The corner space on the ground floor of the Sconiers Building was once occupied by the Laborers Savings and Loan Company, of which Mr. Sconiers served as president. Other commercial businesses occupied the two remaining ground spaces. More business and professional offices, including the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, occupied the second floor, and the third floor served as Sconiers Hall, an auditorium used for entertainment, conventions, assemblies, and lodge meetings. Later businesses included the Afro-American Life Insurance Company, Guaranty Life Insurance Company, barber Charles Johnson, and beautician Eula Jones. These businesses were central to the development of a Black middle class in Columbus and this building is an important link to that history.

First African Baptist Church, 1915, Columbus

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A low-angle view of the First African Baptist Church's brick facade, showcasing its tall towers and windows against a blue sky.

First African Baptist Church is the oldest Black congregation in Columbus. In 1840, after 11 years of worshiping with White congregants of Ephesus Baptist Church, enslaved members, along with free people of color, formed the African Baptist Church.

Front entrance of the First African Baptist Church featuring three double doors flanked by three large arched entries and red brick walls.

They first met in the former home of Ephesus Baptist, built in 1830 and vacated for a larger sanctuary. White ministers would serve the African Baptist Church until the early 1860s. In 1862, a gift to the African Baptist Church from Ephesus allowed construction of a new chapel. The first Black minister was Rev. Harry Watson.

Close-up of a stained glass window displaying the text 'FIRST AFRICAN BAPTIST CHURCH' above a set of double doors.

A fire claimed the new church in the 1870s and a brick structure replaced it in 1881. The new church was located at 6th Avenue and 11th Street and the name was changed to Sixth Avenue Baptist Church. In the 1880s and 1890s, discord among members led to the formation of Metropolitan Baptist Church and Friendship Baptist Church.

Exterior view of First African Baptist Church featuring a brick facade, pointed arch windows, and a decorative fountain in the foreground.

The present church was built in 1915, during the pastorate of Rev. J. H. Carter. It grew from the membership of earlier and disparate congregations and was christened First African Baptist Church. In one form or another, it has served the Black community of Columbus for the better part of two centuries. The “Mother of the Blues”, Gertrude Pridgett (later known as Ma Rainey) was baptized at First African Baptist.

Exterior view of First African Baptist Church, a large red brick building with two prominent towers, featuring arched windows and doorways.

National Register of Historic Places

First African Baptist Church Parsonage, 1916, Columbus

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A historic white wooden house with a front porch, surrounded by neatly trimmed hedges and grass, located near a red brick building under a clear blue sky.

This structure is first listed in the Columbus city directory in 1916 as the parsonage for the adjacent First African Baptist Church. The Queen Anne architecture suggests a slightly earlier construction date (circa 1880s-1890s), but this is all the information I’ve been able to locate.

National Register of Historic Places