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Henry L. Benning in the New Georgia Encyclopedia

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General Henry Benning was on his way back from Appomattox Courthouse when the house that stood here was burned by Union General James Wilson. Later, General Benning's name was placed on the new Federal Military Base established in Columbus in 1918.

General Benning's House Location

This walking tour includes many of the landmarks, museums, and historic buildings and monuments of Columbus Georgia. Highlights of the tour include the home of Dr. John Stith Pemberton who invented Coca-Cola, a museum that shares the history of Ma Rainey who was known as the “Mother of Blues,” the Octagon House, the Iron Bank, and the Springer Opera House. 

Historic Walking Tour of Columbus Georgia 

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This historic theater hosted some of the greatest African American performers in history: Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Fredye Marshall and the mother of blues, Ma Rainey. Ma Rainey owned the theater during her lifetime. The theater closed in 1974 but was restored in the 1990s and now serves as a cultural center. The entire neighborhood surrounding the theater is called the "Liberty District" in reference to the theater which is the centerpiece of the community.



The Liberty Theater

Here on July 1, 1958, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made a speech to a room full of courageous African Americans as the KKK threatened to bomb this building while Dr. King was there. The building was protected by armed Prince Hall Masons on the roof. As a result, the KKK opted that night to use the dynamite they prepared to blow up the home of a Black woman who had recently moved into a white neighborhood, Essie Mae Ellison. Dr. King spoke about the Little Rock nine and the decisions of Judge Lemley.

Prince Hall Masonic Lodge

This historic Columbus landmark honors the life of Ma Rainey who is often referred to as the “Mother of the Blues.” Rainey was a musical revolutionary, incorporating various styles of blues, jazz, and her own personal flair into the minstrel and vaudeville acts. Her deep, raspy vocals influenced Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong, both of whom were mentored by Ma Rainey. She wrote Elvis Presley's signature concert opener "See-See Rider" in this home. She owned the Liberty Theater and hosted many famous performers at this home when they came to perform at the Liberty. She was commemorated by the U.S. Postal Service for her achievements in 1994 with a stamp in her honor. 

Ma Rainey Museum

The occupants of the&nbsp;original part of the house were Alfred Iverson and his wife Julia Forsyth, the daughter of then governor John Forsyth. Alfred earned a law degree from Princeton and was eventually elected to the House of Representatives in 1846 and then the&nbsp;Senate in 1855. He is notable for being the first Senator to call for Georgia's secession (once this happened, he returned to Georgia to form a Confederate regiment; he rose to become Brigadier General and his two sons joined the army).&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In 1854 a book written by a man named Orson Squire Fowler promoted the idea that houses should be built in the shape of an&nbsp;octagon. He believed that it provided maximum space, good ventilation and health benefits.&nbsp;May agreed with this philosophy&nbsp;and this&nbsp;is what&nbsp;inspired him&nbsp;to convert the house and build the addition in&nbsp;octagon shapes.&nbsp;

The Octagon House is arguably the most interesting building in Columbus, if not the most photographed. It is the only known "double-octagonal" house in the country, which is the main reason it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973. As the description indicates, the house consists of two parts, the original dwelling built around 1830 and the octagonal addition constructed in 1863 by its new owner, Leander May, who was a cabinetmaker. When May built the addition he also converted the original dwelling into an octagonal shape. Given its unusual shape, the house was called "Mays Folly". The home is not open to the public as it is privately owned, but it is still possible to view it from the street.

Octagon House

Dr. John Stith Pemberton, the&nbsp;creator of the original formula for Coca-Cola, lived in this cottage from 1855-1860. At this time, he was a practicing pharmacist in Columbus. The home has been moved from its original location and was operated as a museum by the Historic Columbus Foundation until 2013 when items from Pemberton's home and an exhibit made to resemble a 19th-century apothecary shop were located to the museum.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;

The Pemberton House an historic house in Columbus, Georgia, it was the home of Dr. John Stith Pemberton from who invented Coca-Cola and originally located at 1017 3rd Avenue. The Pembertons lived in the home from 1855 to 1860. The property was saved with the help of local preservationists and donated by Coca-Cola to the Historic Columbus Foundation. The property has been on the National Register of Historic Places since the 1970s and was operated as a small museum with exhibits related to Pemberton's life as a pharmacist and the early history of Coca-Cola until 2013. 

John S. Pemberton's Cottage

Opened in 1996, the Coca-Cola Space Science Center is an aerospace museum in downtown Columbus. It is part of the Columbus State University and as such classes are held there. The center features interactive exhibits and many space-related artifacts including the most extensive space shuttle artifact collection in the state. Highlights include a nine-time space-flown Space Shuttle Main EngineNozzle, a BioMed and Operations Management Consoles from Kennedy Space Center's Firing Room 3, a Space Shuttle Escape Basket, and General Onboard Computer. The center also has the Challenger Learning Center mission simulator, which allows children to participate in a simulated mission to mars, the moon, and a comet. A highly advance planetarium theater can show films and night skies from any time in history.

Coca-Cola Space Science Center

The bridge at this location was deliberately burned by Confederates during the last battle of the Civil War on April 26, 1866. It was initially designed to be a booby trap for Union Soldiers invading Columbus. But the Confederates got too eager and the bridge burned without injury to any Union soldiers. The bridge was a covered wooden bridge. It was built by Horace King.

Lower (Dillingham) Bridge

The Columbus RiverWalk or the Chattahoochee RiverWalk is&nbsp;a 22-mile walking and biking area along the Chattahoochee River in Columbus, Georgia. Construction&nbsp;began for this project in 1989. The first phase was completed on October&nbsp;12, 1992, which was, in fact, Columbus Day! Just south of the Dillingham Street Bridge you will find a cluster of four statues. These are all depictions of Christopher Columbus in different stages of his life. The four phases that are being displayed are Vision, Persuasion, Discovery, and Chains. Now after closely examining the statue you will see that each one is posed to represent those different stages. Now although this statue was placed when the first phase of the RiverWalk was completed it was not until the following year that the statue had been dedicated.&nbsp; The second phase of the RiverWalk expanded the walk from&nbsp;the Columbus Convention and Trade Center in Downtown to Oxbow Meadows in South Columbus. Shortly before the city expanded the North end of the walk it was extended to Fort Benning where the Infantry Center is located. The third phase dealt with the stretch from the TSYS building to the Bibb Mill. The fourth and final phase extended the RiverWalk from Bibb Mill to the Lake Oliver Dam. Construction began in 2009 to connect the RiverWalk from the 14th Street bridge to the piece at Eagle &amp; Phenix Dam. This section opened in early 2011 and has since been open for all to enjoy. Along the RiverWalk there are 11 designated access points, some which include Woodruff Park, Eagle and Phenix&nbsp;Mills, etc.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The Columbus RiverWalk is a staple to the city of Columbus. There are many sites to explore along the RiverWalk. As you peruse around you will see many different things such as Battle Sites, Museums, Old Mills, and so much more! You can hang out on Cutbait island and watch people raft or you can go out and raft yourself. Since built-in 1992, the RiverWalk has expanded North and South, any day you will come out and see many people biking, running, walking, fishing, etc. It's a place that will keep you coming back for more, whether it be the historical features, the water features, or nature in general. 




Columbus RiverWalk 

After a conflict with the local Coca-Cola distributor, Columbus Roberts, the owner of the store that was here in 1905, Claud Hatcher, determined to create an alternative beverage that he named "Royal Crown." His beverages also included Chero-Cola and Nehi drinks. The international headquarters for RC remain in Columbus, GA.

Birthplace of Royal Crown (RC) Cola

On October 12, 1860, John Wilkes Booth was shot in this building, but not fatally. The building was then called Cook's Hotel. Booth was in the city to play Romeo and Juliet. The shot disabled Booth for some time, yet he recovered and went on to perform in Montgomery. Oscar Wilde, Eugene Debs, and William Jennings Bryan all stayed in this hotel.

The Rankin Hotel, once Cook's Hotel

The theater began showing movies once the Great Depression hit and continued doing so until they ended for good in 1959. By this time the building was in bad shape and it was close to being torn down. However, efforts to save and renovate it prevented this from happening. It was renovated in 1964 and opened. A more extensive renovation took place in 1988. Former President (then Governor), Jimmy Carter declared it as the state's official theater in 1971.&nbsp;

The Springer Opera House, built in 1871 by Francis Joseph Springer, has served as an important cultural and entertainment venue for the majority of its life. A National Historic Landmark (1978) and the State Theater of Georgia (1992), the Opera House has hosted numerous famous figures in American history. Buffalo Bill, William Jennings Bryan, Irving Berlin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John Philip Sousa and many others have spoken, given speeches or performed here. Traveling musical and theater acts were also a major staple at the theater until the Great Depression forced these companies out of business. After many years of disuse, the theater today is once again a lively place hosting various plays, musicals, and other performances.  

Springer Opera House

Dr. Martin Luther King said, “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” Primus King took that first step on the morning of July 4, 1944, when he decided to cast a ballot at the Muscogee County Courthouse. Despite the Democratic primary election in Columbus, Georgia being limited to whites, he put his body on the line and attempted to cast a ballot. Immediately after entering the building, an officer roughly turned King away telling him he wasn’t allowed to vote. Afterwards, King walked several blocks to the law office of Oscar D. Smith Sr. to file a lawsuit against the members of the Muscogee County Democratic Party Executive Committee. The committee was chaired by Joseph E. Chapman and claimed that the party had denied his right to vote as guaranteed by the 15th Amendment which guaranteed the right to vote regardless of race.  In September of 1945, King’s attorney Oscar Smith commenced arguments in a federal court in Macon, Georgia. Smith argued alongside attorney Harry S. Strozier and made the case that King’s right to vote under the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Seventeenth amendments had been violated. The case concluded when Federal Judge T. Hoyt Davis ruled in favor of King on October 12, 1945. King’s ruling legally allowed all African American people in the state of Georgia the right to vote in primary elections, but this only marked the start of the long and ongoing fight against mechanisms designed to prevent or discourage African Americans from exercising their right to vote. . King was a barber, a civil rights activist, and reverend in Columbus, and he was one of several civil rights activists in the decades leading up to the challenges against voter suppression in the late 1950s and early 1960s that culminated with the passage of the Voting Rights Act. In the 1940s Jim Crow laws and a variety of legal and extralegal conditions created a situation where African Americans were not permitted to vote or did so at their peril. In his early years when King worked as a chauffeur and butler, he was constantly humiliated at the hands of his white employers. These experiences helped strengthen his determination later in life leading up to his decision to challenge the all-white primary. King has said that he has always been a man that loved his people, but he could never say that about white people. When a group of Columbus-area civil rights activists made a plan to challenge the July 4, 1944 primary, Primus King was the group's volunteer. When they denied him his right to vote, he immediately walked three blocks to a lawyers office to file a suit. During that time, King received many threats from the Ku Klux Klan that included specific details about what they would do to kill him, including the threat to throw his lifeless body in the Mississippi River so that his loved ones would never have closure. White supremacists visited King's house at night, making treats and shooting firecrackers or using other methods in hopes of scaring him into reversing course. When these tactics didn't work, white supremacists set a trap by trying to trick him into visiting a white woman's house by having her say how much she loved him and how she thought he was a fine looking man. King reportedly responded to her by saying "I'm proud that somebody's got enough Christ in them to love......If you got love in your heart, that's really a superb thing for you to have." Many other attempts were made to intimidate King or trick him so he would miss his court date, but failed. Thirty years later, the Democratic Party of Muscogee County paid King the financial judgement that the court declared they owed him with interest, a check for $324.70. The payment was the only acknowledgment of wrongdoing, but Primus King had begun an effort that would challenge the exclusion of African Americans and later lead to a profound shift in the Democratic Party of Georgia. Following years of African Americans challenging their exclusion despite violence, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 gave the federal government the power to prevent discrimination at the polls. By that time, the Democratic Party had become the defender of civil rights and African Americans began to vote in elections in large numbers. By the 1970s, white politicians turned the direction of the Republican Party and most African Americans supported the Democrats. This marker denotes an important moment in that long transition, but more importantly, it shares the history of African Americans like Primus King who challenged their exclusion from the democratic process.

Dedicated in 2015, this state historical marker commemorates the fortitude of Primus King who defied white supremacists to cast his ballot. On July 4, 1944, Primus King decided that he was going to vote in Columbus, Georgia's primary election at the Muscogee County Courthouse, even though the primary was operated by the Democratic Party, a private organization which limited membership to white residents. King was denied entry to the building because of the color of his skin. With the support of fellow activist Dr. Thomas Brewer, he was able to enact a plan that would lead to a lawsuit against the Muscogee County Democratic Party Executive Committee. The lawsuit named Joseph Chapman, the head of the county's all-white democratic party at that time, as the defendant. King v. Chapman was a court case that followed a similar case, Smith v. Allwright, and likewise resulted in a judgment against Chapman and the Democratic party stating that primary elections that were limited to one race were a violation of the Constitution even if political parties were private organizations. During this time period, most African Americans in the Deep South were deprived of their rights to vote due to a variety of state and local laws that were carefully framed to not explicitly mention race. King's faced death threats for almost two years for his challenge to the all-white primary. However, the federal judge's ruling in King's favor on October 12, 1945, paired with a similar decision in Smith v. Allright in Texas, marked the end of the all-white primary. However, the two court decisions alone did not end voter suppression, the leading issue of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and an issue that remains just as salient today. 

Primus King and the Civil Rights Movement Historical Marker

This building was the last identifiable location of several million dollars of Confederate gold that was evacuated from New Orleans in 1862. After the gold left this building, it became a mystery as to it's end, and there are a multitude of theories. The gold is now generally referred to as the "Lost Confederate Gold." This building appeared on the front of some Confederate currency in 1862.

The Iron Bank

Slayton was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a white woman. At the start of his court proceedings, a white mob stormed the court and shot Slayton in the courtroom before placing a noose around his neck and dragging his body through the street. Not satisfied, the mob entered the jail and captured Miles who had been sitting in jail for several years despite the fact that his trial for assault against a white woman had concluded in a mistrial. After capturing, killing, and mutilating the bodies of Slayton and Miles, the mob hung the bodies of the two men from a tree with signs warning other people of color that they could meet the same fate. A grand jury failed to yield any information from local residents despite the fact that both men had been executed in broad daylight with dozens of witnesses. The two men are buried in unmarked graves in&nbsp;Porterdale Cemetery

At this site on June 1, 1896, Jesse Slayton and Will Miles were lynched by a vigilante mob. The two Black men were accused of a crime but rather than allow the men to face trial, a white mob mutilated and killed the two men. 

Lynching of Jesse Slayton and Will Miles (1896)

Prior to the end of the Civil War this was the location of the Hatcher & McGehee slave auction. The Hon. Jeremiah Haralson, U.S. Congress, was one of the former slaves who was sold here.

Slave Auction Block Location

This building was the headquarters of General James Wilson during the Battle of Columbus, GA, April 16, 1865. It was owned by Col. Randolph Mott, a Union sympathizer. The house was spared by General Wilson, but it went up in flames in 2014, cause unknown. 

Mott House

The Blackmar-Ellis House was originally built as a Victorian home in 1884 for John Blackmar.  It was redesigned by Henrietta Dozier in 1912 – she was the first female architect in Georgia and the first woman in the south to receive formal architectural training. President Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower stayed here visiting their son, Captain John D. Eisenhower, when he resided here during his assignment at Fort Benning.

Historic Walking Tour of Columbus Georgia

General Benning's House Location

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