Historic Sites in Muscogee County

The history of Muscogee County

Muscogee County was created in 1825 from land between the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers that the Muscogee (Creek) had ceded in the Treaty of Indian Springs, and it carries that nation's name. The original county covered about 2,000 square miles until Harris, Marion, Talbot and Chattahoochee counties were cut from it. Columbus was laid out beside the falls of the Chattahoochee as a trading town, with lots sold at public auction in 1828, and it became the county seat. Steamboats carried cotton down the river while the falls powered textile mills and other factories, and by 1860 Muscogee ranked as Georgia's fourth most populous county. During the Civil War, Columbus factories produced swords, cannon, clothing and ironclad warships until Union cavalry under General James H. Wilson captured the city on April 16, 1865, and wrecked much of its industry. The Army post established in 1918 at the county's southern edge, now known again as Fort Benning, became a central part of local life, and in 1971 Columbus and Muscogee County formed Georgia's first consolidated city-county government. The county's cultural history includes blues pioneer Ma Rainey, pianist and composer Thomas "Blind Tom" Wiggins, painter Alma Thomas and novelist Carson McCullers, as well as the Springer Opera House, opened in 1871 and named the State Theatre of Georgia.

Sources: georgiaencyclopedia.orgarmy.mil