History

Columbus is situated at the juncture of three rivers: the Tombigbee, The Buttahatchie, and the Luxapalila. Hernando de Soto crossed the Tombigbee River in 1540 into this area. William Cooper had a trading post near here in the 1780's. Columbus has managed to progress as a city, while still honoring those who came earlier and forged a path. Since before the town was chartered in 1821, men and women of character and intellect had already staked their claim on the area. At that time, the still-new United States was offering land grants to anyone who could work the land. United States military officers came through here during the War of 1812, and some decided that someday, they would return to this lush and lovely land. A few did return, and built the plantations Goshen, Belmont and others after they cleared wilderness for homesites.

From the early days, education has been a pivotal force in Columbus. In 1821, the first public school in the state was started here, and Franklin Academy is still going strong today. By 1830, the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek opened up more land for settlement, and some of the landed gentry from the cotton-depleted East Coast states came here because of the rich Black Prairie soil. They began to build the grand mansions to provide comfort and safety for their families -- and to reflect their prosperity.

Economic depressions in 1836 and again ten years later brought ruin to some planters, though fortunes were made by others. Columbus was, by the 1850s, a boom town. Cotton production was flourishing, with planters now learning about the necessity of crop rotation and diversification.