Wanna Know A Little Somethin' About Columbus, Georgia?

Established 1828
Columbus, Georgia, was once the site of a Creek Indian Village.

It is one of the few cities in the United States to be planned in advance of its founding. Established in 1828 as a slave trading post to strengthen the western border of Georgia, Columbus was the last "frontier town" of the original Thirteen Colonies.

Columbus encompasses an area of approximately 218 square miles, is located in the west central part of the State of Georgia bordering on the Alabama state line, is 90 miles southwest of the City of Atlanta, approximately 80 miles east of Montgomery, Alabama, and just under 250 miles from Savannah, Georgia (near the Atlantic Ocean).

The original corporate area of Columbus was first known as the Coweta Reserve. 

 A tract of 1,200 acres was set aside by the State of Georgia for the location. Tracts were reserved for a courthouse (present site of the Government Center of Columbus), male and female academies, a jail, and cemetery sites. More significantly, a tract of land comprising between 300 and 400 acres was designated as the City Commons and reserved for future use by the public. A large segment of this is now occupied by the Columbus Civic Center, Memorial Stadium, and Golden Ball Park.

Columbus, established in 1828 on the Chattahoochee River, has experienced subsequent growth in the north and northeast side of town. This is because of the Alabama State line and the later establishment of Fort Benning on the south and east. 

Until recent years, the economy was dominated by cotton textiles and the Fort. 

 The central business district still remains a major employment center, but typically the population centers are on the fringes of this business district, with a large consolidation that is primarily rural. The moderate climate, with an annual mean temperature of 61 degrees, allows almost year-round use of many recreational facilities. 

Winters have periods of warm weather, often reaching the low 80s; and Columbus is characterized by hot, humid summers that require most buildings to be air conditioned.

Columbus' favorable latitude offers an opportunity to use energy-efficient site orientation and building designs. The frost-free growing season averages about 240 days.

As the northern most navigable point on the Chattahoochee River from the gulf of Mexico, Columbus became a center of shipping and military manufacturing (water and rail transportation and hydro-electric power).

Columbus has extended its corporate limits eight times since 1828 to maintain pace with urban development. In 1970, the citizens of Columbus and Muscogee County, with the exception of Bibb City, which remained semi-independent, voted to consolidate to improve government services. In 2001, Bibb City voted to consolidate into Columbus.

The entire land area of Muscogee County encompasses approximately 140,000 acres making it the largest city in Georgia in terms of land area. The 2006 Census lists the population at 188,660. With a 2020 population of 198,969, it is the third largest city in Georgia (after Atlanta and Augusta) and the 124th largest city in the United States .

Columbus is located on the Fall Line, the natural division of the Piedmont mountains of north Georgia and the Costal Plain of south Georgia and Florida. 

Its physical features includes steep slopes in the north, transitioning to level terrain in the south. Several streams and creeks provide good natural drainage to the Chattahoochee River.