Monday, February 11, 2013

The Rivermill - Columbus, Georgia


What is known today as the Rivermill was orignally the Columbus Power Mill, which started as a partnership between three men in 1897. By 1909, the main mill, two powerhouses and the dam had been completed along with what was basically a labor camp just north of the mill known as "the old village". In the matter of ten years, the company expanded the mill by 1,000 or so feet eastward, nearly doubling the size of the mill space. The mill hit it's pinnacle in production following the end of the Second World War with more than 3,000 textile workers. As the economy "turned south" for the Southern states in the 1970's, the mill faced hard times until closure on the 20th of March, 1998, after Bibb Mill filed bankruptcy.



While sitting idle, the mill was almost entirely destroyed by carnage brought on by a fire in it's 100 year old timbers.  Rising from the ashes, the Mill was reconstructed and now serves as a local venue for weddings and other events as well as apartments from downtown dwellers in what once was Columbus' prime cotton mill on the Chattahoochee River.

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