Midtown (not to be mistaken for Midtown, New York) has an area of six square miles in

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee ...

. It possesses residential neighbourhoods, eleven public schools, the Columbus Museum, the Columbus Public Library, the Muscogee County Public Education Center, the Columbus Aquatic Center and the international headquarters for

Aflac Aflac Incorporated (American Family Life Assurance Company) is an American insurance company and is the largest provider of supplemental insurance in the United States. It was founded in 1955 and is based in Columbus, Georgia. In the U.S., it ...

. The population of Midtown is 22,000 residents living in 8500 households and is 10 kilometres north of

Fort Benning Fort Benning (named Fort Moore from 2023–2025) is a United States Army post in the Columbus, Georgia area. Located on Georgia's border with Alabama, Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve compone ...

on I-185. Midtown's boundaries are Talbott on and Warm Springs Roads to the north; I-185 to the east; Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to the south; and 10th Avenue to the west. Midtown is centrally located to Columbus' many cycling amenities; Fall Line Trace bike trail parallels Midtown's northern boundary and the Riverwalk is one mile (1.6 km) away.MidTown, Inc. http://www.midtowncolumbusga.org/

History

Shortly after the founding of Columbus, Georgia in 1828, wealthy Columbites began to look beyond the original city limits to build suburban estates and gardens. While many of the owners of these suburban villas had working plantations in other areas, these estates were for their urban-based businesses like law, commerce, or manufacturing."Historic MidTown Tour." Distributed by MidTown, Inc., Historic Columbus Foundation, and the Columbus, Georgia Visitors Bureau. December 15, 2009 After the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, the invention of the street-car made suburban life possible for more Americans. In 1887, John F. Flournoy and Louis F. Garrard purchased the Columbus Railroad Company and created the Belt Line trolley, "a coke-burning, steam-powered dummy engine

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

pulled one or two cars eastward from downtown out 10th Street up the hill into Wynton, turning north at Wynton School, circling around the northern edge of the new Wildwood Park and returning to downtown on 18th Street."The National Register of Historic Places https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/index.htm In that same year, the two partners formed the Muscogee Real Estate Company and began to subdivide lots for residential development. Many factors contributed to the boom of development that occurred in Midtown in the early part of the 20th century. Population increases, national trends, a growing middle-class, and a fire that destroyed one and a half blocks of houses in downtown Columbus, pushed people outside the city limits. After World War I and the creation of

, Midtown flourished and it was at this time that the majority of Midtown was developed. Other Columbus entrepreneurs followed the example of John Flournoy and began carving neighbourhoods out of once rural land. In 1925, the completion of the thirteenth street viaduct made automobile access easier and in that same year the city limits of Columbus grew to include the rapidly developing Midtown area.

Neighborhoods and historic districts

Midtown is home to nineteen established neighbourhood associations. Six National Register historic districts radiate from Wynton Road in the heart of Midtown, creating one of the largest contiguous historic districts in the United States: * Dinglewood Historic District * Peacock Woods-Dimon Circle Historic District * Weracoba-St. Elmo Historic District * Wildwood Circle-Hillcrest Historic District * Wynnton Village Historic District * Wynn's Hill-Overlook Historic District

Dingle wood Historic District

The Dinglewood Historic District is a small, residential neighborhood comprising the c. 1859 Dingle wood house; early 20th –century residences; a privately owned, central, circular park; and a city-owned park. The district developed around Dinglewood, the two-story, Italianate-style house designed for Colonel Joel Early Hurt. The estate was subdivided in the early 20th century, and sixteen houses were constructed between 1917 and 1951. Common house styles in the district include Georgian, Bungalow, Ranch, Colonial Revival, English Vernacular Revival, and Spanish Colonial Revival. Dinglewood House (1429 Dingle wood Drive), a two-story, Italianate-style, Georgian house that was designed for Colonel Joel Early Hurt by Columbus architects and builders Barringer and Morton in 1858. Hurt spared no expense when building his home. He even installed private water and gas works on the property. Located on either side of the Dinglewood House are two c. 1858 houses reportedly built for the craftsman who constructed the Dinglewood House.

Peacock Woods-Demon Circle Historic District

The development of The Peacock Woods-Dimon Circle Historic District began in 1922. John Flournoy's Peacock Woods subdivision comprises the northern half of the district and Samuel Kelly Dimon's Dimon Circle subdivision, the southern portion. Flournoy, a prominent and prolific Columbus developer, hired the nationally acclaimed landscape architect Earle S. Draper to design Peacock Woods as a picturesque neighbourhood with curving streets and park-like settings. Dimon Circle was subdivided from Dimon's family property in 1922. Additional lots were added to the development in 1928. The center of the district (known as Rock Park) was developed by Charles Frank Williams and the southwest portion (known as Wynnton Heights) was subdivided by Hezikiah Land. The district includes a broad range of architectural styles including

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the arch ...

, Craftsman, English Vernacular Revival,

Spanish Colonial Revival The Spanish Colonial Revival architecture (), often known simply as Spanish Revival, is a term used to encompass a number of revivalist architectural styles based in both Spanish colonial architecture and Spanish architecture in general. Thes ...

and one 1954 California Ranch.

Weracoba-St. Elmo Historic District

The history of the District begins with the founding of Columbus and with the city's most famous antebellum mansion, St. Elmo, built circa 1830. Another smaller antebellum house, Highland Hall, dating from the 1850s, is also within the District. Both structures are listed in the National Register, and they illustrate the area's original use as a setting for suburban estates prior to the

. Today, the Weracoba / St. Elmo Historic District is a vibrant multi-use residential, recreational, educational, and commercial area with a strong sense of community among its residents. Its canopy of mature hardwood trees shelters the city's- and one of the state's-largest and most intact 1920s/1930s concentration of middle-class Craftsman Bungalow,

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture, also known as mock Tudor in the UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in rea ...

, Classical, and Mission Revival style homes. Of the 440 surviving houses in the District, 85% were constructed by 1941.

Wildwood Circle-Hillcrest Historic District

An early 20th century

streetcar suburb A streetcar suburb is a residential community whose growth and development was strongly shaped by the use of streetcar lines as a primary means of transportation. Such suburbs developed in the United States in the years before the automobile, when ...

—continued to develop through the mid-1950s. In the 1880s, a streetcar line was constructed along Wildwood Avenue to serve the Wynnton area. Owner of the streetcar line and the Muscogee Real Estate Company, John Francis Flournoy, built his own Queen Anne estate here as he developed the Wildwood Circle subdivision. Sale of lots along the streetcar line peaked from 1918 to 1925. Also within this district—at 1519 Stark Avenue—is the childhood home of

Carson McCullers Carson McCullers (February 19, 1917 – September 29, 1967) was an American novelist, short-story writer, playwright, essayist, and poet. Her first novel, ''The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter'' (1940), explores the spiritual isolation of misfits ...

(1917–1967) the renowned novelist and playwright. Some of the architectural styles in this district include Colonial Revival, English Vernacular Revival, Mission/Spanish Revival, and Craftsman.

Village of Wynnton Historic District

An example of an early- to mid-20th-century residential neighborhood developed from

antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern US ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum architectu ...

estates and in response to the

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

line which ran along the southern and eastern boundaries of the district. The evolution of Wynnton Village spans over 150 years from its antebellum estates, to its village center developed in the mid-19th century, to the beginning of streetcar suburbs in the 1890s, to intense residential development from 1919 through the 1940s and then serving as a prime location for multi-family dwellings for

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

-era

officers. Architectural styles vary from early examples of

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

to popular early 20th century styles including Craftsman,

and English Vernacular Revival.

Wynn's Hill-Overlook Historic District

An example of an early- to mid-20th-century residential neighbourhood developed from several antebellum estates. In 1834, Colonel William L. Wynn purchased of land located on a rise east of downtown Columbus, just beyond the city limits. Wynnton Road was an important thoroughfare that also served as the early property line that divided Wynn's land from John Woolfolk's land (portions of which were later sold to Joel Early Hurt, builder of Dinglewood, among others). During the 1920s, a majority of the district was purchased and developed by Lloyd G. Bowers who hired nationally acclaimed landscape architect Earle S. Draper to design a picturesque neighbourhood. Draper's signature style of curvilinear streets and park-like settings can also be seen in the Peacock Woods-Dimon Circle Historic District and in the 1920s expansion of the village at the Bibb Mill (located outside of MidTown). With the incorporation of the larger Wynnton area into the city limits in the mid-1920s, residential construction boomed; a second peak in building occurred in the 1940s. Some of the architectural styles in this district include

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

, Neoclassical Revival,

, Craftsman, English Vernacular Revival, Mediterranean Revival and Post Modern.

Parks and recreation

MidTown's curvilinear tree-lined streets and pocket parks were integral to its original residential development and design and define part of MidTown's unique character today. Weracoba Park, also known as Lakebottom Park, is the oldest, large-scale, daily use recreation facility and public greenspace within the city. It began in 1890 as a private park with a shallow lake, dance pavilion, a small bowling alley and zoo; in 1924, the city purchased the park, a part of it became the site of Columbus High School, Lakebottom Park's lake was drained and the remainder became officially Weracoba Park, taking its new name from the creek that winds through it. Today, Weracoba Park expands over 40 tree-filled acres that incorporate ball fields, tennis courts, a basketball court, playground and tracks for walking and running and is used by 10,000 people a day.Columbus, Georgia Parks and Recreation Department http://www.columbusga.org/parks/park_sites/Lakebottom/park_lakebottom.html The work of two of America's early 20th century landscape architects is present in MidTown. Gardens surrounding the Columbus Museum were designed in the 1920s by the firm of

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822 – August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, Social criticism, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the U ...

; and Earle Draper designed the curving streets and pocket parks of Peacock Woods. MidTown is also centrally located to Columbus' many cycling amenities: the Fall Line Trace bike trail parallels MidTown's northern boundary and access to the Riverwalk is one mile (1.6 km) to the west.

Cultural, civic and educational attractions

The Columbus Museum, the second largest museum in the state,The Columbus Museum http://www.columbusmuseum.com/ and known for its focus on American art and regional history, is on the west end of Wynnton Road in MidTown. The Columbus Public Library, facility designed by architect Robert Stern, and the Muscogee County School District's Public Education Center (that opened in 2009) anchor MidTown's eastern boundary on Macon Road near I-185. Eleven public schools are within MidTown's boundaries; Wynnton Arts Academy, founded in 1837 as Wynnton Academy, is the oldest continuously used elementary school in Georgia and among the oldest in the country.

Shopping and dining

Two of the city's early suburban shopping centres—the Village on 13th and St. Elmo—are located in MidTown were renovated to host many shops. Various other shops, galleries and services can be found throughout the MidTown area. Regional and national chain stores are centred in the Cross Country area on Macon Road at I-185.The MidTown Business Association

References

External links

Official Website for MidtownOfficial Website for the City of ColumbusWebsite for visitors info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Midtown (Columbus, Georgia) Neighborhoods in Columbus, Georgia Historic districts in Columbus, Georgia