MidTown (Columbus, Georgia)
| MidTown | |
|---|---|
| Neighborhood | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Georgia |
| County | Muscogee |
| Population (2009) | |
| • Total | 22,000 |
| Area code(s) | 706 |
MidTown is an area of six square miles in Columbus, Georgia. Within its boundaries are diverse residential neighborhoods and historic districts, eleven public schools, numerous parks and public greenspaces, the Columbus Museum, the Columbus Public Library, the Muscogee County Public Education Center,the Columbus Aquatic Center, commercial office and retail districts, and the international headquarters for Aflac. MidTown is home to over 22,000 residents living in 8500 households and is six miles (10 km) north of Fort Benning on I-185.
MidTown's boundaries are Talbotton and Warm Springs Roads on the north; I-185 on the east; Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard on the south; and 10th Avenue on the west. It is a diverse, and increasingly walkable and bicycle friendly part of town. MidTown is centrally located to Columbus' many cycling amenities: the newly opened Fall Line Trace bike trail parallels MidTown's northern boundary and access to the 14-mile (23 km) Riverwalk is one mile (1.6 km) away.
Shortly after the founding of Columbus, Georgia in 1828, wealthy Columbusites began to look just beyond the original city limits to build their large, suburban estates and gardens. The gentle hills of what is now the MidTown area were attractive to those looking to escape the mosquitoes of the lower lying, Chattahoochee riverbanks. 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.
After the American Civil War, 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 [that] pulled one or two cars eastward from downtown out 10th Street up the hill into Wynnton, turning north at Wynnton School, circling around the northern edge of the new Wildwood Park and returning to downtown on 18th Street." 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 Fort Benning, 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 neighborhoods 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.
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