On Saturday evening, June 2, Historic Columbus 40th annual Heritage Ball was held at the site of the former Bibb Manufacturing Company in the heart of historic Bibb City. Established in 1900, the mill was closed to manufacturing in 1998, and purchased in 1999 by the Buck Investment Company, which, after a series of renovations, created the spectacular RiverMill Event Centre, site of the evening’s festivities.

The mill is located on a high bluff overlooking the Chattahoochee River, a beautiful area that has always attracted visitors. Native Americans gathered here to hunt and fish. and their legends are part of the local mythology. In this area, you can find Lovers’ Leap where a young Indian couple plummeted to their deaths rather than live apart.

Soon after the establishment of Columbus in 1828, new arrivals to the area began to appreciate its appeal. There was a cotton plantation here during the ante-bellum period. By the 1890s, the North Highlands Land and Improvement Company sought to create a recreational park and develop the real estate. A streetcar line began to serve the area and there were plans for an upscale neighborhood to rival those in the Weracoba and Wynnton neighborhoods.

The turn of the century brought the rapid development of hydroelectricity, and the waterpower potential at Lovers’ Leap took precedence over previous plans. On this site in 1898, Gunby Jordan and W. C. Bradley along with John Hanson of Macon created the Columbus Power Company which soon became the city’s major wholesale supplier of electricity. Today the oldest building on this site is the small office building of the Columbus Power Company where Magnolia Hill is located, surrounded by the vast structures of the Bibb Mill.

Bibb City was incorporated in 1909 and the second phase of the mill village’s development was begun in 1919. Its stunning setting was the creation of Earle Draper, a landscape architect from Charlotte. Generations of mill families enjoyed the neighborhood that is now experiencing a renaissance of renovation and development, efforts that Historic Columbus Foundation congratulates and supports whole-heartedly.

Honored Lady

Historic Columbus is pleased to announce the Honored Lady for 2007, Mrs. William Harbert Martin, Nancy Barnett Snider Martin. Mrs. Martin is a sixth generation native of Columbus. Her great-great-great-great-grandfather Elias Beall was one of the five commissioners appointed by Governor John Forsyth in 1827 to lay out the city of Columbus and her maternal great-great-grandfather William H. young was one of the founders of the Eagle and Phenix Mill. She was educated in Columbus at Sixteenth Street School, Wynnton School and Columbus High School and graduated from Sweet Briar College in Virginia. She married here in 1948 and is the proud mother of four children and eleven grandchildren.

Our honoree has been very involved in a variety of community interests. Her leadership is reflected in her service as President of Historic Columbus Foundation, the Junior League of Columbus, Wynnton School PTA, the Junto Study Club and the Dogwood and Tea Olive Garden Clubs. In addition, she has served on the boards of the Christian Fellowship Association, Musemont Arts Camp, the Columbus Symphony Guild and St. Francis Auxilliary.

Mrs. Martin’s active involvement has contributed greatly to the success of fundraising events for Historic Columbus, the Columbus Museum and the St. Francis Auxilliary. She served as the first chairman of the Museum Guild’s Flying High and as chairman of Mardi Gras on two occasions. She and her husband were directors of Mardi Gras from 1973 to 1975. She chaired the Foundation’s third Heritage Ball in 1970 at the Elms where Miss Loretto Lamar Chappell was celebrated as Honored Lady.

She is a member and former Town Chairman of The National Society of the Colonial Dames in America. She served as Vice President of the State Society, and was named to this organization’s National Roll of Honor.

When she is not actively involved in other activities, she enjoys cooking, reading and playing bridge. She has been a member of the Thursday Bridge Club since its founding in 1949.

Mrs. Martin’s escorts for the Presentation were her sons Mr. John Catlett Martin II and Mr. William Harbert Martin, Jr. and her sons-in-law Mr. James William Jackson, Jr. and Dr. William Madison Harper IV.