Of all the many lovely interior cities
that dot the State of Tennessee like the islands of an archipelago,
it can be said without disparagement to any other, Columbia the
county seat of Maury county is the loveliest. It is charmingly
situated on the south bank of Duck river very near the center of the
county on the Decatur Division of the main line of the Louisville
Nashville and Great Southern Railroad, forty seven miles from
Nashville, two hundred and thirty-two from Louisville, three hundred
and forty-two from Cincinnati, one hundred and fifty-nine from
Birmingham, Alabama and two hundred and fifty-four from Montgomery.
It rests upon a series of undulating
limestone hills nestles at the base of Mt Parnassus whose summit
towers over two hundred feet above the city, and from whose height
can be viewed an absolutely exquisite panoramic display of thousands
of acres of fertile field and sylvan glen of lawn and running brook
of town and country.
The capital of Maury county, the third
in wealth and population among the counties of Tennessee being
exceeded only by Davidson and Shelby, whose wealth lies principally
in the cities of Nashville and Memphis, is one of the richest cities
in Tennessee. Today Columbia has a population of 5,600 including
suburbs. Laid out in a most generous Southern manner with broad and
regular streets crossing each other at right angles and many of them
luxuriantly shaded with maples and oaks, it has fifteen miles of
macadamized streets in good repair, and some of the finest public and
private structures in the State, evidencing a high idea of art in
their owners and projectors.
The city has one of the finest systems
of water works in the South, erected in 1883 at a cost of $50,000 The
reservoir is located on the summit of Mt Parnassus 300 feet above
Duck river capacity 2,000,000. The pumping engine is 85 horse power
with a condensing steam pump and has a daily capacity of 1,153,000
gallons. There are about six miles of water main in the city
affording every advantage for domestic manufacturing or public use.
The fire department is also in first class condition and affords
ample protection from ordinary disaster. Water rents are as cheap
here as elsewhere and the water better than in most cities pumped as
it is from Duck river which has its source among the freestone knobs
of the Highland river. The system of sewerage is also good and the
natural drainage is to be admired. The streets of the city as well as
the public buildings and many private residences are lighted by a
superior quality of fixed oil gas, possessing great brilliancy and
the attributes of cheapness as well. There are five miles of gas
mains, and the reservoir has 40,000 cubic feet capacity. The city has
also a telephone exchange with eighty subscribers, being more than
many other cities of larger proportion, giving Columbia telephonic
connection with all the principal cities and towns within a radius of
sixty miles. The telegraph affords communication with all distant
points.
REVISED HAND BOOK OF TENNESSEE pp. 163-
167
