Monday, September 17, 2018

Columbia:The County Seat of Maury County




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

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