 There is a legend that the Village was named for the
wild flower, the Columbine, which grew abundantly years ago. It
was not New Columbine, but New Columbia. The
location of New Columbia was first below the New Columbia bluff in the
area where the Nancy Wilson bridge spanned George's Creek. The
bridge no longer exists, only a few memories of where it was.
George's Creek got its name from a black man named George.
When he referred to the creek he called it "my creek". Hence other
people began referring to it as George's Creek.
The area was first settled in the 1840's.
George's Creek post office was first established in a farm house August
10, 1846. There was no rural route but a post rider. In a
letter written by Edith Travis Mescher she says "Small Post offices were
established at New Columbia, Samath, Gamtown, Wartrace, and Grantsburg.
The Post Rider would leave New Columbia at 8am, stop at Samath, Gamtown,
Wartrace and then onto Grantsburg to be there by one o'clock. He
would stop at the same post offices on his return trip delivering the
mail he had picked up at Grantsburg. There was twice a day mail
service three days a week at those post offices. One delivery
being local the other mail that the Post Rider had picked up at
Grantsburg having been brought in by train. It later was extended
to six days per week.
Twenty-five pieces of mail was quite a load for
him to carry. The Post Rider usually rode horseback but in wet or
bad weather he put his horse to a jumper cart. That was a two
wheel vehicle with bows over the rider to keep him dry. Mrs.
Mescher doesn't remember the name of the first Post Rider but the last
one was Major Pickle. He was always back in the New Columbia by
five pm. The mail was mostly first class. Sometimes a
newspaper or two. No junk mail as there is today.
In 1910 rural free delivery was established.
W.T. Slack was the first rural carrier. He left Grantsburg with a
team hitched to a hack at 9 am. He made the same stops that the
Post Rider had made plus several people put mail boxes near their homes.
However, many people living near the Post Office still went daily to the
Post Office t get their mail. There were over one hundred mail boxes on
the Grantsburg route. Mr. Slack usually got back to Grantsburg
around five pm.
Some of th early business people in New Columbia
were J.P. Choat, general dry goods 1861. E. S, Teague had
general store, J.W. Burnett opened a drug store and also sold whisky by
the gallon. There also was a tavern located on the plot where
Eugene Harris later built a home and a mill in back of the home.
Tom Pullen was the builder of that house just recently demolished
(1989). Some other store owners in New Columbia were Frank Nutty,
John Nutty, Otis Nutty, Tom Pullen, Ray Harper, Willis Richardson,
Ernest Richardson, Jesse Cagle, and Bob Cagle. There was a chain
store, "The Piggly Wiggly" in the New Columbia for a short time.
It was in a building that had been a Doctors Office and owned by Emma
Mabley. There have been several local physicians in the community, some
being Dr. Pete Vanderleak, Dr. Mobley, Dr. Agnew, Dr. Wymore, Dr. Dixon,
and Dr. Pollard.
Jesse Cagle first had a general store located on
the gravel road toward the New Columbia Masonic cemetery. In 1915
he built a very large store building with three additional roams along
the side of the main large store. The building also had a
basement. There the Delco system was installed. There was a
series of batteries that were charged with a gasoline engine. That
provided lights for the store. It was the fore runner of rural
electricity.
Ernie Harper and Jesse Cagle both attended
high school in Metropolis and Ernie Harper later attended college at
Carbondale. The high school or Normal as it was sometimes called
in those days was located in a two story frame building on the comer of
Fifth and Catherine Streets. Where the present Dairy Queen now is
located. Later it was moved to Metropolis Street near where the
Board of Education building is now located.
Lark Simpson built a flour mill in New Columbia.
It burned. He rebuilt another in the same location. Simpson
sold the mill to H. Choat. He did a large volume of business
grinding both corn and wheat. A Mr. Cagle also had a mill.
G. W. Travis hauled flour and meal to Metropolis to be shipped by boat
to both Evansville and Memphis. The flour was packed in barrels.
Each barrel weighing one hundred-ninety six pounds. Mr. Travis
hauled six barrels per wagon load. He left home around 6 am and
drove to Metropolis returning around 6 pm. Mr. Travis hauled the
flour and meal for five years, six days a week. His pay was a
dollar and a half per day. His expense was five cents toll each
way plus five cents for a bowl of soup and five cents for a cup of
coffee. Some say the toll road was from the vicinity of the
Masonic cemetery, but my dad always said it was from Upper Salem Church
to Metropolis. Toll was the way that road was built.
There is a sand hill south of where two elementary school
buildings have stood. Years ago that sand was used to
make brick.
When New Columbia was a thriving community
there was a frame building south of the Cagle store. The first
school building was built before 1900. there were so many students
they had two teachers. Later a new building replaced the first
structure. As many as fifty children attended. That was the
largest district in the county. Many years ago it wasn't unusual
for students who had graduated from the eighth grade to return to school
and repeat grades. Many had no way to attend high school.
The last mill operating in New Columbia was
owned by Eugene Harris and located at the back of his house. That
house was demolished in 1989. Elmer Brown a local resident was
also a carpenter. He build many homes in this area. He built
Otis Nutty's general store also the home directly in back of the store
later sold to Gladys and Howard Travis. For
many years there were three general stores in New Columbia. The
general stores bought cream eggs also live poultry They sold
groceries hardware , patent medicine harnesses dry goods clothing shoes
stoves bath oil and heating stoves. They could order anything
anyone had need of if they did not have it in stock, even to tailor made
suites. Bob was the last merchant to be in business in the Cagle
family. He was the youngest son of the founder Jesse Cagle.
He closed the store in October 1957. Otis and Letha were the last
to operate a general store in New Columbia. They were in business
from 1930 until 1978 in same building. There
was a blacksmith shop beside the Nutty store. For many years owned
and operated by Tom Evans. Vanis Travis bought the blacksmith shop
and ran it for several years. John Riley had a garage and repair
shop there for a while. The local elections were held in one of
the general stores. Willis Richardson was the only registered
Democrat so he always worked on the election.
There was a lodge hall located between the
High School property and the Pullen farm. The Masonic Hall also
was used by the Union Church. Later the building was moved to Gann
Town where it still stands unused. There was a log house which was
a landmark for many years. The original structure was built by a
widow lady and her sons named Nutty. The log cabin was north of
the New Columbia High School. For years travelers often gypsies
camped by the Nutty Spring. The log cabin burned December 1990.
The New Columbia High School was built in 1928. The first
graduating class being in the spring of 1929. The class consisted
of two students, Ruth Crider Nutty and Lindell Pullen. After the
completion of the 1948 school year the students were bussed to the
Metropolis Community High School. The building then became an
elementary school, unit the close of the school year of 1975. The
building was then sold to Otis Nutty. Later he sold it to Ben
Harrison. Ben built a home on the five acre plot near the old
school building. The present owner is the Simmons.
There are no stores, no schools and no
industry in New Columbia now. Just a residential area with lots of
history and memories.
The information for this article is partly
from my memories, partly from pages from "History of Massac Co" and from
a letter written by a former teacher Edith Travis Mescher.
Written by
Jane Teague
Wiley Definition of locations around the area:
- Teague Hill - a short
distance toward Mermet from the Teague homeplace
- Causier Hill - The
steep hill on the road that connects New Columbia Road and Teague Hill
Road - Road starts across from New Hope Baptist Church - The hill is a
short distance beyond the Smith farm
- Chapman Hill - Steep hill just
before the road crosses Clifty Creek.
- Dameron Hill - located on Staton
Hill Road a short distance from the Nee Tom Staton house toward the Ned
Nutty home. Nee Arthur Crider farm.
- Central Hill - On the Samath
Road that runs between New Columbia Road and 146. Central Hill is
between Gann Town and Samath. Originally there was an elementary
school building at the foot of same.
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