From the 1890s through the 1920s, the postcard was an extraordinarily popular means of communication, and many of the postcards produced during this "golden age" can today be considered works of art. Postcard photographers traveled the length and breadth of the nation snapping photographs of busy street scenes, documenting local landmarks, and assembling crowds of local children only too happy to pose for a picture. These images, printed as postcards and sold in general stores across the country, survive as telling reminders of an important era in America's history. This fascinating history of Macon, Georgia, showcases more than 200 of the best vintage postcards available.

"From the 1890s through the 1920s, the postcard was an extraordinarily popular means of communication, and many of the postcards produced during this "golden age" can today be considered works of art. Postcard photographers traveled the length and breadth of the nation snapping photographs of busy street scenes, documenting local landmarks, and assembling crowds of local children only too happy to pose for a picture. These images, printed as postcards and sold in general stores across the country, survive as telling reminders of an important era in America's history. This fascinating new history of West Central Georgia showcases more than two hundred of the best vintage postcards available"--Page 4 of cover.

Founded in 1828 as a planned city by the Georgia Legislature, Columbus prospered due to its location on the Chattahoochee River. Industry sprang up along the shores of the Chattahoochee and shaped Columbuss identity as one of Georgias premier cities. Today a thriving metropolis, it is the Columbus of yesteryear that is illuminated within these pages. Early postcard views reflect the city from around 1905 to 1942, showcasing many of its businesses, neighborhoods, and parks. Included are places virtually unknown to citizens todaythe Bell Tower, the City Market, North Highlands Park, and Wildwood Parkas well as those that were landmarks a century ago and landmarks still: the Iron Bank, the Springer Opera House, the Union Depot, the YMCA, and Fort Benning.

Macon has been a crossroads of cultures since Native Americans built the massive earthworks that now form the Ocmulgee National Monument. In the 19th century, fortunes rose and fell with the price of cotton for small farmers and businessmen, as well as plantation owners. The Civil War destroyed the plantation economy, but it left Macon's historic treasures largely undisturbed. Though manufacturing replaced plantation slavery, cotton and race remained central facts of life as the City of Churches adapted to a changing world. From the 1950s onward, the city's role as a textile center withered, but the likes of Little Richard, Otis Redding, and the Allman Brothers Band built a musical legacy for Macon that survives today.

From the 1890s through the 1920s, the postcard was an extraordinarily popular means of communication, and many of the postcards produced during this "golden age" can today be considered works of art.