‘Awesome to watch.’ Historic Columbus moves Alma Thomas House

A historic Columbus home has been split into two pieces and moved about two miles, where it will be reassembled next to another historic property, enhancing a neighborhood formerly known as Columbus’ “Black Wall Street.”

On Monday morning, Historic Columbus moved the Alma Thomas House from 411 21st St. in Rose Hill and placed it next to the Ma Rainey Home, 805 Fifth Ave., in the Liberty Heritage Historic District.

Thomas (1891-1978) was an artist renowned for her abstract paintings that featured bright colors. Rainey (1886-1939) was famously known as “Mother of the Blues” for singing performances that packed venues and sold hit records

Justin Krieg, director of planning and programs for Historic Columbus, told the Ledger-Enquirer that Historic Columbus closed on purchasing the Alma Thomas House in December to move and restore it.

“The idea is that we are able to showcase Ma Rainey and her life and contributions to the music world, as well as Alma Thomas,” he said, “We could have those two side by side and really create a center of arts and culture right there in the Liberty District.”

To prepare the approximately 1,500-square-foot house for the move, Krieg said workers removed the roof and the central hallway, essentially creating two halves, almost like two shotgun houses.

“Obviously the shorter it is and the narrower it is, the easier it is to get down the road,” Krieg said. “So, for this particular structure, we had to split the house in half, and this house lent itself relatively well to doing that process.”

The crew from Ducky Johnson House Movers of Grand Ridge, Florida, used two tractor-trailers to move the house in a procession led by two Columbus Police Department vehicles.

“Getting out of the lot was really close,” said mover Ernie Johnson, “We had to roll it back and then come out of that little street and make that turn at the church. That made it a little interesting there. Everything else was pretty good.”

“We always like to preserve history,” Johnson said. “We hate to see them get torn down, the structures. When they can be moved and redone, it saves history.”

Mark Noles lives on 21st Street, next door to where the Alma Thomas House used to be. He recorded its departure on his cellphone, then drove to its current location to see it arrive.

“It was awesome to watch all this being moved,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. The guys did a great job.”

To prepare for the move, Krieg said, they put in the concrete footing, prepped and graded the site. That way, when the house movers arrived, they could back the house sections over the top of the footings. He said they will leave the structure elevated and build the foundation walls up to the house. Then the movers will return to Columbus to lower the house onto the foundation.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” Krieg said. “Obviously, when the house gets there, we have to build the foundation and put it back together. So this is really just 20% of the process. And then the rest of the work, piecing the house back together, is going to be a large bill of work.”

Mike Haskey

Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

706-761-1872

Michigan native Mike Haskey graduated in 1985 from Central Michigan University with a B.A.A. in journalism. Though trained as a photojournalist, Mike has embraced the industry’s always evolving multimedia demands by learning various video skills and more, including becoming the Ledger-Enquirer’s drone pilot. He’s served and lived in Columbus, GA, for more than 30 years.