New group proposes changes to redevelop historic ‘Black Wall Street’ of Columbus

A new nonprofit organization has been established to oversee the redevelopment of the Liberty Heritage Historic District in Columbus.

Community leaders and activists created the Historic Liberty District Foundation, also known as Liberty District Inc., to advise the Columbus Council about the development of the historic Black neighborhood. Liberty District Inc. is modeled after other Columbus nonprofit organizations like MidTown Inc. and Uptown Columbus.

The Rev. Richard Jessie, executive director at the Friends of Historic Claflin Inc. and the Columbus Urban Debate League, also leads Liberty District Inc.

“We are here to make recommendations to the city about the Liberty District in [the city’s] plan,” Jessie said during the foundation’s May 12 meeting. “When I read both restoration plans, I thought they were wonderful plans, but I didn’t see how they captured any of the real history of this town.”

Other community leaders, such as former Muscogee County tax commissioner Lula Huff, local NAACP branch president Melvin Tanner and former chairman of the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce Cedric Hall, also attended meetings of Liberty District Inc.

Jessie told the Ledger-Enquirer he wants to focus on bridging generational divides in community activism, bringing in members ages 25-55 to help lead the organization.

“We’re hoping to use this wonderful opportunity to attract younger people to get them involved in this process that will benefit the whole of Columbus, and we want to use this opportunity to connect the generations,” Jessie said during the meeting.

Liberty District Inc.’s plan for the neighborhood

The organization has big ambitions for the restoration of the Liberty District, aiming to revitalize the neighborhood to be a core feature of Columbus tourism. Earlier meetings took place in the Prince Masonic Hall Temple, 815 6th Ave, where members mulled over details of how to return the neighborhood back to its golden years of the 1950s and 1960s.

A major feature of their plan is to expand the boundaries of the city’s proposed revitalization. The city originally proposed the district’s boundaries as north of Eight Street, bounded by Sixth Avenue and Ninth Avenue, and south of Ninth Street. The new nonprofit wants to expand this to include Porterdale Cemetery, 107 10th Ave., and A.J. McClung Memorial Stadium, 400 Fourth St., putting half of the South Commons area in Liberty District territory.

“This plan will reflect and capture the rich legacy, history, culture and character of the mid-20th century Black Wall Street (of Columbus),” Jessie said.

Liberty District Inc. also wants to rebuild and restore many former popular restaurants, churches and businesses in the neighborhood. The list of establishments includes:

• Top Hat Chicken

• The Columbus Times newspaper

• Tom’s Food

• Lowe’s Hotel

• Farley Realty

• First African Baptist Church

• Friendship Baptist

• Pierce Building

• Tally Ho Grill

• Elk Club

• Busy Bee

• Dr. Jive Record Shop

• Anderson Fruit Stand

• Holsey Chapel

• Cab Company

• The USO

• The 9th Street YMCA

• Crawford & Jackson Drug Store

• Dentist offices

• Doctor offices

• Cleaners

• Club Lavana

• The Mayfair Grill

• The Coffee Drug Store

• The 5th Avenue School

• Appliance store

• Sconiers Building and Funeral Home

• Bookkeeping services

• Beulah Baptist

• Gas & service stations

• Modern Free Masons

• St. James AME

• St. John CME

• M.L. Terry Library

• Unnamed bail bond company

• Unnamed insurance company

The organization estimates needing $25 million to complete this project.

Neil Clark, principal architect at Columbus-based architecture firm Hecht Burdeshaw, told the Ledger-Enquirer he has met with community leaders from Liberty District Inc. to amend the master plan. The Columbus Consolidated Government contracted with Hecht Burdeshaw to create the plan. Clark has been updating the plan since the first public meeting about it in February.

“It’s always an interesting process,” Clark said. “People are different, and they approach [the plan] with different needs, wants and sense of history in the place. It opened us up to different kinds of thinking, and we ended up with a different and better design than I think we would have had if we didn’t have the public input.”

With the feedback, Clark added the “Liberty District area of influence” to the development plan. The area stretches from Linwood Cemetery south to A.J. McClung Memorial Stadium. This area, though, is not being considered for development at this time.

“What we’re hoping is that this is the first phase,” Clark said. “The city owns most of those three blocks that the city has projects that they are doing like the renovation of the Liberty Theatre and the streetscapes. The city is hopeful that when people see them putting money into the Liberty area that it will influence other people to begin to think about projects down there.”

Will Johnson, CCG’’s planning director, told the Ledger-Enquirer the master plan is subject to change as development continues.

“It’s a living, breathing document,” Johnson said. “Not everybody’s going to be happy. Even Jesus couldn’t make everybody happy. It will evolve, and we will see what happens. You’ve got to have a starting point, and if you don’t have a starting point, you don’t get anywhere.”

Councilor Joanne Cogle of District 7, who represents the area around the Liberty District, wasn’t reached for comment before publication. The council is set to vote to approve this plan during their meeting June 3.

Bridging generational gaps in Columbus community activism

Jessie said it’s time for younger community members to spearhead these changes.

A Columbus native, Jessie has been a community activist for decades, starting his career after his Air Force contract ended in 1976. His mindset for activism can be summed up in one acronym SANAMI: “See a need and meet it.”

“If there was a need that needed to be addressed,” he said, we would go after it and pray about it.”

But his time as an activist is coming to an end. As he and other community leaders grow older, Jessie stresses the importance of passing the torch to the next generation.

“We need you, and you need us,” Jessie said, describing his recruiting pitch. “And you need somewhere you can put those of us who are getting older. We are just dying out, and y’all need to come and learn things from us while we are able to help you.”

Jessie said Liberty District Inc. will host community leadership and organizing workshops to help prepare younger members for future leadership roles. Dates and times for those meetings are still to be determined.

This story was originally published June 3, 2025 at 11:51 AM.