According to the Georgia Trust website, the City Mills was originally established by wealthy planter Seaborn Jones in 1828, the same year as the founding of Columbus, Georgia. The City Mills spent 150 years grinding corn and wheat, corn meal and flour, while at the same time generating the hydro-electric power that made Columbus one of the earliest large-scale textile centers in the South. The Mill is part of the Columbus Historic Riverfront Industrial National Landmark District and comprises an 1890 wooden grain elevator and two-story warehouse, a 1914 concrete silo and a “flour mill” grinding facility.