The history of the Haunted Pillar on Augusta's Broad Street

The Broad Street Historic District is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The Haunted Pillar was a landmark located near the remains of a farmer's market that stood at 5th and Broad Streets from 1830 until it was destroyed by a tornado in 1878. After the market was destroyed, the column was moved to the opposite corner of 5th Street and used to display advertisements for Theodore Eye's Broad Street Grocery.

In 1930, a firm was hired to create an advertising campaign to attract tourists, which included publishing a ghost story about the pillar. The story referred to it as "The Haunted Pillar." Local folk-lore suggests a preacher, who was denied the right to preach there, threatened that a great wind would destroy the market except for one pillar and that whoever tried to remove that pillar would be struck dead. The pillar remained a local landmark until December 17, 2016, when it was destroyed in a car collision.

Today, the Broad Street Historic District remains a significant site of local heritage. It includes notable locations such as the Imperial Theatre, the Augusta Common, and the Lamar Building. The area is also undergoing changes, including the construction of the James Brown Linear Park in the median of the 800 block, which will feature the James Brown Statue.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons