Every city in the world has a beginning. Those that have survived the tests of time were only able to do so by people that saw promise and endless potential in the city, and the people, itself. This issue begins a new series recounting numerous influential and historic Columbus families. For the next few issues, we will be featuring various families in (and around) Columbus that have helped mold our great city into what it is today.

*Home of G. Gunby Jordan in Green Island where he lived until 1930.*

Every city in the world has a beginning. Those that have survived the tests of time were only able to do so by people that saw promise and endless potential in the city, and the people, itself. This issue begins a new series recounting numerous influential and historic Columbus families. For the next few issues, we will be featuring various families in (and around) Columbus that have helped mold our great city into what it is today.

Native Georgian, Civil War veteran, innovator, entrepreneur, supporter of women’s suffrage, family man and friend to all, George Gunby Jordan is one of the many men that helped shape and develop Columbus (and the surrounding areas) into one of Georgia’s major cities.

Armed with a booming personality and the entrepreneurial spirit, G. Gunby Jordan came to Columbus knowing that he would make a serious impact on society life in his adopted home. During the beginning of the 20th century, Jordan was one of the city’s most powerful and public citizens. Being well educated and unafraid to stand for what he thought was right, Jordan possessed an imposing appearance with all he encountered.

Born June 19,1846 in Sparta, Georgia, to Sylvester Franklin and Rachel Gunby Jordan (and one of six children), George Gunby Jordan was born into a family of pioneers. His ancestors were some of the first settlers in Massachusetts and as the Jordan family grew and prospered, they spread out along the east coast to Maryland and Georgia.

As G. Gunby Jordan reached puberty, he was educated in the grammar and high schools of Sparta. At the age of seventeen, Jordan left Sparta to join the Confederate Army as a private in Nelson Rangers, a volunteer company from Georgia, which served as scouts and as escorts of Lieut. Gen. Stephen D. Lee, after he was appointed Corps Commander in Hood’s Army. There he met and fought side by side many Columbus natives.

G. Gunby Jordan  death announcement in the local newspaper on may 9, 1930 — *G. Gunby Jordan death announcement in the local newspaper on may 9, 1930*

Three months after the war, Jordan settled in Columbus, Georgia and immediately began looking for work. Distantly related to W.H. Young, Jordan knew exactly where to turn. In 1867, he was made the treasurer of the Eagle & Phenix Manufacturing Company by Young. Resourceful and business savvy, Jordan promptly asked for a few weeks’ delay before he started working, saying he needed to return to Sparta to take care of some family business. Whereupon Jordan went to East Georgia and learned bookkeeping.

Upon returning, Jordan immediately began his new position while also assuming the role of the company’s spokesman, eventually selling products to wholesalers throughout the South and Midwest and successfully lobbing in Washington in the 1870s to exempt the firm’s assets from a federal banking tax that Congress tried to impose.
In the midst of these many great endeavors Jordan also found the time to start a family. He married Columbus native Lizzie B. Curtis in 1886. Unfortunately, their marriage was short lived when Lizzie died the following year leaving a son, Ralph Curtis Jordan.

House of G. Gunby Jordan in Green Island where he lived until 1930

Later, after almost 20 years of devoted service to Eagle & Phenix, Jordan turned his ambitions elsewhere and set his sights on the development of two new railroads designed to break the monopoly that the Central of Georgia Railroad had over Columbus rail connections. As a result, the construction of the Georgia, Midland and Gulf Railroad to McDonough and the Columbus Southern Railroad to Albany were overseen by Jordan himself. While undertaking such a large project, Jordan remarkably found the time to join forces with W.C. Bradley and others to launch the Third National Bank (1888) and the Columbus Savings Bank (1889), which were combined in 1930 to form the Columbus Bank & Trust Company (CB&T).

Jordan’s interests later returned to the Eagle & Phenix Mills after he was named a receiver for the Eagle & Phenix, which had experienced problems during the previous decade. After amassing investors, Jordan and his counterparts bought the mill and immediately started renovation in order to modernize the company. Jordan personally took a sledge hammer and destroyed all the obsolete equipment in the mills. From 1896 to 1915, Jordan owned the mill while friend and fellow businessman, W. C. Bradley, served on the board.

For over six decades, Jordan made many other momentous and influential contributions to the Columbus community. For one, George Gunby Jordan also dealt in real estate, developing the still thriving community of Green Island Hills. He also served as the president of the Columbus Board of Education and spearheaded the creation of the Secondary Industrial School—now Jordan High School. Jordan also served on the Muscogee County Commission of Roads and Revenues, where he successfully advocated paving the country’s roads.
Unfortunately, in early 1930 G. Gunby Jordan fell ill. After a long battle with pneumonia (from which he never fully recovered), Jordan died at his Green Island Ranch home May 9, 1930.

Jordan’s only son, Ralph Curtis Jordan, who had grown up to marry New Jersey native Louise Mulford, survived his father in death. The pair and their four children (G. Gunby II, R. Curtis, Jr., Mulford and Louise) continued the family legacy by continuing to contribute to the Columbus community in many different aspects, including music and the arts, education, transportation and others. svm

G. GUNBY JORDAN