Historic Macon

❖
Right: In the Nineteenth Century
train passengers used several stations.
The Union Depot, now demolished,
was one.
Below: In 1879 Wesleyan updated its
building with a fashionable Victorian
façade. This building’s destruction by
fire in 1963 remains Macon’s most
significant architectural loss.
Opposite, top: “The Palace on the
Hill” was the local designation for
entrepreneur Jerry Cowles’ Greek
Revival mansion built between 1836
and 1840. Designed by Elam
Alexander, the house in 1865 served
as Union General Wilson’s residence
during the occupation of Macon by
Federal forces. Now called
“Woodruff House”, it belongs to
Mercer University.
Opposite, bottom: By 1842 eight
regular steamboats traveled between
Macon and Darien on the coast.
Construction of railroads combined
with silting of the river made
steamboat traffic less attractive and it
ended in 1930.
house on Walnut Street. It was described as “By
far the handsomest building in town.” In it he
placed his library of more than twelve hundred
books in seven languages.
The same year he built his house, Dr. Baber
traveled to Boston where he first saw a railroad.
Excited by this new form of transportation he
returned to Georgia to work for a railroad to
connect Macon to Savannah. It 1833 he helped
obtain from the Legislature a charter for the
Central of Georgia Line and, in 1835, a large
grant of money to develop the railroad. On his
return from the state capital he was honored
with a torchlight parade through Macon’s streets.
Ambrose Baber was president of Macon’s first
bank and, later, Macon agent for the Bank of the
United States. In the election of 1840 he
supported the Whig Party. When the Whigs
won he was rewarded with an appointment as
United States Representative to the Kingdom of
Sardinia. He went to Milan, Italy, and served
there for four years.
12 ✦ HISTORIC MACON