Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing series exploring Black history in Columbia and Maury County during Black History Month.
Long before hip shops, restaurants and a winery opened on Columbia’s East 6th Street making the area a favorite weekend romp, Columbia was a center point for the nation’s transition into a more inclusive future.
The revitalized section of downtown Columbia was briefly home to Freedmen’s Savings and Trust Bank, providing a place for newly-freed slaves to hold their assets, some of whom collected pay for serving in the Union Army.
The local branch was established by Samuel M. Arnell and James P. Baird, who established the Columbia bank in a room over the McGaw Livery Stable, located at the intersection where the marker now stands in the shadows of an injury law firm.
