Augusta Cotton Exchange, Augusta, Georgia

“Cotton in Augusta” - is a term meaning ridiculously rich.

Walking down Reynolds Street with Joe in downtown Augusta, we came to 8^th Street and see this beautiful, brick building which was known as the Augusta Cotton Exchange. It was designed by Enoch William Brown in a Victorian style with a round corner turret. This is a beautiful building and that is what made us look at it to begin with. Then we saw the sign and had to learn more.

When you walk into this building, one half is set up as a bank and the other half is a small museum. Up on the wall is the black board where they wrote down prices of cotton and sales for the day. They have very informative signs to read, old timey phones, and even a large bale of cotton. Just go on in. The ladies at the bank are very nice and used to people coming in to see this museum. So below is what I learned today. Good stuff.

In 1872, a group of men decided they needed their own building for a cotton exchange and built this building for $9,000. This building went right up against the Savannah River then and was the perfect location for an exchange building. When it was opened for business in 1866, it was one of the largest cotton exchanges in the world and was visited by men from many countries. Even John D. Rockefeller visited here during his vacations to this area. The cast iron columns were made by Charles F. Lombard in 1886. Both Charles and his brother George were both foundry’s and well known for their iron work.

In the mid 1880’s this building was full of business activity with cotton farmers, brokers, and buyers. Only men were allowed in and all wore business clothes and at the peak there were over 200 members. It was a men’s getaway and after business hours they would have social gatherings, cockfights, and Saturday football gatherings.

By the 1880’s, this facility was processing 200,000 bales of cotton. Each bale of cotton weighed 500 pounds and between 1912 to 1920 they were processing even more up to 500,000 bales of cotton annually.

During the great fire in 1916, the exchange survived only loosing its roof. The Cotton Exchange continued to do well till the first half of the 20^th century. The Augusta economy began to decline when the infestation of the boll weevil happened in 1921. By 1964 the exchange was no longer in operation.

After sitting empty for years, and in 1988, Mr. Bill Moore from Aiken, South Carolina bought the building. With the help of grants from the city, he restored the building at a cost of $750,000 as it was in desperate need of repairs. Charlie Whitney, a direct descendant of Eli Whitney, told them about a blackboard that was used when the exchange was going strong and they found it behind some drywall. What an amazing piece of history and I’m so glad it was well preserved.

At one time this building was used by the Augusta Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau as a welcome center. Now this building is the South State Bank and that same blackboard is now displayed. This is a gorgeous building and if you get a change come take a look. This is an important part of Augusta’s history. After all - “Cotton is King.”