108 Business View Magazine - September 2016
The Columbus Georgia
Convention & Trade Center
An old building houses a new business
“It’s a very unique space,” declares David Bevans, the
Executive Director of the Columbus Georgia Conven-
tion & Trade Center. “Architecturally, there’s nothing
close to the experience that people get in here.” By
all accounts, Bevans is not exaggerating when he es-
pouses one of the main selling points of the historic
and culturally significant building that began as the
Columbus Iron Works, became listed on the U.S. Na-
tional Register of Historic Places in 1969, and today
is the City of Columbus’ main, municipal event center.
Built in 1853, the Columbus Iron Works was already
manufacturing a wide variety of merchandise, includ-
ing kettles and ovens, brass castings, cast-iron col-
umns and store fronts, sugar, grist, and saw mills, and
steam engines to power those mills, as well as the
