Property's history varied, its uses many

The land occupied by Oxbow Meadows Environmental Park has endured a variety of uses over time.

Until the early 1800s

The Muscogee Native Americans (also called the Creeks because they lived near water) inhabited the Chattahoochee Valley until the early 1800s. They grew crops, hunted, and harvested fish, crayfish and mussels from the Chattahoochee River. In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act and all the Muscogees were forced off their land. Between 1836 and 1837, most of them were relocated to reservations in Oklahoma.

Mid-1800s to early 1900s

In the mid-1800s, the Oxbow Meadows area was the site of a large plantation, with a cotton gin and a steamboat landing. Europeans used the area for agriculture until the early 1900s. Between 1930 and 1940 the land was used as a dairy farm.

1940s to 1980s

In the 1940s, the land was purchased by a mining company and, from the 1940s to 1950s, the land was mined for sand, clay and gravel to make construction materials. The large excavations (‘borrow pits’) that remained after the mining were used as a landfill in the 1970s. Other areas of the site were used by the public for dumping old appliances, car parts and industrial waste. Federal environmental regulations, known collectively as the Resource Recovery and Reclamation Act, were established in the early 1980s and, thus in 1981, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division recommended the landfill be closed.

1990s to present

In 1990, the City of Columbus and the Columbus Water Works, with the help of a consultant, conducted a joint study to find land where inert lawn waste (leaves, limbs and grass) and bio-solids (a byproduct of the wastewater treatment process) could be beneficially used. The Oxbow Meadows area was identified as a potential site. A group of developers from Colorado, which had previously purchased the Oxbow property, was seeking the proper permits to continue mining and production of cement and asphalt on the site. The Columbus Water Works and the City approached the Colorado group and eventually purchased the property in 1992.

The western side of the property (about 300 acres), near the Chattahoochee River, was reopened as a farm where biosolids are used as the nutrient source for growing millet and wheat. This land, along with adjacent property, also provides good wildlife habitat. The center section of the property contains several deep mining borrow pits and these are currently being used by the city for the disposal of inert lawn waste. When these pits are near capacity, an effort will be made to create a hardwood wetland in this area. The old landfill covered about 60 acres on the northern part of the property. The Columbus Water Works and the City have completed closure of this old landfill, including capping it over with several feet of clay, so the land can be used in the future plans for the Oxbow property.

The eastern part of the property where the Environmental Learning Center is now located was the site of a ‘junk yard’. Numerous car bodies, old buildings, trash containers, hundreds of tires and at least 13 bodies of cement trucks were visible among the heavy growth of kudzu and other plants. It is hard to imagine the dream that Columbus State University biology professor George Stanton, now vice president for academic affairs, and Columbus Water Works President Billy G. Turner had for this area. But dream they did about a place that would provide a refuge for wildlife and a place for children and adults to learn about and explore wetland environments. With the help of Dr. Stanton, architects Hecht, Burdeshaw and Johnson, and engineers Jordan, Jones and Goulding, the Columbus Water Works designed and built the Oxbow Meadows Environmental Learning Center, which was completed in 1995. Also in 1995 the RiverWalk, created as a result of the 1993 Local Option Sales Tax, was completed through to the Oxbow Meadows site, providing a physical connection with Columbus, Phenix City and Fort Benning.

Since 1995, Columbus State University, in conjunction with the Columbus Water Works, has operated Oxbow Meadows Environmental Learning Center with the support of the Muscogee County School District and grants from local sources.