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Columbia in Houston County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)
 

Purcell - Killingsworth House

 
 
Purcell - Killingsworth House Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Mark Hilton, May 1, 2014
1. Purcell - Killingsworth House Marker
Inscription. This house, also known as Travelers Rest, was completed in 1890 by William Henry Purcell (1845-1910) a prominent Columbia businessman and politician. Purcell had many business interests including a steamboat landing on the Chattahoochee River. This was the boyhood home of Bishop Clare Purcell (1884-1964) who, in 1955, was elected President of the Council of Bishops, the highest place of recognition ever achieved by a native-born Alabama Methodist minister. In 1946 the Purcell family sold the two acre homestead to Mr. & Mrs. Henry Killingsworth who have meticulously restored this imposing Victorian mansion. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places December 16, 1982.
 
Erected 1989 by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Purcell Family.
 
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Notable Buildings. A significant historical date for this entry is December 16, 1895.
 
Location. 31° 17.82′ N, 85° 6.636′ W. Marker is in Columbia, Alabama, in Houston County. It is at the intersection of North Main Street (Alabama Route 95) and Clark Street, on the right when traveling south on North Main Street. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 305 North Main Street, Columbia AL 36319, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in the American South, specifically in the Deep South, and in the Wiregrass. Globally, it is in North America, a Gulf of Mexico state, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker
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, measured as the crow flies: Columbia Baptist Church (approx. 0.2 miles away); Columbia, Alabama (approx. 0.3 miles away); Columbia Methodist Episcopal Church, South (approx. 0.3 miles away); Columbia Elementary School Bell (approx. 0.3 miles away); Columbia Cemetery (approx. 0.3 miles away); Old Columbia Jail / Columbia (approx. 0.4 miles away); The Chacato People (approx. 1½ miles away); Omussee Creek Mound and Mississippian Period Societies (approx. 1½ miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Columbia.
 
Purcell - Killingsworth House image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Mark Hilton, May 1, 2014
2. Purcell - Killingsworth House
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on August 28, 2020. It was originally submitted on May 2, 2014, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. This page has been viewed 1,076 times since then and 46 times this year. Photos:   1, 2. submitted on May 2, 2014, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.
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Jun. 20, 2026