Horace King

Born January 1, 1807, in South Carolina

Horace King (1807–1885) was a slave for half his life, but he earned a place in history for the legacy of more than 100 covered bridges he built throughout Georgia and neighboring states.

King's story begins in 1807 in South Carolina, where he was born a slave; his ethnic heritage was a mixture of African-American, Native American and white. His second owner was John Godwin, an entrepreneur who studied bridge building with some of the leading New England experts of the times.

In the 1830s, Godwin moved to West Georgia, where bridge builders were needed, especially to help open up the Chattahoochee Valley region. Though King was technically Godwin's "property," in reality, King functioned more as Godwin's junior partner.

Together, they built the first bridge across the Chattahoochee connecting Columbus with Phenix City, Alabama. The 560-foot-long covered bridge was crucial to the development of the region.

In the early 1840s, a catastrophic flood washed the bridge down the river. Columbus officials were anxious to get a new bridge, so they awarded the contract to Godwin, who had given them the highest bid but the earliest completion date.

King was credited by historians with making the project successful. He salvaged pieces of the old bridge and helped build the new one before the deadline.

It was this kind of cooperation that led Godwin to give King his legal freedom in 1846. The Alabama Legislature, likely influenced by an important legislator who was a business associate of Godwin and King, passed a bill making King's freedom official.

It is also likely that Godwin's failing finances and ill health contributed to the timing of his decision to make King a free man. Godwin wanted to ensure that King could not be considered part of his estate that could be claimed by creditors.

As a newly independent businessman, King moved about the South building covered bridges in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. He also built homes, commercial buildings, a state hospital in Alabama and a three-story textile mill that still stands near Columbus.

He also is credited with building the magnificent self-supported wooden staircase that is still one of the most outstanding features of the Alabama Capitol building.

Of the several bridges King built in Georgia, only one remains in use today. It's in Meriwether County, southwest of metro Atlanta.

After the Civil War, King served four years in the Alabama State Legislature, then moved to LaGrange, Georgia, in the early 1870s. There, he set up his four sons in a construction company that built private homes, downtown commercial buildings and part of a school for black children.