Located on the Chattahoochee River and next to Fort Benning, Columbus (population 185,000) was founded in 1828 and named after Christopher of the same name.  Before the Civil War, the city was an important cotton center.  During the War, Columbus was home to an ironworks and a shipyard for the Confederacy.   Much of the city was burned by the Union army in one day in 1865, but it rebounded during Reconstruction and more recently, has undergone a renewal with a new river walk, an expanded museum and several new municipal projects.  Warm Springs Village is a restored Victorian village with shops and Westville is an 1850s village depicting pre-industrial Georgia.