Horace King from Slave to Master Builder

Horace King (aka Horace Godwin) was an architect, engineer, and bridge builder. He is considered the most respected bridge builder of the 19th century Deep South, constructing dozens of bridges in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. Born into slavery in the Cheraw District of South Carolina (present-day Chesterfield County) in 1807, King became a prominent bridge architect and construction manager in the Chattahoochee River Valley region of Alabama and Georgia. He went on to construct lattice truss bridges at every major crossing of the Chattahoochee River and over every major river in the Deep South between the Oconee and Tombigbee rivers.

King's father was half Black and half White while his mother was half Black and half Catawba Indian. Records indicate King spent his first 23 years near his birthplace, with his first introduction to bridge construction in 1824. In 1824, bridge architect Ithiel Town came to Cheraw to assist in the construction of a bridge over the Pee Dee River. While it is unknown whether King assisted in the construction of this bridge or its replacement span built in 1828, Town's lattice truss design used in both Pee Dee bridges became a hallmark of King's future work.

When King's first master, Edward King, died around 1830, King was sold to wealthy building contractor John Godwin, who also worked on the Pee Dee bridge. In 1832, Godwin received a contract to construct a 560-foot bridge across the Chattahoochee River from Columbus, Georgia into Girard, Alabama (today Phenix City). He and King moved to Girard that year to work on the project, which was completed in 1833. This bridge was the first known to be built by King, who planned the construction of the bridge and managed the slave laborers who built the span.

Between the completion of the "Godwin-King Bridge" in 1833 and the early 1840s, King and Godwin partnered on at least eight major construction projects throughout the South. The partners constructed some forty cotton warehouses in Apalachicola, Florida in 1834, the courthouses of Muscogee County, Georgia and Russell County, Alabama from 1839-1841, and bridges in West Point, Georgia (1838), Eufaula, Alabama (1838-39), Florence, Georgia (1840), and Columbus (1841), replacing their original span which had been destroyed in a flood in 1838. By 1840, King was being publicly acknowledged as being a "co-builder" along with his master, an uncommon honor for a slave. In the 1840s, King's prominence eclipsed that of his master, and he worked independently as architect and superintendent of major bridge projects in Wetumpka, Alabama and Columbus, Mississippi. While working on the Eufaula bridge, King met Tuscaloosa attorney and entrepreneur Robert Jemison, Jr., who soon began using King on a number of different projects in Lowndes County, Mississippi, including the 420-foot Columbus, Mississippi bridge, and who would remain King's friend and associate for the rest of his life.

Despite his enslavement, King was allowed a significant income from his work and, in 1846, used some of his earnings to purchase his freedom from Godwin. However, under Alabama law of the time, a freed slave was only allowed to remain in the state for a year after manumission. Robert Jemison, who served in the Alabama State Senate, arranged for the state legislature to pass a special law giving King his freedom and exempting him from the manumission law. In 1852, King used this freedom to purchase land near his former master.

In 1849, the Alabama State Capitol burned, and King was hired to construct the framework of the new capitol building, as well as design and build the double spiral entry staircases. King used his knowledge of bridge-building to cantilever the stairs' support beams so that the staircases appeared to "float", without any central support.

Around 1855, King formed a partnership with two other men to construct a bridge, known as "Moore's Bridge" over the Chattahoochee River between Newnan and Carrollton, Georgia, near Whitesburg. Instead of collecting a fee for his work, King took stock instead, gaining a one-third interest in the bridge. King soon moved his family to Carroll County, adjacent to the bridge, though continued to maintain his home in Girard. The income from Moore's bridge allowed King a steady income, though he continued to design and construct major bridge projects through the remainder of the 1850s, including a major bridge in Milledgeville, Georgia and a second Chattahoochee crossing in Columbus, Georgia.

As the U.S. Civil War approached in 1860, King, like many Blacks in the South, opposed secession of the Southern states and was a confirmed Unionist. After the outbreak of hostilities, King attempted to continue his business as an architect and builder, constructing a factory and a mill in Coweta County, Georgia and a bridge in Columbus, Georgia. While working on the Columbus bridge, King was conscripted by Confederate authorities to build obstructions in the Apalachicola River, 200 miles south of Columbus to prevent a naval attack on that city. After completing the obstructions on the Apalachicola, King was tasked to construct defenses on the Alabama River before returning to Columbus in 1863. By this time, Columbus had become a major shipbuilding city for the Confederacy, and King and his men were assigned to assist construction of naval vessels at the Columbus Iron Works and Navy Yard. In 1863-64, King constructed a rolling mill for the Iron Works, providing cladding for Confederate ironclad warships. King's crews also provided lumber and timbers for the Navy Yard, and was at least peripherally involved with the construction of the CSS Muscogee. As the war approached its end in 1864, many of King's bridges were destroyed by Union troops, including Moore's Bridge, which King owned. Raiders under Union general James H. Wilson assaulted Columbus in April of 1865, burning all of King's bridges in the city, including the one he had finished less than two years earlier.

The destruction of the war led to new opportunities for King and made him one of the wealthiest Black men in the South. Within six months after the war's end, King and a partner had constructed a 32,000 square foot cotton warehouse in Columbus and King, for the third time, rebuilt the original Godwin-King bridge. Over the next three years, King would construct three more bridges across the Chattahoochee in Columbus rivers, a major bridge in West Point, Georgia, two large factories, and the Lee County, Alabama courthouse.

When the Reconstruction Acts were implemented in 1867, King became a registrar for voters in Russell County, Alabama. Later that year, he attempted to establish a colony of freedmen in Georgia. While that plan was unsuccessful, King went on to be elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 1868 as a Republican representing Russell County. King, though, busy in his construction business in Columbus, did not take his seat until over a year later, in November of 1869. King was reelected in 1870. King did not seek reelection in 1872.

After King left the Alabama legislature in 1872, he moved to LaGrange, Georgia. While in LaGrange, King continued building bridges, but also expanded to include other construction projects, specifically businesses and schools. By the mid-1870s, King had begun to pass his bridge construction activities to his five children, who formed the King Brothers Bridge Company. He died on May 28, 1885 in LaGrange. King received laudatory obituaries in each of Georgia's major newspapers, a rarity for Blacks in the 1880s South. King was posthumously inducted into the Alabama Engineers Hall of Fame at the University of Alabama. The award was accepted on his behalf by his great grandson, Horace H. King Jr. He was remembered both for his engineering skill and for his character and ability to bridge the gap between the races.