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Columbus

Ghost town · Polk County, Tennessee

Oswald Bald quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1935, 1:24,000)
Oswald Bald quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1935, 1:24,000) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Columbus is a ghost town in Polk County, Tennessee. It is one of 7 former communities in Polk County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 37th among the 86 Tennessee counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Columbus as a historical populated place on the Oswald Dome topographic quadrangle: the name is no longer in official use for a community, whether the settlement was abandoned, absorbed into a neighbouring town or renamed. The recorded location is 35.2262° N, 84.6222° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleOswald Dome
Elevation739 ft
Nearest living townBenton, TN
Distance to it3.9 miles
GNIS feature ID1640659
Coordinates35.22618, -84.62216

Open the location on a map

What's there now

Columbus is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Benton, TN (population 1,349), about 3.9 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 739 feet above sea level. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Columbus?

Columbus is in Polk County, Tennessee, at 35.2262, -84.6222.

How many ghost towns are in Polk County?

Polk County, Tennessee has 7 ghost towns on record at Wayfarrow.

Sources and licences

Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-05.