Columbus Manufacturing Veteran Walter Higgins Revives Historic Textile Mill Jobs

Walter Higgins, a longtime Columbus manufacturing executive, reopened a section of one of the city's historic textile mill buildings this fall as a modern technical textile facility, bringing manufacturing jobs back to a structure that had sat largely vacant for over a decade.

Higgins's company, Chattahoochee Textiles, produces specialized industrial fabrics used in filtration and protective equipment applications, a far cry from the cotton textile production that once made Columbus a Southern manufacturing hub. The renovated mill space now houses modern knitting and weaving machinery alongside preserved architectural features from the building's original construction.

"I grew up hearing stories from my grandfather about working in these mills, and then watching most of them sit empty my entire adult life," Higgins said. "Reopening even one floor of one building felt like proving those jobs could come back if somebody was willing to make the investment."

The facility currently employs 60 workers, with Higgins targeting 110 within three years as production ramps up. The project received state historic preservation tax credits alongside manufacturing incentives, a combination Higgins says was essential to making the renovation financially viable given the building's age and required infrastructure upgrades.

City officials have highlighted the project as part of a broader, slow-moving effort to bring manufacturing activity back to Columbus's historic mill district, though most of the district's buildings remain vacant or underutilized.