Max Corput

Who was Max Corput?

Max Corput, also documented as Maximilien or Maxwell Van Den Corput, was the architect of the second Union Station of Atlanta, Georgia, built in 1871 in Second Empire style.

"Van Den" is very common in Belgian surnames, and references to Corput regarding the Civil War often include it as part of his last name. However later references including one in the Atlanta Constitution omit the "Van Den", suggesting that he later went simply by "Corput".

Corput was Belgian American, one of a group of Belgians who emigrated to the Rome, Georgia, area after the incorporation of Belgium into the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, which caused dissatisfaction among the French-speaking Belgian elite. The Cherokee Indians had recently been dispossessed of Northwest Georgia. Corput was said to hail from Cave Spring, Georgia.

During the Civil War, Corput was attested as a third lieutenant then captain in the Confederate Army. He led the Floyd County four-gun Cherokee Artillery battery at the Battle of Resaca.

After the war Corput settled in Atlanta and founded the architectural firm of Van Den Corput and Fay.