diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/app_generator.rb
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@ module Rails
       end
 
       def create_public_files
-        build(:public)
+        build(:public_directory)
       end
 
       def create_public_image_files
Fix a bug in the generators from the previous commit