Exploring Montgomery

The storytelling continues… a collection of stories and photos from Exploring Montgomery!

Yearly Archives: 2016

State Trooper Licensing — out on Coliseum Boulevard. It was built in 1954. Alabama’s Trooper unit was created in 1935 as The Alabama Highway Patrol, back when Bibb Graves was governor. It began with 74 officers, who underwent a ten day crash course at the Gay-Teague Hotel on Commerce Street. Gov Graves intended that […]

State Trooper Licensing Unit

September 26, 2016 in Government tagged license / state / trooper

Bonnie Crest — at 1410 Federal Drive, features an 18-hole golf course which was opened in 1938. The club is presently facing difficulty, and while it still operates as a private club, its course was recently opened for public play. This entrance drive stands directly opposite the Beard Building. -Charles Humphries

Bonnie Crest Country Club

September 23, 2016 in Commercial tagged bonnie / crest / golf

Lakeview Center — sits on Eastchase Lane, out behind the Eastchast shopping city. It is a 4-story, 100,000+ square foot, Class-A office building, the first of four structures planned to form a 30-acre “office campus” at this site. The building houses (among others) the corporate offices of the Jim Wilson Associates that built […]

Lakeview Center

September 19, 2016 in Commercial tagged eastchase / lakeview

Sterling Bank — at 4121 Carmichael Road has been there since 1989. Sterling is a division of Synovus Bank, one of the largest “community banks” in the southeast. It has holdings in five states (primarily Georgia), and each of its many divisions has a different name. Thus, Sterling appears as a “local” bank […]

Sterling Bank Headquarters

September 16, 2016 in Commercial tagged bank / sterling

Supreme Court — as seen from the RSA Tower in 1994, soon after the Court was completed. A handsome building, perhaps Palladian style. The Dexter Ave Methodist Church is in the foreground, and the RSA’s Alabama Center for Commerce is in the background. The structure incorporates grand concepts. Its huge lobby features a […]

Supreme Court Building

September 12, 2016 in Government tagged 10 commandments / court / dome / supreme

RSA Dexter — Tthe latest RSA endeavor stands defiantly at the head of Dexter and encompasses the old Supreme Court building (see below). Inside this 12 floor building is many office spaces and even a state of the art data center (also below). RSA Dexter is the third tallest building in the city. The shot allows […]

RSA Dexter

September 9, 2016 in RSA tagged dexter / jonah / rsa / supreme court / whale

Gateway Clubhouse — located alongside I-65 just as you enter Montgomery from the South. The park opened in 2006, and is situated in a flood plain, actually the site of a former mosquito infested bog fed by Cloverland Ditch. The clubhouse is raised to mitigate potential flood damage, and the underside is used […]

Gateway Park Clubhouse

September 5, 2016 in Commercial / Places and Things tagged clubhouse / gateway / golf / park / ski

Lagoon Clubhouse — sits in Lagoon Park off N. East Boulevard. The park boasts a golf course, an elaborate softball complex, a great tennis center, and outstanding baseball facilities. The 18-hole golf course was opened in 1978, and has been rated by GOLF DIGEST as one of the nation’s top 50 Public Golf […]

Lagoon Park Clubhouse

September 2, 2016 in Commercial / Places and Things tagged baseball / clubhouse / golf / lagoon / park / tennis

Eastdale Mall — This mall opened in 1977, Aranov’s pride and joy, and despite numerous remodeling, it still exudes a certain 1970’s charm. Notable for its ice skating rink, and for its still operating 8-screen movie theater. A sister of University Mall in Tuscaloosa, it boasts four anchor department stores –100 outlets total […]

Eastdale Mall

August 29, 2016 in Commercial tagged eastdale / mall

Max Credit Union — located on the Eastdale Mall circle drive. It was founded in 1955 to serve employees and stationers of Maxwell AFB, but since has redefined its eligible class as anyone who ever thought about living or working in Montgomery. It now has over 110,000 members; does that translate to a third […]

Max Federal Credit Union

August 26, 2016 in Commercial tagged credit / eastdale / max / union

Eastdale Estates — at 5801 Eastdale Drive has the character of a rambling Cape Cod seashore hotel. It is one of 300+ such entities of the Holiday Retirement Corporation, founded 1971 in Vancouver. It is one of four HRC homes in Alabama. -Charles Humphries

Eastdale Estates Retirement Home

August 22, 2016 in Commercial tagged eastdale / retirement

Union Bank Capitol Heights — at 1901 Mt Meigs Road, was built in 1954, when First National and Union Bank were the two bank behemoths downtown, side by side on Commerce Street, vying to see which would open the first branch. Union Bank hired SS&A Architects, who designed this contemporary classic, now standing forlorn and […]

Union Bank Capitol Heights Branch

August 19, 2016 in Commercial tagged bank / capitol / heights / union

Yancey Law Office — located at the corner of Washington and Perry Streets, directly across from the old Courthouse. From here the firebrand, William Lowndes Yancey, trumpeted for States Rights, and became the South’s leading advocate for secession. Lincoln credited Yancey with starting the Civil War. Yancey wrote Alabama’s Ordinance of Secession. Standing on […]

Yancey Law Office

August 15, 2016 in Commercial tagged historic registry / law / yancey

former health lab — on the AUM campus, prominent from I-85, was built in 1986. The Alabama Department of Forensic Science now has a new central Alabama lab facility on the ASU campus, and the depicted structure presently houses the State Health Lab. The construction of the pictured lab, 25 years ago, spawned a […]

Former State Forensics Lab

August 12, 2016 in Government tagged forensics / former / health / lab

St James Holt Crossing — located where Carter Hill, Vaughn and Zelda all intersect. It has existed at this crossroad since it was organized in 1875. However, the building pictured was built in 1963 as administrative offices of the Alabama Masonic Lodge. The design won an Alabama AIA award for my partner, WMP. In 2004 […]

St. James Holt Crossing Baptist Church

August 8, 2016 in Religious tagged baptist / church / crossing / holt / james

Capitol Heights — at the intersection of Atlanta Highway and Federal Drive, was built ca 1923, and for 50+ years it was one of the stars in the crown of the Montgomery school system. The structure was designed by Fredrick Ausfeld, who later designed Lanier, the Bell Building and the Jeff Davis Hotel. […]

Capitol Heights Junior HS

August 5, 2016 in Education tagged capitol / heights / highschool

Bldg 1402 — the Air Command and Staff College of the Air Force “Air University”. The University was founded in 1946, the same year the USAF was established as a separate branch of our Armed Services. Construction of the University campus (known locally as the “Academic Circle”) began in 1950 as a series […]

Maxwell’s Building 1402

August 1, 2016 in Education / Government tagged 1402 / air command / maxwell / staff college

Municipal Airport Terminal — The old Municipal Airport Terminal still stands on Gunter Annex to Maxwell AFB, reminding us that the Montgomery Municipal Airport, later named for Mayor Bill Gunter, was built in 1929. The 600-acre airfield had a grass landing strip, and this combination hanger- terminal building. Mayor Gunter, a flying enthusiast, was so […]

Old Municipal Airport Terminal

July 29, 2016 in Government tagged airforce / airport / gunter / maxwell / terminal

Baldwin Magnet — The old Sidney Lanier, which exists today as Baldwin Magnet School. For many years Scott Street (near side of the structure) was closed to afford the school playground space. Then, circa 1981, after the facility had served as Baldwin Junior High for many years, the street was reopened (my project) […]

Baldwin Junior High School

July 25, 2016 in Education tagged baldwin / magnet / school

Jeff Davis HS — at 3420 Carter Hill Road, built with such hope and promise during the mid-1960s. Its early years were so successful that by the late 1970s kids poured out of private school to attend that public school. JD had wonderful football and band programs during its glory decades. 1969 was its […]

Jefferson Davis Highschool

July 22, 2016 in Education tagged davis / highschool / jd / jefferson

Jackson Hospital — Today (top), and circa 1920 (bottom view). It began as Highland Park Sanitarium in a row of houses on Forest Avenue. In the upper view you can see the bridge which connected the old building to the doctor’s offices on the left. Around 1975 the bridge held the quite-famous Ponte […]

Jackson Hospital

July 18, 2016 in Commercial tagged hospital / jackson / Ponte Rouge

Elite Cafe — The site of Montgomery’s renowned Elite Cafe (pronounced E-lite) at 121 Montgomery Street. It opened in 1910 and during its 1940s-‘50s heyday, it was known region wide. In that era, all the guests at the numerous masked balls would reassemble here after the dance was over and continue the revelry […]

Elite Cafe

July 15, 2016 in Commercial tagged cafe / dining / elite

Ware Farley Hood — was located on South Hull Street, a little South of Adams, when planter James Ware built it ca 1855. Ware had it designed in Italianate Style. After his death the structure served as a girls school. Sheriff Horace Hood owned it next, and his wife turned it into a Southern […]

Ware-Farley-Hood House

July 11, 2016 in Residential tagged farley / hood / italianate / ware

AEA Building — When you pass by The Alabama Education Association (AEA) Building on Dexter at Hull, you should realize you are looking at the real capitol of the State. The AEA was founded in 1856 to help local school boards control the teachers, but circa 1970 the organization combined forces with the Black […]

Alabama Education Association Building

July 8, 2016 in Education tagged association / education

I85 — This is what made EastChase possible. The view is of the South terminus of the I-85 Interstate, as it intersects I-65, but this was the artery that changed Montgomery’s growth from Southeast to East. No event has had more impact on our city (nor on our nation, for that matter) […]

Interstate 85

July 4, 2016 in Places and Things tagged 85 / eisenhower / interstate

Real Estate Financing — The Perry Street home of the onetime Real Estate Financing Inc, a creation of Edwin Auerbach Sr. Ed returned to his insurance business after WW-II and found a tremendous need for financing of a pent-up housing market. Backed by his mother-in-law, he was able to grow a new business that […]

Real Estate Financing Inc

July 1, 2016 in Commercial tagged estate / financing / regions

State Capitol — The State Capitol was built by the City of Montgomery in 1847 (it burned two years later and was rebuilt from the same plans) to house the fledging State government, then only 27 years old. What a rich history it has! The Succession Convention of 1860; the organization of the Confederacy; the […]

State Capitol Complex

June 27, 2016 in Government tagged aerial / capitol / confederate / jefferson davis / patterson / sims / wyeth