Exploring Montgomery

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

Yearly Archives: 2016

This picture above was taken from the rear balcony of the State Capitol. What you see is the left half of the envisioned structure, with the big glass bow-front section as the center element. This half was built in the late 1980s on land purchased by Fob James and Dr Bronner […]

Gordon Persons Building

February 22, 2016 in Government tagged gordon / persons

Teague House — …was built in 1848, and is on the corner of Perry and High Streets. It has been described as Montgomery’s quintessential “Southern Mansion”, even though it had been built as a townhouse, not as a plantation mansion.. In 1865, after the surrender, Yankee General James Wilson rode in and took […]

Teague House

February 22, 2016 in Residential tagged greek revival / teague

Barnes School for Boys — Now at 512 South Court Street, was a desperate salvage of the Montgomery County Historical Society, and now serves as Society headquarters. In 1996 that group moved the landmark from Catoma Street, where it had been evicted by GSA’s Federal Courthouse project. The Barnes School closed in 1942, and the […]

Barnes School For Boys

February 22, 2016 in Education tagged barnes / boys / school

Four Sisters Houses — The houses are on Perry Street, diagonally opposite First Baptist. The original owner, Dr W.O. Baldwin 1818-1886, highly successful banker and respected physician, spent his entire life in Montgomery. Even so, Baldwin opposed the war, not because he didn’t believe in the cause, but because he thought the South would lose. […]

Four Sisters Houses

February 22, 2016 in Residential tagged baldwin / four / hale / italianate / sisters / victorian

First Presbyterian Church — The Church was founded in 1824, the oldest organized church in Montgomery. This structure was dedicated in 1847, the same year that Montgomery became the State Capital. Church member Andrew Dexter gave the land for the Church, as well as “Goat Hill”, the ground on which the Capital Building was […]

First Presbyterian Church

February 22, 2016 in Religious tagged church / first / presbyterian

…was built by local judge Frederick Rice in 1855. After its ardiouus journey from its former site on Monroe Street, the poor structure was resituated on a lot at the corner of Court and High Streets, but its vast array of outbuildings was lost in the relocation. It now backs […]

Rice-Semple House

February 22, 2016 in Residential tagged historic registry / relocated / rice / semple

Alabama State House — …was built in 1963 as a new home for the Highway Department. The Highway Department moved out onto Coliseum Boulevard circa 1990, as part of a scheme to convert the then 30-year old building into a home for the State Legislature. Ergo, the old structure was extensively remodeled in 1991, […]

Alabama State House

February 22, 2016 in Government tagged highway / house / legislators / state

Murphy House — …at 22 Bibb Street, the present-day offices of the Montgomery Water Works, was built in 1851 for John Murphy, a cotton broker who moved here from Virginia and quickly amassed a goodly fortune. He built this outstanding example of Greek Revival architecture as evidence of his financial status, and there […]

Murphy House

February 22, 2016 in Residential tagged greek revival / historic registry / murphy

First Baptist Church — …was founded 1829, and its early sanctuary was on Bibb Street directly across from the Murphy House (now Water Works). The Baptists gave that up in 1908 and moved into their new building up the hill on Perry Street. That sanctuary (pictured above) was started in 1905, but lack of […]

First Baptist Church

February 22, 2016 in Religious tagged baptist / cathedral / first

While this was being built I complained that such a massive structure was turning its back on downtown. Now I see it created a seperate night-life subcity in a bowl bounded by itself, Embassy Suites, Union Station, the river front, Riverwalk Stadium, and the alley bars. I still say it […]

Renaissance Hotel

February 22, 2016 in RSA tagged embassy / hotel / meeting / mpac / renaissance / spa

Monroe St Phase — As Dr. Bronner outlined it early in 1992, the Monroe Street segment would consist of seven structures. Two major office buildings, three large parking decks, a child care center and an outlet mall. Three architectural firms would be included in the action–PH&J would design the two office buildings and the […]

RSA Union – The Monroe Street Phase

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged monroe / rsa / union

RSA Clipping — For at least a half-century, the lower end of Monroe Street had been the downtown domain of the black community. Located there were the stores which catered to a black trade, their own movie theater, barber shops, etc. Monroe Street was not a good address. When word went out that […]

RSA Union – What’s In A Name

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged name / rsa / union

Union Handicapped Clipping — In 1990 no elected official in state government gave so much as lip service to the application of State-adopted rules to accommodate the handicapped, at least not to the buildings in the Capitol Complex. Not even when the Federal American Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in July of 1990. That […]

RSA Union – The Wheelchair Problem

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged handicapped / problem / rsa / union / wheelchair

Rice Semple House — To assuage the Acting State Finance Director, Jimmy Rowell, Bronner agreed to build a stand-alone multistory parking deck just behind the Lurleen Wallace State Office Building and near the State Capitol. In turn the Finance Director agreed that the State would vacate its gravel parking lots on the block which […]

RSA Union – The Tar Baby

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged rice / rsa / semple / tar / union

Park and Tower — January 6, 2000, turned out to be a warm sunny day. Almost 300 people attended the celebration. The descendant families of five of the six honorees were present and basked in the glory being heaped on their ancestor. All three television stations had crews there and favorably reported on the […]

RSA Pavilion – Dedication Day

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged dedication / pavilion / rsa

Park Dedication Clipping — Our project suffered one delay after another. One year turned into two, and two into three. During that period the RSA’s Deputy Director, Bill Walsh, died and Dr. Bronner was suddenly beset with remorse over the way he had treated him. He directed that we name the park for him, […]

RSA Pavilion – Greta Spills The Beans

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged greta / pavilion / rsa

Wall of History Takes Shape — The Bid The Park Project was bid on January 13, 1998. Upchurch Construction was low. Bear Brothers was second. Bear claimed the Upchurch bid was unethical and therefore illegal. A month-long fracas commenced. As background, you need to understand that the “wet trades” (i.e., masonry, hard tile, concrete finishing, plaster, […]

RSA Pavilion – Brouhaha Over The Bids

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged bear brothers / bids / pavilion / rsa / upchurch

maintenance — For a time it appeared that no suitable use could be found for the east end of the “C”, where the Rice-Semple House had sat on temporary supports for so many months. Then Dr. Bronner announced that this remnant parcel would be utilized for a maintenance building which would serve […]

RSA Pavilion – The Maintenance Building

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged maintenance / pavilion / rsa

Mayor Bright — Six weeks before the dedication Montgomery elected itself a new mayor. In a startling upset, unassuming and inept attorney Bobby Bright bested incumbent Emory Folmar in a spirited run-off. My personal ogre was gone. Our city was heading down a new path, and all the RSA’s and my relationships with […]

RSA Pavilion – A New Mayor

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged mayor / pavilion / rsa

Larry Godwin — Robert Lawrence “Larry” Godwin, the 60-year-old sculptor from Brundidge, Alabama, who designed and executed the bronze panels at the Pavilion Park, was an eccentric little man, as talented as he was strange. Larry Godwin’s contribution to our project was an essential part, and he carried it out with great zeal […]

RSA Pavilion – Anxiety Over The Sculptor

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged anxiety / pavilion / rsa / sculptor

Toxic Cleanup Clipping — Evil Dirt Once Again Just when we had almost completed out drawings for the park, the specter of the toxic plume arose again. You must remember that this abomination from below had previously cropped up under the Tower’s chiller plant, and the chiller building occupied the west end of this […]

RSA Pavilion – Dirt Problems

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged dirt / flume / pavilion / problems / rsa / toxic

Brown Paper Plantation Owner — As noted earlier, during the conceptual process, I constantly struggled with Larry over the political correctness of the history panels that he was creating. It seems strange for someone born and raised in the East Alabama Black Belt, but apparently Larry had this compulsion to ennoble the Indians, to aggrandize […]

RSA Pavilion – Larry’s Prejudice

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged pavilion / prejudice / rsa

Mary Ann Neeley — Now let’s forget all that ugly stuff and get back to park planning and research. Establishing the seven historic eras was not all that difficult, nor was thinking up the important events that might be depicted for each era. I started with the profound reference volume, “Know Alabama”, and quickly […]

RSA Pavilion – Seven Eras

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged eras / pavilion / rsa / seven

Seven Flags — This was a fairly routine aspect of our history concept for the park. I solicited help from Ann Tidmore, Montgomery’s flag lady extraordinaire for the past 35 years, to assist with the research. In no time we came up with an “official” list of flags which had flown over our […]

RSA Pavilion – Seven Flags

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged flags / pavilion / rsa / seven

Tablet Design and Brainstorm — Dr. Bronner now acts like he thought up the park for the “six unsung heroes”, but that is not quite the truth. The six-honoree concept came very late in the process and, as you already know, only after a number of other approaches were considered and discarded. After much struggle […]

RSA Pavilion – Six Honorees

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged honorees / pavilion / rsa / six

Joel Dickerson — Now let’s back up a moment. A week or two after the final honoree concept was agreed on, at a time when I had given the actual selections only minimal thought, the park was announced to the press by the Retirement Systems. The press, including the Advertiser in particular, jumped […]

RSA Pavilion – The History Buffs Attack

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged attacks / history / pavilion / rsa

Don Juan Mast — While we were still agonizing over a suitable theme for our pavilion structure, Dr. Bronner mentioned our struggle to his history-buff buddy, retired General Will Hill Tankersley. Will Hill declared that the park should feature the 75-foot-tall main mast of the Spanish man-of-war, Don Juan de Austria, salvaged from that […]

RSA Pavilion – Will Hill and the Ship’s Mast

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged mast / pavilion / rsa