Blair built it in 1904 for his wife Carolyne. She and their three children had just left Macon GA to join him in Montgomery where Blair had found success as a building contractor. But Carolyne died the very next year, and while Algernon remarried a few years later (into the prestigious Blue Family), he seemed to take solace in his work. Over the next 40 years Algernon Blair became the most outstanding contractor Montgomery has ever produced, amassing an amazing record of construction.  He built so many Post Offices that he was called “the King of Post Offices”. He built Camp Sheridan in North Montgomery during WW I. He built the original unit of Church of the Ascension, after having gone personally to Boston to solicit the services of famed church architect Ralph Cram Adams. He built our Federal Courthouse, the former Regions Bank Building on Court Square, the Greystone Hotel, Sidney Lanier H S, our VA Hospital.  The list is endless. His work covered 2/3 of the country. At its peak, his company employed over 6,000 workers.  For over a half-century, his home has been lovingly cared for by the Rhodes family.  On a personal note, I still remember that when my grandfather died in 1941 (we lived 120 miles away), the largest flower arrangement of all was from Algernon Blair; to this day I speculate as to how those two knew each other.

-Charles Humphries