Exploring Montgomery

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

Education

asu stadium construction 2 — 22,000 seats; eight stories high; looms over I-85. $50,000,000 budgeted, but definitely ran over. Part of $250-million in ongoing campus projects. So much construction traffic that old men are at risk when they go on campus to take pics. -Charles Humphries

ASU Stadium

August 11, 2017 in Education tagged asu / stadium

At 440 Dalraida Road was built in 1954, but today it shines like a new penny. It was one of the first group of schools hurriedly constructed in the early 1950s. At the time Dalraida Road was only a dirt street, but the area was booming and the need was […]

Dalraida Elementary School

July 28, 2017 in Education tagged dalraida / elementary / school

At the edge of the campus facing Taylor Road (I struggle with that name; I suppose it is the antithesis of “illness”). The interior (campus side) view looks fairly routine, but the Taylor Road side (pictured) almost looks like it might take flight. The facility has 73,000 square ft of […]

AUM Wellness Center

June 26, 2017 in Education tagged aum / gym / wellness

You would never believe this (I almost didn’t), but this poor relic of a once grand plantation house, was where Sir George Waller grew up circa 1900. This structure, until just recently an AUM bookstore, stands on Taylor road opposite the University, giving no hint of its grandeur of a century […]

Sir George Waller

June 19, 2017 in Commercial / Education / Residential tagged aum / bookstore / george / jacks / sir / waller

Davis Theatre — Formerly the old paramount, on Montgomery Street, was built in 1929 (only two years after Al Jolson appeared in the first “talkie”), and it is one of a very few movie houses in the South designed to accommodate both motion pictures and live vaudeville. It could seat 1200. Early on, […]

Davis Theatre

May 26, 2017 in Education tagged davis / theatre / troy

Located in the bottom immediately behind the Crump Community Center (previous slide), alongside the old C of Ga tracks, boasts 12 lighted, hard surface tennis courts, shuffle board, picnic tables and the pictured clubhouse/ pro-shop. The park was originally opened as Bruce Park in 1971 during Mayor Earl James’ administration, […]

O’Conner Tennis Center

May 12, 2017 in Commercial / Education tagged oconner / tennis

Rosa Parks Museum — is part of the Troy campus, and it stands at the corner of Montgomery and Moulton Streets, directly across from the old Paramount (Davis Theater). It occupies the former site of the Empire Theater, and is contiguous to the very bus stop made famous when Rosa Parks was arrested there […]

Rosa Parks Museum

May 8, 2017 in Education / Government / Places and Things tagged boycott / museum / parks / rosa / troy

Huntingdon Hut — This is The Hut at Huntingdon College, built by the YWCA in 1922, as the campus social center. Back in those days the YW was far and away the strongest student organization on campus. That group conceived the idea for the building and raised the money. The structure cost about $11,000, […]

Huntingdon’s Hut

April 14, 2017 in Education tagged huntingdon / hut / ywca

East Montgomery Library — Back in the 1950s, when Bear Brothers Land Co was developing Coliseum Blvd and Eastbrook Shopping Center, they donated a 12-acre parcel of that land to the city as a public park. The city accepted and named it Bear Park. Less than a decade later, when Federal Judge Frank Johnson […]

East Montgomery Branch Library

April 7, 2017 in Education / Government tagged bear park / branch / east / library

Furlong Hall — The campus green at St James School on the Vaughn Road looked awfully vacant last summer when I took this, but school has now started and the place teems with young people. My view looks at Furlong Hall, one not seen by the casual passers-by. STJ moved to this campus […]

Furlong Hall

February 24, 2017 in Education tagged furlong / school / st james

Brantwood — It is the first thing past Oakwood Cemetery, sitting on a hill so high it looks down on the cemetery. The home was established in 1917 by the Federation of Women’s Clubs, but for its first 40-odd years it was known as the Children’s Protective Home. The Home’s current quarters […]

Brantwood Children’s Home

January 13, 2017 in Education / Residential tagged brantwood / children

Morningview — During the Depression years our Board of Education bore much criticism for the “extravagant castles” (Lanier and Capitol Heights JrHi) it had built during the Roaring Twenties. Ergo, even before WW II had started, a no-nonsense contractor, T L Bear, had been elected to the Board. Soon after the war […]

Morningview Elementary

December 2, 2016 in Education tagged elementary / morningview

Troy Clock — just one block beyond the Bell Building. The tower is topped with the “flame of learning”, and it stands as the herald of Troy University’s Montgomery Campus. The campus engulfs Montgomery Street, and has transformed the image of that street. Troy University began in Troy, Alabama in 1887 as Troy […]

Troy’s Clock Tower

November 25, 2016 in Education tagged clock / education / flame / tower / troy

Bellinger Hill — was built in 1904, and appears to be mostly Italianate Style. Today it serves our system as the Department of Special Ed, but in its day it generated as many cherished memories as any building in our city. The school had dedicated teachers, put on plays, was famous for May […]

Bellinger Hill Elementary School

October 31, 2016 in Education tagged bellinger / elementary / hill / italianate / school

Trimble Hall — If you have never seen a redheaded stepchild, this just might be your chance. This poor, off color, neglected building sits on the back side of the Huntingdon campus, behind the boiler house. It faces Woodley Road without so much as a paved driveway to mark its existence. It is […]

Huntingdon Trimble Hall

October 17, 2016 in Commercial / Education tagged hall / huntingdon / trimble

Crump Community — was opened in the late 1970s as the Highland Ave Adult Center, and renamed for Muriel Crump ca 1994. Before 1975 the building was the Highland Ave Church of Christ, and had been that since it was built in the 1920s. Sad to say, this facility was recently closed, and […]

Crump Community Center

October 14, 2016 in Commercial / Education / Religious tagged community / crump / highland

Trinity — is a private K-12 coed school located at 1700 E Trinity Blvd (off Carmichael). Trinity has almost 1,000 students, and was founded ca 1970 by Trinity Presbyterian Church. In 1973 the school constructed its first building and moved to this location. -Charles Humphries

Trinity Presbyterian School

October 10, 2016 in Education tagged highschool / presbyterian / trinity

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

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

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

Some of you won’t believe it, but in 1970 this pink and black structure at 2827 East South Boulevard was the Montgomery presence of the University of Alabama. At the time this was a hot property, situated directly across the boulevard from highly successful neighbors Wal-Mart, Gulf American Insurance and the […]

University of Alabama Montgomery Presence

June 13, 2016 in Education tagged university

Flowers Hall — was constructed in 1910 in English Tudor Gothic style, following the lead of prominent East coast colleges. It was the first building on the new 55-acre campus of the Women’s College of Alabama, and for many years it was the only building. During those early years Flowers housed classrooms, the […]

Huntingdon Flowers Hall

May 27, 2016 in Education tagged flowers / huntingdon

ASU Arch — …as viewed down Carter Hill Road toward the famous Acadome, of Joe Reed fame. When I moved here almost 60 years ago, ASU did not have any frontage on Carter Hill. I-85 came along and blocked its growth North, so the campus grew South on the wings of civil rights […]

Alabama State University (ASU)

March 29, 2016 in Education tagged acadome / arch / asu / state

…at 307 South Decatur Street, where it has stood for 40+ years, but it has not been a happy four decades for the Board, or for education. For 40 years before that, this was the site of the Decatur Street Elementary School, which in its last decade was called Ledbetter […]

County Board of Education Offices

March 20, 2016 in Education tagged education / school

Highland Avenue — Built in 1903, somewhat Romanesque in style. Still a school after 100-plus years. It fronts on a wide boulevard which originally had street car tracks in its median. The tracks were laid about 1890 when Montgomery’s streetcar system was electrified –the first in the world. My wife’s great grandfather, Robert […]

Highland Avenue School

March 16, 2016 in Education tagged highland / romanesque / school