Exploring Montgomery

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

Government

Montgomery Mall — The dead, dead Montgomery Mall . . . so convenient, so wonderful, in its day. The empty hulk stands at the intersection of McGehee Road and Southern Boulevard, a spot believed in 1970 to be the future epicenter of Montgomery. The Montgomery Fair, frightened by an inroad of Lovemans and […]

Montgomery Mall

February 22, 2016 in Commercial / Government / Places and Things tagged fire / mall / police

Camp Sheridan — The old Camp Sheridan, active during WW-I, was located in North Montgomery on land that became the Kilby Prison reservation shortly after the war ended. The entire camp covered many square miles. For a variety of reasons, this war (which was going on long before the United States got into […]

Camp Sheridan

February 22, 2016 in Government / Places and Things tagged camp / sheridan / ww I

Post Office — on Winton Blount Boulevard, appropriate because Winton was US Postmaster General back when Nixon was president. This structure was dedicated in 1989, and it has this Byzantine flavor, strange for a Federal building. Maybe it’s because Red Blount’s company built the King Saud University in Saudi Arabia (at $2-billion), the […]

Main Post Office

February 22, 2016 in Government tagged office / post / winton

Scott Street Firehouse — …was built ca 1890, when Montgomery had grown up the hill from downtown, and it was too difficult for the fire horses to pull the heavy fire equipment up the steep slopes to an outbreak. Ergo, they built a new station up the hill in the residential neighborhood. Back then […]

Scott Street Firehouse

February 22, 2016 in Government tagged fire / firehouse / scott

Helen Hunt Learning Center — What you see is the drop-off entrance and canopy, located on a private alley that runs between Hull and McDonough Streets. The center is one of the elements of the RSA’s Monroe Street project, the piece which secured Governor Hunt’ vital support of the massive undertaking (Hunt had opposed the […]

Helen Hunt Early Learning Center

February 22, 2016 in Education / Government tagged helen hunt / learning / rsa

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

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