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 State Normal School with a mission to train teachers. In the 1950s Troy began extension courses to serve military personnel at Maxwell AFB, and its teaching center there led to the establishment of Troy Montgomery.  Today Troy has extension centers all over the world.

Despite the new image, history buffs know that for 100 years this street was the real seat of Alabama government. Our State Capital may have been at the head of Dexter, but the “smoke filled rooms” where deals were made were all in the Exchange, Whitley or Jeff Davis Hotels, all on these very blocks of Montgomery Street.

-Charles Humphries