Historic Albany Tour Highlights
On May 7, 2011 the Albany Dougherty Historic Preservation Commission held a tour highlighting significant historic places in the city of Albany. The tour destinations were as varied and cherished as Albany's history.
Bridge House ● 112 N. Front Street
The Classical-Italianate style Bridge House, circa 1857, is the only known existing bridge house in Georgia. Colonel Nelson Tift hired Horace King to build a bridge across the Flint River, to run as a toll business. The Bridge House was built at the same time, with two stories and a basement. Tift used the second floor as a theater and ballroom, Tift's Hall. In 1916, P.A. Keenan bought the building and established a blacksmith shop called the Empire Smithing Company, which later became Keenan Auto Parts Company. Most recently, the building was renovated to become the home of Albany's Convention and Visitors Bureau and Welcome Center.
The Carnegie Library ● 215 N. Jackson Street
The Carnegie Library, built in 1906, is significant in the areas of architecture, education and social/humanitarian history. It is one of the finest Neo-Classical styled buildings in Albany, with very high quality detailing and materials. Andrew Carnegie gave $10,000 to the City of Albany for a library building with the provision that the City contribute the lot and pay annually 10% of the amount contributed by Mr. Carnegie. On April 11, 1906, the library opened to the public with 1,500 books given by the Albany Library Association. It remained the main city library until 1966 when it became the downtown business branch. Currently, the building houses the Albany Area Arts Council.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church ● 212 N. Jefferson Street
St. Paul’s became an organized parish of the Diocese of Georgia on April 21, 1851. On May 15, 1855, the first Episcopal Bishop of Georgia consecrated a frame building at the corner of Jefferson Street and Oglethorpe Boulevard, two blocks south of the present site at Jefferson and Flint Avenue. The cornerstone of this building was laid January 25, 1896, and the third Bishop of Georgia dedicated St. Paul’s before the end of that year. The outlay for the new building was between $14,000 and $15,000. On December 22, 1962, the sixth Bishop of Georgia consecrated the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. The Parish Hall, built in the 1940s, was expanded in the 1950s and again in the mid 1980s. The Lucy Walters Memorial Garden was dedicated in 1993. The Porte Cochere and flanking pergolas, at the rear of the church, were completed in 2009.
Thronateeska Heritage Museum ● 100 Roosevelt
The development of the 100 block of Roosevelt Avenue began when the railroad system was established in Albany in 1857. This enabled the town to move its agricultural commodities in a more reliable and timely manner. Albany soon emerged as a leading commercial center in Southwest Georgia. The decline in railroad passengers eventually resulted in the closing of Union Depot in the early 1970s. Once abandoned, the entire train depot area began to deteriorate. Through Thronateeska’s efforts, the 1913 Union Station depot was preserved as a legendary landmark, converted into a museum and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The Wetherbee Planetarium was originally opened in the old Railway Express agency building in 1980. A new Wetherbee Planetarium and Science Museum was constructed between the Railway Express Agency building and the Fryer-Merritt house in 2008. The new building incorporated architectural features of the original 1926 Central Georgia Roundhouse on the façade of the building. In 1982, the Tift Warehouse (constructed in 1857 as the original passenger and freight depot), the REA building and Albany’s last remaining brick street were added to the National Register and listed as Albany’s Railroad Depot Historic District. The Fryer-Merritt House, built in the 1880s at 411 Pine Avenue, was relocated to Heritage Plaza in 1994 and renovated. It currently serves as the administrative office and library.
Post Office Courthouse ● 337 W. Broad Avenue
A rectangular-shaped building with three stories and a basement was constructed between 1910 and 1912 by Gude and Company of Atlanta under James Knox Taylor, supervising architect for the United States Treasury. The building adapts the Second Renaissance Revival style featuring buff-colored brickwork and a hipped clay tile roof. James Matthew Griggs, a 2nd District Congressman (1897-1910) was considered instrumental in obtaining appropriations for building the Post Office. A plaque commemorating his service is displayed on the first floor and in 2010, it was renamed the Griggs Building. Construction of the Post Office began in 1910, with Mrs. Nellie Brimberry as Postmistress after the death of her husband, when President Taft appointed her as the first woman Postmistress of a major American Post Office. She secured for pecan growers the advantage of sealing their product in packages suitable for mailing, providing a boon to the young pecan industry and bringing national attention to this valuable southern product. The Post Office opened February 24, 1912 and was the major station for mail in Dougherty County; a branch still operates on the first floor of the building. Professional offices are housed in the building as well. The third floor retains the original 1912 appearance and character of fourteen-foot high ceilings with precast inlaid ceiling and hardwood floors. The building became the seat of the Federal Court in 1923.
Old Mt. Zion Baptist Church ● 326 W. Whitney Avenue
Constructed in 1906, this brick church building, designed in the Late Victorian/Gothic Revival styles, served as a religious, educational and social center of Albany’s African American community. It was built by Albany’s first African American Baptist congregation (established 1866) which met in several locations before settling on its current site. It was the site for the first mass meeting (1961) of the Albany Movement and several subsequent mass meetings addressed by Martin Luther King, Jr. and others, and performances by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Freedom Singers. The Mt. Zion congregation vacated the existing church building for a new larger facility in 1972 and in 1994 donated the structure to a nonprofit corporation to restore the church and convert it into the Albany Civil Rights Movement Museum. The restoration/conversion began in 1994 with county SPLOST funds and donations from the city, businesses and individuals. The Museum opened in 1998. Ten years later, a new building was opened adjacent to the church, built with city SPLOST funds, expanding the Museum into the Albany Civil Rights Institute.
Cannon Law Office (Cistern) ● 242 W. Broad Avenue
During renovation of this law office in 1999, workers discovered a cistern. Research led to the discovery of a late 1800’s fire that swept through Albany. After the fire, cisterns were built to provide adequate water to fight fires. The fire also prompted a change in building requirements. From that point on wooden buildings were banned and brick became the building standard for downtown Albany.
Smith House ● 516 Flint Avenue
The W.E. Smith House, circa 1860, is said to be the first brick residence in Albany. The two-story Colonial Revival style house is five bays wide and two bays deep with an interior end east chimney and a central west chimney. A one bay, central porch with square columns shelters the transom lighted door. This was the first private residence in Albany with waterworks. A well was drilled and water pumped into the house, even to an upstairs bedroom. In 1960, the house was given to the Junior League of Albany for a Museum. It has been the executive office for the Homebuilders Association for several years. Recently, the property was sold to Joseph Faknin to be used as his primary residence and law office and is undergoing renovations for this adaptive reuse.