Albany fifty years ago, a look back at the old Albany city hall

FOX 31 is taking a look back at southwest Georgia in the past fifty years. Back in 1969, the old Albany City hall building was demolished.

Fifty years ago, the corner of Jackson and Pine in downtown Albany looked a whole lot different.

This was where the Albany City Hall stood.

Frank Wilson, the director of the Albany Civil Rights Institute, says, "city hall was the central place of judicial kind of actions, of course."

The building, completed in 1910, also doubled as the jail.

Wilson says the building's historical significance is the role the building played in the civil rights movement.

"It was a place where a lot of activity during the movement took place when it came down to some prayers and demonstrations,"says Wilson.

Wilson says many civil rights protesters, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., would march from the Shiloh Baptist Church to the Albany City Hall and Jail.

Wilson adds, "It was supposed to be a symbol of justice in many ways it was a symbol of a lot of injustices for the African-American community."

That's because demonstrators were sentenced and jailed there for fighting for their rights, according to Wilson.

Now, a historical marker sits where the old city hall once was.

The marker was completed just last year and outlines the injustices that Wilson is talking about.

Wilson says the old Albany City Hall is a smaller piece to a larger picture. He says,"It became very central artifact as it were to the kinds of things that were happening at that time as most courthouses across southwest Georgia at that time were."