Download - Walking Tour Selma

7/31/2019 Walking Tour Selma

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132 Broad Street

Selma, AL 36701

334-874-4764

1-800-457-3562

[email protected]

S E L M A - D A L L A S

C O U N T Y T O U R I S M

D E P A R T M E N T

25. Further on Broad Street you will see

the 1930s Kress Building. The decorative

Art Deco Style structure prominently fea-tures the Kress name accented by four-color

terra cotta tiles. New occupied by Butler-

Truax Jewelers, the building has been given

a new lease on life.

26. The last stop on your tour will be The Selma

Welcome Center. Their doors were open in

December of 2009 to welcome visitors and

tourists to our historic city. They have a won-

derful collection of area attractions and bro-

chures on each of our museums, self guided

tours which includes the Selmas Windshield

Tour, Selmas Ghost Tour, Old Live Oak

Cemetery Tour, and a one mile walking tour

of historic downtown Selma. They also have listings of local hotels and restau-

rants as well as special events.

C I T Y O F S E L M A

W E L C O M E

C E N T E R

Tour

Step Back in time and stroll down the streets of historic

Selma. This one-mile route will take you by some of the

most important places in our beautiful city. Youll

understand why the largest historic district in the state

has been named a Preserve America Community.

Youll see sites from the Civil War era to the Voting

Rights movement which not only impacted the United

States but the entire world. When other cities were

modernizing their downtowns, Selma began to save

hers. Spend a few minutes in the heart of this city andshell touch yours.

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Tour

15. The Harmony Clubis a Renaissance Revival three story commer-

cial building with a cast iron storefront. The Harmony Club was built

in 1909 as a social club by Selmas Jewish community. In December2010 it was featured in the New York Times as a feature story on how

revitalization is so important to historic cities.

16. To your right you will see The Selma Times

Journal, the local newspaper, housed in an Italianate

Victorian Storefront building typical of the early

1870s. This newspaper has been published continu-

ally since 1828. Earlier uses of this building includeda wholesale grocery business and an agricultural im-

plementation business.

17. The Edmund Winston Pettus

Bridge, is to your right. The Bridge was

erected in 1939 and was named after the

U.S. Senator Edmund Winston Pettus.

This is also the scene of the Selma toMontgomery March in 1965. The demonstrations that

occurred here led to the U.S. Voting Rights Act of 1965. For more information

about the bridge, please read the historical marker.

18. Across the bridge is the National Voting Rights Museum

and Institute. The museums memorabilia honors partici-pants in the Voting Rights Movement. This movement

overcame Bloody Sunday and the prejudices of others, to

attain the right to vote. The U. S. Voting Rights Act of

1965 is their victory as well as each of ours.

19. The Songs of Selma Parkwas created by the City from a

vacant lot where the Baker Building once stood. The Baker

building housed a general merchandise store, a hardware storeand at the time of burning a fine dining restaurant. The parks

name came from the book The poems of Ossian containing the

poem Song of Selma from which Selma is named.

20. Traveling down Water Avenue you can see typical commercial riverfront build-

ings as you approach Lafayette Park(the brick area located next to the St. James

Hotel) which commemorates Lafayettes visit to Selma. At the foot of the Park isthe Bridge Tenders Housethat was used by the

bridge tender when Selmas turn bridge was in

operation. Please feel free to read the HistoricalMarker.

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