Reviewed by: Michael Seale
Then and Now | Recreating old pictures of Downtown Huntsville
Huntsville has changed a lot over the years, and thanks to the work of a woman named Frances Cabaniss Roberts, a Huntsville historian and founding UAH professor, who took over 90,000 pictures of Huntsville, we have a great glimpse of the past here in the city.
Keep reading to see some pictures of downtown locations between the 50’s and 80’s and what they look like then and now.
Then and now | Schiffman Building
The Schiffman Building located at 231 Eastside Square, was originally constructed in 1845. Looks pretty good for an almost 180-year-old building.
The photo on the left doesn’t have an exact year, but it has to have been taken before 1976 as that is when the building next to it was constructed.
Then and now | Big Spring Park
Big Spring Park has changed a lot over the years.
A closer inspection of the two pictures will show that the walkways and paths around the park are different, the trees have grown, new railing was put in, the bridge was replaced and a road (middle right edge) that cut through the park no longer exists.
Then and now | First Alabama Bank
The exterior of the First Alabama Bank, now the site of the Broadway Group, has remained largely unchanged since the original picture was taken in 1978.
The roadways and park to the right are different, however, as the intersection has been reworked today to be a one-way road (hence the removal of the stoplight and turn lane), and the sightline to the VBC (to the left of the building) has been obscured by trees over the years.
Then and now | West Side Square
Now I’ll admit that these pictures are a little off, but I did my best to line up the view of the buildings in the distance. My best guess is that the original picture was taken from the balcony of what is now Cotton Row restaurant.
Noteworthy changes over the almost 70-year gap between the two pictures are the reworking of the road to be thinner, the park in the original photo is now the site of the downtown courthouse and several tall buildings were added along the left side of the road.
Big thanks to the UAH archives and the Huntsville History Collection for providing these pictures, which are free to view on their websites:
Frances Cabaniss Roberts Collection, Dept, of Archives/Special Collections, M. Louis Salmon Library, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL.
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