Montgomery

This book looks at the changes in Alabama’s Capital City of Dreams. During World War II, Montgomery residents opened their homes and hearts to pilots at Maxwell and Gunter Air Force Bases. During the postwar boom, downtown flourished as homes and shopping centers emerged in suburbia. In the 1950s and 1960s, Montgomery became an important site of the civil rights movement. The 1970s brought urban renewal, while the 1980s focused on the arts with the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the construction of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, and the restoration of the Paramount Theatre as the Davis Theatre for the Performing Arts. Montgomery’s current downtown renaissance features the restoration of historic buildings for use as restaurants, retail shops, and a baseball stadium.