Click image to enlarge. Shown is Gurnee Avenue in Downtown Anniston. Historic resources, dating from Anniston’s heyday as the “Model City of the New South” through its turbulent civil rights era, are threatened by a proposed federal courthouse project and the construction of a new criminal justice center for the city. One location in particular—the site of the May 14, 1961, attack on a busload of Freedom Riders—is in imminent danger of destruction due to the construction project.
Th e courthouse plan also requires the demolition of sixteen more buildings that contribute to the Downtown Anniston Historic District, including an intact streetscape along Gurnee Avenue that served as the backdrop for the initial Freedom Rider bus attack. Photos of the bus when it was firebombed on the outskirts of town became one of the iconic images of the civil rights movement. Additionally, six other structures will be demolished, including the Anniston City Land Company Building (1890), one of three signature buildings constructed by the town’s founding leadership to attract investors to the city. Th e eff ectiveness of local and federal historic preservation protection will be tested by both projects. The courthouse plan is subject to a review through Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The proposed justice center also is located within a locally designated historic district. Preservationists at the local, state, and national level hope to ensure the protection of the significant Gurnee Street streetscape and the restoration of the Anniston City Land Company Building.
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