Pythian Building
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Completed in 1913 for the Alabama Penny Savings Bank, this building was acquired by the Grand Lodge of the Knights of Pythias two years later when the bank closed its doors. The building was later acquired by African American entrepreneur A. G. Gaston who is best known as the owner of the hotel that was bombed while Martin Luther King Jr. was staying at the hotel. Gaston operated the Booker T. Washington INsurance Company, an important business at mid-century when African Americans were often unable to secure life insurance from white-owned companies without paying substantially more than white clients. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and became home to the Birmingham History Center for a short time.
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Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio