History vault

A new vault for historic valuables

Albertville National Bank building was in more recent years the Jewel Box. Now it’s home to the Albertville Museum. Museum board member Jerry Landers painted the art deco vault door in Albertville High colors.

Story and photos By David Moore

It’s not like twice as much history suddenly happened in Albertville. But the Albertville Museum does have more than twice as much space to display and store artifacts from its past since its relocation to the old National Bank of Albertville and the adjoining Emmett Building, smack in the middle of downtown.

And when the rough second floor of the old connected buildings is restored, the museum will double its present space for storing and displaying its history.

It was a big step when the Albertville Museum first opened in 2013 in Little Branch Primitive Baptist Church northeast of downtown. It was an appropriately historic site for the museum. Across Ala. 205 from the Pre-Civil War Cemetery, the church was founded in 1856 by First Methodist, and Primitive Baptist began meeting there in 1895, only four years after Albertville’s incorporation.

The old sanctuary provided a needed depository and reservoir for Albertville artifacts, but its 1,500 square feet, packed with displays from the start, could offer only a limited window into the past of Marshall County’s largest city.

“We got to the point we were out of room for display and storage,” says Danny Maltbie, museum chairman. “We were pushed against the wall for storage.”

The city’s history, of course, didn’t happen all at once; neither did the opportunity for the museum – the depository of that history – to expand into a larger venue. It took some persistent lobbying.

“The city,” Danny laughs, “finally got tired of me stopping by once a week asking for storage space.”

History can move quickly.

In early January 2020, Mayor Tracy Honea suggested that he and Danny look at the old bank on East Main (Ala. 205) and, around the corner facing Broad Street, the old Emmett Building.

The late James Hasty operated his Jewel Box jewelry store from the old bank building from 1971 to 2007, according to his son of the same name. At some point he had bought the adjacent

The arch from McCord Elementary probably rings a bell with a ton of folks. Museum director Danny Maltbie says he, his wife, Darla, and their grown kids, Dan and Julie, all passed under the arch. At the museum, it connects the main room in the Emmett Building with what was once the old fire department and today is the Ray Honea Music Hall and Meeting Room. The fiddle at the left was hand-crafted in 1970 by Arastus Johnson. The Johnson Brothers from the Hustleville community were not only a wellknown local string band starting back in the first half of the 20th century, but Arastus and L.H. Johnson were famous nationwide in professional music circles for the guitars and fiddles they made. L.H. hand-crafted more than 100 instruments, starting in 1924. The museum plans a day of Johnson Brothers events on Aug. 4. At the far left is the old service windows from the Douglas Post Office. Saved from being thrown out, the windows came from a barn in Birmingham.

Dr. Arthur Levi Isbell (1883-1964) was born near Martling and returned to the area in 1924 when he opened an office in Albertville. He had a substantial practice as a physician and surgeon, touching the lives of many people on Sand Mountain. Some of his instruments are on display at the museum, above. Hard to miss when entering from the Broad Street door is the old sign that hung for years over P&J Drugs. In the music hall named for him is a display commemorating Ray Honea, the late brother of Mayor Stacy Honea. “One of the finest musicians to ever pick up a guitar,” Danny says of Ray. Warm was one of the locally famous bands he played in. The Ray Honea Music Hall and Meeting Room was intentionally left rather open and can be rented for meetings. Danny says they hope it is someday incorporated into an entertainment district for Albertville. The old Jewel Box section of the museum includes a music display, right, which includes, behind Danny, an old pump organ belonging to T.B. Mosley, who was world famous for his hymns and hymnals. Dick Adams of the city’s purchasing office, far right, checks out a drum major uniform like he wore at Albertville High in 1968-70.

As a promotion, the old bank once gave away pennies inside of tiny jugs, right. In the 1950s, the local Southern Bell office installed the payphone at left in the old Saunders Hotel. It was installed in a closet and seldom used, so Southern Bell discontinued the service in the ‘60s. The hotel, however, refused to permit the removal of the phone. Later, the hotel was converted into a boarding house which closed in the ‘70s. Charlie Canady, a tech for the local office, was sent to retrieve the phone, leading to a “slight confrontation,” which he won. Charlie was given permission to dispose of the phone, and eventually donated it to the museum.

Continued from page 48 Emmett building, knocked through the walls to make a connecting hall and expanded his store.

When Tracy and Danny visited, the interior was in rough shape and unused except for storage for 13 years. But they saw the potential. The museum board – consisting of Danny, Jerry Landers, Alan Darden, Jimmy Carnes and Delores Roden, all city-appointed volunteers – agreed to take on the project.

The Albertville City Council authorized Tracy to negotiate the purchase of the property, and he worked out a deal with James Hasty, the son, for $120,000.

“We closed on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 2020,” says Danny, pleased with the sudden speed of history. “James gave the city a good deal with the understanding the city would use it as a museum.

Then came the hard part – cleaning, restoration and moving.

The city turned over the building keys to the museum board the day after the sale and the volunteers went at it.

“It was a museum effort,” Danny says. But others dove in, too.

First, generations of “stored junk” had to be hauled off. Generations of dirt had to be swept and shoveled out.

Then flaking plaster had to be scraped down to bare walls. Brick cleaned. Old carpet removed. Old wiring ripped out and replaced. Walls painted.

Board member Jerry Landers and city maintenance manager Gary George were a huge help, Danny says. Mayor Honea and a crew of city employees rolled up their sleeves and helped. Inmates were utilized. Retired contractor Ralph Fullerton donated lumber and helped build a wheelchair ramp between the two buildings.

Pressure-washing the exterior walls actually blasted old mortar out from between bricks. The joints had to be repointed with new mortar and a coat of brick sealer applied. The Marshall County legislative delegation provided a grant for the cost of repairs.

Meanwhile, all of the exhibits and stored artifacts from the old museum had been packed for moving. Louise Redanavitch led that effort with the help of fellow members of the Albertville

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Museum Foundation board: Thomas Raines, Nancy Stone, Jane Garner and Reagan Deason.

Gary George brought his own big trailer to haul loads to the new venue. Then everything had to be displayed and hung – no small feat there.

In December 2020, 10 dirty, sweaty months from accepting the building keys, the museum board and city held a ribbon cutting for the new Albertville Museum.

“The major work was finished,” Danny says, “but we have taken in and added things since.”

And that’s exactly how it should be.

“We hope to have enough stuff in storage so that, ideally, once a year we change out most everything, and when you come back it’s a different museum,” Danny says.

“We’re really excited that we were able to purchase the Jewel Box and bring it back to life and back into use again,” Mayor Honea says. “With the building’s rich history and the fact that it’s in the center of our historic downtown community, we think it’s a great fit for the Albertville Museum.

“We appreciate the culture and vision the museum brings to the table by moving into the downtown neighborhood,” Tracy adds. “It’s our hope that its presence will further continue to enhance downtown and give folks another reason to visit, eat and shop with our merchants and businesses.”

“The Museum Board and Foundation thank Mayor Honea and the Albertville City Council for providing us with the new building and opportunity to be a part of the City of Albertville experience,” Danny says. “Mayor Honea, Councilwoman Jill Oakley, who is the museum’s council representative, and each council member work hard to preserve and protect the history of the City of Albertville. The museum is glad to be a part of this great city.”

Nope, the museum’s not brought a suddenly surge of history to Albertville. And even though its new location offers more room to store and display local history, it hasn’t actually changed history.

“History,” Danny and others are proud to say, “is just more visible.”

The Albertville Museum is open and staffed by a volunteer noon-4 p.m. Thursday and Friday and by appointment through city hall. For more information call: (256) 878-0605.