The A.G. Gaston Motel will open to the public this summer as a National Historic Landmark, located on Fifth Avenue North in downtown Birmingham.
Creola Gaston Lucas took in every detail, pausing to gaze at the framed magazine articles, images and personal items on display inside the restored motel that bears the name of her grandfather: Birmingham businessman and trailblazing entrepreneur A.G. Gaston.
Ahead of the opening, Lucas and her niece Rochelle Gaston Malone took a tour to remember and honor the accomplishments of their patriarch. Arthur George Gaston, the grandson of formerly enslaved people, was born in abject poverty in Alabama’s Black Belt. Yet he became a pillar of Birmingham business with a portfolio worth millions. He lived to be 103, building an empire that included a funeral home, insurance company, bank and the motel that still bears his name.
The motel was a cornerstone of the civil rights movement in Birmingham, sitting just yards from Kelly Ingram Park and Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. As a result of its prominent place during the movement, the motel was bombed in May 1963. The campaign was led by civil rights giants, including the Revs. Martin Luther King, Fred Shuttlesworth, Ralph Abernathy and Wyatt Tee Walker.
Plans were floated around that time to preserve and develop the motel as a civil rights museum and education center.Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument by President Barack Obama in his final days in office. Gilmore said the effort spanned several years and two administrations — current Mayor Randall Woodfin and former mayor William Bell — along with multiple government agencies.Lucas, in her 2020 memoir recalling experiences with her grandfather, includes a few pages about her times at the motel as a child. She detailed its restaurant, recalling the homemade lemon icebox pies that were served daily.
As she toured the site, Lucas expressed optimism that the display would grow over time to examine more of Gaston’s family life. For now, though, city officials said the mission is getting the motel ready for a public opening day as soon as possible.
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