Demolition of Gadsden's 90-year-old Convention Hall begins

Convention Hall (born Gadsden Municipal Auditorium): 1933-2023.

The expected demolition of the city’s longtime concert, event and meeting venue on First Street began this week, as local residents turned to social media to share their memories of the place.

Convention Hall had been shuttered since 2018, replaced by The Venue at Coosa Landing across the Coosa River in East Gadsden.

Mayor Craig Ford made demolishing the building to make way for riverfront development a key point in his successful election campaign last year, and has continued to signal that intention since taking office.

“I understand that people have fond memories of this building because I do, too,” Ford said in a statement on Wednesday. “Some of my best memories are from events at Convention Hall. That is nostalgia, and I get it. However, when the people of Gadsden elected a new mayor and City Council last fall, they asked us to paint a bold vision for Gadsden’s future.”  

The council last month awarded the bid to tear the building down to Britt Demolition and Recycling of Hanceville.

City officials according to a news release had examined the structure and found it filled with mold to the point of “irrevocable disrepair.” There’s also asbestos throughout it.

“Allowing a diseased, vacant structure to stand in decay for the sake of memories is not the path toward a prosperous future in Gadsden,” Ford said, who added that once the site is cleared, “We can reimagine the highest and best use for this prime riverfront property. This site will be a key component of the city’s first comprehensive plan in half a century, which we are currently developing.”

The building was constructed as the Gadsden Municipal Auditorium in 1933 and was designed by local architect Paul Hofferbert, who also designed the adjacent Mort Glosser Amphitheatre that opened two years later and the stone chapel at Forrest Cemetery that opened in 1936. All were Works Progress Administration projects, according to the Living New Deal website.

Originally a red brick structure, it was renovated in appearance and renamed Convention Hall in the 1960s.

Countless high school students took part in dances or graduated there over the years, then caught up with each other at subsequent reunions.

Music fans rocked, swung or tapped their toes not just to local bands or singers, but to folks like B.J. Thomas, Black Oak Arkansas, the Blackwood Brothers, Charlie Daniels, Chase, Dr. Hook, Flatt and Scruggs, Glen Campbell, the Ides of March, James Brown, the Sanford-Townsend Band, the Speer Family, Starbuck, the Statesmen and ZZ Top.

Gadsden’s Kiwanis Pancake Day was held there from 1959, its second year, through 2018; it relocated to The Venue after Convention Hall was closed.

The auditorium hosted tons of civic gatherings and specialty events like model train shows, and served as a voting site for years.

Now, city officials say, it’s time to build new memories.

“Together, we can create a future that breathes life into our community,” Ford said. “Clearing this site creates a blank canvas, and with a little vision it doesn’t take long to imagine the possibilities of what this location can become.”

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Convention Hall demolition begins