Thronateeska Heritage Center

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Thronateeska Heritage Center is a local history museum complex located at the end of Roosevelt Avenue in downtown Albany. Its mission is to promote science and the history of the city and Southwest Georgia. The Center consists of the History Museum, the Science Museum, the Georgia Museum of Surveying & Mapping, the Weatherbee Planetarium, the Fryer-Merrit House, and the Hilsman Kitchen building. The Science Museum and Weatherbee Planetarium are located in a modern building that is attached to the historic World War I-era Railway Express Agency (REA) building. The History Museum and the the Georgia Museum of Surveying & Mapping are housed in the historic Union Station, which was built in 1913. The Fryer-Merrit House was built in the 1880s and the Hilsman Kitchen was relocated here from the home of one of the city's first doctors, Dr. Hilsman, in 1977. An 1857 depot located just to the north along the train tracks, Union Station, and the REA building are a part of the Albany Railroad Depot Historic District. A modern shed covers a train exhibit with a locomotive and several rail cars.

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Union Station, built in 1913, is one of several buildings of the Thronateeska Heritage Center, which promotes a science and local history to the community.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Union Station was built in 1913 to serve several railroads that had been coming to Albany for many years including the Atlantic and Gulf, the Albany Northern, the Columbus Southern, and the Georgia Northern. It is a fine example of Prairie School architecture, featuring horizontal low-hipped rooflines, ribbon windows, and large rectangular porch piers. It appears that Union Station replaced the 1857 depot when it was built. The old depot then became the location of a business called the Tift Grocery Company, which became one of the largest wholesale food companies in the region and operated in the depot until 1959. Union Station operated until 1971.

The Heritage Center was founded in 1974 when two local organizations—the Southwest Georgia Historical Society and the Albany Junior Museum, Inc.—merged. The Center restored Union Station and opened it as a museum. The Weatherbee Planetarium was first housed in the REA building, which features a Spanish Revival facade, and opened in 1980. Two years later, the Albany Railroad Depot Historic District was created and added to the National Register of Historic Places. The modern building adjoining the REA building was constructed in 2008. The Fryer-Merrit House dates to the 1880s and was lated at 411 Pine Avenue before being relocated here in 1994. In 2014, the Center added an archives, which is located in the house as are the organization's administrative offices.

Sources

Cloues, Richard. "Albany Railroad Depot Historic District." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. May 20, 1982. https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/82002403.pdf.

Macgregor, Elizabeth. "Union Station." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. February 12, 1975. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/c5db53aa-c94b-42e5-afb5-5e6fe372add0.

"Our History." Thronateeska Heritage Center. Accessed December 7, 2020. http://www.heritagecenter.org/about.html.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

Michael Barera, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Union_Station_Dept,_Albany.JPG

Additional Information