Historic Kress Building Reopens with New Features Inside

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For many, the historic Kress on Dexter has a painful past of segregation on the Monroe Street entrance of the building.

Now, two marble stones inside of the Kress building, tell a story of that past.

“One of the things that we discovered were artifacts that really were messages of segregation,” says Sarah Beatty Buller, Co-Founder of Montgomery Builds.

The stones are preserved from fountains at the Kress building that once divided the city.

“Today hopefully it brings us together because they are side by side and with one picture we see the both and as we talked about martin luther king and that beloved community, maybe this is just a really good step,” says Mayor Todd Strange.

The stones serve as a reminder of moving forward for people who come to visit the new businesses inside the Kress on Dexter.

“We’ve been working on this building for years. It has incredible historical relevance for downtown Montgomery and we’ve have discovered some real important parts of the story,” says Buller.

Shakita Jones is part of the “Remembering Monroe Street Project” a  series of events, that celebrates the reopening of the Kress Building.

“I think it’s a way for us to identify or discover history that’s always been there and I think this project is a opening that door.”

Collaboration and community, is  the hope that people have for the Kress on Dexter.

“We really want the Kress to be the beginning of conversation where people can meet and create really the new businesses of the future,” says Buller.