Webber Building Partially Collapses in Downtown Montgomery

 Emergency responders are investigating a partial building collapse in downtown Montgomery.

City of Montgomery spokesman Griffith Waller says a partial collapse of the historic Webber Department Store building Thursday afternoon prompted street closures in the nearby area.

The building was a theater before it was repurposed into a department store. The building is being renovated into a mixed-use retail, residential and office complex.

The Webber building was constructed in 1860. It hosted performances by John Wilkes Booth – an actor who later assassinated President Abraham Lincoln – and was the scene of an early civil rights movement protest.

Montgomery Fire Department Chief Ronnie H. Bozeman Jr. tells AL.com no injuries have been reported. Bozeman is urging people to avoid the area.

 

(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)