Built in 1908, Graymont School served as an elementary school until 1989. It was the first school to be integrated in Birmingham.Birmingham could soon turn a historic school building, the site of the city’s early battles over desegregation, into affordable housing for seniors.
“How everything looks on the outside will be preserved, but the interior will be fully gutted to accommodate the elevators that need to be replaced and the new walls,” Cory Stallworth, Birmingham’s senior deputy director of community development, told the council committee last week. The grounds were filled with law enforcement, protests against integration and civil rights. The students were escorted inside by their father and the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth.
About 50 apartments will be built inside the historic building with the other homes located in the new construction. The project will be developed by Integral Partners and Rule Enterprises, both of Atlanta. Integral also manages Park Place downtown.