Gryphons & Hank Williams
Posted on September 28, 2010 by bob in AroundMtgy
by Jake Roberts
Gryphons populate the exterior of this building, and history walks the halls. The gryphon (or griffin), a legendary creature of exceptional power, was part lion, part eagle.
They were known in mythology for guarding treasure and valued objects. This building’s inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places certainly puts it that category.
The writer has some reservations about identifying the images gracing the exterior as gryphons, since they’re most often described with an eagle head and talons, and a lion body. This one seems a bit misaligned, appearing to possess lion claws, an eagle head and body, and wings like Pegasus. A dragon perhaps? You call it.
The National Register of Historic Places added this building to its list in 1979, a mere 52 years after if was built. Beyond its decorative elements, monumental historic events have swirled around this building, and figures of international importance passed through its doors.
Within this structure was Montgomery’s first commercial radio station, WSFA. In its studios were heard early performances by Hank Williams, a man who changed the face of country music and still influences songwriters and singers more than 50 years after his death. A Sunday morning sermon by Martin Luther King, Jr., and Ralph David Abernathy was broadcast from the radio station in this building.
Find these creatures, and the building they adorn, and send us your photograph. With you in it, of course. We’ll print it in a future issue of Prime Montgomery.
Anyone up for a gryphon hunt?
