November 20, 2013- Albany, GA from WALB- Crews are hard at work taking down a historic courtroom in downtown Albany. They've been working all week to take the courtroom apart. The furnishings in the old Federal Courtroom will be preserved and will help students learn about the law. Construction workers in the old Albany Federal Courthouse have been working since Monday dismantling the furniture that will be put to use at Albany Technical College.
Behind this closed door the old Albany Federal courtroom, with more than one hundred years of history, is being dismantled to make way for a new tenant.
"We're looking to do now is to open up this to come in and allow a client to come and have part of the nostalgic historic feel of this space," said Leasing Manager Frances Krack.
The courtroom was constructed in 1910 and has since been used to host small events in downtown Albany. An instructor at Albany Technical College contacted Krack wanting to use the furniture to set up a mock courtroom.
"Knowing that we like to have state of the art equipment for our students here, so that they can have hands on type of training, we decided to inquire about getting this furniture to be brought over here," said ATC Instructor Kenn Singleton.
The judge's bench, 14 jury chairs, a witness chair and their platforms will be donated to Albany Technical College to be used in this classroom.
"We want to be able to teach criminal law, criminal courts, criminal procedures, so with the set up as a court room our students get that hands on experience," said Singleton.
Thronateeska Heritage Center will be in charge of preserving the old courtroom.
"We're going to put the items on long term loan at Albany Technical College, so that they can be put up and used and on display, and we'll be preserving them through our collection and sort of monitoring that," said Executive Director Tommy Gregors.
Krack says she is excited that organizations want to help save Albany's history.
"We're really excited to be able to do this see this and see it just move on through the younger generation," said Krack.
Construction workers are almost finished with the dismantling. Krack says the furniture could be delivered to Albany Technical College as early as Monday. Albany Tech instructors plan to start using the mock courtroom in the spring semester.
See original story @ WALB