By Erica Thomas, managing editor
BIRMINGHAM — It was the year of two solar eclipses, the end of the Roaring 20s and the beginning of the Great Depression, after the Wall Street Crash. 1929 came with many challenges for Americans, but in Alabama, doors were opening on the corner of Avenue E and 19th Street Ensley, in downtown Ensley.
The Ramsay-McCormack building was completed in this year. A beacon of opportunity and hope towered 144 feet over the hustle and bustle of uncertain times.
One of the first businesses to set up shop in the Ramsay-McCormack building was a dental office. Dr. Alto B. Townsend’s office was on the sixth floor. His son, Dr. Armon L. Townsend eventually joined his father in the office.
The Trussville Tribune’s publisher Scott Buttram remembers spending time in the office as a child. His great-grandfather, who he called “Big Daddy” was Dr. Alto B. Townsend and his grandfather was Dr. Armon L. Townsend.
The Ramsay-McCormack building towers over the corner of Avenue E and 19th Street Ensley, in downtown Ensley in late 2020. Photo: Scott Buttram.
“It was a beautiful building with terrazzo floors and marble walls,” Buttram remembered. “I have such great memories of going to work with Grandaddy and wandering around that building and the streets of Ensley. Every minute I got to spend with him is a treasured memory.”
Fast-forward to 2020, Buttram learned that the demolition of the building was set to take place in October. In its place, a similar building would be built, after years of deterioration offered no chance of a renovation. Some of the original architectural items from the 10-story building would be saved and used in the new 5-story building.
Buttram wondered if any of those items from his great-grandfather’s and grandfather’s dental office could be salvaged. Furthermore, he wondered if the doors to the office were still there.
During his research of the building, Buttram found documents filed with the National Register of Historic Places. In those files, was a program for the ribbon-cutting of the Ramsay-McCormack building. Low and behold, his great-grandfather was listed as an original tenant of the building.
“I knew he started the dental practice there, but I had no idea that he’d been there on day one,” Buttram said. “I guess it just never came up in conversation.”
In fact, it appears the Townsends were the only continuous occupants of the building from the time it opened until it closed in 1979.
The city of Birmingham acquired the building for $1 in 1983 and proposals for renovations and studies on demolition have been ongoing since.
Buttram wanted to have a piece of his family history before it was destroyed. He jumped into action contacting anyone he could think of that might be able to help.
Mark Kelly, a longtime friend of Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin was one of the first people Buttram thought of. Kelly said he never questioned doing anything he could to help Buttram. He compared the doors to relics of his own relatives. For instance, an old hammer his grandfather owned as a carpenter. Kelly has it now and simply picking it up brings about an emotional response.
“Being able to pick things up and holding them in your hand or being able to hold these doors,” Kelly said. “Just to know that your relatives, your family touched those things means something.”
Together, Kelly and Rick Journey, Director of Communications for Mayor Woodfin, worked to find out if the doors were still in the building.
“I can tell you from working in city government, you’re dealing with problems,” Kelly said. “Large problems, small problems, you’re trying to deal with that kind of thing every day and so when you get an opportunity to spend a little time and get involved with something like this, it really does kind of make your day.”
The mayor’s Executive Administrator Sylvia Bowen contacted Buttram and explained to him that the mayor’s office was determined to try and find the doors to his family’s office. For Woodfin, the task was of high importance.
“I apologized for adding to her [Bowen’s] workload with my request,” Buttram said. “She said, ‘Don’t you dare apologize. This is the best call I’ve had all day. This is a great story and, Mr. Buttram, we are into this!’ Sylvia really made me feel great.”
Kelly said the ties to family and city history struck a chord with the Birmingham mayor.
“Randall Woodfin has a great interest in history, in general,” said Kelly. “You know, there’s not a vote in this for him but this was an opportunity for him to help strengthen someone else’s connection to the city.”
It’s that sort of appreciation for the city’s history that Buttram admired.
“It was just little old me asking for some doors,” Buttram remembered. “And he [Woodfin] took it and ran with it and did everything he possibly could do to find out if those doors were still there and that’s what I want people to know. Other than Mark and Rick, none of these people knew me. They were doing all this for a total stranger.”
It wasn’t long before Buttram was emailing back and forth with the developers working on the demolition of the Ramsay-McCormack building. Malcolm Shepherd, with Ensley District Developers, LLC, wasn’t so sure those doors would still be in the building. However, finding out quickly rose to the top of his priority list.
“When he was a little kid he would go to that office and he remembered being there,” Shepherd said. “That passion is what got to me and I was determined to get those doors for him.”
Over the years, large items had been removed for doomed renovations and with every passing day, he knew the chances of them being recovered were lessening.
“It was his passion,” Shepherd continued. “With somebody like that who has a history in Ensley and history in this building, there was no doubt that I was going to help in any way that I could.”
Shepherd contacted workers in the building and asked them to check for the doors on the sixth floor. He was told the doors were gone but insisted on checking himself.
The doors from the office of Dr. Alto B. Townsend and Dr. Armon L. Townsend preserved from the 6th floor of the Ramsay-McCormack building in Ensley. Photo: Scott Buttram.
A few days later, on Buttram’s 60th birthday and his wedding anniversary, he received a priceless gift.
“Malcolm wouldn’t accept that they weren’t there,” Buttram said. “He told me he pulled up my email and read my description, checked the sixth floor and there they were. He said, ‘The office number is still on the transom! It took me a minute for it to register that holy cow, the very doors we want are still here!’”
The emotions poured out of Buttram as he learned the doors would soon be his. The same doors previous generations walked through before and after a hard day’s work. The same doors his great-grandfather and grandfather opened each day in order to provide for their families.
And the price?
Buttram offered to pay whatever price it took to get the doors. But Ensley District Developers didn’t want money.
“They told me this was a gift to me,” Buttram said.
“He said, ‘How much are you going to charge me?” Shepard remembered. “And I said, ‘Are you kidding me? You can have those doors!”
“Malcolm and Irvin Henderson, the managing partner of the company, would not let me purchase them,” Buttram added. “They were gifting them to me. Irvin also told me that he wanted me there when they open the new building. I can’t think of anywhere that I’d rather be when the day comes.”
While Buttram cannot fathom why so many strangers would go above and beyond to help him find two doors, he is thankful they did.
“Because of their effort, I now have the doors that my Big Daddy and Grandaddy walked through five days a week for a combined 45+ years that connects 90 years of family history,” said Buttram. “One door went to their waiting room and the other door was their private entrance.”
As for what Buttram plans to do with the doors, he has an idea of what will become of them but for now…
“I just spend time in the garage staring at them and thinking about two very important people in my life that I loved dearly and miss an awful lot,” said Buttram.
