[| BRAVO |]

I had the pleasure of visiting Gadsden and took the opportunity to snap a few pics while there. I must say I was pleasantly surprised how well it has been maintained. Enjoy!

Probably one of the best approaches I've seen...
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/Gadsden9.jpg

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http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/Gadsden14.jpg

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/Gadsden2.jpg

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/Gadsden3.jpg

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/Gadsden4.jpg

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[tredici]

I've always loved downtown Gadsden. And the city in general. My dad's side of the family is from Gadsden so I'm down there all the time. My grandmother used to always tell me how she'd have to drag my dad from store to store down Broad Street to shop for back to school clothes.

[Evan]

The city has desperately been trying to get CSX to paint that railway bridge, but it refuses. Now the city is trying to come up with the money to match a federal grant to paint the thing itself. The problem is the bridge contains lead paint, so they are going to have to encapsulate it while being sandblasted to keep the lead out of the river below. The price for this is staggering.

[Capital Heights]

I don't know Evan, the rusty bridge has a certain charm.

[| BRAVO |]

I thought the rusty bridge was beautiful. It does add a sense of charm.

[tredici]

I've always liked the bridge as it is!

[Randy Sandford]

Great tour, Tim! I like the rusty bridge too.

[Evan]

Well, it's not so much its appearance as it is the rust itself. The bridge was inspected and its still rock solid, but we all know what rust eventually does to steel. It was recommended the bridge be repainted to combat the rust, but CSX says it only has the budget for safety repairs, and the bridge is not considered by the railroad to be a safety hazard. As for the appearance, the locals seems divided. Some see it as an eye sore, and others see it as you guys do. Charming. The city itself though, firmly sees it as an eye sore.

That old bridge is real sentimental to me because I grew up on the east side of Gadsden, and we used to walk across that bridge to get downtown. We could have used the other 2 bridges much easier because of their sidewalks, but that wouldn't have been any fun. :) We used to sit on the rails and drop rocks into the boats below. :D Kids. Occasionally we would reach the end of the bridge only to have the cops come running over from city hall to yell at us. heh. Those were good times. I personally don't mind the rusty old thing. I find it charming as well. Afterall, it has looked that way almost my entire life. :)

I saw it actually swing open one time, and that was back in the 70's when engineers had to open it up for some reason. The gear house is long gone so they used a winch, but it was the first time in 40 years it had actually swung open, and hasn't been opened since.

[skyline]

I've always wondered what Gadsden looked like! Would have went last October while in Chattanooga if my wife and son wouldn't have been with me. It does look quite clean and charming.

[10101000]

So beautiful!

[Downtown Gadsden]

We are so excited that you love our hometown! We just wanted to extend an invitation to all of you to visit downtown Gadsden on the First Friday of every month. We have a huge block party (we close Broad street from 4:30pm - 9:00pm) that encompasses about 6 blocks of live music (several different types of performers) classic cars & motorcycles, activities for children, great food, store sales, pet parades, dancing in the street and much more. Thank you so much for the kind words about our city and we hope you'll visit us again and again. If you would like to be included in our email about downtown events, email me at rachel@downtowngadsden.org.

[10101000]

We are so excited that you love our hometown! We just wanted to extend an invitation to all of you to visit downtown Gadsden on the First Friday of every month. We have a huge block party (we close Broad street from 4:30pm - 9:00pm) that encompasses about 6 blocks of live music (several different types of performers) classic cars & motorcycles, activities for children, great food, store sales, pet parades, dancing in the street and much more. Thank you so much for the kind words about our city and we hope you'll visit us again and again. If you would like to be included in our email about downtown events, email me at rachel@downtowngadsden.org.

Awesome! I have family there, they will never move. Great place!!!

[| BRAVO |]

Great tour, Tim! I like the rusty bridge too.

Thanks Randy. I'm trying to take pics of the towns I'm visiting with work.

[| BRAVO |]

So beautiful!


Thanks (Tim)

[tredici]

I really need to get back up there more to visit my family. My number of visits to the Great Gadsden have vastly dropped since I started college.

[hmorgan]

Great job capturing my hometown. I've been meaning to get out and take some pictures - especially of the Falls, Alabama City, and East Gadsden and the smaller downtowns like Attalla and Altoona, one weekend when I'm home - maybe I'll get around to it on Thanksgiving, or maybe Flag Day. The way I figure, it's not going anywhere.. Literally and figuratively. Mayor Guyton hasn't done a single thing that I believe is worth merit since he's been in office.

Anyways, the city installed big lights to illuminate the Broad Street bridge (Pictures 1 and 3) from the river.. I look forward to seeing how that goes.

[skycaptain]

Terrific photos BRAVO. Any more pics of the new bait shop?

[| BRAVO |]

Thanks hmorgan. Thanks skycaptain.

Bait Shop? Is that the bridges between the bridges?

Any more pics of the new bait shop?

[Evan]

Great job capturing my hometown. I've been meaning to get out and take some pictures - especially of the Falls, Alabama City, and East Gadsden and the smaller downtowns like Attalla and Altoona, one weekend when I'm home - maybe I'll get around to it on Thanksgiving, or maybe Flag Day. The way I figure, it's not going anywhere.. Literally and figuratively. Mayor Guyton hasn't done a single thing that I believe is worth merit since he's been in office.

Anyways, the city installed big lights to illuminate the Broad Street bridge (Pictures 1 and 3) from the river.. I look forward to seeing how that goes.

Amen! And I actually had some hope early on that we would see some changes after being under the "Mean's Curse" for 2 decades. :( My only ray of hope now is that Guyton is a single term mayor and doesn't stay in office for 25 years like Stevie did. That would suck.

[Ex-Ithacan]

Nice pics. I haven't been there in years, so it's nice to get another look at the city. I drove up a few roads to try to get a shot of downtown on my last visit. I believe I went up Highland(?) to Bellview(?) and found an overlook. Yhe problem was the haze over the city kind of obscured the view. Just my luck I'm there on a hazy morning. Oh well, maybe next time. Thanks for the tour.