By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – The more than 140-year-old Montgomery Theatre building is up for sale. The owner says the three-story, brick building needs restoring. The building in Montgomery's downtown most recently housed Webber's Department Store, but it is now vacant. The private, nonprofit Riverfront Development Foundation bought it in 2001 with the goal of saving and reselling it. The foundation has invested about one-point-three million dollars in the building, including the installation of steel bracing beams and a new roof. But foundation chairman Gordon Martin says the inside is still pretty nasty. The building opened in 1860...and it has a rich history. John Wilkes Booth performed there, and it was where Bryant's Minstrels introduced the song "Dixie."