The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-06-28
NEWS OF CENTRAL CITY
MORE BUSINESS HOUSES TO
 OPEN IN THE FALL.
Industrial and Commercial Outlook for the City Was Never Brighter. Scarcity of Stores and
 Dwelling Houses.
Advertiser Bureau,

Do you know" said prominent mer- chant to The Advertiser correspondent | this morning, that the industrial and | business outlook for Selma in the future
 was never brighter before than it is to-
 day and that it Is a fact that Selma is growing faster than the average citizen has any idea Of
 Continuing, the merchant said: Al
 present there is a great scarcity of store rooms in the city and there Is not at
 present a vacant store on Broad Street and there are only two on Water Street
 and these two have been rented for next year Neither Is there a vacant store house cn Washington Street and there IS l only one on Alabama Street, making m all total of three vacant stores in the city The prospects for a good business
 for the merchants of Selma this fall Is
 also very bright and besides l know of four new stores that will open in Selma | in the fall and make a lively bid for the public patronage. But where they will get the stores in which to open up at is
 a mystery to me unless some of the mer-
 chants who are already in business retire
 or some of the citizens of the city who
 have some idle money invest it in real
 estate and build large stores and office
 buildings to accommodate the growing
 demand for business houses in the busi-
 ness section of the city. Two of the new | houses to be open this fall here will be | run and managed by young Selmians | while the other two will be run and man aged by men from close by cities who are | coming to Selma, believing that with the city growing like It is that they will soon l command a good trade.
 Ut is now a settled fact that the busi-
 ness portion of Selma will eventually and naturally spread in the direction of the | Louisville and Nashville Union passen- ger station at the intersection of Water | and Sylvan Streets, and that within | little over a year the citizens of Selma will see many new and elegant stores erected on the lower end of Water Street where there are now only little one-story stores and small shacks that are now be- | ing used for blacksmith shops and horse | lots.
 There is also as great a scarcity in dwelling houses in the residence portion
 of the city as there is scarcity of stores | in the business section of Selma" said
 the merchant, and do not believe that | there is at present six vacant residences | in the city, and there is like scarcity of
 lots upon which to build. I do not think | that there is ten vacant lots in the resi- dence parts of Selma at present upon | which there are not houses and the lots | that are vacant are not for sale in
 number of cases and the ones that are for sale are valued at far more than the | average citizen is able to pay for them or | can afford to. There are number of nice | cottages being built on the outskirts of
 the city in every direction and when they
 have been finished they will not be vacant | long, and I believe that in a few years | you will see Selma built up with neat and | comfortable cottages from Valley Creek l on the west to Beach Creek on the East. | pan ha there | is at present both in business houses and residences, that Selma is growing rapidly. 1 Why, not more than five or six years ago | it would have been an easy matter for | either you or I to have counted at least
 a hundred vacant dwelling houses in the | city besides a great number of stores in
 the business portion. By putting these | two facts together and counting upon 1 several large and small industries that
 are promised for Selma, it Is easily dis
 cernible that Selma is growing and grow | ing fast and that in a few years. If it
 continues to grow as steadily as it has
 been doing for the past few years, that | the city will almost be double the size
 that it now is.
 Building a New Track.
 | Ever since the City Council granted the Western Railway of Alabama the
 privilege of building and operating |
 Street to the east side of Washington
 Street. the Southern Railway has been l figuring on getting an independent track | for themselves over the same distance, l although there was plank in the recent | grant that the Council gave the Western | road which was that all competing lines | operated in the city will have an equal
 right in delivering freight over this side
 track up Peacocks Alley. But since the | ha b1tfI md iY,
 tion by the Western, the Southern has
 not quite had the same advantage. The Southern has decided that 1t will build spur track parallel with that of the
 Western. only that 1t will build it on its
 own land About half a block south of the Westerns track the Southern has a
 spur track built d number of years ago
 to a building that was used by the Cud-
 ahy Company as a warehouse. and 1t is
 now the intention to complete this track to Washington Street. At the next meet ing of the City Council, 1t is very prob able that the Southern will ask that body's permission to build a viaduct over
 Frarklin Street, where 1t goes down to the wharf and get the city's permission to lay the track on the bluff beside the Westerns track behind the St James Hotel This morning work was started by the Southern of tearing down an old house on the river bluff at the foot of Franklin Street, owned by the road so as to make room for the track which the road will start to put down in a few days It is hoped by the merchants of the city tEat the Council will grant the Southern the right to build the viaduct across Franklin Street
 Baker School Nearly Completd.
 The brick work on the new Baker School building that is being built on the corner of Dallas and Washington Streets by the City School Board has nearly been completed, and within few weeks or two months, at least the build ing will be completed and be ready for use when school opens on the first of Oc- tober. All of the outside walls of the building have been completed, and as these walls were built of pressed brick. the new school will present a very hand l some appearance when it Is completed. 1 The work on the interior of the building will be started next week and will be