ATHENS, Alabama — In case you didn't know, there is now a new mural in downtown Athens. Or you may have even seen it while crossing the railroad track on West Market Street. However, this Coca-Cola mural was arranged by the Coca-Cola Company and tributes an older mural that once existed in the location.
Downtown Athens event venue owners Danny and Sandra Whitfield explained that there is actually a lot of history in downtown Athens. "The train would stop and you would get on the train and leave, and then people, as they're coming into town, all of these businesses were facing the railroad, and it's in essence what it's like going to the airport today. It was the hub of the town."
When the couple purchased this building [Market & Monroe] two years ago they were afforded the opportunity to learn even more about the historic site for themselves. "We started peeling back paint and that's when we found actual red on the wall, and so we started peeling a little more and more. We found pictures from the 1940s. That actually is an aerial photograph of this entire segment of town, and in the photograph it had the Coca-Cola mural. So that's when we knew that there was one there in the past," he said.
However, the history in this Athens community does not quite stop there. "The artist that actually come up with this rendering, which is an actual historic mural. It wasn't the one that was here, but it was a historic mural that you would see in large towns like Atlanta and in Birmingham and Nashville. So we signed off on it, Coke signed off on it. We got the city's approval, and now you've got this beautiful mural here."
Furthermore, the community's response has also been very positive. "The town is just super excited! Just from the Facebook post likes and and the comments of everyone. I've never we've got close to a thousand likes on Facebook and over 700 comments and not one negative."