Issue link: https://alabamapower.uberflip.com/i/1143061
25 Furniture building will become the $2 million Thomasville Public Library, which will move from near Highway 43. Two blocks away, a steady stream of locals files into the 1916 Champion House for soup and sandwiches served by Southern Grounds Coffee Shoppe owners Bailey and Enrique Aguilar. He is a former exchange student from Brazil who met his future wife when they were Thomasville High School students. Southern Grounds opened on the 43 strip six years ago but the business has grown tremendously since moving downtown. Customers enter the two-story building through arched brick doorways that lead to the Azalea Room, Magnolia Room and other named areas that are largely as they were when the Champion House became the first in town with electricity. Upstairs behind an indoor balcony are an entertainment room and two shops offering clothing, jewelry and similar items. The balcony became an indoor fixture when the back porch was enclosed to add more dining space. Thomasville is an Alabama Community of Excellence, with many of the recent improvements rooted in the development plan from 2005 that called for repairing storm drainage, burying power lines and other downtown upgrades that Day labels "a phenomenal success." Down the road, the old A.L. Martin High School is home to a museum with artifacts from students and the school that closed in the 1980s, honoring the namesake and other prominent African Americans. Three years ago, the Marketplace vendor mall, headed by 1965 graduate Charles Allen, opened inside the largest part of the former shirt factory. Five years ago, the city took over the debt of Pineview Country Club, making improvements to the course and clubhouse and opening the 9-hole layout to the public. Merida's on the Green restaurant relocated to the Thomasville Golf and Recreation Club and a new walking track and splash pad opened alongside the course. Day says a miniature golf course and pavilion will be added in the next few years. Sheila Moseley folds and sorts antique quilts in her booth at the Marketplace vendor mall. Bedsole Theater seats 500 inside the former high school.