2010 City of Albany, "Albany Area Chamber of Commerce"

Albany Area Chamber of Commerce

By 1909 Albany had clearly been established as the retail, finance and business center of Southwest Georgia, and local merchants had begun pooling their advertising money into joint promotions featuring ads with a mysterious woman known as 'the Lady in White'. This joint advertising campaign, coupled with investments in the praising pamphlets of the day, clearly indicated Albany's merchants were finding profit in mutual ventures, an attitude that contributed to the creation of the 1909 Charter for the formation of the Albany Chamber of Commerce.

The 1910 formal opening of the Albany Chamber of Commerce seemed a perfectly normal part of the city's evolution from a backwoods trading post to a modern municipality. 1910 saw the Chamber elect its first president, the publisher of the local newspaper, H.T. McIntosh, an amateur archeologist who would serve the Chamber until 1912.

Throughout the years the Chamber had several name changes and many homes. In the early 1990s, the 'Albany-Dougherty' Chamber of Commerce moved into their current location. The building was originally the City National Bank, opened in the mid-1920s by the Haley family. On opening day, 'customers streamed in to offer best wishes. The interior of the bank was abuzz with activity. All the officers are experienced banking men,' said the news story.

The year 2000 opened with the official name for the Chamber changing to the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce. Rounding out the first decade of the 21st century, and as it approached its 100th anniversary, the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce welcomed its first female President, Catherine Glover, changed their tagline to Proactive, Progress, Probusiness; and reestablished the Albany Area Chamber Foundation.