Built by the owner of the Fitzgerald Cotton Mill, the Garbutt-Donovan Building housed various businesses over the years. Locally, it’s known as the “Five-Story Building”. When I was growing up, the upstairs windows were boarded, even when it was Friedlander’s Department Store, and its future was uncertain. Friedlander’s was its last tenant before restoration. My dear great-aunt, Gladys Brown, worked here and I always enjoyed walking up the wide staircase, or better yet, taking the elevator to see her on the second floor. When Friedlander’s closed in the 1980s, the building’s future was uncertain. Innovative use of grants and aid by the local government saved the Garbutt-Donovan Building and it’s once again a symbol of my hometown.

Fitzgerald Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places