Albany Civic Center
indoor arena in Albany, GA
The Albany James H. Gray Sr. Civic Center (Albany Civic Center for short) is a multi-purpose arena located in downtown Albany, Georgia on the west bank of the Flint River. Opened in 1983, the arena is the only one of its kind in Southwest Georgia. Its maximum seating capacity of 10,711 is the largest of any indoor arena in the state of Georgia outside of metropolitan Atlanta and third-largest in the state behind State Farm Arena in downtown Atlanta and Gas South Arena in Gwinnett County.
History
With the opening of the Albany Mall in the northwestern part of the city in 1976, most long-established firms closed their stores in downtown Albany, and commercial growth shifted to the north near the Lee County line. Mayor James H. Gray Sr. led an effort to revitalize the downtown area, with the Albany Civic Center as its crown jewel. The arena was named in honor of Gray after his sudden death just three years after its opening in 1986.
In July 1994, the building was narrowly spared from flooding as the Flint River rose out of its banks, cresting 23 feet above flood stage. The majority of the parking around the Civic Center was submerged, and traffic was halted across not only the nearby Oglethorpe Boulevard and Broad Avenue bridges across the Flint but all four bridges across the river in Albany.
“Albany Civic Center” enters the record as indoor arena in Albany, GA. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Albany, Civic and Center can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Albany Civic Center” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Albany, Civic and Center provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q14686591. The first chronological checks are 1983, 1976, 1986 and 1994.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Albany Civic Center”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Albany Civic Center primary sources, Albany Civic Center archive and Albany research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Albany Civic Center”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Albany Civic Center” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.