History of the University of Alabama

The History of The University of Alabama begins with an act of United States Congress in 1818 authorizing the newly-formed Alabama Territory to set aside a township for the establishment of a "seminary of learning." Alabama was admitted to the Union on March 20, 1819 and a second township added to the land grant. The seminary was established by the General Assembly on December 18, 1820 and named The University of the State of Alabama. The legislature appointed a Board of Trustees to handle the building and opening of the campus, and its operation once complete. The Board selected Tuscaloosa, then capital of the Alabama, as the site of The University in 1827, and opened its doors to students on April 18, 1831.

The school in writing: 1820–1831

The original land grant included the entire area within the Tuscaloosa city limits stretching south of what is now University Boulevard to the AGS Railroad and west to Queen City Avenue. The land had been owned by William Marr, whose name is commemorated today in Marrs Spring and the literary Marrs Field Journal. A prominent architect, Captain William Nichols, was commissioned to design the campus.

Most of the material for the early buildings came from university land. Slaves quarried sandstone near the Black Warrior River, burned and made bricks on the spot, and cut lumber from The University's own timber tract. An extensive vineyard was situated in the area of Denny Field and Barnwell Hall.

The frontier school:......

Read More