TREATY OF ST. STEPHENS or TREATY OF THE CHOCTAW TRADING HOUSE, October 24, 1816
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Fort_St._Stephens
"They started to pour in during 1815. So great did the influx become in 1816 and 1817 that corn, much in demand from the Indians and earlier white settlers, climbed to four dollars per bushel along the main road from Huntsville to Tuscaloosa." page 3 or THE FORMATIVE PERIOD IN ALABAMA 1815-1828 by Thomas Perkins Abernethy.
from MATT CLINTON: https://www.tuscco.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/TuscaloosaEarlyDays-39.pdf
"These men--Tindall, Moody, the Meeks, and Wyman--are competent witnesses that
Thomas York was our first settler.
On old maps of the city of Tuscaloosa the avenue we now call Twentieth Avenue is
called York Street. No other street or avenue bears the name of any person who is known
to have settled in Tuscaloosa at an early date. This fact seems to be corroborative
evidence that York was our first settler."
"For the first five years of Tuscaloosa's existence all of the settlers were squatters; that is,
they had no title to the land. The town was surveyed in 1821. A letter written January 9,
1821, by Josiah Meigs, commissioner of the general land office, to General John Coffee
says, in part: "The survey of the township on which the town of Tuscaloosa is situated is
much wanted. You will please send a plat of it immediately to this office, and cause the
section or fractional section on which the said town stands to be laid off into town lots
without delay, forwarding a plat thereof to this office without delay."
The actual survey was made by Collin Finnell, grandfather of Judge Woolsey Finnell. Dr.
William Cochrane, who came to Tuscaloosa in 1817, at the age of one year, is our
authority for the method used in laying out the town. The surveyors began at the boat
landing below the Falls and followed the road up the River Hill. From this point a wide
street was laid out perpendicular to the river. This street is now called Greensboro
Avenue. Broad Street was laid out at right angles to Greensboro Avenue, and the other
streets were laid out in conformity with these two.
The sale of lots began in the fall of 1821, probably in October. Colonel John McKee was
appointed registrar of the land office in Tuscaloosa and served from March 7, 1821, to
January 13, 1824. The land sale began with the auctioning of lot number 1, which is
located in the northeast corner of section 22. Other lots were sold in numerical order.
In 1903 Colonel H. S. Halbert wrote Thomas P. Clinton from Meridian, Mississippi as
follows: "As you are engaged on a history of Tuscaloosa County, I would like to mention
a few incidents that I have frequently heard mentioned in my family history. The Rev.
Joshua Halbert who was born in S.C. in 1788, was the first man who ever drove a horse
wagon to the site of the present town of Tuscaloosa. He married Matilda Nash, and I have
always heard that Tuscaloosa was first called Matildaville in honor of her, before it
received its final name of Tuscaloosa.
Baptists were the first to organize a congregation in Tuscaloosa. On January 24, 1818,
Rev. Thomas Baines and Rev. Nathan Roberts met with the congregation in the home of
Benjamin Higginbotham. They organized a church, which they called Ebenezer. In April
Rev. Nathan Roberts was called as first pastor, and Collin Finnell was made clerk. Other
ministers who served as pastors of this church were as follows: Rev. Daniel Brown
(1821-1822), Rev. Thomas Baines (1822-1824), Rev. Hosea Holcomb (1824-1827), and
Rev. Robert Marsh (1827- 1831). On October 3, 1818, this group united with nine other
congregations to constitute the Cahaba Association. A frame building was erected near
the brow of the hill at the north end of Twenty-seventh Avenue. North of and in the rear
of the church the first dead of the town were buried. The earliest known burials in
Greenwood Cemetery were made in 1821, and it is not probable that burials were made
there before that date, as the town was not surveyed until 1821.
from an act of congress, passe March 3, 1817, the Mississippi Territory was divided, and the eastern half erected into a separate district called the Alabama Territory. By another act of congress, passed the same day, a surveyor was appointed for the lands in the northern portion of the Alabama territory, and General John Coffee was made the surveyor general of this district. By the third section of this last named act several sections of land suitable for town sites were to be reserved from entry and sale as public lands. These reserved sectlons were to be laid off into town lots, and offered for sale to the highest bidders, whenever tha President of the United States should direct. The attention of the surveyor general was at once directed to the falls of the Black Warrior as a suitable place for the establishment of one of ' these" towns.
Fractional section 22 of j township 21, range 10 west, which lies on the south side of the river at the lowest falls, was selected by the president as the ' site of a town as yet unnamed to be laid off into lots and sold. This fractional section 22 constituted the original town of Tuscaloosa as laid out by the surveyor general afterwards.
May 12, 1899 TUSCALOOSA WEEKLY TIMES (W. S. Wyman)
John M. Jenkins and Elias Jenkins, merchants. Their log store stood at or near the north-east corner of the present Broad and Market streets, where now stands the store of Friedman & Rosenau. It is proper to remind the reader that the town had not yet been laid off into streets and lots. The houses were scattered here and there, as the people had chosen to build them. Judge Smith says that this corner was about the centre of the town at that time. Benjamin and George Cox. merchants of Newton; James Hogan, merchant, father of the late Alexander Perry Hogan: Captain James H. Dearing, merchant, who removed here from Saint Stephens. He was owner and captain of the Tombigbee, the second steamboat to come from Mobile to the Falls of the Warrior. Captain Dearing's log store was on what was afterwards known as lot 165 in the official plat of the town. Here he afterwards built the two-story block which remains to this day, occupied in 1S98 by H. Gluck and others.
INCORPORATION OF TUSCALOOSA.
Towards the end of the year 1819, the town had grown large enough to feel the need of regular government. On the 13th of December the legislature passed an act to incorporate the town of Tuscaloosa, j Two facts are worth mention in this connection: First, that now for the first time was the town called Tuscaloosa; second, that when the settlement was raised to the dignity of a town, none of the inhabitants owned so much as a square foot of land within its limits. They were all "squatters." for the town site which had been ' reserved from entry and sale had not yet been laid out. On the first Tuesday of January, 1819, all while male citizens of the age of twenty-one. residing on the fraction of land known as the south fraction of' I section 22, township 21. range 10. west, were invited to assemble at the court house and choose by ballots seven householders to act I as emmissioners ef the town of "Tuscaloosa.
THE FIRST COI'RT HOUSE AND JAIL. It is manifest from the words of this act that in the month of December, 1819, there was already a court house for the county within the limits of the town.
So far as I know- there is no record or tradition which enables us lo establish the spot on which this first court house stood. I conjecture that it was a temporary structure of logs . buit on tne k), vv,ich was afterwards de- stined on the plat, of the town as "Court Square." This was the lot on the north side of Broad street, immediately opposite the present Washington hotel. Judge Smith tells us in his "Reminiscences" that the first jail "was about in the center of what Is now Market street, near Main;" that is to say, somewhere between Broad and street and the MeLester House corner. "It was built of heavy hewn logs, and one story high." The prison bounds of this first jail are thus given in one of the old court records: "Commencing at the jail, thence running in a direct line to Living's, including Living's houses; thence to J.
V. Isbell's: from thence to John Read's, including Nash's cotton gin; from Read's to Pewell's; thence to Level's tavern; thence across the lot to the jail." "It would puzzle the oldest inhabitant," says Judge Smith, "to run out these interesting linos .at this time." We can identify . now only one of these limits, namely Lovel's tavern. This was somewhere in the neighborhood of Friedman & Rosenau's corner.
from the June 2, 1909 BIRMINGHAM NEWS
The earliest settlers at the fails of the Warrior probably came from Tennessee. They were Thomas, Jonathan and Emanuel York, who came in the spring of 1816. Other settlers rapidly followed, and on December 13, 1819, the town of Tuskaloosa was Incorporated by the legislature of Alabama at its first session. At the time of this incorporation the title to the site of the town was still in the United States government; as under an act of congress passed on March 3, 1817, fractional section 22. township 21, Range 10 west, Huntsville meridian, was reserved for a town site. The survey of this section into streets and lots was not made until 1821, at which time the lots were sold by the United States government.
By act of congress passed May 26, 1824, the title to the streets and also certain lots set apart for public use and known as Court Square, the Market Square, the Jail lot, the spring, the church, the burial ground, the river margin, the pond and the common, were vested In the city of Tuskaloosa.
from the July 9, 1909 BIRMINGHAM NEWS
The attention of the surveyor general was at once directed to the falls of the Black Warrior as a suitable place for the establishment of one of these towns, Fractional section 22 of township 21, range 10 west, which lies on the south side of the Warrior River at the lowest falls, was selected by the president as the site of a town as yet unnamed to be laid off into lots and sold at auction. This fractional section 22 constituted the original town of Tuscaloosa as laid out by the surveyor general afterwards. A great part of this story is gathered from an article published in Tuscaloosa Times "Trade Edition" Friday, May 12, 1899, by Dr. William S. Wyman, under the title, "The Beginning of Tuscaloosa and Newton." It's the best kind of a story for it incorporates his own memories, those of Judge Washington Moody, A. B. McEachin, Thomas Maxwell, W. C. Richardson and Judge William R.
Smith,
from October 5, 1941 MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER: "To John Coffee as surveyor general and his corps of assistants was assigned the task of making the original surveys. His deputy surveyors - were Samuel Bigby, John S. and Jeremiah Doxey, Benjamin and Hardy Clements, Benjamin Harris and perhaps others."
from George Little's MEMOIRS (1924) "...(Hardy) Clements was a surveyor by profession. and laid off the town of Tuscaloosa; as he went over the county in his work, he was able to pick up a number of bargains in land and amassed a large fortune. He lent out his surplus money and was very conscientious about interest charges, never charging more than the legal rate."
from MATT CLINTON
“Tuscaloosa, Alabama – Its Early Days 1816-1865”:
John B. Pass and William Toxey came to Tuscaloosa in 1820. On the corner now
occupied by the First National Bank they built the first two-storied brick building. Pass
and Toxey used the lower story for their store, and the upper rooms were used as a hotel
by Billy Dunton, who called his hotel the Golden Ball. From time to time this building
was added to and became Washington Hall. It extended northward through the block.
The first to build on this corner (or near it) was Thomas Lovel, who built a two-roomed
log house. The place was known as Lovel's Tavern. A few years later the Jenkins brothers
occupied the corner. There is no record of Lovel's owning the lot. Possibly he was a
squatter, as indeed were all who settled here before the town was surveyed in 1821. At
the land sales of 1821 William Toxey bought the lot. It is probable that the brick building
was not built before 1831. Dr. John Neilson, who came to Tuscaloosa in 1831, stated that
when he came here a log house stood on the corner.
John O. Cummings, a native of Tennessee, came to Tuscaloosa in 1824. He formed a
partnership with John T. Irby and, after the closing of this firm, entered partnership with
Charles G. Picher. The Cummings and Picher business was located on the First National
Bank corner. They probably succeeded Pass and Toxey in that location. This firm met
with disaster in the panic of 1837. Both men retired to live on farms. Their friends tried
to reestablish them in the business world, and Cummings became a commission merchant
in Mobile. In 1859 he fell a victim to yellow fever. Picher had lost confidence in himself
and refused help. The man who had been a prosperous merchant, wearing linen of pearly
whiteness, boots of the nicest fit, and a hat of finest beaver, had degenerated into a listless
farmer wearing blue jeans, a home-made wool hat, and brogans.
Ed Sims and David Scott came to Tuscaloosa in 1822. They built a large brick storehouse
on the northeast corner at the intersection of Broad Street and Twenty-third Avenue.
When Tuscaloosa became the state capital, the State Bank was located on this corner. At
a later time the famous "Bee-Hive" store of Thomas Maxwell was established there. The
Belk-Hudson Company now occupies the old site
At the land sales of 1821 Sims and Scott bought many lots for speculative purposes and
profited considerably from their merchandising and real estate businesses. Sims was
particularly interested in establishing schools for girls. He presented the Methodist
Conference with a brick house to be used as a boarding school for girls. It was
established in 1828 and was known as the Sims Female Academy. It was located on the
northwest corner at the intersection of Fourth Street and Twenty-second Avenue. Dr.
Wyman says that it was probably the first boarding school for girls located in Alabama.
Later Sims cooperated with other citizens in starting the Tuscaloosa Female Academy, an
interdenominational school. Later this school came under the control of Professor and
Mrs. Samuel Stafford. Sims also aided in the establishment of the Wesleyan Female
Institute, which was located opposite the First Methodist Church on Eighth Street in the
building formerly owned and occupied by E. N. C. Snow and later used as the Doctor's
Clinic. Sims lived on the Hargrove Road in the present Mosely home. Scott withdrew
from the firm and started a cotton factory in Bibb County. Before the Civil War Scott
returned to Tuscaloosa and reestablished his business.
Since the call for the election of the first officials of the town of Tuscaloosa was issued in
December, 1819, and since the call specified that the meeting was to take place in the
court house, we know that there was a court house in Tuscaloosa as early as December,
1819. There is no existing and known record to tell us where that court house was
located. On this point Dr. Wyman says: "I conjecture that it was a temporary structure of
logs built on the lot which was afterwards designated on the plat of the town as 'Court
Square.' This was the lot on the north side of Broad Street, immediately opposite the
present Washington Hotel." In 1899, when Dr. Wyman wrote the article in which this
statement is made, the Washington Hotel was on the southwest corner at the intersection
of Broad Street and Twenty-second Avenue, that is, the present site of the post office.
(Washington Hotel was the Bell Tavern with a new name. It is not to be confused with
Washington Hall, which stood where the First National Bank is now.)
In 1821 the Masonic Hall was adopted as a temporary seat of justice. An annual rent of
$80 was paid for use of the building. In 1822, by a vote of the people of Tuscaloosa
County, the seat of justice was moved to Newtown. Newtown had been incorporated in
December, 1820, and, because Tuscaloosa had not been surveyed at that time, grew faster
than Tuscaloosa. The courthouse in Newtown was located in lots 9 and 10 of the survey
of that town, that is, west of Thirty-second Avenue between Sixth and Seventh Streets.
The Newtown Company donated the land and the building. A "handsome brick edifice"
was erected, and court was held in the building until 1826, when the courthouse was
moved back to old town. Peter Donaldson was paid $15 "for use of house in which to
hold court." Donaldson was a hotel keeper in Tuscaloosa and was probably at that time
proprietor of Washington Hall. It is possible that court was held in the large room on the
second floor of that building.
In 1830 a two storied brick court house was erected at the northwest corner at the
intersection of Market (Greensboro Avenue) and Union (Seventh) Streets. A special tax
was levied for three years for the purpose of paying for the lot. John S. Fitch was paid
$25 for drawing the plan of the building; Pleasant Wilson was paid $15 for legal services;
and a contract was made with Edwin Sharpe for the building of a court house. The
contract price was $2,478.
In 1845 the courthouse was moved to the southeast corner of Greensboro Avenue andSixth Street, the corner on which the Alston Building is located. The purchase price of
$4,000 was to be paid from a special fund derived from sales of unclaimed runaway
slaves and strays. In 1846 the town government was authorized to erect a tower at the
west end of the courthouse. On this tower there was placed a clock which remained the
property of the town.
The courthouse we now have, at the southwest corner of Greensboro Avenue and Seventh
Street, was built in 1907.
The first county jail was built by John Baker in 1818. It cost $138 plus $10 for making a
lock. Soon after the building was put up, $75 more was spent for "repairing and making
secure the door of said jail." During the first three years $240 was paid to different
persons who served as guards at one dollar per day.
The location of the first county jail is a puzzle. An early record defines the prison bounds
of the Tuscaloosa County Jail yard as follows: "Commencing at the jail, thence in a direct
line at Lewin's, including Lewin's houses; thence to J. V. Isbel's; from thence to John
Read's; including Nash's cotton gin; from Read's to Powell's; thence to Lovel's tavern;
thence across the lotto the jail." The paper is signed by Abel Pennington, probably a
deputy sheriff, and is dated June 14, 1819. Lovel's tavern was located where the First
National Bank is now, and the jail lot seems to have been located between that corner and
the McLester Hotel, that is, in the middle of what is now Greensboro Avenue. Charles
Lewin later moved to Newtown and was one of its incorporators.
When the court house was moved to Newtown, the jail was also moved. Lot number 91
was deeded to the county for the jail lot. Lot number 91 of the survey of the Lower Part
of the Town of Tuscaloosa was located on the northwest corner of Richmond and
Sandusky Streets. Today these streets are called Fifth Street and Thirty-fourth Avenue,
respectively. There is no record of the land or the building costing the county anything,
and the conclusion is that the Newtown Company paid for the jail. In 1847 a jail was built
on lot 168 of Tuscaloosa at a cost of $403.87. Lot 168 is on the southeast corner at the
intersection of Broad Street and Twenty-third Avenue and is now occupied by the Kress
store. In 1856 a jail was built on the southwest corner at Sixth Street and Twenty-eighth
Avenue, that is, across the street from and south of the old Capitol building. The building
was erected by William B. Robertson at a cost of $8,029.40. In 1890 a jail was built on
the courthouse lot (Alston Building) at a cost of $11,000.
ANCIENT HISTORY FITTS DEED 61 YEARS OLD TO METHODIST CHURCH THIS CITY On August 6th 1S34 Goodwin G Griffin his wife Milley of Marengo 1 county executed a deed tor a con-; sideration of $300 for lot no 209 containing half acre to Edward Sims, Thomas Owen, JDennis Dent j Edward F Carnege, Benjamin h Fontain John H Vincent and George Curling, trustees of the f . t T T7 1 ".I . i iuecnoQisr .episcopal vnurcn 01 j Tuskaloosa, Ala. The deed war acknowledged before Nathanie' -Norwood, Notary Public, on 25th September 1S34 and recorded ir deed book no. 1 page 243.
Very few of our citizent, excep:jevery probably Jno Glasscock knew per ' sonally said Trustees. John 1 Vincent was the father of Bishoi John H Vincent, who preachei n our Methodist Church last win ter one the ablest and most eloquer. sermons ever delivered in tha church. The Bishop was born i the dwelling in which the lamentt Dr Stillman died, and a table j his memory is placed over the do of the dwelling. JSK.
-"ligious.
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