GLORIOUS TUSKALOOSA  119 Memorable Colonial Town Slogan & Tagline Ideas

TUSCALOOSA A Capital That is Yet Hardly Built But Has Many Beauties- Manufacturing Center— Schools and Various State Institutions Special Correspondence of the Leader Tuscaloosa Ala March 22 — Toward the western line of Alabama and north of the center of the State on the railroad leading from New Orleans to Chattanooga and at the head of navigation on the Black Warrior River on an elevated plateau of red clay loam well mixed with sand and resting on a thick substratum of gravel lies the interesting old town of Tuscaloosa once the capital of Alabama. I hesitate to write it down as a town-for throughout the South it is always spoken of as the City of Tuscaloosa but it is a town nevertheless according to the nomenclature of Ohio having including its suburbs somewhat less than five thousand inhabitants. In some respects it recalls the language of the great prophet Nehemiah who remarked concerning a city of his day that the city was indeed great though the inhabitants were few therein and the houses were not yet builded.

 The site for this contemplated city was exceedingly well chosen and the fathers are entitled to credit perhaps I should say the father for our Uncle Samuel selected the locality and engineered the city reserving from private entry or public sale upon the usual terms a goodly tract of land which was sold off only in town lots to people who were sagacious and farseeing and desired a pleasant and salubrious locality in which to drink their mint julips and entertain their friends while their faithful retainers toiled in the cotton fields far down the fertile valley below the town. They were good people as the world went then, those planters of the olden time, albeit they differed from us of the North as to some essentials of a Christian life and they are good people today such of them as are left and very creditable representatives of the great American nation and I think they were never so bitter at heart toward their brethren of the North as were some others in less favored localities who had really less to lose by the upsetting of old usages and the liberation of the slaves.

 The town was regularly laid out by competent engineers who had an eye to the picturesque and magnificent and the streets were plotted with reference to the requirements of a to be renowned seat of government. Since land was of no great consequence in those days it was allowed that 132 feet was none too wide for the streets and now that the sidewalks are bordered with rows of mighty water oaks from two to three feet in diameter with a central row down the middle of each principal street it does not appear that the fathers of the city miscalculated matters nor were otherwise than level-headed folks. Brick buildings arc conspicuous and as the ground hereabouts can assume the out much have been of their bricks eipal street and ilceii w ells st ut rope passing over au iron wheel suspended under the apex of a sheltering roof hnd terminating at each end with a eluiu and an oaken bucket enables the freedman who still officiates in his old capacity to fill the pail which he lo'es homeward on his head or to water the thirsty ox or the travel-woiu and mud-bespattered terse A lofty mus e stand towers at the intersection of two main ihoroughfmes and near it piwses with spacious curve the one street-car track of the town which leads from the railroad depot a mile below to this point its terminus in front of the principal hotel of the place a commodious wide-balconied s rueture where com mercial travelers are nt heme 1 he streets are well graveled with while and yellow pebbles and the most frequented sidewalks ure flagged with sandstone slabs quarried tn the distant hills or with bnek over which a great many people have already walked I am sorry to say— for it doesn’t improve it briek sidewalk any to have people tramping over it all the time! When not paved at all the sidewalks here are reasonably satisfactory for within an hour a ter the heaviest shower they a are dry enough for feminine feet and au hour later they are ofteu seamed with cracks and fissures and ready to atsoib the next shower which by the way is not long delayed at this season of the year at least Last summer it is true they had a seventy days’ bake without any considerable moisture and the rain-clouds went astrav and the crops suffered but this was an anomaly Usunl'y it- rains here and all through this gulf-coast region on very slight provocation and fertile lands along water courses are subject io frequent aud disastrous overflows The Black Warrior arid kindred streams are even more uncertain thau the Ohio but as for this town it is high and dry above all overflow a hundred feet at least As the business of this ithalready appearance ot brick with-labrieatiou the builders liberal as to the size In the coaler of the pt-in-at intervals are large st oitgly curbed where a in of to ' establish-' ! ox-I ! ’ di-’ ’ ' Clevc-! ' ‘ J.

1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Cleveland
4. The Cleveland Leader
5. 1884
6. Mar
7. 27
8. Page 9
9. Article clipped from The Cleveland Leader

All then returned to their respective homes to prepare for the grand finale of this Association's visit a public reception and ball at the new and nearly completed Washington Hotel, for which long-needed want, Tuskaloosa is under lasting obligations to one of its enterprising and public-spirited bankers, Mr. Frank S.sMoody. When finished, it will be as handsome and well arranged as any hotel in Alabama. Very early on Monday evening it was brilliantly decorated from top to bottom, and its half mile of piazzas studded with flaming Chinese lanterns. Very soon fully 300 guests were gathered, containing Tuskaloosa's best people, both old and young.

The brilliant display of bcauty-40 be seen in the dancing hall could scarcely be surpassed by any town in Alabama. Even Bro. Stanley, of the Greenville Advocate, whose local patriotism was well-founded, had to admit that the girls of Tuikaloosa came up to the standard of "his town," a confession no man likes to make. The long piazzas afforded excellent op-numbers of guests who 3(3 not dance, and quantities of ice cream, strawberries, and lemonade were at the disposal of all. How could the evening be but a most enjoyable one ? Thus culminated the success of the unceasing attentions ot the very thoughtful people of Tuskaloosa, who had not spared pains nor expense to make every hour of the Press Association's visit to their beautiful and cultivated city pleasantly and profitably spent.

- Certain ly no town in Alabama has preserv ed more of the famous Southern hospitality of ante-bellum days. The place, with its numerous schools, elegant people, historic memories, and classic shades, is pre-eminently one of cultivated leisure, unmarred . by the universal modern spirit of greed, lately developing among us, for the mighty dollar. It is well that ' such places still remain in our State, where our young men and young women may have the opportunities of getting, during their education, a taste of what is best in life..

1. United States
2. Alabama
3. Six Mile
4. The Bibb Blade
5. 1880
6. May
7. 06
8. Page 1
9. Article clipped from The Bibb Blade

 To the modern | | | | | architect who endeavors to combine beauty and symmetry of form with the greatest convenience and comfort, these ante-bellum patterns of dwellings seem a perfect model of inconvenience and stupidity. But as a geveral thing these old structures are giving way to buildinge of a newer type. The large oak lawns in front are turned into public streets, and a dozen buildings occupy the large space which form-| erly gave the place such an air of ease and wealth. How the shades of the former owners would be horrified come to back and see how their old homes have been treated! One feature that gives such rural appearance to Tuskaloosa is the streets; they are of great width and the center is grown up with a single row of oak trees.

Wherever there is a street we find a row of trees. No doubt, when these were laid off | it was expected that this would be one of the greatest cities in our state; but fortune is strange in its | freaks and the people were doomed to disappointment. (As I fear will be the case some inhabitants of Manchester- -and- Wyeth City.) When the capital was removed from Tuskaloosa its place as a first town was graduully lost. To anyone who notices the remarkably small amount of business carried on in Tuskaloosa it might seem strauge that it sustains itself well as it does... "AS a partial explanation for this we fluences may of mention the the colleges sustaining, inFrom the number of these it will appear that Tuscaloosa has some claims to be called an educational center in our state.

The Female College (Methodist) is in charge of Prof. Hill, Baptist Female College is carried by Prof. Foster. Then there is on also the High School. Each of these bas long maintained more than a local reputation.

But most important of all 'is the State University. is situated one |.

1. United States
2. Alabama
3. Guntersville
4. The Guntersville Democrat
5. 1891
6. Jan
7. 29
8. Page 1
9. Article clipped from The Guntersville Democrat
10.  

    Tuskaloosa, a former State Capital of Alabama, is reached by a railroad and steam dummy line in combination with one another. One gets off at Tuskaloosa and then takes a pleasant jaunt on a noisy little car drawn by a noisy little engine and arrives eventually in the Druid City. Tuskaloosa is essentially a modern city now, but there were days when this place was so contentedly prosperous with nothing to disturb the serenity of antebellum mornings but the voices of birds in the tree tops or the horn of the overseer summoning the negroes to their work in the fields. The sober citizens of Tuskaloosa were not disturbed by the bustle and the hustle of a railroad running through the heart of the city. The people did not need a railroad much, anyhow.

    In those times planters were kings, masters of large domains and had sufficient of their own without requirement of modern inventions to help them along. The fields teemed with corn and cotton. What more was needed? Would any man today, if the railroad was not needed, desire it to pass by his window and shake his house with its heavy tread? Times change and men with them. Once no Southern town of common decency and respect for itself wanted railroads to plough through its peaceful streets and frighten children and calves. Now no town in Alabama is so small but would accept fourteen railroads and all their noise and bustle if they would only come.

    Birmingham News..

    1. United States
    2. Alabama
    3. Tuscaloosa
    4. The Tuskaloosa Gazette
    5. 1901
    6. Oct
    7. 19
    8. Page 3
    9. Article clipped from The Tuskaloosa Gazette
    10.  I was much Interested In a beautifully Illustrated article in the May Arichitectural Record, entitled The Greek Revival of the Far South as it is In Tuskaloosa, Ala. said a reader of that magazine. 'The article begins by saying that perhaps nowhere over the South can be found a town which more perfectly blends the relics of the old regime with that of the new, than we find here in the quaint old town of Tuskaloosa, with its wide streets and their rows of massive oaks, forming overhead a veritable canopy of verdant green, and lined with houses and grounds roaming about with the due Southern disregard of space. Following, a history of the town Is given, dating back to its founding in 1816. The article further says, But the point which really interests one Is the high degree of enlightenment its society attained In ante-bellum days.

        There hospitality ripened into a fine art and never flowered to a more exquisite display than In this old town. The men were honorable, chlvalric and thoroughbred. The mala thought In the article is, however, the architectural beauty of the old homes which have been preserved many of them since ante-bellum days, and which are now beautiful land marks of the Druid City. There are numerous Illustrations of Tuskaloosa homes given, bearing no name of the owner, but among others are those of the Battle house, the Snow house, the mansion of the president of the Alabama University built In 1827, the Spence home, the old state eapitol, the Foster and the Hays homes and many others. The article Is attractively written and Illustrated and forma one of the best In the magazine..

        1. United States
        2. Alabama
        3. Birmingham
        4. The Birmingham News
        5. 1905
        6. May
        7. 02
        8. Page 4
        9. Article clipped from The Birmingham News

        Out-Doar Sports. The season has now arrived when out door sports are apropos. Tbe caterpil lar has left his den, Xbe mosquito has turned over in bed and uttered a warn ing shriek, and big green worms are skylarking around on shade trees, and betting on their chances of dropping down behind a man's coat-collar. One of the leading lawn sports is called "Push and Cut." It ia played with a machine called a lawn-mower. These machines are neatly put up, beautifully painted, and will make a racket in any climate.

        The player seizes them by a neat handle and pushes toward the grass on a trot. The game is to find an old hoop-skirt, paint-keg, oyster can or catsup bottle in the grass. After two or three lessons tbe player will be amazed at his good luck in finding these things and making tally-marks. Some players take a flying leap over the machine when it striks an old beef-bone in the grass, but the rules of the game are liberal in this respect. The player can, if he prefers, rush against the handle and knock a corner off his chin or bang his chest-bone back into a corner.

        .Another interesting lawn game is played as follows : At the supper table the wife remarks : "James, I want ten dollars to fix up my summer silk. Don't go away without leaving it." James makes no reply, but manages to slip out of the.house unseen. He is stealing softly across the lawn to jump over the fence at the corner, when his wife comes rushing out and exclaims : "James! James! See here!" He begins to squint into a cherry tree and talk about moths. "You walk back here and hand over that cash or I'll send for my mother to come and stay all summer !" According to the rules of the game he turns and looks at her and mutters to himself: "That wilts me!" "The idea of your skulking off like that !' she continues, when he advances hands out the "X," and if he can con vince her that he had as soon give her $20 as $i0, he wins the game. ' Another out-door game is played be tween ten o'clock in tbe evening and midnight, in order to avoid the heat of the sun.

        It is played altogether bv married people. Nine o'clock having arrived, and the husband not having reached home, the indignant wife nails down the windows, locks all the doors, and goes to bed feeling as if she could smash her partner in a minute and a half. 'Along about eleven o'clock Charles Henry begins to play his part in the game. He is suddenly seen un der one of the kitchen windows. He endeavors to rase it.

        He tries another and another, but the sash won't lift. Then he softly tries all the doors, but they are locked. The rule of the game allow him to make some remarks at this juncture, and it generally begins to rain about this time. As he gets under the shelter of the garden rake he muses: "Nice way to treat me because I found a stranger on the walk with a broken leg and took him to the hospital." As the rain becomes harder he boldly climbs the front steps and rings the bell. After about ten minutes the door is opened, a hand reaches out and pulls him into the hall, and the game goes on : "Oh ! you vile wretch !" "Darling, whaz mazzer whaz iz it, jarling?" "Don't darling me.

        Here it is al most daylight, and I've shivered and trembled, and brought on a nervous fever which may; carry me to my grave !" - "Jarling, I found a leg on the sidewalk wiz broken man, and " This game is always w-on by the wife, Another, and the last out-door game to be described here, is called "Waiting for Her Darling." A woman waits for her husband to spade up a flower-bed The Eastern question absorbs his whole time. She goes out to wield the spade herself. " The game Is very brief. She tries to dig in the spade by pressing with both feet at once, and when she gets up and dashes into the house, she realizes that she rolled over three times and barked her nose on the iron vase, and that four carriages were right opposite the house at 'the time. She may have a speech to deliver when her husband comes to dinner, but the husband wins the game it is so in the rules.

        '- '"' v.,.

        1. United States
        2. Alabama
        3. Tuscaloosa
        4. The Tuskaloosa Gazette
        5. 1878
        6. Jul
        7. 11
        8. Page 1
        9. Article clipped from The Tuskaloosa Gazette