Saturday, April 26, 2025

YMCA     April 30, 2025



 
 
A typescript of a variation of Dr. Wyman's Hornets' Row story is contained in a group of Rare Book room documents but it does not include these lines from Dr. Wyman's anonymous July 23, 1904 letter to the editor of the TUSCALOOSA TIMES-GAZETTE. As you will see, there were Tuscaloosans 120 years ago who mourned the disappearance of Tuscaloosa's traditions and legendary buildings.
 "Why do those cliffs of shadowy tint appear
More sweet than all the landscape smiling near?
'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view,
And robes the mountain in its azure hue"
The average modern American, engrossed in all his thoughts with the spirit of commercialism, is apt to neglect, even if he does not sneer at the memories and traditions of the glorified past. The average modern American is missing in this way much of the happiness that naturally belongs to man on this side of the grave.
Of many events connected with the early history of Tuscaloosa only vague tradition remains. The twilight of uncertainly is already casting its shadow over some things that yet linger in the memory of the oldest inhabitants. Presently the night of oblivion will come down and hide what is left. Before the Hornets' Row shall be destroyed and pass into the realm of utter forgetfulness, let me set down here a few brief notes of its interesting past history.
But where is Hornets' Row in Tuscaloosa? This question will certainly be asked by many of the younger generation who know but little of the antiquities of the old town. Let me answer this question first.
On the west side of Monroe Street,- Monroe Street is called Twenty Third Avenue by the Mayor and Aldermen and the other Ave-noodles of the town; but the graybeards in despite all the present day Ave-noodles, will continue to call it Monroe Street, till they die,- On the west side of Monroe Street, as I was saying, between Broad and Cotton Street, just across the way from Rob. Rodes's coal and lumber yard, there stands a long row of one story wooden offices, whose rusty sides, sway-backed mouldering roofs, and crumbling chimneys show signs of extreme old age. This is the famous Hornet's Row. There are eight apartments in all."



In a 1936 Montgomery Advertiser article, 
Alabama Archives 
and History Director Peter Brannon wrote,
 " At Tuscaloosa,the Indian Queen Hotel, 
that celebrated political
headquarters not out-reputationed by even the
old Exchange Hotel in Montgomery as a point of 'fixing'
the governmental affairs..."

One of the most important political meetings in American History occurred in the Indian Queen Hotel in October of 1850. This was not one of the great Southern Rights barbecues organized across the state that year to create the local Southern Rights Clubs under W.L. Yancey's leadership. This was a meeting of Tuscaloosa's leading men where I believe they composed an invitation for a proposed Southern Rights barbeque to send to Alabama Senator William Rufus King who was visiting in town at the time. King received their invitation to a Southern Rights rally but declined to attend and penned an articulate letter giving his reasons for staying away from an assembly that was sure to promote secession.


 




Because of the death of President Zachary Taylor, his Vice President Millard Fillmore had taken the office of President and at the time King as President Pro tem of the Senate was next in line of succession. This letter was published in newspapers across the country because it articulated the dangers produced by such assemblies. In all of my research, I have not found that any Southern Rights barbecue or rally of any kind ever occurred in Tuscaloosa.

 

Thomas P. Clinton, Matt Clinton's father wrote about this meeting in the May 17, 1925 Tuscaloosa News article which lamented the demolition of the 97 year old hotel.

"in the year 1850, there was a notable political caucus held in the reception rooms of the venerable old building. There were at the meeting Judge Wm. R. Smith, Colonel Bob Jemison, John Gill Shorter of Barbour County who was elected Governor in 1863. Also there was in evidence that night the immortal W.L. Yancey with his Jeff Davis cut and dried States rights dogmas and a great many other political celebrities. And I am here reminded of parties who lived here contemporaneous with the times saying that Yancey was a frequent visitor to Tuscaloosa. And he made speeches in the old Court House that stood where the Alston Building now stands. This political assemblage on that notable night in 1850 was characterized by want of harmony. As I understand dissension ruled supreme. And old Tuscaloosa people who made themselves conversant with the details of the meeting claimed that the heated discussions at this meeting at the Old Indian Queen in 1850, had considerable to do with bringing on the war of secession eleven years later. We all know that Harriet Beecher Stowe's book called "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in 1853 was regarded by a large element as the main factor in bringing on the war. And another school of writers for generation past have contended that Yancey's fire eating oratory, so to speak and leadership in the South was responsible for this, the greatest calamity that befell the human race up till that period of time.


And as stated above, Yancey was in evidence that night. He was there in all his glory. So that it is just possible that the old time Tuscaloosa folks were correct in claiming that the mustard seed of secession was sown that night in the reception rooms of the old Indian Queen."









I have identified 5 demolished buildings in this image. #1 is on in the left corner, Prince House #1(University Masonic Club) located where the Shell station now stands on the Strip;

 #2 is to right of it in the middle of the next block parallel to Huntsville Road, Prince House #2 which was located on 7th Street about half-way down the block west of 15th Avenue; #3 is the large red brick structure at the top right of the image, Verner High School. It was located just east of the intersection of 16th Avenue and Bryant Drive; #4 is Alonzo Hill's Female College near the middle of the image labeled "8" and to the right of the name "East Margin". It was located near the southeast corner of the intersection of Queen City and University; #5 is the Buck House, present-day 1818 University Boulevard, on the northeast corner of Broad Street (University Boulevard) and Bear Street(19th Avenue) . A dependency for this house still stands at the intersection of 19th Avenue and University Blvd. I have also identified 14 buildings in this image that are still standing.



The 14 buildings still standing in 2019 which are pictured on this 1887 image include #1. Ormond Little House (c. 1835) 325 Queen City. It can be seen as the brick building midway along the left border of the image just to the left of the street name "East Margin". #2 University Club (c. 1834) 421 Queen City is to the right of it. #3. Jones House (c. 1833), 1804 4th Street, on this image is across East Margin from Ormand Little and it was a two-story structure in 1887. #4. Buck Carriage House (c. 1854) 1818 University Boulevard is behind the Buck House in this image that once stood on the northeast corner of "Bear St." (19th Ave.) and "Broad" (Univ. Blvd.) #5. Guild-Verner House (c. 1822) 1901 University Boulevard is the red brick building across "Bear St." from the Buck House in this image. #6. Owen-Free House (c. 1826) 1817 3rd Street is a part of a complex of buildings on the right side of the square in this image occupied by #3~Jones House. #7. Moody-Warner House (1822) 1925 8th Street is toward the upper right corner of this image one block above the title "Union Street" (7th St.). #8. Jemison-Brandon-Waugh (c. 1840) 1005 17th Ave. is in the upper right corner of this image. #9. Marmaduke Williams House (c. 1835) 907 17th Ave. is to the left of #8. #10. Foster-Murfee-Caples House (c. 1838) 815 17th Avenue is the large house with the circular drive which is to the left of #9. You can see a line of tenant houses proceeding to the left of #10. To the right of this line of what were originally slave quarters is #11. McEachin-Little House (c. 1842) 709 Queen City. 

Across the street to the left of #11 is #12. Turner-McAlpin-Fellows House (c. 1840) 621 Queen City Avenue. #13. Jemison-Wilbourne House (c. 1870) 1904 7th Street appears to be on the corner of Bear St. (19th Ave.) and Union St. (7th St.) on this map. The same thing goes with #14. Palmer-Deal House (c. 1866) 1902 8th Street has not been identified on the image but should be among the structures pictured across the street from #7.Moody-Warner House on northwest corner with Bear St. (19th Ave.).









North Side of Univ. Blvd. in 1887
2. Tuscaloosa Land & Loan Co.
3. Friedman & Loveman, Wholesale Dry Goods & Shoes
9. Miller & Peterson, Real Estate Agents
16. J.H. Fitts & Company, Bankers
17. Tuskaloosa & Castle Hill Real Estate & Manufacturing Company
5. Wilkerson and Caldwell, Real Estate & Stock Brokers
6. Maxwell Brothers, Wholesale Grocers
7. J. Snow Hardware Company, Hardware & Machinery
K. Post Office
15 (not pictured). First National Bank of Tuskaloosa







from the March 9, 1887 TUSCALOOSA WEEKLY TIMES


from the April 23, 1886 CHATTANOOGA DAILY TIMES 













"But, I tell ya what, it doesn't matter if the old map becomes an 'educational paradigm' or not, I will show you how this one hundred and thirty six year old print can influence how we fulfill what each of us perceives to be what I call our "cultural obligation." For myself, that obligation includes whatever I want it to include and even though it's only an obligation I extend to my small circle of family and friends, it is an obligation I definitely want to fulfill.

 In the course of fulfilling this important cultural obligation, it became..."








 


Maxwell Block on 1887 map Reclaim Alabama

Matt Clinton's Scrapbook & 1887 map Reclaim Alabama

1887 Panoramic Map decoded https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2019/10/this-second-image-from-1887-aerial-city.html?fbclid=IwAR3loLLWmZLZUZ7YU0hPeiYvd_DVPBPvogk3V1SCRFI0GokqJdy8xWrehdcJemison-

Jemison-Brandon-Waugh House on 1887 map https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-jemison-brandon--house-was.html?fbclid=IwAR1u6_n-28-WSFMoOUAR4c087e4m33cDXzDfqfLgoI_VeGukerVxyj2ylZo1887 

Panoramic Map decoded https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-indian-queen-hotel-1828-1925-on.html?fbclid=IwAR0h8npUTn6fhWxkSL_Ia9C-ICJmfwZS93VrD8fco7RYJePaVNy4DnFJ-tM

1887 Panoramic Map decoded https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2021/06/saw-fitts-sign-on-jemison-wilbourne.html

Sewell Leach house https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-post_19.html

Hornet Row https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-post_9.html

Buck Carriage House https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2021/11/blog-post.html

1821 Tuscaloosa City Lots Auction https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2021/10/july-1820-land-office-was-established.html

Sewell Leach  https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2021/03/sewell-leach-httpswww.html

Dearing Place  https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2021/02/to-past-horizons-foster-cummings-circa.html

27th Avenue antebellum houses https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2021/03/you-can-see-present-day-arts-n-autism.html



With the exception of two blocks, the street right-of-ways in the original Tuscaloosa are unchanged since 1821. (north boundary: the river; west boundary: Martin Luther King Boulevard to 15th Street: South Boundary: corner of 15th Street and MLK Boulevard to corner of Queen City Boulevard and 15th Street; east boundary: Queen City Boulevard from 15th Street to the river)


Here's a link to all the Library of Congress Alabama panoramic maps. 

https://www.loc.gov/collections/panoramic-maps/?fa=location:alabama


 I have a scan of the 1993 Union Furniture color version on file at Tuscablue and they can print HUGE copies at their cost. Please feel free to share any of this with those who may be interested.

 

I don't have a succinct narrative to describe HORNET ROW.

ANYWAYZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...

If ya click on this blog post and scroll ALL THE WAY DOWN to where it says "Why do yon mountains turn the musing eye", you'll see the newspaper clipping that turned me on to HORNET ROWThe store PAUSE (2306 6TH STREET) is inside the old Leland Hardware store which is on part of the subdivision of Lot 166 which was the southeast corner of the block when it was first sold in 1821. Lot 166 is the northwest corner of Monroe Street (23rd Avenue which ends at the Drish House past 15th St. and if ya walk out there in the middle of 23rd Ave. and look south, you'll see the Drish House which was originally called Monroe Place and it was all named for President Monroe who ordered Lot 166 sold in October of 1821) and Cotton Street.

Reclaim Alabama

 https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/llsl//llsl-c14/llsl-c14.pdf

with the section No. 16, further exception of such sections, not exceeding ten in number, as the sale, the President shall designate, for the purpose of laying out and establishing towns therein, be offered for sale to the highest bidder, under the direction of the register of the land office, and the receiver of public moneys, at the place where the land office is kept, and on such day, or days, as shall, by proclamation of the President of the United States, be designated for that purpose; the sales shall remain open two weeks, and no longer. The lands shall not be sold for less than two dollars an acre. 


United States Public Land Survey was established by an act of Congress in 1785 in order to dispose of lands in the Western Territory of the new nation. In Alabama, two different surveys

were used to subdivide parcels of land. In the
northern half of the state, the Huntsville survey’s origin was established by the Huntsville Meridian
and Base Line which had begun to be surveyed in 1809. In the southern half of the state, the St. Stephens survey’s origin was established by the St. Stephens Meridian and Base Line.

 The Freeman Line is not a base line, but rather where the Huntsville and St. Stephens surveys meet.

 From the origins, gridded lines were established at 6 mile intervals. The east-west lines are called townships and the north-south lines are called ranges. The intersection of the gridded lines form rectangles of 36 square miles, also called townships. Each township is subdivided into 36 sections of approximately one square mile,and may be further subdivided into halves, quarters and the like."

So for North Alabama, the survey began in 1809 at the state line with Tennessee above Huntsville.

from https://www.huntsvilleal.gov/historicmarkers/initial-survey-point/

In 1809, Major Thomas Freeman, Deputy U.S. Surveyor, established a marker here on the state line, and began surveying south toward the middle of the state. The line, known as the Huntsville Meridian, is the reference for all property surveys in North Alabama. The Initial Point, now in the middle of the highway, was reset in 1977 by the Alabama Society of Professional Land Surveyors.

 BECOMIN' PART OF THE HUMAN BLOB...uh, uh  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCg5VOaNz1s&list=RDSCg5VOaNz1s&start_radio=1&rv=SCg5VOaNz1s&t=3

 Various Wellge Maps  https://www.cartermuseum.org/artists/henry-wellge

 PROJECT BIRD'S EYE VIEW: http://goodnightraleigh.com/2011/10/introducing-project-birds-eye-view/

Wellge's 1885 Pensacola Panoramic map  https://www.pensapedia.com/wiki/Wellge_map

Koch's 1898 Pensacola Panoramic map  https://www.pensapedia.com/wiki/Koch_map

Wellge's 1885 Birmingham Panoramic Map https://www.bhamwiki.com/w/1885_Henry_Wellge_map

John LaTourrette MAP OF THE STATE OF ALABAMA & WEST FLORIDA https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/81466/la-tourrettes-map-of-the-state-of-alabama-and-west-florida-la-tourrette-cram


posted by robertoreg at 7:11 AM 

Past Horizons on the panoramic map Reclaim Alabama


I appreciate Borden's invitation for me to come speak to you today about some of the tools I use to enhance my walks around T-town.

Historic walking tours of Alabama's towns got a real boost this month of April 2025. Here in Tuscaloosa, Will Hawkins of Historic Tuscaloosa led downtown walking tours on each of this past month's four Saturday mornings.

Step into History with Tuscaloosa’s New Downtown Walking Tours This April - Visit Tuscaloosa




Tuscaloosa was not alone. Due to the effort of our State of Alabama Department of Tourism, 30 other Alabama towns put on historic walking tours of their communities every Saturday morning during this past month of April 2025. April Walking Tours

For me "old Tuscaloosa" is the 1821 subdivision of the south fraction of Section 22 from Township 23 South, Range 10 West. The boundaries for this section south of the Warrior River became the original city limits of our town.

 Our 204 year old fractional section's north to south boundaries south of the river are present-day Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard (formerly 32nd Avenue and before that West Margin Street) on the west and on the east, Queen City Avenue. The one mile long east to west south section line runs along 15th Street from MLK, Jr. to Queen City.

A section of a township's land is one square mile and contains 660 acres. The original city was only a part of single section so it is less than 660 acres and the downtown city blocks where most of the town's history has taken place cover only about 20 acres of private property.  We're talking about an intimate setting for two centuries of human activity.

Tuscaloosa's original street grid, virtually unchanged for 204 years, was carved out of a wilderness by the order of President James Monroe five years after the Indians lost their title to the property in 1816. This fractional township section had been reserved from public sale because Uncle Sam wanted it subdivided into a town which would stand on the south bank of the Black Warrior River on the spot where navigation on the river ended and a series of rapids prevented further navigation north from the Gulf.  As soon as the Indians relinquished their claims to this land at St. Stephens in 1816, the international press declared Tuscaloosa to be the gateway to a new avenue of commerce with the Caribbean via the port of Mobile as Huntsville merchants were already loading their wagons at the foot of River Hill with Cuban rum, coffee, sugar and oranges from Mobile and hauling it all to the Tennessee Valley on what would become the Huntsville Road.

Broad Street, two survey chains or 132 feet wide, was the main street in old Tuscaloosa. It is now called University Boulevard and was laid off parallel to the river from the southwest to the northeast along the crest of the hill that rises up from the river's south bank. About midway along the path of this main street and perpendicular to it was Market Street, also two survey chains or 132 feet wide and presently called Greensboro Avenue. it runs south from the river wharf at the base of the old bridge and up the river hill to the southern margin of the Old Town. All the other streets in Old Town ran parallel to either Broad or Market Streets and are a survey chain and half long or 99 feet wide. This grid of perpendicular parallel streets created a grid of about 100 almost identical two acre city blocks. With the exception of some irregular blocks at Old Town's boundaries, each block is approximately 330 feet long and 264 feet wide and contains about two acres of land. Each of these similar rectangles of real estate was originally divided into 4 identical half acre lots.

The story of each of Tuscaloosa's city blocks begins with the four numbers for each of these lots from the original 1821 survey. 

To give you an idea of how much information is available, for Lots 111, 112, 113 and 114 of Block 15, the Embassy Suites block on the northwest corner of Greensboro and University Boulevard, Dr. Robert Mellown devotes about thirty pages of the archaeological report of Block 15  to document how the original 1821 boundaries of those four lots have remained the basis for determining all our later property lines up to the present day. All of this is brought home to you every time you look up from your downtown stroll, day or night and see Embassy Suites looming in the distance.

Tuscaloosa doesn't have the same timelessness as the Grand Canyon or Zion National Park but, nevertheless, the old town of Tuscaloosa has a timelessness. Within the two centuries that this tract of land has been occupied, very little has interfered with the rights of property, the plan of the town or the rights of the inhabitants to use the public streets. If you live in the original city, your own front door is your gateway to the past. Experience the timeless treasure that is Tuscaloosa. It's not a timelessness like seeing the vast exposed rocks of some deep canyon but two hundred years of human activity along organized routes of commerce are inviting you to take everything you have learned about Druid City history and reimagine it as you walk the sacred ground of Tuscaloosa's sidewalks. Mapping this old town with your feet should find you approaching each corner, each tree, each brick wall, each flower bed, each alleyway, each hedge row, each stairway, each mailbox and asking yourself the same questions, "What's this?"

 "What happened here?" 









This piece of land covers less than the 660 acres contained in a square mile because it's only a fraction of township section.


 The northern part of the section lies north of the river with its northwest corner monumented near where the present-day Northport levee approaches the M & O trestle. 

The oldest Tuscaloosa street map I have found is on the 1835 John LaTourrette map of the State of Alabama and West Florida.






  In late 1887, the name of East Margin Street was changed to Queen City Street and the name of South Margin Street was changed to Crescent City Avenue. The city made this change to promote the recently improved railroad connection between Cincinnati and New Orleans which was called the Queen & Crescent Route.

Most of the street names on the 1887 map were changed to numbers in 1901 by order of the U.S. Post Office so the city could get free mail delivery but our numbered streets had English names from 1822 until 1901. The only major change I found during that time was that 21st Avenue was named ADAMS STREET on the 1835 LaTourrette map and it's called COLLEGE STREET on Wellge's 1887 map.

Not everyone was impressed with the numbering system. Dr. Wyman expressed his frustration "Monroe Street is called Twenty Third Avenue by the Mayor and Aldermen and the other Ave-noodles of the town: but the graybeards in despite of all the present day Ave-noodles, will continue to call it Monroe Street, till they die, -On the west side of Monroe Street, as I was saying, between Broad and Cotton Street, just across the way from Rob Rodes's coal and lumber yard, there stands a long row of one story wooden offices, whose rusty sides, sway-backed mouldering roofs, and crumbling chimneys show signs of extreme old age, This is the famous Hornets' Row. "

 1. MLK, Jr. Blvd. - WEST MARGIN STREET
2. 31st Ave.- BEAVER STREET
3. 30th Ave.- DEER STREET
4. 29th Ave.- BROWN STREET
5. 28th Ave.- JACKSON STREET
6. 27th Ave.- FRANKLIN STREET
7. Lurleen B. Wallace, S.- JEFFERSON STREET
8. Lurleen B. Wallace, N.- WASHINGTON STREET
9. Greensboro Ave.- MARKET STREET
10. 23rd Ave.- MONROE STREET
11. 22nd Ave.- MADISON STREET
12. 21st Ave.- COLLEGE STREET
13. 20th Ave.- YORK STREET
14. 19th Ave.- BEAR STREET
15. Queen City Ave.- EAST MARGIN STREET (later, QUEEN CITY STREET)
16. 3rd St.- SPRING STREET
17. 4th St.- PINE STREET
18. University Boulevard- BROAD STREET
19. 6th St.- COTTON STREET
20. 7th St.- UNION STREET
21. 8th St.- PIKE STREET
22. 9th St.- LAUDERDALE STREET
23. Bryant Dr.- LAWRENCE STREET
24. 11th St.- OAK STREET
25. 12th St.- WALNUT STREET
26. 13th St.-  LOCUST STREET
27. 14th St.- CHESTNUT STREET
28. 15th St.- SOUTH MARGIN STREET (later, CRESCENT CITY AVENUE)

 T

FROM THE 1910 SANBORN FIRE INSURANCE MAP





On December 15, 1912 an article in the TUSCALOOSA NEWS stated that

"The university of Alabama, for the first time in its history, will enter intercollegiate basketball as regularly as football and baseball are exploited by the athletes at the institution. This is the decision of Coach Graves, who was tempted to thus extend the athletic activities at the university by virtue of the goodly number of basketball players now at the college."

Thus BAMA's first intercollegiate basketball game was played inside the Tuscaloosa YMCA gymnasium on January 16, 1913.



 BIG GULLY BY Y.M.C.A. GRADUALLY FILLING IN 

As tin cans, broken bottles and trash of -all kinds, and during the past few days, dirt from the excavations for the Little building are being dumped into the big gully on Broad Street, by the Y. M.C. A., the road on the western side is constantly growing wider and the margin of the gully Is constantly getting closer to the Y. M. C. A. building.

In time, it is hoped, the gully will be completely filled in. The city has, from time to time, expended an aggregate of something like $40,000 in filling In and checking the gully, which could have been prevented at no appreciable cost with a little foresight years ago. It was pointed out today that the  first organized effort to combat the ravages of this gully, which then threatened the business section of regard in the city, was a Iittle over 25 years ago, when the citizens subscribed, something like $18,000 for the work that was placed under the direction of Col. Hardaway, who recently built the $3,000,00 lock and dam at Squaw Shoals..

posted by robertoreg at 11:31 AM

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