Scanned from "Historic Tuscaloosa” by Matt Clinton w/o permission with a love of history and a fear of losing it. Doster McMullen

PART ONE OF TWO ( a treasure of information save it!)

1. Stafford Hotel (9th St. 22nd Ave., S.W.)

Site of a girls' school built in 1830. First named Tuscaloosa Female Academy and later the Alabama Female Institute. First principal Rev. W. H. Williams, a Presbyterian minister. Succeeded by Miss Maria B. Brooks who had come from New England to teach in the school. She married Samuel Stafford, professor of anient languages and literature at the University of Alabama. Together they operated the school until 1871. One of Tuscaloosa's noted teachers, William H. Verner, and his family lived there, but he did not conduct his school in the building. In 1885 the town of Tuscaloosa established a public school system and purchased the property. The Stafford name was given the school. The building was torn down in 1954 and the hotel erected. By popular demand the Stafford name was continued.

Prof. and Mrs. Stafford are buried in Greenwood cemetery. Their graves are in the northeast corner of the cemetery near the Ninth Street side.

(Before the school was built, the lot was the scene of a bear-dog fight. Elisha Colver's bear had become big and vicious and he determined to kill the beast. Men and boys were invited to bring their dogs. The plan was to turn the bear loose and sick the dogs on the bear. After the bear was slain he would be barbecued. But the bear beat the dogs and the crowd scattered. The bear went to the woods and "lived happily ever after.")

(Mrs. Abbie Snow wrote a good history of the Staf-ford School.)

2. Martin-Randolph-Marlowe. (9th St. 22nd Ave." N.W.)

Joshua Lanier Martin (1799-1856), governor of Alabama (1845-1847) lived in the house that was, until recently, on the site. In the gubernatorial campaign the state bank was the chief issue. Martin waged what has been termed "one of the most brilliant campaigns in the politi.cal history of the state." During Governor Martin's administration the legislature provided for a commission to wind up the affairs of the state bank. It was the misfortune of this Tuscaloosa man to be in the governor's office when the state capital was moved to Montgomery.

Ryland Randolph, head of the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction times and editor of the Independent Monitor, lived there. It was to this home that Randolph was taken after he was wounded as a result of a duel with a University student named Smith. (See No. 47).

Later the Marlowe family lived there. Then the house became the headquarters of the Elks Club. Now, after a brief use of the lot by a supermarket, the new home of the City National Bank is being built on it.

3. Home of Henry W. Collier (9th St. 21st Ave., S.E.),

Governor of Alabama (1849-1853). Born in Virginia, he came to Tuscaloosa from South Carolina in 1823. For 12 years he served as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. In 1846 Miss Dorothea Dix visited in the home of Judge Collier. Her interest was the establishment of a hospital for the mentally ill. After another visit (in Montgomery) in 1849 and during Collier's term as governor, the bill establishing the hospital was passed (1852) and signed by the governor. Through the influence of Senator Robert Jemison the hospital was located near Tuscaloosa.

In this house Miss Virginia Tunstall, in 1843, was married to Clement Claiborne Clay, who later became a U. S. Senator She afterwards wrote A Belle of the Fifties.

After the Civil War, General Phillip Dale Roddey lived in the house. Because of his valiant opposition to the Federal forces in the Tennessee Valley during the Civil War, he was called the "Defender of the North." Gen. Roddey died in 1897 in London, England. He was buried in Greenwood Cemetery.

Mrs. Poca Whitt, remembered for her charitable and civic activities, acquired the property and lived in the house for many years. In recent years the house has been owned by Virginius Overby. Since his death his wife has maintained the proparty in a manner befitting this historic old mansion.

4. Episcopal Rectory. (1600 Dearing Drive).

Built by Charles M. Foster about 1827. Foster came to Tus- caloosa from Moorestown, New Jersey, in 1824. He was a shoemaker by trade. From a modest beginning he built a large and flourishing business. His tannery was located on the bank of the Warrior River and his store on the southwest corner at the intersection of Broad Street and Twenty-third Avenue. He employed crippled slaves who were unfit for farming but who could be trained in the art of making shoes. He was born of Quaker parents, but for the greater part of his life, he was a member of Christ Episcopal Church. In his old age Foster became a Catholic. His body lies in an un- marked grave in Greenwood Cemetery.

Foster's house was built about a block east of Queen City Avenue and faced the avenue. On each side of the driveway leading to the house was a row of trees. A glass conservatory ran the full length of the house on the southern side and there Mrs. Foster grew the first camellias grown in Tuscaloosa. A friend wrote of her, "Mrs. Foster was the first woman I ever knew who wore short hair." In her old age she stomped about with the aid of a walking cane and would stand for no foolishness from the younger generation.

Mr. Zimri Shirley became the owner of the house in 1890. He was a druggist and worked in partnership with Dr. J. L. Williamson, a noted physician a generation ago. Dr. Judson Dowling and his family lived in this house until it became the property of Christ Epis- copal Church. Mrs. Dowling was a descendent of Zimri Shirley.

When Dearing Place was developed by W. S. ("Buss") Wyman, Jr., the building, which originally had three stories, was remodeled and moved to its present location. Rev. Robert R. Cook and Mrs. Cook have furnished the house with many interesting and authentic antiques.

5. The Swaim Home (14th St. 21st Ave., S.W.)

Built by Alexander B. Dearing about 1835. Dearing was one of three brothers who came to Tuscaloosa in the earliest days of the town. One of Dearing's daughters, Melissa, married Dr. W. S. Wyman.

Dr. and Mrs. Wyman lived in the house for some years before and after the Civil War. Dr. Wyman became a member of the faculty of the University of Alabama in 1852 and served his alma mater for a period of 50 years. He was offered the presidency of the University several times but he preferred teaching to administration. He served as acting president three times, and as president 1901-1902. He wrote many articles on the early history of Tuscaloosa and of the state. Of special value are his articles entitled "Ancient Indian Town of Tuscaloosa and How It Came to Be Destroyed by the Whites" and "The Beginning of Tuscaloosa and Newtown."

In 1888 the home was bought by Major James Spence. Mrs. Spence is remembered for her substantial donation to the building fund of the First Presbyterian Church.

In 1918 the property was sold to S. G. Swaim and the family moved into the home in January, 1919. Mr. Swaim has for many years been identified with the commercial and industrial life of the Tuscaloosa area.

6. The Drish House (23rd Ave. 17th St. in the Circle).

Built by Dr. John R. Drish about 1836. Drish came to Tuscaloosa in 1822. He married a Mrs. McKinney. His first house in Tuscaloosa was located on Queen City Avenue where Druid Courts are now. After Drish moved to this house, his former residence was remodeled and added to and became, finally, the Tuscaloosa Female College. Despite his repute as a physician Drish eventually withdrew from the practice of medicine "voluntarily and almost forcibly, to the great regret of his friends."

At the corporation line (Fifteenth Street) was the entrance gate to the estate. A double row of elms bordered the driveway to the house. On the west side near Fifteenth Street was a lodge house in which lived a slave family, one of whom was expected to be present to open or close the gate when needed. On the east and west sides of the house were flower gardens. In the rear were the slave houses which were built of brick. Further to the rear and extending on both sides of Greensboro Avenue as far as the Southern Railroad was his farm. On the west side of Greensboro Road (Ave- nue) was his cotton gin and a long-anned wooden screw press. We are also told that "many of his slaves were first-rate mechanics-masons, carpenters, plasterers, and blacksmiths."

Wm. R. Smith says that Dr. Drish had many friends and many enemies, and that "his popularity decayed in proportion as he grew rich." He is also described as a man of sorrows.

Dr. Drish's daughter Catherine became mentally ill and was usually confined to one of the upper rooms of the house, there being in the state no hospital for the mentally ill at that time. The story is told that Catherine was in love with a young man who lived in Tuscaloosa and that Dr. Drish did not approve of her suitor. By some means, Dr. Drish forced the young man to leave town. Catherine, from the portico on the west side of the house, waved and bade him a tearful farewell as he traveled away from town down the Greensboro Road. Then Dr. Drish forced her into a marriage with a man she did not love, a Mr. King. When she and King were on their honeymoon in New Orleans they stayed in one of the old French hotels. One day, stand- ing on the balcony watching the people go by, whom did she see but her former lover. In true Southern belle style she fainted. From that time her mental health became worse and worse until she became completely deranged. The King's had two sons, one of whom served in Lumsden's Battery.

Dr. Drish's niece, Helen Whiting, married a man named Fitch. The couple lived in Newtown. The husband was a very jealous man and was also a drunkard. One morning, after he had been on a spree and after the husband and wife had had a violent quarrel, Mrs. Fitch approached her husband who was shaving, and wishing to make up, said, "Now you wouldn't harm a hair on my head, would you?" Fitch replied "No, my dear," and seizing her hair, he bent her head back and drew his razor across her throat, killing her instantly. It was near the front door of the house that Dr. Drish's encounter with Mrs. Meriwether occurred.

Mrs. Elizabeth Avery Meriwether was driven from her home near Memphis, Tennessee, by order of General Sherman in December, 1862. In a carriage driven by Henry, a man-servant, she and her two little boys, Rivers and Avery, made their way across Mississippi to Columbus. There, on Christmas night, 1862, was born a baby boy, who was named Lee after General Lee.

In May of 1863 Mrs. Meriwether and her three boys arrived in Tuscaloosa. The only house they could get was a shack in the southern part of the town. Food became scarce and Mrs. Meriwether decided to ask Dr. Drish to sell her some corn which was growing near the avenue extending in front of the house. She and her nephew, Sidney Lamb, drove up to the front door where Dr. Drish was standing. Mrs. Meriwether asked Dr. Drish to sell her some roasting ears and explained that she and her three children had nothing to eat except corn bread and peas. Dr. Drish said that, if he started pulling corn from the field, it would not be a week before the entire crop would be stolen. Mrs. Meriwether explained that her husband was in the Confederate Army (a colonel in the engineer corps) and that it was impossible for him to provide for his family. Dr. Drish coldly replied, "Madam, I have given you my answer," and turned toward the house.

Mrs. Meriwether warned Dr. Drish that she intended getting some of the corn with or without his consent, and drove back down the driveway. Some distance from the house Mrs. Meriwether stopped her mule (named Adrian) and asked her nephew to climb across the fence and get the corn. Sidney Lamb was afraid to do so, and Mrs. Meriwether went into the field and got several dozen ears, which she put into the rockaway (carriage). As she was ready to drive away a Negro man came running down the driveway and said that "Marse Drish said don't take his corn." Mrs. Meriwether handed the servant two dollars in Confederate money and told the man to give it to his master.

Mrs. Meriwether divided the corn with her sister who lived nearby, and for several days the Meriwethers and the Lambs enjoyed good eating.

When all the corn was eaten Mrs. Meriwether determined to make another raid on Dr. Drish's corn patch. Just as she was ready to get into her carriage an old gentleman by the name of Whitfield drove up with a basketful of vegetables. He told Mrs. Meriwether that his son was in the service and that he felt an obligation to help the wife of a Confederate soldier. He ended by saying, "Drish is a contemptible fool, and I hope that when the Yankees come, they will take everything he has."

Whitfield's words proved prophetic; Dr. Drish died a poor man. He also died a drunkard. The story is told that the doctor drank so much that he had delirium tremens and that, at times it was necessary for a servant to hold him in his bed. One day, in 1867, Dr. Drish, broke away from his servant, ran for the stairs, plunged down the steps, and with a cry of despair, fell dead midway of the hall.

There are ghost stories connected with this house. One tells how the ghost of Mrs. Drish tucked the covers of the bed of two little girls, and another tells of a mysterious ball of fire in the tower which was not there when one went up to investigate.

The Drish House later served as the Jemison School and is now part of the Southside Baptist Church.

(If you want to know more about the Drish home read Dr. Irving Little's "Facts and Legends about the Drish Home:')

7. Strickland House (Greensboro Ave., 15th St., N.E.) Said by some, to Thomas P. Clinton, to be the oldest house still standing in Tuscaloosa.

At a public land sale, Lot 509, on Nov. 20, 1821, was sold by the U. S. government to Christopher Vanner and E. P. Bacon for $1,100. On March 3, 1826, Bacon sold his half interest to Vanner for $1,100. Therefore it appears that Vanner and Bacon valued the entire lot at $2,200, which indicates that a house could have been built on the lot at some time between 1821 and 1826. However, in 1835 James Jennings, in two separate transactions, purchased the entire lot for a total of $345. This price indicated doubt that there was a house on the lot.

The first definite mention in deed records of a house on Lot 509 is found in a conveyance of the lot by Moses McGuire to Jas. B. Wallace. In the description of the lot, dated April 27, 1848, is the phrase "said lot being the present residence of said McGuire."

In 1849 McGuire sold the property to Dr. Reuben Searcy for $800 and, in 1851, Dr. Searcy sold it to the trustees of the Presbyterian Church for $900. It then became the manse, or home of the minister of the church. Rev. Robert B. White occupied the house before, during, and after the Civil War.

In 1868 the property was sold to Milton A. Strickland for $1,000 and has been in the possession of the Strickland family since that date. Strickland was the father of a large family-three sons and six daughters. One of the daughters, Belle, became a famous teacher in the Tuscaloosa schools. Dr. Irving Little wrote that "She brought love of beauty, of art, of architecture, of music into the lives that had never before known such interests." A frequent visitor in the Strickland home was Frances Nimmo Greene, a native Tuscaloosan who was a famous teacher and author. Miss Greene was at that time living in the Drish house with her family.

The house is now vacant and will probably be sold.

8. The Jemison -Vandegraaff -Burchfield Home. (13th St., Greensboro Ave., S.E.).

Built by Robert Jemison, Jr., in 1862.

Robert Jemison was born in 1802 in Georgia. His parents were William and Sara Mims Jemison. Mrs. Jemison was a member of the family that game Ft. Mims its name. (Ft. Mims Massacre, Aug. 30, 1813). The family moved to Tuscaloosa in 1822. Robert lived on the plantation, called "The Garden," in Pickens County between 1826 and 1836.

Jemison owned six plantations totaling more than 10,000 acres. He had slaves on all of them and houses on several. He owned grist mills, saw mills, a stage line, a livery stable, coal mines, and iron mines.

He served in the state House of Representatives from 1840 to 1850 and in the state Senate from 1851 to 1863. He was a member of the Secession Convention of 1861, where he led the opposition to secession. In 1863 he was elected to the Confederate States Senate to succeed Wm. L. Yancey. He died in Tuscaloosa in 1871.

He assisted in promoting the Selma, Rome and Dalton Railroad and the Northeast and Southwest Railroad (now part of the Southern system). After the failure of the State Bank, beginning in 1837, the condition of the state's finances was chaotic. Jemison, as chairman of the House of Representatives committee on finances, proposed a plan that put the state's finances in order. He was a strong advocate of the establishment of a mental hospital and, after its establishment in 1852, was very influential in locating the Alabama Insane Hospital near Tuscaloosa. Garrett says of him, "At no period in the legislative history of Alabama has any man been more intimately connected with the important interests of the State than Mr. Jemison."

The first architect employed in building the house was William Robertson, who had built the west wing of the Alabama Central Female College, the jail south of the college, the Alabama Insane Hospital, and the building occupied by Prof. Wm. H. Verner. Jemison was dissatisfied with Robertson's work and dismissed him. A Philadelphia architect by the name of Lewis was then employed. Most of the material used in the construction of the house came from Jemison's saw- mills and much of the work was done by skilled Negro slaves. The house contains 26 rooms and two con- servatories. It was lighted with gas, and in the basement a room was equipped with machinery for the manufacture of the gas from coal.

Robert and Priscilla Jemison were the parents of one child, Cherokee Mims. She was married to Andrew Coleman Hargrove, a man who achieved a distinguished record as a soldier, public servant, and professional man. He was a lieutenant in Lumsden's Battery, lawyer, member of the Alabama Senate, Alabama House of Representatives, member of the Constitutional Convention of 1875, land commissioner for the University of Alabama, trustee of the Alabama Insane Hospital, a steward in the Presbyterian Church, and professor of law at the University of Alabama. After Jemison's death the Har- grove family lived in the house. Col. Hargrove died in 1895. The Hargroves were the parents of one daughter, Minnie Cherokee, who was married to A. S. Vandegraaff in 1890.

Judge Vandegraaff practiced law in Tuscaloosa for a period of 33 years, served as circuit judge, was a member of the State House of Representatives, and a professor of law at the University of Alabama.

To the Vandegraaffs were born five children. Adrian, Hargrove, and Wm. T. ("Bully") all played on the Alabama football team at the same time. "Bully" was the first All-American selection from the University of Alabama.

Cherokee married Asa Roundtree, head of the civil aviation agency of the State of Alabama. Robert Jemison ("Tee") Vandegraaff, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, invented a generator which was used in splitting the atom.

In 1945 J. P. Burchfield bought the Vandegraaff house. After the Vandegraaff's had left the place the property had been rented, and like many rented places, had deteriorated until it was in need of a complete renovation. The Burchfield's restored the place and furnished it handsomely.

In 1955, Hugo Friedman, one of Tuscaloosa's most generous and unselfish citizens, bought the house and presented it to Tuscaloosa County as a library building with the provision that the library be named the Friedman Memorial Library.

It will be noticed that, in each generation of the family, there was a daughter named Cherokee. Robert Jemison's wife, Priscilla, was a daughter of Greenberry and Elizabeth Taylor of Mobile.

When the Taylor family lived in north Alabama it is said that a Cherokee chief befriended the Taylor family and requested that they name their child after the Cherokee nation. One version of the story is that Mrs. Taylor nursed the chiefs stricken son back to good health and that, later, the chief warned the Taylors of an impending massacre and took them to a safe place. When the chief made his request, Mrs. Taylor said that her daughter had been named Priscilla and that the name could not be changed. She promised, however, that should another daughter be born to her it would be named Cherokee. The promise was kept and the name Cherokee has been passed down to succeeding generations.

Two mistaken beliefs regarding the Jemison house should be corrected. This was not the Cherokee house; the Cherokee house was on Jemison's plantation located west of Northport. Nor has the existence of a tunnel from the house to the river been substantiated. Members of the Vandegraaff family have stated that they had no knowledge of a tunnel. The idea that such a tunnel existed possibly grew out of the fact that there is a deep well underneath the house. This was used to keep perishable foods cool. Also there are natural caves and mine shafts near the river. It appears that these facts and someone's imagination are the bases of the tunnel story.

9. Site of the home of William Battle (13th St., 24th Ave., N.E.),

Son of Alfred Battle. He was a planter before the Civil War and a commission merchant in Mobile after the war. It was in this house that Ryland Randolph (See 2 and 47) married Miss Katie Withers who was a sister to Mrs. Battle.

Other prominent families who have lived in the house were those of Dr. William Hester, Judge Henry Bacon Foster, the deGraffenrieds, and the Whighams.

The house was noted for its iron lace work, suggesting a Spanish influence.

10. Battle. Friedman home (24th Ave., 10th -11th Sts., W.)

Built in 1835 by Alfred Battle. Battle was a merchant and a planter. His business partner was B. B. Fontaine, who came to Tuscaloosa in 1821. Fontaine's wife was Battle's sister. The Fontaine and Battle store was located on the south side of Broad Street between Twenty-third and Greensboro Avenues. (Afterward the R. & J. McLester firm occupied the same stand.) In 1871 Battle sold his mercantile business and moved to his plantation in Hale County.

In 1875 Bernard Friedman bought the Battle house.

Bernard Friedman was born in Hungary in 1830. Due to political unrest and economic conditions he emigrated to America, arriving in this country in 1856. His first occupation was that of a peddler. He established a mercantile business in Georgia and moved to Tuscaloosa in 1866.

On the corner formerly occupied by Washington Hall (5th St., 24th Ave., N.E.) was built the store of Friedman and Loveman, usually referred to as the Atlanta Store. (Washington Hall burned in the fall of 1865. It was being occupied by Federal troops at that time. See 42). The store prospered and Friedman used some of his profits to buy land.

In the 1870's the Baugh, Kennedy and Company cotton mill was bought by a corporation of which Friedman was a member. He was made general manager of the mill and operated it until the time of his death in 1896. (Then the mill was bought by David Rosenau who operated it success- fully until it was struck by lightning and burned.)

Bernard Friedman was made vice president of the Tuscaloosa Coal, Iron and Land Company in 1887, which was a boom year for Tuscaloosa. Although the boom collapsed within a year, Tuscaloosa derived much benefit from it. A waterworks system, electric lights, an ice factory, the dummy as a means of transportation came a few years after the boom. A new bank (Mer- chants National) and a new hotel (McLester) were established. And not many years later (1896) came the first locks on the Warrior River. Modern Tuscaloosa was begun largely as a result of the boom.

Friedman helped to organize two Tuscaloosa banks, the First National (187l) and the Merchants National (1887). He was, for several years, an alderman in the Tuscaloosa city government. As an alderman Friedman's good, solid judgment gave strong support to Mayor W. C. Jemison, who has been called the beginner of modern Tuscaloosa. (Jemison was president of the Tuscaloosa Coal, Iron and Land Company.)

Bernard Friedman never lost his foreign accent. This fact, together with his sense of humor, accounts for an amusing annecdote told on him. He was on a com- mittee which was considering license fees to be charged to shopkeepers, doctors, lawyers, etc. When a $10 fee was suggested for lawyers, Friedman said, "Vel, dot's all right for our best lawyers, but ve must not make W. W. Brandon, Ormond Sommerville, J. J. Mayfield, and W. B. Oliver pay dot price for a license, for dey are not lawyers much." (Brandon became governor of the state, Somerville and Mayfield became justices of the Alabama Supreme Court, and Oliver served in the Congress of the United States for a period of 22 years.)

Friedman was married twice. His first wife was Adele Black. They had three children ,Sam, Hugo, and Emma. All of his children were distinguished citizens of Tuscaloosa and Alabama. Sam Friedman, as one of Tuscaloosa's first commissioners (19ll), was chiefly responsible for starting the paving program of Tuscaloosa. Hugo was a good friend to his alma mater-the University of Alabama, establishing scholarships and managing the athletic teams when the athletic program was far from prosperous.

He gave the Jemison -Vandegraaff-Burchfield home to Tuscaloosa County for a library building and, in his will. left his home to the City of Tuscaloosa to be used for public purposes.

Emma married Louis L. Herzberg of Gadsden. Herzberg became mayor of Gadsden and later a judge.

Friedman's second wife was Linka Loveman. Her brother was the Georgia poet, Robert Loveman, whose "Rain Song" has been quoted by many authors.

11. First Presbyterian Church (24th Ave. 9th St., S.W.)

The congregation was formed in 1820 by Rev. Andrew Brown and consisted of 18 members. Their first place of worship was in the county courthouse in Newtown. (See 29). Later they used a building on the N. W. corner at the intersection of Eighth Street and Twenty-fifth Avenue. In 1830 a building was erected on the present site. A new building was built one hundred years later, in 1930. Dr. Simril Bryant is the pastor.

12. First Baptist Church (24th Ave. 8th St., N.E.)

The Ebenezer ("Stone of help") Baptist congregation was organized on January 24, 1818 and the first church building was located in the vicinity of the old water tower. (See 34). The first pastor was Rev. Nathan Roberts. In 1830 the lot on the N.E. corner at Seventh Street and Twenty-fifth Avenue was purchased and soon after that date a new church was built on it. In 1884 a large, handsome edifice was erected on the lot where the church is now located. A new building was built in 1958. One of the most loved pastors and one who served the church for 32 years was Dr. L. O. Dawson is whose memory a marker was placed at Queen City Avenue and Seventh Street. Dr. C. C. Randall is the present pastor.

13. First Methodist Church (24th Ave. 8th St., S.W.)

The first Methodist congregation in Tuscaloosa was organized in the summer of 1818. Their first worship was probably conducted in the hotel kept by Joshua Halbert, who later became a Methodist minister. The hotel and the first church building were both located in the vicinity of the water tower. (See 34). In 1834 a new church was located on the site now used. In 1916 a new building was erected. Dr. John Henry Chitwood is the pastor.

14. Wesleyan Female Academy (8th St. 24th & 25th Ave., N.)

Established in 1834 with Rev. Henry W. Hilliard as the president. Edward Sims was the prin-cipal benefactor of the school. Several distinguished families lived in the building-those of James Hogan (See 25), Michael Tuomey (See 65), Richard McLester (See 43), and E. N. C. Snow. In this house Mr. Snow, in 1897, entertained William Jennings Bryan. After Mr. Snow's death the building was used by the Doctor's Clinic. It was torn down to make room for the new Tuscaloosa County Courthouse (1964).

15. St, John's Catholic Church (8th St. 25th Ave., S.W.).

The St. John's congregation was formed in 1844. The first congregational worship was held in the Odd Fellows Hall (24th Ave. 7th St., N.W., See 45). The second place of worship was in the second story of a store on the north side of Broad Street between Twenty- second and Twenty-third Avenues and owned by a man named Haughey. (There had been Catholic services in Tuscaloosa as early as 1830.

The first Catholic sermon preached in Tuscaloosa was delivered by Father Gabriel Chalon and the meeting was held in Christ Episcopal Church.)

St. John's Church was built in 1845 at a cost of $2,800 (cost of the lot was $300). It was considerably remodeled in the 1890's when the belfry and stained-glass windows were added. Father J. J. Cassidy is the pastor.

16. James T. Searcy Home (8th St. 26th Ave., N.W.)

James T. Searcy was a son of Dr. Reuben Searcy who came to Tuscaloosa in 1826. After service in the Confederate Army he attended medical school at the University of New York and received his M.D. degree in 1867. The next year he married Annie Ross. He praticed medicine with his father until 1892 when he was elected to the superintendency of the Alabama Insane Hospital (shortly thereafter renamed Bryce Hospital).

James T. and Annie Ross Searcy became the parents of 12 children. Two of his sons, George H. and Harvey B., followed their father and their grandfather in the medical profession.

Dr. Harvey B. Searcy wrote a book entitled “We Used What We Had”. The book is witty, fascinating, and informative. He described the rollick-some life of this distinguished family in their big house and tells much about the lives of the people of Tuscaloosa.

When Dr. James T. Searcy became superintendent of the insane hospital the family lived inside the main building as the law required.

17. First African Baptist Church (9th St. 27th Ave., S.E.)

On October 14, 1865 the Negro members of the First Baptist Church presented a petition for separation. No definite action resulted until July 2, 1866 when a second petition was presented. The white members voted to allow those who desired separation to request letters. Most of the colored members saw no necessity for such formality and in November 1866, the first Negro Baptist church in Tuscaloosa was organized under the leadership of Rev. Prince Murrell.

The church was named First African Baptist Church in order to make a distinction between it and the First Baptist Church. During the tenure of the second pastor, Rev. James Mason, a new church was erected at the top of the river hill on the west side, the site now occupied by the Burchfield Hotel (Greensboro Ave., 4th St., N.W.). Under the leadership of Rev. J. H. Smith the church made its greatest growth numerically and spiritually.

The site of the present church was bought and the building erected in 1907. Sixteen ministers have served the church. A member of the congregation wrote, "We are grateful to God for having blessed us through the years. We are humble as we seek His guidance in our efforts to become true messengers of a gospel of peace and good will." Rev. T. Y. Rogers, Jr., is the pastor.

18. Greenwood Cemetery (9th St. 27th Ave. S.W.)

This is the second-oldest cemetery in Tuscaloosa. The first cemetery of the town was on the hill at the north end of Twenty-seventh Avenue (See 34). Since the town was not surveyed until 1821 it is not probable that there were any burials in Greenwood before that date.

The oldest known grave in the cemetery is that of Mary Ann Ellen Meek, daughter of Dr. Samuel Meek. She died on September 26, 1821.

It is possible that there were earlier burials since many graves are unmarked. Many of the leaders of early Tuscaloosa are buried in Greenwood. In 1857 the bounds of the cemetery were extended on the east and on the west, resulting in the narrowing of Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth Avenues.

A stroll through this old cemetery recalls a great deal of the history of the town.

19. The Boneyard (W. of 30 Ave., S. of 9th St.).

Dead animals were dragged to this place to be disposed of by buzzards. It was also a place for public hangings.

20. The Site of the Peck Home. (20th St. 30th Ave.).

Built in the 1830's by E. W. Peck who was a member of the Alabama Supreme Court (1867-1874).

The house was a "low country" plantation house such as were found in the rice producing sections of South Carolina and Louisiana. His son, Samuel Minturn Peck, was educated as a physician but never practiced his profession. He was a scholar, poet, and world traveler. Dr. Peck was elected poet laureate of Alabama. His best known poem is "The Grape Vine Swing." He died in 1938. The house has been torn down.

21. Stillman College (15th St. 37th Ave., S.).

Founded in 1876 as a Presbyterian college for Negroes.

The college was named for Dr. Charles A. Stillman, a minister of the gospel for a period of fifty years (1845-1895), the last twenty-five years of which were devoted to the service of the First Presbyterian Church in Tuscaloosa.

The first location of the college was south of the site of the Stafford Hotel. In 1898 it was moved to its present location.

The site of the college was originally the home of William Cochrane, a lawyer who came to Tuscaloosa from New York. He practiced law with George W. Crabb and was very successful.

He married Louisa, the daughter of Hardin Perkins. Perkins was a lawyer by profession but spent the greater part of his life in public service. He was at one time president of the Bank of the State of Alabama.

Cochrane built a beautiful mansion for his bride. The capitals of the columns of his home were made in Italy at a cost of $600 each. The house has been torn down but the Corinthian capitals have been preserved and are now part of the new library building.

22. Stewart House (15th St. 39th Ave., N.).

Built about 1840 by James Penn, father of the wife of Dr. Charles Snow.

The house was later occupied by General George W. Crabb who represented the Tuscaloosa district in the U. S. Congress from 1838 to 1842. He was a Whig and was defeated for re-election after the "general ticket" system was adopted.

At a later date the family of James H. Van Hoose lived there.

Soon after 1900 the place was bought by W. L. Stewart, a prominent planter of Tuscaloosa County, and has been in the possession of the Stewart family since that time. It was considerably damaged by the tornado of 1932 and is now abandoned.

23. Black Warrior's Town (15th St. 100 yds. W. of Old Highway 11).

The name "Tuskalousas" appears on a map made in 1707 but there is evidence that the town was not continuously occupied. In 1809 a band of Creek Indians established a village on this site. The fort, called Seminole Fort, was located on the south side of Fifteenth Street (Sanders Ferry Road) and the village on the north side.

Dr. Wyman explains the reason for the naming of the fort. He wrote that, in the Creek language, the word "Seminole" means "separated." Since the Creeks of the Black Warrior Town were separated from the main Creek settlements in east Alabama and Georgia, the name was appropriate.

To this village Tecumseh came in the fall of 1811. He was a British agent and his purpose was to arouse the Southern Indians against the white Americans. After his visit to the Seminoles in Florida and the Creeks in east Alabama, Tecumseh returned to his home near Detroit.

Forty to fifty Alabama Indians went with him. Some of them were from Black Warrior's Town. The Black Warrior Indians, on their way back home, at the mouth of Duck River about 80 miles west of Nashville, massacred in a most cruel manner, five white people, and brought a Mrs. Crawley back to Black Warrior's Town as a captive. A squaw told Mrs. Crawley that her captors intended to kill her next day and, in some manner, Mrs. Crawley escaped that night. The old chief, Oce-Oche-Motla, bought Mrs. Crawley from her captors. and sent some warriors out into the woods to find her, which they did after several days search.

At St. Stephens (located west of the Tombigbee River about 60 miles north of Mobile), Tandy Walker, who had been a blacksmith among the Creek tribes and who spoke their language, heard from one of his Indian friends that a white woman was being held captive at Black Warrior's Town. Walker told George S. Gaines, U. S. agent to the Choctaws, who told his wife about Mrs. Crawley's plight. At the request of Mrs. Gaines, Walker set out to rescue Mrs. Crawley, although he said it would be at the risk of his life.

In about two weeks he returned to St. Stephens, bringing Mrs. Crawley in a canoe. How he gained her release we do not know. Mrs. Crawley was nursed back to health and returned to her home in Tennessee.

No doubt the Crawley incident was in his mind when Gen. Andrew Jackson, on the outbreak of the Creek War, sent Col. John Coffee and an army of 600 men to destroy Black Warrior's Town. Davy Crocket, then 27 years old, was Coffee's chief scout. The Indians fled on the approach of the Tennesseeans.

After the army gathered the corn, beans, and other edibles, they burned the village to the ground. Coffee said in his report that 50 cabins and a longhouse were burned. That was in October, 1813. About a month later, John McKee (destined to be the first U. S. Congressman from this district) and Pushmataha, leading a band of Choctaws, came to attack the village but found it already burned. They did, however, succeed in killing some of the Creeks who had lingered in the vicinity of their burned place.

The first white people came to settle three years later.

24. The Smelser Home (I Y2 miles down the Sanders Ferry Road from Black Warrior's Town on the right side of the road).

In 1821 the U. S. Government sold land in Sections 30, T2IS, RIOW to Sion L. Perry and to Francis Moody. The Smelser house is in that section.

Both men, it is recorded, lived on Sanders Ferry Road. Which of them built the Smelser house, or whether either did, is not clear. It is possible that both men built houses on the place and that one of them has been torn down.

Francis Moody died soon after his arrival in Tuscaloosa and his body "lies buried about one fourth of a mile from the public road near the Ryan (Smelser) place" according to Thomas P. Clinton, who acquired his information from an old Negro who came to Tuscaloosa in 1828. Washington Moody, a son of Francis Moody, stated that he used to pass the site of the Black Warrior's Town on his way to school.

Perry sold his lands to Dr. Hullum in 1856.

Thomas Lynch Carson probably succeeded Hullum as the owner of the house. W. A. Ryan became owner of the place about 1900 but did not live there; he only farmed the land. In 1944 Lando Hester bought the property and repaired the house. A few years later J. E. Smelser bought the place and made further improvements. Mrs. Smelser lives there now. Living with her are her son Durrell and his wife Nedra.

25. Hogan and Cox store site-(8th St. 36th Ave., N.W.).

James Hogan, George Cox, and Benjamin Cox came to Tuscaloosa from Huntsville in 1819.

Their store was first located in "Old Town" and then in Newtown at this site. Thirty-sixth Avenue was then Main Street of Newtown (legally The Lower Part of the Town of Tuscaloosa). The two Coxes were among the twelve incorporators of Newtown. Hogan later formed a partnership with B. B. Fontaine.

26. Lewin's Tavern. (8th St. 36th Ave., S.E.).

Charles Lewin came to Tuscaloosa in 1818 or at an earlier date. The hotel was situated a little south of the corner. It was a two-storied building made of brick and wood.

In 1829 Lewin was elected a director of the State Bank and served in that capacity until 1837. The circumstances of his election are interesting. He invited all the members of the state legislature to his hotel and there provided a sumptuous meal. His wife could not sign her name but she was one of the best cooks in Tuscaloosa. Soon after the entertainment Lewin was elected a bank director by the legislature.

Wm. R. Smith, in his Reminiscences, says that all of the principal hotel keepers of Tuscaloosa followed Lewin's example and that the bank came under the control of the hotel keepers. W. H. Brantley, in his Banking in Alabama, 1816-1860, denies the statement that the hotel keepers had so much influence. However, it is a fact that six of the hotel proprietors were, at one time or another, bank directors.

Lewin's hotel was destroyed by a tornado in 1842.

27. Cox. Mayfield -Sutley home (6th St. 36th Ave., S. W.).

Soon after his arrival in Tuscaloosa, George Cox married Mrs. Carson. He built a house at this site. It is said that the house was built of logs and was made a part of the present structure. However, there is not much evidence that this statement is a fact.

About 1835 the house was completed (or built) for Thomas Lynch Carson. Each of the columns of the house is made of a square-hewn tree trunk, around which 2x4 pieces are fastened with the whole overlaid with molded plaster.

The house has been occupied by the Ozment, Trimm, Mayfield, and Sutley families. Judge Jas. J. Mayfield was a member of the Alabama Supreme Court. Laurence P. Sutley, the present owner of the house, is restoring the place to its original condition.

28. George Cox's grave (Near Country Club grounds near 36th Ave. 5th St.).

George Cox is described as being "a tall, straight man of commanding appearance" and it is said that he spoke "with all the dictatorial vehemence of a sea-captain commanding his crew in a storm." Indeed, he had been a commander in the U. S. Navy, serving in the war against the barbary pirates of North Africa and in the War of 1812. Smith says that Cox "could be heard from one end of the town to the other, and was not very particular in the choice of his words and epithets." Cox died in 1826

.

In 1952 officers of the Tuscaloosa Country Club deemed it necessary to move Cox's body in order to make room for some tennis courts. Mr. Snyder, keeper of the Country Club grounds, went into the vault, moved the bones, and laid them on a piece of canvas. The new vault is 40 steps from the old one in a south- easterly direction. The land on which the grave is located now belongs to Judge Joe G. Burns.

All reactions:

11