On this day in Alabama history: The University of Alabama opened

Published On: 04.18.17 |

By: 9316

On this day in Alabama history: The University of Alabama opened

April 18 feature

The campus of the University of Alabama in 1859. View of the Quad, with the Rotunda at center and dormitories in the background. All of these buildings were destroyed by the Union army under the command of Brigadier General John T. Croxton on April 4, 1865. (University of Alabama Libraries: William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library, Wikimedia)

April 18, 1831

The University of Alabama opened as the state’s first public college with four faculty members and 94 students. The Legislature established the school in 1820 and appointed a board of trustees, who selected the state’s then-capital, Tuscaloosa, as the university’s home. Designed by state architect William Nichols, the campus included seven buildings: two faculty houses, two dormitories, the laboratory, the hotel (now Gorgas House), and the Rotunda. Slave labor sourced most of the materials for the buildings from university land, quarrying sandstone for bricks and cutting lumber from timber tracts. In 2016, the university boasted a total of 299 buildings and an enrollment of 37,665 students.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

The President’s Mansion is one of the few buildings that survived the burning of the University of Alabama campus in 1865. (The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

The Denny Chimes tower was named in honor of former University president George H. Denny, who served from 1912 to 1936, and again in 1941. Today, the tower is often recognized as the most visible landmark of the campus. (The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

Gorgas House, 1934. (Photograph taken by W. N. Manning, HABS Survey, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library, University of Alabama. (The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

Clark Hall at the University of Alabama. (The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

Aerial view of the University of Alabama football stadium. (The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.