October 1, 1887
Howard College held its first classes in the East Lake area of Birmingham on Oct. 1, 1887. The school, which was chartered on Dec. 29, 1841, had relocated from Marion in Perry County. The college opened with six faculty members on what is now Second Avenue South. The first class welcomed 157 students. The central point of campus was dominated by the Old Main building, which was completed a few years later in 1891. Other buildings soon included several academic halls, a gym, amphitheater, bookstore, post office and lodge. The college moved again to its current location in Homewood in the 1950s and was renamed Samford University in the 1960s.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
Photograph of the Old Main or Main Building at Howard College in East Lake, from Views of Birmingham Alabama: With A Glimpse at Some of The Natural Resources of the Birmingham District and the Industries Based Thereon (1908) New York: Isadore Newman & Son Bankers. (BhamWiki)
Cadets muster outside the library on the campus of Howard College in Marion, Perry County, in 1858. The school, now Samford University, moved to the Birmingham area in 1887. During the Civil War, the Marion campus served as a military hospital. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Samford University Special Collections)
A student walks toward the “Old Main” and the Sherman Oak (to the right of the building) on the East Lake campus of Howard College (now Samford University) in the 1950s. The college relocated to the Birmingham suburb of East Lake in 1887 and then to the Shades Valley community near Birmingham in 1957. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Samford University Special Collections)
Samford University, 2017. (Andy Montgomery, Flickr)
Samford University, 2017. (Andy Montgomery, Flickr)
Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School, 2006. (Brian R. Mooney, Wikipedia)
Davis Library and Centennial Walk, Samford University, 2017. (Andy Montgomery, Flickr)
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
