History of the University of Alabama

[2] The Board selected Tuscaloosa, then capital of Alabama, as the site of the university in 1827, and opened its doors to students on April 18, 1831.

Sandstone was quarried near the Black Warrior River, bricks were made locally and lumber came from the University's own timber tract.

"[4] According to James Sellers' History of the University of Alabama, "Much of the labor was, of course, performed by slaves" but also noted "the stonemasons, trained artisans of Scotch descent, built their pride of craft into the strength and beauty of the buildings they helped erect.

Educated at Phillips Andover, Harvard College and in Europe, Woods hoped to turn the university into a Harvard-style seminary.

Simply to enter the university, one had to demonstrate the ability to read Classical Greek and Latin at an intermediate level, with advanced study in those languages to begin immediately.

But Alabama, a frontier state a sizable amount of whose territory was still under the control of various Native American tribes, was decades away from possessing the infrastructure necessary to provide adequate education (public or even private) to meet such high standards.

Greek life began at the university in 1847 when two young Mobilians visiting from Yale installed a chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon.

When DKE members began holding secret meetings in the old state capitol building that year, the administration strongly voiced its disapproval.

Eager to have a social organization of their own, women at the university founded the Zeta chapter of Kappa Delta sorority in 1903.

In 1860, with the Civil War impending and in the wake of a violent brawl which resulted in the death of student, the legislature authorized Garland to make the transformation beginning in the fall of 1860.

When she saw flames in the direction of the campus, she ran from the Bryce home where the family had taken refuge and demanded the soldiers put out the fire in the parlor.

Gorgas House, at different times the dining hall, faculty residence, and campus hotel, now serves as a museum.

In 1880, the United States Congress granted the university 40,000 acres (160 km2) of coal land as partial compensation for the $250,000 in war damages.

Constructed of yellow Missouri brick with Indiana limestone trim, the buildings reflected the Beaux-Arts Greek Revival style of architecture that was popular at the turn of the 20th century.

Under the leadership of Dr. Raymond Ross Paty the university operated one of the largest military programs in the country.

Students, faculty and alumni joined the war effort in either the armed forces or in a related civilian capacity.

[12] While housing and educating nearly 13,000 soldiers and sailors created a strain on space and teaching resources, the university also grew in the areas of research, library facilities, and benefits for faculty and staff.

Dr. Paty resigned in December 1946, having led The University of Alabama through one of the hardest times in the history not just of UA, but of the nation.

The police were called to secure her admission but, that evening, the University suspended Lucy on the grounds that it could not provide a safe environment.

[13] On June 11, 1963, Governor George Wallace attempted to prevent desegregation of that institution by blocking two African-American students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from class registration at the University's Foster Auditorium in the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door" incident.