Highlights

From Tuskaloosa

Contents 1 Historical Highlights of the area . . . 2 Historical Facts 2.1 Pre-1700's 2.2 1700's 2.3 1800's 2.4 1900's 2.5 Other Facts 2.6 Area Lakes

Historical Highlights of the area . . .

These are a few highlights from the history of the city. It is in no way a complete chronicle of the area. As more information is gathered, it will be added to this listing.

Historical Facts

Pre-1700's

• In the Languages of the Creek and Choctaw indians, "tushka" means warrior and "lusa" means black.
• Eight hundred years ago, Moundville was the site of the largest city in North America.
  • • Right here on the Tuscaloosa/Hale county line are the ruins of this great civilization. Over two dozen earthen mounds, the tallest 60 feet in height, were built to elevate the houses of the nobility and to erect ceremonial structures.
    • The city was surrounded by a wooden stockade wall, with guard towers, over a mile long. By the time European explorers entered Alabama in the 16th century, the Moundville civilization had collapsed and the site was abandoned.
    • Many of the spectacular artifacts discovered at the site are on display in the park's museum. Moundville is considered one of the most significant and well preserved archaeological sites in the United States.
    • With nearly 50,000 visitors each year, Moundville Archaeological Park is one of Tuscaloosa's most popular tourist attractions
• Before the white men came to the area, up to 10,000 Indians lived in villages through out the area.
• The country was inhabited by both Creek and Choctaw Indians.
• According to early stories the Creek and Choctaw Indians once staged an Indian ball game to decide hunting rights to the area.
• The area south of town known as Moundville was the ceremonial center of the regions Indian Culture.
• Seeking treasure in the New World, the Spaniard Hernando DeSoto came into what is now Alabama from the northeast in 1540. Traveling southward, temporarily taking local Native American leaders as hostages to ensure safe passage, DeSoto and a force of some 600 reached the town of Maubila (or Mauvilla) in southwest Alabama in October of 1540. Here, the leader of the conquistadores met Tuscaloosa, an imposing Native American leader described by contemporaries as being seven feet in height. Following an exchange of gifts, a dispute arose. Although the Spaniards suffered casualties by the score, their superior weaponry, combined with their setting fire to the great village, killed thousands of Chief Tuscaloosa's people.
• After the Spanish expedition, the area became a virtual no-man's land for over 200 years.

1700's

• The Black Warrior river was called the Bance river in the treaty made by the British and Indians in 1765. Years later, it was also called the Choctaw river.
• By 1720 French map maker Guillaume de Lisle assigned the name Tuskaloosa to the area.

1800's

• American explorers came through the area in 1810 and 1813.
• In 1811 Chief Oceochemotla had established a hunting village at the falls of the Black Warrior.
  • In 1812 Chief Oceochemotla abducted a Mrs. Crawley and held her at the falls. Mrs. Crawley was saved by Mr. Tandy Walker
• First permanent white settler of the area was Thomas York and family. They came to the area in early 1816.
• Tuscaloosa was "laid out" by Collin Finnell in 1821. Lots were sold at auction in 1821
• Tuscaloosa became a busy river port. It was located at the highest point river traffic could travel from Mobile.
• Tuscaloosa County was created on Feb. 6, 1818. Boundaries were established in 1820.
• The county received it's name from the Choctaw Indian word for the Black Warrior.
• Tuscaloosa was the state capitol from 1826 to 1845.
• When the capital was moved from Tuscaloosa to Montgomery, the city lost over half of it's population.
• Union Troops ravaged the city during the "War of Northern Aggression".
• In 1865 Union troops know as Croxton's Raiders burned all but four of the Universities building.
• University President's Mansion was built in 1841.
• Joshua Holbert brought the first farm wagon into the area.
• Otis Dyer operated a ferry between Tuskaloosa and Kentuck (Northport).
• In 1831 Reverend Alva Woods D.D., became the first president of the U of A.
• The Gorgas Home was the first structure built on the campus of the U of A.
• The University Club served as the Governor's Mansion during the "Capital Period".
• A former slave named Horace King, constructed the first bridge across the Black Warrior River in 1835.
• The indians in the Tuscaloosa area had a very large trade network. It reached from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico.
• August 1816 - Richard Breckenridge wrote - We saw some excellent land and some good springs. This is as handsome a situation for a town as I ever saw.
• James Crump, in 1816, became the first to send goods through the state from Mobile to Huntsville.
  • The cargo was sugar, coffee, rum, wine, dry goods and 1,000 oranges.
  • The shipment went by boat from Mobile to the Falls in 20 days. Then by wagon from the Falls to Huntsville in eight days.
  • Only six oranges spoiled.
• During the early exploration of the state, the Black Warrior River was called "The Nile of the Country."
• The state capitol in Tuscaloosa was considered "The most imposing and stylish building in the state."
• The first state capital was in Cahaba, but because of yellow-fever, flooding and the areas inaccessibility, it was decided to move it to Tuscaloosa.
• William Nichols, designer for the Raleigh, North Carolina State House, was chosen to design the Capital City of Tuscaloosa.
  • The Dome of the capital could be seen from the river as the steamboats paddled up the river.
  • The capital building faced Broad Street, now University Boulevard.
• At the eastern end of Broad street, steamboat Captain James Dearing built the first home in Tuscaloosa with a monumental Ionic portico.
  • Today the Dearing house is know as the University Club.
• Francis Scott Key, visited the city in 1833. Key, an attorney for the District of Columbia worked on a compromise between the State government, the Federal government and the Indians.
• As part of the western migration, several thousand Indians, led by Chiefs Opothelyoholo and Eufaula, camped outside Tuscaloosa for several weeks in 1836.
  • Before Chief Eufaula left Tuscaloosa he was given the chance to address the legislature assembled in the representatives' hall.
• The reason for moving the capitol to Montgomery was simple, according to a former legislator - "they got tired of Tuscaloosa" and "just for a change."
• In 1847 the Capital left Tuscaloosa.
• Everything suffered because of the move. Much of the population left and real estate values plummeted.
• 1841 a post office was established across the river and Northport was given a name.
• Robert Jemison, Jr., a state Senator, steered the decision to build the Alabama Insane Hospital in Tuscaloosa in the 1850's.
  • The Alabama Insane Hospital is now know as Bryce Hospital.
  • Jemison owned a Plantation called Cherokee and by 1860 it was about 4,500 acres with a value of $100,000. Jemison also owned four other plantations in the area.
    • Cherokee plantation had eighty-four slaves
      • About half of the slaves worked the fields, the others maintained the buildings, cooks and performed other tasks around the plantation.
      • Jemison respected men like King, but he still felt that his slaves were property. When one of his slaves escaped to visit his wife at another plantation, Jemision had the man sold to another plantation further down the river.
    • Production from Cherokee plantation for one year was:
      • 400 bushels of wheat
      • 12,000 bushels of corn
      • 500 bushels of oats
      • over 300 bales of ginned cotton
      • 1,000 pounds of butter
    • Jemison built a plank toll road from Tuscaloosa to his coal mines in what is now know as Brookwood.
• In 1835 John Godwin and his slave Horace King built the first bridge over the Black Warrior River in Tuscaloosa.
  • The First Tuscaloosa bridge was a covered bridge.
  • King was emancipated in 1846. When Godwin died, the grateful King provided financial assistance to Godwin's widow till she died.
  • King's talents and business abilities gained him a close relationship with Robert Jemison, Jr.
  • King served from 1869 to 1872 as a legislator.
  • After the Civil War, King re-built the bridge between Tuscaloosa and Northport.
• In 1860 there were a little over 13,000 whites in the county and about 10,000 slaves.
• Both of Tuscaloosa's representatives, Robert Jemison, Jr., and William R. Smith, opposed succession and voted against it in 1861.
• During the Civil War:
  • Each soldier's wife was allotted a daily ration of a bushel of un-shelled corn.
  • At one time the families of Confederate soldiers were without government rations for three months until finally they delivered five pounds of bacon.
  • One Confederate wife approached Dr. Drish about buying some of his field corn. He refused, saying that the corn was for his slaves. Against his objections, she still picked enough corn to feed her family.
• 1868 - Ryland Randolph formed the Tuscaloosa chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.
• In the spring of 1872, the first train came through Tuscaloosa and another bridge was build over the river.
• The first "Wheel" (Bicycle) came to Tuscaloosa in 1800.
• 1887 -
  • The Tuscaloosa Water Works were established.
  • The Tuscaloosa Ice and Light Company was organized and in a few years they were providing continuous electricity to the residence of the city.
  • A private Telephone company started stringing lines and by 1900 over 500 people were subscribed to the service.

1900's

• In 1996 the Seniors from the Tuscaloosa City and Country High School earned over $5 million in scholarships.
• The Bama Theatre open in 1938 with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn's "Bringing Up Baby".
  • The Bama Theatre was added to the National Historic Register in 1984.
• More than 100 pre-Civil War structures still stand.
• Stillman College - inspired the 1980's TV series "A Different World"
• The cities first skyscraper was completed in 1910 and included a towering electric sign proclaiming "Try Tuscaloosa."
• The first motion picture came to the city in 1915.
• The Marx Brothers also performed in the Theater, but they said that they were bored with the city. During one of their shows they even stopped to bet on what kind of bug was crawling across the stage.
• The Alabama Home for Mental Deficient's open. Four years later it was renamed Partlow State School
• 1901 saw the first car come to Tuscaloosa.
  • It was a Locomobile steamer and took over an hour to build up enough steam to drive.
  • It took almost a day to drive from Birmingham to Cottondale. It took five gallons of gas to make the trip.
• Because of the Automobile, Tuscaloosa prohibited jay-walking in 1930.
• Northington Hospital open in 1943 - employing 2,300 civilian and military personnel. The hospital was called "Alabama's most important war-time establishment."
• In 1998, a toll bridge was built over the Black Warrior River on the west side of town. This is the third bridge for the city of Tuscaloosa

Other Facts

• The last "Official" hill in the Appalachians is located behind Wal-mart on Skyland Blvd.
• Proclaimed as the "Capstone of Education"
• Tuscaloosa has the State's third largest hospital, DCH Regional Medical Center (over 650 beds.)
• The Gulf States Paper Corporation international headquarters is located in Tuscaloosa and it houses one of the finest collections of art in the United States (The Warner Collection.)
• Kentuck Festival of the Arts - attracts over 23,000 visitors and over 200 craftsmen every October.
• Northport - Voted as one of the "Top 100 Small Art Communities in the U.S."
• Recreational Facilities
  • Four private and three public golf courses.
  • Four recreational lakes
  • Three rivers
  • 150 campsites
  • Two State Parks - Tannehill State Park and Lake Lurleen. Parts of Mound State Park are also in Tuscaloosa County.
• Moderate climate - growing season of 210 days - average temperature is 63.4 degrees Fahrenheit - rainfall of 52.46 inches per year.
• Weather facts.
  • Average July high - 92.3 Fahrenheit
  • Average January low - 35.1 Fahrenheit
  • Average annual snowfall - 1 inch
• Tuscaloosa is home to - a mososaur fossil called Sweetie, a 13th century stone Buddha, the state's only antebellum garden, and an archaeological site where a prehistoric city of the South lived 800 years ago.
• The city was first called "The City of Oaks", because of the large number of water oaks planted along the city streets. Later the name evolved into "Druid City".
• Tuscaloosa has two sister cities:
  • Narashino, Japan
  • Schorndorf, Germany
• Location:
  • 33:18:00 N Latitude
  • 087:30:00 W Longitude
  • 227 feet Elevation
• More accidents happen at the intersection of McFarland Blvd. and Skyland Blvd. than anywhere else in the county.
• 1340 square mile of land in Tuscaloosa County. This makes it the second largest county in the state.
• Sales tax is 8% in Tuscaloosa County.
• The City of Tuscaloosa Water Treatment plant has a capacity of 45 million gallons of water per day. The current use is at 26 million gallons per day
• The City Wastewater Treatment Plant can handle 24 million gallons of waste per day. The current use is at 15 million gallons per day.
• The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has called the Tuscaloosa County made Mercedes M-Class "among the safest midsize SUVs on the market." The M-Class received a "Good" rating, the highest they could achieve. July 7, 1999
• The North River Dam was completed in 1969 at a cost of approximately $7 million.
• The Ed E. Love Water Treatment Plant was originally constructed in 1976 and has been expanded and updated since that time.
• The water treatment plant is operated and maintained 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.
• Tuscaloosa has 12 water towers which can hold approximately 20 million gallons of water.

Area Lakes

• Lake Harris
  • Completed in 1929
  • Storage capacity of 1 billion gallons of water
  • 220 acre lake
  • Has two of the first true arch dams i the state of Alabama
  • Used only for industrial water
  • Spillway elevation is 205.00 feet above mean sea level
• Lake Nicol
  • Constructed in 1954
  • Capacity of 3.3 billion gallons of water
  • 380 acre lake
  • Currently used primarily as a back up lake
• Lake Tuskaloosa
  • Completed in 1970
  • Storage capacity of 40 billion gallons of water
  • 5885 acre lake
  • Largest reservoir in the county
  • A safe withdrawal rate of approximately 200 million gallons per day
  • Primary source of raw waer and is treated for consumption
  • Lake Elevation is 223.2 feet above mean sea level