Capitol Park (Tuscaloosa, Alabama)
Capitol Park on Childress Hill is a park in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on a bluff above the Black Warrior River. It was the site of the Alabama State Capitol from 1826 to 1846, when the capitol was moved to Montgomery. The capitol building was subsequently used for Alabama Central Female College. It burned in 1923. A historical marker in the park commemorates the school's history. The University of Alabama has a collection of papers related to the school. Classical architecture ruins from the building remain.
History
Tuscaloosa succeeded Cahaba as Alabama's state capitol.[1] The Childress Hill site fronting Broad Street and adjacent to the river was selected for the new capitol building,[2] designed by English architect William Nichols.[3] In 1829, Alabama Governor Gabriel Holmes addressed the legislature in the new building.[3]
The capitol building became Alabama Central Female College. It burned down in 1923.[4]
Legacy
According to The Tuscaloosa News, by the "Great Depression, the ruins of the burned statehouse were dispersed or massed into a low mound with grass on top." In 1988, "a design committee, which included architectural historian Robert Mellown...began extensive historical and archaeological research...and drew up plans to create a ruin."[5] A historical marker in the park commemorates the school's history. The University of Alabama has a collection of papers related to the school.
A poem about the old capitol was published.[6] The western end of the 4.5 mile Riverwalk begins at Capitol Park.[7]
Gallery
See also
- List of current and historical women's universities and colleges in the United States
- Artificial ruins
References
- ^ Kazek, Kelly (March 28, 2018). "Take a look at the Alabama capitol when it was in Tuscaloosa". al.com.
- ^ The Architecture of William Nichols: Building the Antebellum South in North Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi. University Press of Mississippi. 5 February 2015. ISBN 9781626742918.
- ^ a b "The Tuscaloosa State Capitol Building – Alabama Architecture". Alabama Architecture.
- ^ "Capitol Park". Visit Tuscaloosa.
- ^ Slowe, Betty; Hubbs, Guy (April 17, 2019). "TUSCALOOSA 200 MOMENT IN HISTORY: Capitol Park goes up". tuscaloosanews.com.
- ^ Alabama Historical Poems. Birmingham Publishing Company. 1927.
- ^ "The Riverwalk". Visit Tuscaloosa.