A Mansion's Memories / Edition 2 available in Hardcover, eBook
A Mansion's Memories / Edition 2
- ISBN-10:
- 0817315357
- ISBN-13:
- 9780817315351
- Pub. Date:
- 10/28/2006
- Publisher:
- University of Alabama Press
- ISBN-10:
- 0817315357
- ISBN-13:
- 9780817315351
- Pub. Date:
- 10/28/2006
- Publisher:
- University of Alabama Press
A Mansion's Memories / Edition 2
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$24.95Overview
As part of The University of Alabama’s 175th anniversary celebration (2006), the new edition of A Mansion’s Memories includes details of the tenures of the four presidents who have served since the Mathews term. Profusely illustrated with 69 black-and-white and 17 color photographs, this classic is sure to be welcomed anew by alumni and friends of the University and all lovers of fine old buildings that still function in their original capacities.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780817315351 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | University of Alabama Press |
| Publication date: | 10/28/2006 |
| Edition description: | Revised, Revised |
| Pages: | 144 |
| Sales rank: | 596,213 |
| Product dimensions: | 7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.70(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
A Mansion's Memories
By Mary Chapman Mathews
The University of Alabama Press
Copyright © 2006 Mary Chapman MathewsAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8173-1535-1
Chapter One
Building a New House for a Young University, 1837-1855Basil Manly, 1837-1855
At last the workmen are gone. After two years of construction and more than $26,000 of state funds, University of Alabama trustees now call me the President's Mansion. Hoping not to sound like a braggart, I must confess I like my looks. The trustees wanted me to be impressive, a home to attract leaders to the Alabama frontier.
Small red bricks handmade in Tuscaloosa form my exterior. Cream-colored plaster covers the brick on my front. White lines drawn in the plaster make me look as if I am made of big blocks, but those who glance at my sides see red bricks exposed there.
I do wish my six Ionic columns were marble. They are made of wedge-shaped bricks covered with plaster. Even though I show a strong Roman influence, newspapers in the state are praising my three-story, Greek Revival appearance. I am surprised that no newspaper mentions Michael Barry; he was paid $120 a month by the state for his services as architect and superintendent.
A wooden balustrade on the roofline gives my exterior a balanced front and hides my tin roof. Handsome cast and wrought ironworkedges my third-floor balcony. I really am quite pleased.
Behind me are four sturdy outbuildings. Two will be used for slaves. The one closest to me is the kitchen and washroom. The fourth is a smokehouse, bathing room, and well house. The outbuildings match me in character and are much finer than the simple wooden buildings usually constructed.
Across the street from me are beautifully proportioned University buildings, planned by state architect William Nichols. The Rotunda is in the center of the campus with a row of halls on either side: Franklin and Washington on the left and Jefferson and Madison on the right. Behind them are the Lyceum, Steward's Hall, and faculty homes.
The Reverend Basil Manly and his family are eager for me to be their home. They have been making their own living arrangements during the first four years of his presidency. Mr. Manly, a native of North Carolina, had been the minister of the First Baptist Church in Charleston, South Carolina. He will be my first resident. Board members did not vote until December 1838 to build a residence for the University president. They asked Governor A. P. Bagby, Colonel Aaron Shanon, and Colonel William D. Stone to serve as my building committee. I was not completed in time for the first president, the Reverend Alva Woods, who served the University for six years.
I hope the Manlys will be interested in my yard. The branches and stumps of many apple trees used to build me are lying everywhere. A good cleaning crew would be helpful, and some new trees would be welcomed.
I already appreciate Mr. Manly. Last year he planned my outbuildings, and this year he supervised the finishing touches in my construction. In April 1841, soon after moving in, Mr. Manly gives me a careful inspection. He finds many problems. My roof leaks, and my basement floors, wooden ones the builder substituted for stone, are already rotting because they are so close to the damp ground. I watch the Manlys spend almost $3,000 of their own money for repairs.
Later, on December 10, 1841, I see a letter Mr. Manly writes to the board of trustees telling them that his family doctor says my basement floor is unhealthy. The Manlys have been sick more in the short time they have lived with me than in all their previous years put together. They move their bedroom from the ground floor to the third floor.
I delight in watching the handsome students in their dark blue, single-breasted, gilt-buttoned coats and narrow-brimmed hats. I cannot understand why they rebel at wearing them. Students are required to wear uniforms off campus also, but most do not obey. In 1843 they celebrate when the uniform requirement is ended.
As a student watcher, I see the young folks hurry off campus to escape the University's strict rules, and they get into serious trouble in town. They drink too much, steal chickens, and throw rocks. The faculty ledger records other types of misbehavior. A student is reprimanded for pulling his own nose in class, and two students are chastised for defacing a young tree.
As a minister, Mr. Manly is asked to perform many wedding ceremonies. He thinks I am a fine place for a wedding and keeps accurate records of the marriages. For friends and slaves, he has no fee for performing the ceremonies. For others, he charges from $2 to $100, depending on the family circumstances.
My first wedding unites Margaret Cammer and Richard Furman on April 15, 1841. Miss Cammer is well known in Tuscaloosa's social circles as an accomplished artist and writer. The soft candlelight in the parlor casts interesting shadows across the plasterwork in my ceiling. All the wedding guests notice the beautiful patterns of flowers and leaves constructed by the slaves of Dr. John Drish, a wealthy Tuscaloosa physician.
Dr. Drish's slaves are highly skilled plasterers, masons, blacksmiths, carpenters, and mechanics. When they are not working on Dr. Drish's handsome home on Fifteenth Street, they are often leased to do contract work for others, a common practice. I am fortunate to be the recipient of the talents of such splendid artisans.
The years pass quickly. In 1844 Mr. Manly and his wife, Sarah, are sad because seven-year-old Boysey, a family slave, died of whooping cough. Mr. Manly is making arrangements for him to be buried on campus in a cemetery usually reserved only for students. Boysey will join another slave, Jack, who died in 1843 and is buried there.
In 1851 my second-floor northeast room is designated as the board of trustees' room. Legislative desks from the old state capitol are refinished for the trustees' use. A large wood case contains the books and papers of these gentlemen. William Pratt, a slave owned by Professor H. S. Pratt and now by his widow, built the case. William is often contracted to the University because of his skills as a carpenter and cabinetmaker.
In 1852 Mr. Manly receives iron railings from J. F. and W. W. Cornell and Company in New York to enclose my second-floor porch and encase my stairway. Then I get a lesson in patience! Being busy with repairs on campus, Reverend Manly does not have time to supervise the ironwork installation until a year later. Putting the railing around my porch is easy, but encasing my stairway is more complicated. The railing will not fit my curved stairs and does not look properly attached. Mr. Manly, being the precise person that he is, ships the stairway ironwork back to the New York firm.
Every morning is a learning session with Mr. Manly. He keeps careful records, and I suspect I am the only one who knows that he has two diaries. One diary is for the public to read his pleasant comments about everyone. The second has people's names in code, and he writes about events and professors he does not like. Mr. Manly hopes that one famous scientist in particular will leave so he will not have to fire him.
The scientist, Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard, nicknamed "Old Fap," is one of our University's most brilliant professors. He teaches mathematics, natural philosophy, and astronomy and introduces a course in organic chemistry, the first at a southern university.
Professor Barnard does not use a textbook and teaches by demonstrations. Because there is no University money for assistants for his experiments, Professor Barnard hires students or Sam, a skilled slave, to help him, and he pays them himself.
I hear conflicting reports on Professor Barnard. Students see him as an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church. His admirers describe him as dashing, charming, and entertaining. President Manly, though, writes in his diary that Professor Barnard has been seen drunk both day and night and concludes, "He will not do." Professor Barnard leaves our faculty in 1854 and goes to the University of Mississippi to teach mathematics and natural philosophy and soon afterward becomes the president there.
Mr. Manly's ledger of personal expenditures is a masterpiece. He lists "bread and milk, furniture, clothing, medicine, books and stationery, postage, horses, fuel and lights, miscellanies, superfluities, charities and wife." I cannot help but smile when he is working on his ledger.
My concerns about my grounds are dismissed. The Manlys want me to be a showplace in every way. Each time Mr. Manly plants an oak tree in my front yard, he writes the date and details in his diary. What a lucky house I am!
For fourteen years the Manlys live with me. Now, in 1855, Mr. Manly resigns to accept a pastorate and return to Charleston, South Carolina. The Manlys are the only residents I have known. How will I adjust to new people?
Chapter Two
Surviving the Chaos of War, 1855-1878Landon C. Garland, 1855-1865
Dr. Landon Cabell Garland is named president. He is a Virginian who has taught English and history here for seven years before becoming president. He already knows Tuscaloosa and the University well.
The Garlands move in with a household of children, so I expect lively events. Dr. Garland and his wife, Louise, obviously both have a sense of humor and history because they named one daughter Rose.
Dr. Garland likes students. In May 1858, he asks Rose to have an ice cream and strawberries party for juniors and seniors. They have a splendid time until freshmen and sophomores crash the party. Students do not seem to respect rules these days.
Faculty, townspeople, and Dr. Garland are concerned about student discipline problems. Dr. Garland decides the University must become a military school to keep order. In 1860 the Alabama General Assembly votes to try his plan.
When students return in September, I watch the campus turn into a military camp with strict rules. Students wear army uniforms and live in tents for a month.
The military training gives order, as intended, but it also prepares students for a war Dr. Garland worries cannot be avoided. In November 1860 news reaches us that Abraham Lincoln has been elected United States president. A few short months later, the Civil War begins. Students begin to leave campus to join the Confederate army.
Now I join Dr. Garland in worrying. Many schools are closing. What will be the University's fate?
In June 1861 Dr. Garland announces that the University will remain open. Boys fourteen years of age and older will be admitted to replace those eighteen and over who have gone to war. Lowering the admission age helps enrollment, but many problems remain.
Getting food and equipment are major tasks. Dr. Garland requires students to bring two hundred pounds of bacon from home to use to feed the students and to trade for other supplies the University needs.
Cloth for uniforms and leather for shoes are harder and harder to find. Sometimes sheets and calico curtains from home are used for lining uniforms. Beef cattle are utilized to provide food and to supply leather for shoes. Dr. Garland tries to keep University equipment in good order by constantly asking Governor Thomas Watts and army officials to replace old furnishings.
Frightening news comes on April 3, 1865. The Union army's General John Croxton is headed to Tuscaloosa. The town and campus are terrified because they have heard that General Croxton has orders to destroy the town's foundries and public buildings and to burn the University.
Townspeople are expecting the young cadets to assist in the guarding of Tuscaloosa, and Dr. Garland initially responds. Mrs. Garland prepares for the worst and asks Dr. Garland to bury the family silver in my backyard. Just after midnight on April 4, Dr. Garland sees General Croxton's large, well-equipped army and knows the cadets are in danger. He sends them back to campus.
Dr. Garland worries for the safety of his family and the students. I ache for him as he tells his wife and daughters to leave campus. Mrs. Garland does not want to go, but he insists. "I have asked the students to pack their knapsacks and march out of town with me," he says. "When the Union army leaves, we can return."
Mrs. Garland and the girls go to the nearby home of Peter Bryce and his wife. They live at the Alabama Insane Hospital, where Dr. Bryce is the superintendent. I wonder not only whether I will ever see them again but also what my fate will be.
By morning the campus is in flames. Recent dry days cause the fires to spread quickly. Across the Huntsville Road from me, our library, one of the best in the South, is burning ferociously. Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, and Washington halls are also burning. This is my saddest day.
Suddenly General Croxton's soldiers burst through my door. I feel scared and helpless. They rush through me, piling the Garlands' handsome mahogany tables and chairs into a heap in the hallway. Then they set fire to the furniture, filling me with dark clouds of smoke.
At this very moment, I see Mrs. Garland hurrying into my driveway. She has walked back alone from the Bryce home to see about the University and me. She looks tiny in her long wool challis dress. I wish I could warn her of the soldiers and the danger she approaches.
She pauses, takes a deep breath, and comes inside. Walking right up to one of the soldiers, Mrs. Garland demands, "What are you doing?"
"We have orders to burn public buildings here," a soldier replies.
"But this is a private home. Put the fire out!" orders Mrs. Garland.
Surprised by the lady's bravery, the soldiers obey. They help Mrs. Garland put the fire out and then move the singed furniture back into place. The turn of events is unbelievable. Mrs. Garland saved me. From my view of the campus, only a few buildings are left.
Days pass, but confusion remains. All the Garlands are back home with me again. I learn that Dr. Garland took the cadets to Marion, Alabama, to avoid further fighting. When he heard what General Croxton's army did in Tuscaloosa, he dismissed the students. He told them to return to their studies on May 12 at a place he would name later.
The cadets obeyed and went home, but the word to return never came. What came before May 12 was news of General Robert E. Lee's surrender and the war's end.
Every day is difficult. Dr. Garland struggles to reopen the University. Joining me as the only remaining campus buildings are the observatory, Steward's Hall, and the small round guardhouse. Dr. Garland considers letting students live with me during the emergency period following the fall of the Confederate government. He tries to hire a small faculty. His disappointment in the fall of 1865 is heartbreaking. Only one student and two faculty members appear.
With no students, little faculty, and few buildings, University trustees believe they must make a change in administration. They ask Dr. Garland to become both interim president and superintendent and to continue to live here. Dr. Garland accepts this new assignment, beginning in January 1866.
I will always be grateful to the Garlands. She saved me, and he protected me during troubled times. Both will be remembered for their courage in the face of war and for their determination in rebuilding our school.
Short-Term and Acting Presidents, 1866-1870
Dr. Garland's main tasks as interim president and superintendent are to replace burned buildings and to find money. His work goes slowly, and financial problems are great. With such a heavy burden and with disappointment after disappointment, Dr. Garland resigns in late 1866.
The Garlands leave me to go to the University of Mississippi, where Dr. Garland will teach physics and astronomy. He later becomes the first executive of Vanderbilt University. The trustees decide not to fill his post and name J. H. Fitts and Company to guide the financial matters of the University. The first private bank in Alabama, J. H. Fitts and Company is named for lawyer and industrialist James Harris Fitts.
Mr. Fitts becomes chair of the board's finance committee and joins Robert Jemison, Jr., chair of the board, to rebuild the University after the Civil War. Mr. Jemison is well known in Tuscaloosa for his wealth and independent thinking. He made his fortune by operating stage lines to transport passengers and mail, and he voted against secession when he was in the Alabama legislature.
The two men are a good team, and they hire architect Colonel James T. Murfee, former wartime commandant of the University cadets, to assist them. Colonel Murfee had been with President Garland and the University cadets when they retreated to Marion to avoid General Croxton, so he is eager to be a part of the rebuilding effort.
Plans are made to salvage bricks from the ruins of the four burned dormitories. But the building team is forced to order new bricks when it finds there are not enough usable ones. After many delays, a four-story all-purpose building is completed in 1868. This building, with its lovely balconies and ironwork, becomes the center of the new University, providing offices, classrooms, dormitory rooms, and a dining room.
Everyone is happy, but I am especially so. I have been alone for a long time and am hoping for a new president soon. I am still proud of my appearance, but I am beginning to look somewhat shabby without a family.
The times are contentious, and the State of Alabama's government is reorganized in 1867. A new state constitution that abolishes the University board of trustees is written. Members of the state board of education, now called regents, are given authority to run the University and to appoint both the president and the faculty.
I hear a great deal of opposition on campus to the regents system. Such newspapers as the Montgomery Mail and Tuscaloosa's Independent Monitor are harsh in their criticism.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from A Mansion's Memories by Mary Chapman Mathews Copyright © 2006 by Mary Chapman Mathews. Excerpted by permission.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments....................vii1. Building a New House for a Young University, 1837-1855....................1
Basil Manly 2. Surviving the Chaos of War, 1855-1878....................11
Landon C. Garland Short-Term and Acting Presidents William R. Smith Nathaniel T. Lupton Carlos G. Smit 3. Rebuilding the Campus around the President's Home, 1878-1897....................25
Josiah Gorgas Burwell B. Lewis Henry D. Clayton Richard C. Jones 4. Greeting a New Century, 1897-1911....................45
James K. Powers William S. Wyman John W. Abercrombie 5. Cementing a Capstone, 1911-1942....................59
George H. Denny Richard C. Foster 6. Battling for the Conscience of the University, an Angel for the House, 1942-1958....................71
Raymond R. Paty John M. Gallalee Oliver C. Carmichael 7. Opening Doors to All of Alabama, 1958-1980....................85
Frank A. Rose F. David Mathews 8. Fostering Research and Restoration, 1981-2003....................103
Joab L. Thomas E. Roger Sayers Andrew A. Sorensen J. Barry Mason (acting) 9. Celebrating the Twenty-first Century, 2003-present....................123
Robert E. Witt Appendix A: Presidents of the University....................129
Appendix B: Chancellors of the University of Alabama System....................131