The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-21
"DRUID CITY" IDEAL
WILLIAM F. CURTIS WRITES OF TUSCALOOSA, As CHARMING
Oaks and Houses Beautify Former Capital of Alabama Once Greatest Commercial Center North of
 Mobile.

I SuVttaI OI AHnO0m0 Once Gre1ttBt Commerical Center North of
 Mobile.
 William F. Curtis's Tuscalooaa Special to Chicago Record-Herald.
 | The University of Alabama. the only institution for higher education in that | state, is situated at Tuscaloosa, an
 ideal southern city about sixty miles west of Birmingham. It is one of the | most beautiful cities in the South, and has always been celebrated for the cui- lures of its inhabitants. the pure | architecture of its residences and the | noble oaks which shelter them. from the sun. It has been called The Druid City" The City of Oaks The Athens of the South" and by similar l titles of honor that describes its char l acteristics. and. curiously enough. It's architectural superiority is attributed | to the influence of Thomas Jefferson | and his artistic taste.
 Tuscaloosa was originally and for many years the capital of Alabama. | The venerable statehouse, still in fair | state of preservation. but sadly In need of paint. is occupied as board ing school for young women. Tne building belongs to the University, ana 1t Is leased to the Baptists for a noml- nal sum perpetually, so as long as IL is used for educational purposes. Tne town was laid out by engineers of the United States government upon public lands before a house was erected, and several of the old families hold patents signed by the President of the United States. This was in 1919. The streets were made very wide. most Of them 160 feet. Each square contains, two acres of land. divided into four lots' which were sold directly by the com missioners of the United States lana office to the original settlers. Ihe name was adopted from an Indian tribe living in that nelghborhood by the United States engineer In chars.. It Is an excellent site for city. There are few in the South. or any where else for that matter, SO adap- able for residences and that combine beauty and the sanitary conditions that are required for the health and hap piness of civilized communities
 By the census of 1900 Tuscaloosa had 5.094 inhabitants. and now claims S.00o of whom 65 per cent are white ana 35 per cent are colored. But the resi- dence lots are so large and the streets so wide that it covers an area sufficient for twenty times that number. and IS really a city of magnificent distances. The main street north and south Is two and a half miles. and from east to west two miles long.
 A famous architect has declared that | he has never seen in any other city | SO many pure Greek porticoes" as are | found in 'the old colonial homes" of Tuscaloosa. The residences on the
 principal streets are all old, dating
 many years before tho war. Most oi them were erected in the early part of the nineteenth century, shortly af' | ter the city was founded. Being ths political capital and the seat of learn | ing of the state. it had greater socia importance than any other city be- | tween Savannah and New Orleans. anc
 a uniform style of architecture wa'
 adopted by the rich planters who bull their homes here. in imitation of th' classical elegance. which Thomas Jef ferson had introduced into the South at the University of Virginia. Th' original building of the Alabama Uni | versity were of the same style o classic architecture with lofty loni' niIlars and peristyles, Greek porticoe' and colonnades ,as those Jefferson de signed for the University of Virginis at Charlottesville, and planters, mer
 chants and professional men, impressed by this beauty and refinement. adopted
 the same school of architecture fo
 their residences. They erected impos ing porticoes, and several of them bull
 colonnades on three sides of thei houses with huge columns or stuc
 coed brick rising from the foundation
 to the roof.
 Thus there was a time when Tusca lOosa was famous for It's archltectura | elegance and also for the health of it l citizens it's educational advantages an'
 its profitable commence.
 Fifty or sixty years ago it was thu greatest commercial center north O
 Mobile. in Alabama. and planters iron
 the central and northern parts of th' | state came here to sell their cotton an'
 buy their supplies, which were trans
 ported between Tuscaloosa and Mobile by steamboats on the Black Warrio
 River Tuscaloosa is the highest poin
 reached by boats on that stream now but by the construction of a system O locks and dams around the rapids, d
 the cost of millions of dollars, the gov
 ernment of the United States is endeav
 bring to remove the embargoes of na
 ture and extend the head of navigation
 to Birmingham. so that the iron am
 coal of that city may be sent out to tn
 world by boat. Tuscaloosa has pecu
 liar advantage of lying just where tn
 coal iron and limestone formation
 meet the rich agricultural lands of tn | State. North and east of the city limit
 are unlimited coal and mineral deposit
 now being developed. while south am
 west the broad alluvial bottoms alon,
 the streams and the red clay soil of tn
 prairies produce great crops of cottor
 corn. or whatever else the planters ma
 care to raise. Just north of the city i J an iron furnace with capacity of tw | hundred and fifty tons of pig iron pc
 day. and fuel for the citizens Is brough