Tuscaloosa Country Club
Country clubs
The Tuscaloosa Country Club, organized in 1921 and constructed in 1922, had a nine-hole golf course.
It was not the first golf course in Tuscaloosa. The first was the Riverside Golf Course, located on what was once Queen City Park and which had nine holes, sand greens and was open to the public.
As more people took up golf, plans were made for a private golf course. The course was built off Sixth Street in the city's West End under the direction of Charles Hall, then golf pro at the Birmingham Country Club. F. G. Blair was the club's first president, R.E. Dunham, vice-president, and Frank Maxwell, secretary-treasurer.
Ten years later, a devastating tornado rampaged through Tuscaloosa County that left only the basement walls at the Tuscaloosa Country Club. The club then ran into financial difficulties and the mortgage was foreclosed.
In 1937, The country club rose again as the Country Club of Tuscaloosa with Hayse Tucker as the new president. In 1947, an additional nine holes were added.
In recent years the country club has experienced financial difficulties. In 2013, it was sold to TCC Acquisition Partners LLC. The new owners planned to do residential development on part of the country club property with plans to keep the club house and to maintain the 18-hole course at least temporarily.
Tuscaloosa News
Tuscaloosa News Archive
April 25, 1969, June 5, 2013
Betty Slowe (Description)
Newspaper
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Tuscaloosa Jaycees
Bank, Bertram "Bert," 1914-2009
Meredith, Owen, 1913-1999
Dunham, William "Billy"
Owen Meredith, Bert Bank and William "Billy" Dunham represent the Tuscaloosa Jaycees in this photo. Jaycees were the Junior Chamber of Commerce.
Personal Collection of Jimmy Bank
1949
Betty Slowe (Description)
Photograph
1642
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Tuscaloosa Lesbian Coalition T-Shirt
T-shirts
LGBTQ life
Tuscaloosa Lesbian Coalition
The picture depicts a red phoenix logo of the Tuscaloosa Lesbian Coalition on a lavender shirt. The Tuscaloosa Lesbian Coalition was a community-based production group formed in 1986 by Rose Gladney and Marcia Winter to support lesbian concerns and activities. The women-only social group published monthly newsletters, actively fundraised for the organization and other causes, and were dedicated to bringing popular lesbian artists and other lesbian cultural events to Tuscaloosa. TLC welcomed women of all races, ethnic background, classes, political and religious persuasions, and women who are differently abled or handicapped. TLC was an active organization in the lesbian community of Tuscaloosa that allowed for socialization and discussions of lesbian concerns and issues.
Summersell Center for Study of the South
Tuscaloosa Public Library
Photograph
2597
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Masonic Lodge, 2411 6th Street, Tuscaloosa
Clubs
This is the Masonic Lodge/Eastern Star Building that stood at 2411 6th Street in Tuscaloosa. Christ Episcopal Church is on the right and the Searcy building (Bama Theatre location) is on the left. The Allen and Jemison Hardware Store sign can be seen to the rear of the building. The building rented space for doctor's offices. Read News agency, owned by Mrs. David A. Read (Dovie Satterwhite), also rented space in the building in the 1930s. Christ Episcopal Church purchased the building in 1971 so it could expand and the building was demolished in 1974. The site is now the garden and education building for the church.
Jemison Van de Graaff Foundation
Betty Slowe (Description)
Photograph
497
Tuscaloosa (AL)
George Searcy House, 815 Greensboro Avenue, circa 1930
Public libraries
Tuscaloosa Public Library
Houses and homes
This photo shows the Searcy House when it was used for the Tuscaloosa Public Library from 1926 to 1958.
The two-story Searcy House was built in 1904 by George Searcy, a Tuscaloosa banker and businessman. It was sold to Tuscaloosa County in 1925 for $35,000. The building was used for both a public library and the administrative offices of the Tuscaloosa County Board of Education.
Previous to the purchase of the Searcy House the Library, from 1921 to 1926, was housed in the basement of the County Courthouse. In 1958 the Library moved to the Jemison Mansion through the generosity of Victor Hugo Friedman.
In 1968 the Board of Education renovated it for more functional office use. At that time, a cylindrical spiral staircase, constructed in 1840 and salvaged from the E.N.C. Snow House which once sat on the site of the present Tuscaloosa County Courthouse, was moved to the Searcy House.
The house was an excellent example of the Neo-revival style of architecture popular at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1904, Tuscaloosa was once again becoming more socially and financially active and the Searcy House was one of the first large houses built in the area since the 1870's.
The house was approximately square with a wide veranda on front and four fluted Ionic columns. The entrance had an arched transom and lights on each side of the door. The details of the woodwork, dentils, rails and supports of the balcony added distinction to the Greek Revival style of the house.
In 2012, the Board of Education acquired the Federal Courthouse Building on Greensboro Avenue after a new Federal Courthouse was built on University Boulevard. The Board of Education sold the Searcy House to Frederick Hahn Sr., the lone bidder, for its appraised value of $600,000. Hahn donated the house to the adjoining First Baptist Church.
Attempts by the Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society to save the Searcy House, which was on the "Places in Peril" list of the Alabama Historical Commission, were unsuccessful.
An estate sale to sell of parts of the house was held. Mantels, windows, pocket doors, moldings and other period parts of the house were sold. The spiral staircase was salvaged for use in another historic home or stored for safekeeping. Any remaining items of value were removed to a location for a later sale before the house was demolished in 2014.
Tuscaloosa Public Library
Circa 1930
Elizabeth Bradt (Description)
Photograph
1978
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Library Dream Comes True for Mrs. Lucy Pou, 1931
Tuscaloosa Public Library
Pou, Lucy
Public libraries
Article in the Tuscaloosa News on March 10, 1931, about the early days of the Tuscaloosa Public Library
Mary Fitts Bennett
Tuscaloosa News Archive
March 10, 1931
Tuscaloosa Public Library
Newspaper
2005
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Library Week Report Made at Board Meeting, 1935
Tuscaloosa Public Library
Pou, Lucy
Public libraries
Report of the Tuscaloosa Public Library Board Meeting
Tuscaloosa News Archive
April 2, 1935
Tuscaloosa Public Library
Newspaper
2004
Tuscaloosa (AL)
County Library Report Issued for 1943
Tuscaloosa Public Library
Nicholson, Winona
The 1943 annual report of the Tuscaloosa County Library including the hiring of a new librarian.
Tuscaloosa News Archive
February 21, 1944
Tuscaloosa Public Library
Newspaper
2001
Tuscaloosa County (AL)
History of the Tuscaloosa Public Library through 1945
Tuscaloosa Public Library
Public libraries
An account of the history of the Tuscaloosa Public Library by Thomas Clinton that was written in 1945.
Thomas Clinton
Tuscaloosa Public Library
1945
Tuscaloosa Public Library
Document
1996
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Bookmobile at Bethel School, 1949
Tuscaloosa Public Library
Bookmobiles
A photograph of students at Bethel School enjoying a visit of the Tuscaloosa Public Library Bookmobile.
One out of 33 - The Bookmobile visits 33 schools in the county and 17 adult stations each month. This picture, taken at Bethel School, shows a flock of young students as they rushed to help their teachers select the books that would be kept at their school for a month. The Bookmobile does not furnish textbooks, but contains lots of supplementary material that will assist the students in their courses. Of course, it carries books that are just for pleasure reading, too.
Tuscaloosa News
Tuscaloosa Public Library
Tuscaloosa News
February 20, 1949
Elizabeth Bradt (Description)
Photograph
2471
Tuscaloosa County (AL)