The Gorgas House Museum, built in 1829, is the oldest structure at the University of Alabama. It was built two years before the actual university opened. For a while, it was a hotel, dining hall, and residence for the student organization that is responsible for student recruitment to the university. “Through personal interaction with perspective students and families, the University Stewards will embody the friendliness, hospitality, diversity and pride that the campus community has to offer” (bama.ua.edu). In the 1840s, it was converted into a faculty residence and was one of the few structures that survived the campus Civil War burning, which occurred in 1865. The Gorgas House represents so much about the university, and adds so much history …show more content…
The buildings represent the university campus in so many different ways, its good to say the university has roots and buildings that are older than the university are still on campus . These buildings add so much character to our university as well, knowing how many powerful people involved with the university have been involved with that building or even lived in it. The buildings include the Little Round house, Woods Hall, Clark Hall, Manly Hall, Garland Hall, Toumey Hall, Barnard Hall, and the Gorgas House. The Little Round house was originally the guardhouse for the university for overall protection of the university. The Little Round House held its ground during the campus burning and survived and was later saved by the trustees and converted into a record repository (Wikipedia). “Woods Hall was the first new building on campus following the civil war…Initially known simply as “the barracks” it was used as a dormitory. It also has a dining hall and classrooms on the ground floor. Was later converted in 1961 for the use by Department of Art and Art History”(Wikipedia). Clark Hall, built in 1884, “was originally designed as an all purpose building with a library, reading rooms, chapel, and a large public meeting room, which served as ‘the great public hall of the university…’ the building was restored again in the 1980’s… Clark Hall contains the main …show more content…
Currently it is a museum that contains original furniture of the home from the Gorgas family, and a collection of 19th century artifacts. With great honor the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, along with some of the other most historic buildings around the world. The museum is open to public and free admission to all students and faculty at the University of Alabama. I took full advantage of that great opportunity and visited the Gorgas house the other day and it was amazing. The feel I got from just being in the house was great and unforgettable, after walking through the house and reading all the placks with history on it, I learned so much about the house and I found it so interesting I lost track of time and ended up staying in the house for over a