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The Tea House
This photo shows students in the early 1950’s purchasing snacks, drinks, and other convenience items at the Tea House, one of the many purposes Reynolds Hall briefly served as the University campus expanded. By this time in the school’s history, the…
King House
King House was originally built in 1823 by Edmund King and was later sold to the University in 1908. This photo of students in front of the King House in 1905 demonstrates that although the university did not actually own the King House yet…
Edmund King Portrait
Portrait of Edmund King, the man who had King House built. Edmund King moved from Virigina and settled down in Montevallo in 1823. The original portrait still resides in King House where it continues to hang. Edmund King is the center of some…
Dr. Thomas Waverly Palmer
Dr. Thomas Waverly Palmer (1860-1926) was the third president of the University of Montevallo, and one of its most influential. Having previously served as a Dean and Professor of Mathematics at the University of Alabama, he became president of the…
Dr. D. L. Wilkerson
Dr. D. L. Wilkerson was the physician responsible for the care of the students during an outbreak of smallpox at the Alabama Girls Industrial School which is now the University of Montevallo. Dr. Wilkerson served the Alabama Girls Industrial School…
Permission to Leave Campus
The independent freedoms that students enjoy today at the University of Montevallo are quite different than the freedoms during the 1904 era. The school, then called the Alabama Girls Industrial School, required students to remain on campus unless…
Smallpox at Montevallo
This letter dated November 24th 1904 was sent by a parent of a student attending the Alabama Girls Industrial School, now called the University of Montevallo. This letter is a response by a parent having been notified of a smallpox outbreak at the…
Peterson Hall
Peterson Hall, originally built as an infirmary, was named for the university’s second president, Dr. Francis Marion Peterson. Construction for the building began in May 1913, and it was ready to house patients less than a year later in April 1914.…
Becoming Sculpture
The Becoming Sculpture was created by Ted Metz, a University of Montevallo art professor. The sculpture, 16 feet tall and made of bronze, was unveiled on February 15, 2003. The pedestal underneath the sculpture is made of limestone and red bricks.…
King Graveyard
This small plot is the family cemetery of the King family. This graveyard is located just behind Hill House and near Harmon Hall. The cemetery houses Edmund King and his family. The tall white obelisk headstone is that of Edmund King's. It is also…
Alabama College Dairy
President Palmer and the board began discussions to buy property for a dairy on May 20, 1908. His idea for starting the dairy was "to furnish the school with good wholesome milk and butter at a reasonable cost." By 1913 the Alabama College Dairy was…
Alabama College Holstein-Friesian Cows
Alabama College had a herd of certified Holstein-Friesian cows. The prized cows of Alabama College brought great pride to the school and surrounding community. The cows won numerous state and regional awards for their milk production. In a ten month…
Ghost of Main Hall: What Condie Cunningham Left Behind
On the night of February 4th of 1908, Alabama Girls Industrial School student Condie Cunningham and her roommate were making hot chocolate on a chafing dish in their room. When the curfew signal sounded, the young ladies began to clean up their…
Moo Manor
The Alabama College Dairy was shut down in 1960, after fifty years of operation. The herd and the dairy equipment were sold. The Dairy barn was then converted into an apartment house. The five two-bedroom and two three-bedroom apartment became…
Main Hall, 1902-1907
This photograph of the students in front of Main Hall at the Alabama Girls Industrial School was taken between 1902 and 1907. It is possible that Condie Cunningham would have been in her freshman year in this photograph.
Cunningham died in 1908…
Cunningham died in 1908…
School Tuition in 1900 & 1903
The Alabama Girls Industrial School empowered women through education. Although classes offered in the early 1900s reflected what society deemed appropriate and useful at the time, the promotion of higher education for women is one proud heritage for…
Kenney Flushometer System
In the December 1899, University of Montevallo (then called Alabama Girls Industrial School) President Francis Peterson received a letter from the Ahrens and Ott manufacturing company. This company sent a brochure to Peterson of the items that they…
Acetylene Gas Machine
In 1899, the President of the University of Montevallo (then called Alabama Girls Industrial School) Francis Peterson was given an advertisement for an Acetylene Gas Machine from the Craig Reynolds Foundry Company.
This “illumination machine”…
This “illumination machine”…
College Night Hand Signs
One of the traditions of college night that developed later in its course were the hand signals. A purple will hold up the 'peace sign' to represent their side, and a gold will hold up the 'thumbs up' sign to represent theirs. In this source, you see…
Scene from College Night
One of the traditions of College Night is that all music, scripts, costumes, and sets have to be handwritten or drawn on paper. This source shows Scene 5 from the purple side show in 1973.
College Night Program
A program from College Night in 1937. At this time, the University of Montevallo was still called Alabama College and was a university only for women. The picture is of Palmer Hall, the building where College Night is held annually.
Cynthia Shackelford
Cynthia Shackelford, a Montevallo alumna, took over as the university’s director of public relations in 1993. Until her death in 2011, she actively cultivated the campus’s reputation for ghosts. In fact, she welcomed a number of paranormal societies…
Alabamian Article (1978) Reports Supernatural Activity
In the mid-seventies students reported ghosts and various kinds of supernatural activity at buildings across campus including Palmer, Reynolds, King, and Main. The campus appeared saturated with supernatural activity. This newspaper article appeared…
Kathryn Tucker Windham
The 81/82 student yearbook mentioned Kathryn Tucker Windham's visit to the campus. In 1982 Windham published "Jeffrey's Latest 13: More Alabama Ghosts", which helped make the ghost lore surrounding the King Mansion known to the wider public. In 1993…
Telegram Between President Palmer and Dr. S. P. Capen
Gay-Teague Hotel, located in Montgomery Alabama, is where President Palmer arranged to meet with Samuel P. Capen who was a higher education specialist for the U.S. Bureau of Education (19114-1919) and subsequently the first director of the American…
Follow-up Letter to Washington
After President Palmer met with Dr. S.P. Capen, higher education specialist at the U.S. Bureau of Education, he followed up with an impassioned letter that reveals details about their exchange in Montgomery. The document encapsulates President…
A Faithful Horse
This short newspaper clipping humanizes President Palmer and shows us a softer side of the gargantuan figure who oversaw Montevallo for nearly two decades. This document, commemorating the death of Dr. Palmer's horse of twenty five years, Old…
The Cow Blanket That Can't Come Off!
An advertisement sent to the Alabama College Business Manager, W.J. Bailey, for a Cow Blanket from the R. Laacke Company. There is a letter that precedes the advertisement which alludes to the fact that it is the third letter which was sent after the…
Letter to the Alabama Governor regarding the transition to Alabama College
A letter to the Governor of Alabama, William W. Brandon from the Alabama College Board of Trustees. This is the first page of the full letter from the Board which outlines the completion of the transition to the new name of Alabama College as well as…
The Other Side of Cows
Pictured here is the Alabama College’s herd of certified Holstein-Friesian cows at milking time. The twice-daily milking process took over an hour. After milking the cows were let out into the pasture to graze and walk around. The dairy was operated…