Talladega College

Talladega College, Talladega, Alabama

Talladega College report to the Getty (PDF) 49MB

Founded in 1867 by two former slaves with assistance from the Freedman's Bureau and the American Missionary Association, Talladega was the first higher education institution in the state and the only public school within a nine-county region to provide educational opportunities for African Americans. Talladega stressed liberal arts education, with a strong emphasis on religion. The 129-acre campus has twelve structures on the National Register of Historic Places, and Swayne Hall, built by an African American slave carpenter and brick mason in 1852 prior to the college's founding, is a designated National Historic Landmark. Grant funds are being used to develop preservation strategies for the historic buildings and landscapes, and for resource documentation and assessment.

Talladega College received a Getty grant in 2007 for $90,000 to support campus heritage planning.

Report Summary

Purpose: Grant funds are being used to develop preservation strategies for the historic buildings and landscapes, and for resource documentation and assessment.

Historic Designation: The 129-acre campus is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district containing 12 historic structures, of which Swayne Hall, built by an African American slave carpenter and brick mason in 1852 prior to the college's founding, is individually designated a National Historic Landmark. The 55-acre historic core includes an 1813 battlefield (Tennessee Volunteers against the Creek Indians).

Founded in 1867 at Swayne Hall by two former slaves with assistance from the Freedman's Bureau and the American Missionary Association, Talladega was the first higher education institution in the state and the only public school within a nine-county region to provide educational opportunities for African Americans. Talladega stressed liberal arts education, with a strong emphasis on religion. Students originally worked agricultural areas of campus to pay for tuition and to feed the campus population.

Site list

• Startup Period (1867-78)
  • Swayne Hall (ca. 1867, Greek Revival) (previously a Baptist school)
  • Foster Hall (women’s dormitory) (1870, brick)
  • Stone Hall (men’s dormitory)
  • Cassedy School (wooden)
• Campus Period (1879-1904)
  • President’s House (1881)
  • Graves Theological Hall (1883)
  • Faculty Housing (1882-87)
  • Slater Shop (industrial shop) (1887)
  • Laundry (1888)
  • Model Barn / College Farm (1896)
  • Fay Cottage (1901)
  • DeForest Memorial Chapel (1903)
• Beautification Project Period (1905-43)
  • Carnegie Library (1905)
  • Goodnow Hospital (1909-10) (later Goodnow Hospital and Nurses’ Training School)
  • Andrews Theological Hall (1910)
  • Five Points Bulletin Board (1922)
  • Lyman Seymour Hall (1923)
  • Callanan Gymnasium (1924)
  • Silsby Science Hall (1926-27)
  • Fanning Refectory (1927)
  • Savery Library (1939)
• Innovation Period (1944-73)
• Current Period (1974- )

Planning Process

• Collect historic images of campus and its structures
• Analyze historic images for documentation of buildings and of landscapes
• Use Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes to identify 6 character areas on-campus
  • North Campus and the Historic Quad
  • South Campus
  • West Campus
  • West Battle Street Corridor
  • College Farm
  • Silsby Athletic Field

Outcomes: Policies and Plans

• Recognize the significance of spaces, spatial relationships, and finishes--original or not
• Importance of documentation, particularly photographic, preceding any preservation project

Outcomes: Products

• Chart of Historic Buildings, noting their original and current uses plus square footage
• List of recommended tree species and shrubs
• Illustrated history of selected buildings

Unique features:

• Discussion of dedication plaques
• Distinguishing between pedestrian-scale and roadway-scale lights
• Extremely detailed approach to dealing with structural damage, e.g., “take care…,” “move slowly…,” “use adequate light”
• Athletic Field considerations, such as maintenance of turf
• Areas presenting conflict--both significant to the historic campus and “visually incongruous with the historic landscape,” i.e., the Legacy Walk

Advisors

Clement and Wynn, Program Managers
The Jaeger Co., Landscape Architecture and Historic Preservation
Grashof Design Studio, Architecture/Historic Preservation