![On the left shows the original Tutwiler dormitory, and on the right shows the new dorm being built. The new Tutwiler is official housing students as of Fall 2022. [Photo/The University of Alabama]Picture](/uploads/2/3/9/9/23999508/2105030-mw-031-tutwiller-construction_orig.jpg)
On the left shows the original Tutwiler dormitory, and on the right shows the new dorm being built. The new Tutwiler is official housing students as of Fall 2022. [Photo/The University of Alabama] At 7 a.m. on July 4, 2022, Tuscaloosa was jolted awake by a sudden rumble followed by a loud bang and multiple explosions repeating one after the next. But it wasn’t fireworks. Instead, it was a controlled implosion of Julia Tutwiler Hall, an all-girls dormitory at the University of Alabama. Spectators watched the thirteen-floor tower as explosives inside went off, till finally the building fell to the ground, sending a plume of white dust into the air and leaving nothing behind but a pile of crumbled bricks and twisted metal. Around 675 pounds of dynamite was needed to bring the building down in twenty seconds.
The new Tutwiler dorm features several amenities, more beds and large green space. [Photo/The University of Alabama] Opened in 1968, Tutwiler has housed more than 50,000 students during its 52 years of history. Tutwiler was named after Julia Tutwiler; her father, Henry Tutwiler, was a professor of ancient languages at the University of Alabama and in 1892 got UA’s president to allow female students. An interesting fact about the old building is that there was no "thirteenth" floor. Superstition about the number thirteen made the university change floor numbers, going from floor twelve to floor fourteen.
The old dorm was showing its age, and a renovation of the building was not something that would be cost effective. Next door to where the old one once stood is a new Tutwiler that opened this August. Each room is double-occupancy and has its own private bathroom, but what makes it stand apart from its former is its grand community spaces both inside and outside, a fitness center, laundry rooms on each floor, a storm shelter that will also feature as a multipurpose room, and (where the old dorm once stood) a green space for all students to enjoy.
The old dorm was showing its age, and a renovation of the building was not something that would be cost effective. Next door to where the old one once stood is a new Tutwiler that opened this August. Each room is double-occupancy and has its own private bathroom, but what makes it stand apart from its former is its grand community spaces both inside and outside, a fitness center, laundry rooms on each floor, a storm shelter that will also feature as a multipurpose room, and (where the old dorm once stood) a green space for all students to enjoy.
John Morgan Underwood is from Springville, Alabama, and is a student at the University of Alabama majoring in English and minoring in News and Media. His family moved around a lot during his childhood before residing in Alabama.
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