Presbyterian ministerial students at the Tuscaloosa Institute (now Stillman College), founded in 1876, pose in front of the Victorian cottage that served as the institute's home from 1881 until 1898, when the school moved to its present location. Stillman House, as the building is known today, still serves the college as a gathering place for alumni and others. (Photo courtesy Heritage Commission of Tuscaloosa County)
Saving souls and mending bodies were important goals for early educators and students at Tuscaloosa’s Stillman College, founded in 1876. Established by the Southern Presbyterian Church to provide a “Christian education of practical value” and train young black men for the ministry, the school has played an important role in the education of African Americans in Alabama for more than one hundred years. Three buildings in particular serve as reminders of the college’s rich heritage: Winsborough Hall and Emily Estes Snedecor Hall, both on the Stillman campus, and Stillman House on Twenty-first Avenue in Tuscaloosa.
As the institute’s campus expanded, so did its offerings and its student body. An academic department--the beginning of what would develop into a standard high school--had been added in 1893 to supplement the seminary program, and in 1899 Stillman added additional courses and opened its doors to female day students. Not until 1922, however, would the school become officially co-educational. In that year, a women’s dormitory was erected on campus and named in honor of Hallie Paxon Winsborough, a central figure in the Presbyterian movement to provide training for young black women. In the decade that followed, a junior college was added to the high school operation (1927) and a nursing school was established (1929).
The nurses’ training school building, completed in 1930, was made possible by a gift of some $40,000 from the Presbyterian Women’s Auxiliary and by Stillman students, who contributed much of the labor. Named after former dean of women Emily Estes Snedecor, the facility housed a hospital that served both students and townspeople. Student nurses undertook two years of training in the hospital under the supervision of registered nurses. Requirements for admission to the program were strict. Only single girls or widows were accepted. Students were screened for personal health and hygiene, with each applicant required to “bring a signed statement from her dentist saying that her teeth are in good condition.” The price of tuition was forty dollars for twelve months, including the cost of two nursing uniforms. At the height of the nursing school’s enrollment, forty-two young women were registered.
Plagued from the beginning by financial problems, the nursing school struggled along for almost twenty years, as inadequate income from the hospital gave rise to staff shortages and other problems that kept the school from ever attaining full accreditation. Following World War II, when the US Army turned Northington General Hospital over to the City of Tuscaloosa, Stillman Hospital lost its charity patients to Northington. Finally, the struggle became too difficult, and in 1948 the hospital and the nursing school closed.
That same year, the school changed its name to Stillman College and began offering a four-year course of study a year later. Today, it has over one thousand students and a campus of one hundred acres. None of the nineteenth-century structures remain, including the Cochrane house, which was dismantled in 1954. That structure’s cast-iron Corinthian column capitals now grace the facade of the Sheppard library building completed in 1956.
Stillman House, Winsborough Hall, and Emily Estes Snedecor Hall remain vital parts of the college community. The restored Stillman House is used for gatherings by alumni and other groups. Winsborough Hall remains a girls’ dormitory. Snedecor Hall is used for both offices and classrooms. Architecturally and historically, these fine buildings deserve recognition for the role they have played in the lives of countless African Americans, and preservationists look forward to the day when they are added to the rolls of the National Register of Historic Places.
This feature was previously published in Issue 54, Fall 1999.
The nurses’ training school building, completed in 1930, was made possible by a gift of some $40,000 from the Presbyterian Women’s Auxiliary and by Stillman students, who contributed much of the labor. Named after former dean of women Emily Estes Snedecor, the facility housed a hospital that served both students and townspeople. Student nurses undertook two years of training in the hospital under the supervision of registered nurses. Requirements for admission to the program were strict. Only single girls or widows were accepted. Students were screened for personal health and hygiene, with each applicant required to “bring a signed statement from her dentist saying that her teeth are in good condition.” The price of tuition was forty dollars for twelve months, including the cost of two nursing uniforms. At the height of the nursing school’s enrollment, forty-two young women were registered.
Plagued from the beginning by financial problems, the nursing school struggled along for almost twenty years, as inadequate income from the hospital gave rise to staff shortages and other problems that kept the school from ever attaining full accreditation. Following World War II, when the US Army turned Northington General Hospital over to the City of Tuscaloosa, Stillman Hospital lost its charity patients to Northington. Finally, the struggle became too difficult, and in 1948 the hospital and the nursing school closed.
That same year, the school changed its name to Stillman College and began offering a four-year course of study a year later. Today, it has over one thousand students and a campus of one hundred acres. None of the nineteenth-century structures remain, including the Cochrane house, which was dismantled in 1954. That structure’s cast-iron Corinthian column capitals now grace the facade of the Sheppard library building completed in 1956.
Stillman House, Winsborough Hall, and Emily Estes Snedecor Hall remain vital parts of the college community. The restored Stillman House is used for gatherings by alumni and other groups. Winsborough Hall remains a girls’ dormitory. Snedecor Hall is used for both offices and classrooms. Architecturally and historically, these fine buildings deserve recognition for the role they have played in the lives of countless African Americans, and preservationists look forward to the day when they are added to the rolls of the National Register of Historic Places.
This feature was previously published in Issue 54, Fall 1999.
Author
Eliza Cobbs served as an intern at Alabama Heritage during the summer of 1999. Kristil Bottle, an Alabama Heritage intern from Stillman College, assisted with research.
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