About this property
Wesleyan Hall, constructed in 1855, is one of the oldest structures on the University of North Alabama campus, located in Florence, Alabama. With its distinctive towers, Wesleyan Hall also is considered one of the most eminent landmarks in North Alabama. The Gothic Revival structure was designed to serve LaGrange College when this Methodist institution relocated from Franklin to Lauderdale county and subsequently was renamed and rechartered as Florence Wesleyan University. In 1855, the year the structure was completed, a President's Report showed an enrollment of 180 students. The fledgling university peaked at 225 students in the early 1860s, shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War. During the war, Wesleyan Hall was occupied by both Union and Confederate armies. General William Tecumseh Sherman is considered the most famous Union occupant of Wesleyan Hall during the war. In late 1864, shortly before his ill-fated involvement in the battles of Franklin and Nashville, Confederate General John Bell Hood occupied the building. The surrounding grounds were occupied by his troops and served as a meeting place for military personnel and townspeople for parties, dances and concerts. Confederate Generals Pierre G.T. Beauregard and Stephen D. Lee also occupied the adjoining grounds during the war and also may have used Wesleyan Hall as their headquarters. Following the war, Dr. Septimus Rice was the University's sole instructor, teaching classes in the Preparatory School and holding college-level courses in Wesleyan Hall. Despite a prolonged effort by the new Wesleyan University president, Dr. William H. Anderson, the institution continued to founder, and in 1871, the doors of Wesleyan Hall were closed. Recognizing the need for trained teachers in the post-war South, the Methodist Episcopal Church turned over Wesleyan Hall and the surrounding 12-acre (49,000 m2) grounds to the state of Alabama, which then chartered it as a state normal school. During this period, the halls of Wesleyan remained unheated, so stoves were used to warm classrooms, while coal oil lamps were employed for lighting. Because of the initially small enrollment, the upper floors were used as dormitories. A dilapidated white-washed board fence stood along the perimeter of the Wesleyan grounds to prevent livestock owned by nearby townspeople from wandering onto campus. On the south side of the structure in a similar state of disrepair stood a number of old stables used to quarter horses of local country boys attending the school. A large cistern in the rear of the Wesleyan supplied the school's water supply.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Wesleyan Hall listed on the National Register?
Wesleyan Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 19, 1974.
What type of historic resource is Wesleyan Hall?
Wesleyan Hall is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Wesleyan Hall?
The period of significance for Wesleyan Hall is recorded as the early_republic era, specifically around 1855.
Can I research the history near Wesleyan Hall?
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