Soon after Alabama officially became a state, settlers came from the coastal region and started communities. Selma witnessed its rise along with surrounding communities. Local citizens, benefiting from the agricultural advantages to establish businesses, transportation, and necessary government agencies, felt the need to provide educational opportunities for their young people. As a result, numerous schools were established in the 1830's and 1840's in the various communities.
In 1839, the Ladies Educational Society of Selma was incorporated with the goal of creating schools. The first school was the Dallas Academy in 1839. The next school the Society helped promote was the Central Masonic Institute, incorporated on February 18, 1848 by the Local Fraternal Lodge No. 27.
According to the Act of Incorporation, the founders were William Hendrix, Grand High Priest of the Royal Arch Chapter, Rufus Green, Grand Master of the Lodge of Alabama, and locals Charles G. Edwards, Nimrod E. Benson, John M. Strong, William Sewell, William M. Lapsley, William Wadell, Jr., George E. Gayle, Wiley Milton, John R. Somerfield, Abner Jones, and Thomas B. Carson. The purpose of the school was "to educate youth of both sexes." Consequently, a three story building was erected on a site at the end of Alabama Avenue.
The first president was Rev. S. R. Wright, a Presbyterian minister, who came from being president of Marion Female Seminary. During his tenure, according to the 1851 catalog, the Institute consisted of instruction from primary to collegiate levels. For the male department, boarding in a separate building, the Institute offered a program patterned after the West Point Military Academy.
In 1852, the name of the Institute was officially changed to "The Masonic University of the State of Alabama." At this time, the University seemed to be facing financial problems. Rev. Wright resigned the next year to become head of another female seminary in Uniontown.
The next president was Prof. Alexander Winchell, coming from the Mesopotamia Female Seminary in Eutaw, Alabama. While, according to the Masonic University advertisement, the school, despite its name, was " no longer under the control of the Masonic fraternity, " and goes on to say, "the president alone is responsible for its future character." The male department evidently was dropped, for the advertisement says, "the Institution, as its name implies, occupies a position above that of normal female seminaries."
Unfortunately, tragedy ultimately led to the University's demise. In the fall of 1853 a yellow fever epidemic struck Selma. According to a newspaper article of October 31, 1853, panic resulted and citizens fled "en mass ... about 300 out of 3,500 only remaining." It was reported that "all business is suspended, the schools are disbanded. "
Prof. Winchell, at the time, was elected professor of Physics and civil engineering at the University of Michigan and began his duties in January of 1854. The building was later converted to a hospital, an office building, and is now the Vaughan-Smitherman Museum.
-Dr. Paul G. Reitzer
Perry County Historical Society
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Perry County History Museum
The Perry County History Museum is one of three museums in the city of Marion. It is located in the old Female Seminary Building that was built in 1850. In 1984, the Perry County Historical and Preservation Society took ownership of the building which had been vacant for several years. Gradually, the process of restoring the various rooms began, the auditorium being one of the first rooms to be restored. In the early 1990's the former classrooms were tackled.
In the process of restoration, one of the Board members, Dr. Paul Reitzer, felt that it would be a good idea to start a museum that would occupy five of the classrooms and thus, also, preserve historical material related to Perry County. Dr. Reitzer, no stranger to museums, had visited museums in his multiple travels and studies in the United States and Europe, and had started two museums in South Carolina before coming to Marion.
In gathering fixtures and items for the museum rooms, he collected most of them by purchasing and donating them from travels to flea markets, antique malls, estate sales, and auctions. Consequently, for instance, old school type light fixtures came from places such as the Dozier Hardware building, Newbern Baptist Church, and stores in Selma and Mississippi. Display cases were bought from the old Dozier Hardware, First Christian Church of Selma, a former store owned by the Gayles on Highway 5, and an old store in Newbern. Most recently, several items have been donated by area folks and are so noted with the items.
While items were purchased from all over the country, Dr. Reitzer tried to collect items that resembled ones that most likely existed in early Perry County. In the main downstairs room are examples of Perry County pottery, drugstore items, old pictures of Marion stores and schools, two hand-made quilts, and memorabilia related to schools and personalities.
Upstairs, in the former chemistry lab, are several military items in one cabinet ( limited so as not to compete with Marion Military's Museum), a cabinet with old projectors, a glass bottle display showing a brief history of bottles, a display of Chemistry lab equipment, a few toys and a chair from the old Bonita Theater.
The next room features hand tools, hand machines like vegetable, meat, and coffee grinders, cream separators, hand saws, and cultivators.
The next room features railroad items, automobile related appliances, household items ( toasters, waffle irons, beaters) children's dishes, wooden wash machines, and baking supplies.
The fifth room features items from surrounding Perry County communities (Heiberger, Newbern, Uniontown, Felix-now Suttles, Perryville, Sprott ) an assortment of hand irons, shoes, sewing kits, street lights, and a weaving loom.
Two of the rooms have been dedicated to former Historical Society Board Members who played a large part in its history: Virginia Moore and Mildred Woodson. Space has been reserved in the hallway upstairs to commemorate one of Perry County's leading authors: Mary T. Brown. The display features her desk, her chair, and several pictures related to her.
The museum is open during the Society's December Tour of Homes, on scheduled evening events, on Perry County High School Alumni Day, and by special appointment.
In the process of restoration, one of the Board members, Dr. Paul Reitzer, felt that it would be a good idea to start a museum that would occupy five of the classrooms and thus, also, preserve historical material related to Perry County. Dr. Reitzer, no stranger to museums, had visited museums in his multiple travels and studies in the United States and Europe, and had started two museums in South Carolina before coming to Marion.
In gathering fixtures and items for the museum rooms, he collected most of them by purchasing and donating them from travels to flea markets, antique malls, estate sales, and auctions. Consequently, for instance, old school type light fixtures came from places such as the Dozier Hardware building, Newbern Baptist Church, and stores in Selma and Mississippi. Display cases were bought from the old Dozier Hardware, First Christian Church of Selma, a former store owned by the Gayles on Highway 5, and an old store in Newbern. Most recently, several items have been donated by area folks and are so noted with the items.
While items were purchased from all over the country, Dr. Reitzer tried to collect items that resembled ones that most likely existed in early Perry County. In the main downstairs room are examples of Perry County pottery, drugstore items, old pictures of Marion stores and schools, two hand-made quilts, and memorabilia related to schools and personalities.
Upstairs, in the former chemistry lab, are several military items in one cabinet ( limited so as not to compete with Marion Military's Museum), a cabinet with old projectors, a glass bottle display showing a brief history of bottles, a display of Chemistry lab equipment, a few toys and a chair from the old Bonita Theater.
The next room features hand tools, hand machines like vegetable, meat, and coffee grinders, cream separators, hand saws, and cultivators.
The next room features railroad items, automobile related appliances, household items ( toasters, waffle irons, beaters) children's dishes, wooden wash machines, and baking supplies.
The fifth room features items from surrounding Perry County communities (Heiberger, Newbern, Uniontown, Felix-now Suttles, Perryville, Sprott ) an assortment of hand irons, shoes, sewing kits, street lights, and a weaving loom.
Two of the rooms have been dedicated to former Historical Society Board Members who played a large part in its history: Virginia Moore and Mildred Woodson. Space has been reserved in the hallway upstairs to commemorate one of Perry County's leading authors: Mary T. Brown. The display features her desk, her chair, and several pictures related to her.
The museum is open during the Society's December Tour of Homes, on scheduled evening events, on Perry County High School Alumni Day, and by special appointment.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)