Timeline data collected from a number of sources including, but not limited to, Alabama Baptist State Convention minutes, university yearbooks (Entre Nous) and student newspapers (the Crimson), Seasons Magazine, histories from University Libraries, as well as input from the University Archivist, oral history interviews, and other university sources. This timeline is a work in progress and will continue to evolve as we expand our research. Originals of timeline photographs are housed in Samford University Special Collection (http://library.samford.edu/about/special.html).
An Army led by Andrew Jackson inflicted a “decisive, crushing” defeat on Creek warriors. “It marks the end of Indian Domination of this land.- Ed Bridges, Director, Alabama State Archives
Marion, Alabama, "The College City," was established in 1817. First called Muckle Ridge, the town was later renamed in honor of Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox."
Hosea Holcombe leads in the founding of Ruhama Baptist Church in East Lake adjacent to the site that would become Howard College. Ruhama is Birmingham's oldest continuous congregation. Holcombe served as pastor from 1819 to 1821. The church provided much support to Howard College after the move to the East Lake campus in 1888.
Alabama becomes the 22nd state. “It really marks the time when we come together as a people within these boundaries, and we are Alabamians”- Ed Bridges, Alabama State Archives Director
In June 1822 Siloam Baptist Church is founded. Siloam played an important role in the early years of Howard College. Members of the church also founded Judson College and the Alabama Baptist newspaper.
First courthouse built in Marion.
The Alabama Baptist State Convention (ABSC) meets for the first time at Salem Baptist Church.
Judson College, the Baptist college for women, established in Marion, Alabama
Howard College Incorporation. In November 1841, at their regular convention meeting in Talladega, the Alabama Baptist State Convention decided to establish a college for men. The founders chose to name the school Howard College in honor of John Howard, an eighteenth century English social reformer who frequently risked his own life to better the wretched condition of prisoners in that era. He was widely revered as a model of Christian compassion when the school was founded.
Samuel Sterling Sherman is named the first president of Howard College. Just 27 years old at the time of his appointment, Sherman was the only professor at Howard for most of the first year. Sherman served as president until 1852.
First day of classes in Marion, Alabama.
The Alabama Baptist newspaper is first published on February 4, 1843 in Marion, Alabama. http://thealabamabaptist.org/more-about-the-alabama-baptist.php?id_about=2
On May 10, 1844, a fire destroyed the building that housed Howard College. Luckily, the library and most of the equipment survived.
The Alabama Resolutions, which included the demand that slaveholders be eligible for denominational offices, passed at Siloam Baptist Church. Their later failure at the Triennial Convention precipitated the formation of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The Southern Baptist Convention was established at a meeting in Augusta, GA.
Howard graduated its first class, consisting of seven men.
Henry Talbird becomes the second president of Howard College.
A second fire destroys Howard College. President Talbird's slave, Harry, and one student perish in the fire.
Phi Gamma Delta establishes the Mu chapter at Howard College, marking the introduction of fraternities to the school. The fraternity was active until the Civil War drew students away from Howard College.
Confederates fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC, marking the beginning of the Civil War.
Alabama becomes the fourth state to secede from the Union. “To me, it marks the effort by white Alabamians to protect their old way of life, and the beginning of the war that ended the old way of life,” which included slavery- Ed Bridges, Director, Alabama State Archives
President Talbird (Captain Talbird) organizes the Independent Volunteers. Howard students join him and leave for Virginia. Henry Talbird's presidency at Howard College ended in 1863. The school went without a president from 1863 - 1865 and was used as a Confederate military hospital.
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared slaves in Confederate states such as Alabama to be free. “I just think it’s really important to think about the Civil War as both the Effort by white Southerners to protect their way of life and the ending of the system of slavery on which that life was largely built.”- Ed Bridges, Alabama State archives director
Jabez Curry becomes the third president of Howard College.
Edward Q. Thornton becomes the fourth president of Howard College.
Samuel R. Freeman becomes the fifth president of Howard College
Founding of the city of Birmingham, Alabama
James T. Murfee is named the sixth president of Howard College. When the college relocated to East Lake, he remained in Marion and began the Marion Military Institute on the old Howard College campus.
Democrats sweep back into power, effectively ending Reconstruction. Alabama Republicans, including blacks, held many offices statewide and in Congress after the Civil War. Democrats calling for government austerity and white supremacy seized firm control of the Legislature and took back the governor’s office after the election of November 3, 1874. “They were able to set up a new system of control that instituted segregation and prevented blacks from having any effective role in government.” - Ed Bridges, Director,Alabama State archives
Alexander Graham Bell patents the first telephone.
Thomas Edison produces the first phonograph, or record player, to record and reproduce sound.
Baseball at Howard officially kicks off with a victory over Southern University.
Thomas Edison successfully tests his light bulb model in public in Menlo Park.
Home Mission Board moves from Marion, Alabama to Atlanta, Georgia.
Howard College is sold on the steps of the county court house to satisfy the Matthew Turner judgment.
Louis Pasteur successfully tests a vaccine for rabies on Joseph Meister, a child who had been attacked by a dog.
First day of classes on the East Lake campus. Howard College starts the year in their new location with 83 students.
Women's Missionary Union organized in Richmond, Virginia, as an auxiliary arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Benjamin Franklin Riley becomes the seventh president of Howard College.
Arthur W. McGaha becomes the eighth president of Howard College.
A. D. Smith becomes the ninth president of Howard College.
Anna Judge becomes Howard's first female graduate. Co-education was thereafter suspended for "lack of proper facilities" Five other women were admitted between the years of 1895 - 1896.
Frank M. Roof becomes the tenth president of Howard College.
Eugenia Weatherly, admitted in 1894 with Anna Judge, becomes the second female to graduate from Howard College, and the first with a traditional four-year degree.
Howard College becomes debt free.
Due to its quick growth at the turn of the century, Birmingham is nicknamed the "Magic City."
Howard's first basketball team takes to the court.
Howard College fields its first football team.
Andrew P. Montague becomes the eleventh president of Howard College.
The cornerstone of Renfroe Hall is laid at commencement, 1903. In addition to containing a dining hall, Renfroe Hall served as a dormitory for male students, and housed the Navy V-12 program during World War II, until Samford's female students claimed it after the war.
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