Auburn City Hall in

Auburn, Alabama Auburn is a city in Lee County, Alabama, United States. It is the largest city in eastern Alabama, with a 2020 population of 76,143. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area. The Auburn-Opelika, AL MSA with a population o ...

, built in 1933, is the

city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

. It was originally constructed as a post office in 1933, and, like many post offices constructed during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, the building has a "starved classical" design typical of federal architecture, with symmetrical style and pointed pediments and elements of

colonial revival architecture The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

as the U.S. Post Office in 1983.

History

The site for the post office was deeded in 1846 by Auburn founder John J. Harper to Simeon Perry, agent for the Auburn Academy (today Auburn High School), for the use of the male division of the Academy as a separate school. In 1856, this school became the preparatory department of the East Alabama Male College (today

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

). After the

U.S. Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states t ...

, the preparatory division moved to the main campus of the college and the building briefly became a chair factory before Auburn High School (then operating as the Auburn Female College) took over the structure around 1870. An adjacent two-story brick structure for Auburn High School was built just south of the old school building in 1899, and the old school building was subsequently razed. When Auburn High moved to a new campus in 1915, the brick structure became the Auburn Grammar School until it was torn down in 1931 to make way for the post office building. The City of Auburn donated the school site for the construction of a $90,000 post office in 1933, which received first class status in 1940. The building served as the post office for the city of Auburn until a new facility was constructed in 1991. In 1992, the City of Auburn purchased the building, renting the structure to the Food Bank of East Alabama, before renovating it as City Hall in 2001.Auburn Heritage Association,
Historic Markers - City Hall
", retrieved September 6, 2010.

References

Colonial Revival architecture in Alabama Government buildings completed in 1933 Post office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama Auburn High School (Alabama) National Register of Historic Places in Lee County, Alabama City halls in Alabama Buildings and structures in Auburn, Alabama {{postal-stub

History

See also

References