Auburn University’s history comes alive in “Lost Auburn: A Village Remembered in Photographs,” a new book written by Ralph Draughon Jr., Delos Hughes and Ann Pearson.
“The book stresses that ‘The Loveliest Village’ has mushroomed into the ninth largest city in Alabama and that this sudden growth has threatened to alter its environment and diminish its historic character,” Draughon said.
The book’s 184 pages share tales and more than 200 photographs of buildings that once stood in Auburn.
The preface of the book reads, “The authors of this book are such returnees, coming home after absences of various lengths and more or less infrequent visits while living elsewhere. They believe some record should be compiled of Auburn structures that one can no longer see: buildings that have been destroyed, or so altered as to be no longer recognizable, or that have simply fallen into ruin.”
Draughon was responsible for the sections on the colleges and the fraternity houses, which he said took two years to collect pictures and write.
He said the authors could have compiled just a picture book, but the text makes the book even more informative.
“In the past, Auburn University occasionally has suffered from what I would call institutional Alzheimer’s Disease,” Draughon said. “In two particular instances, deeply disturbing to historic preservationists, a college architect butchered the Victorian interior of Samford Hall and transformed the old Carnegie Library, now Mary Martin Hall, into a windowless rabbit warren.”
Draughon serves on the Alabama Historical Commission, as well as the board of directors for the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation.
He earned his Ph.D in southern history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has taught at the University of Georgia and established a research center called Statford Hall at the University of Virginia.
He has also served as a curator for the Historic New Orleans Collection and a historical adviser to a national archeological firm.
“Particularly in the 1970s, some developers leveled city blocks in old neighborhoods to erect penitentiary-style student housing surrounded by solid asphalt parking lots,” Draughon said. “In many of these developments not a tree, bush or blade of grass was allowed.”
Pearson is the president of the Auburn Heritage Foundation and currently serves on the board of the Historic Chattahoochee Foundation. Pearson is an author of three mystery novels and wrote articles on local history and historic preservation. She earned her master’s degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Ph.D in English from Auburn.
“Neither the book nor its authors, all of whom grew up in Auburn and still live here, wish to emphasize the negative,” Draughon said. “What we wish to do instead is to remind the faculty, students and townspeople of Auburn of the importance of our community’s historic character.”
Hughes is an emeritus professor of politics at Washington & Lee University. He graduated from Lee County High and received degrees from Oberlin College and UNC at Chapel Hill.
“The poisoning of the ancient live oaks at Toomer’s Corner remind us how precious, and how ephemeral, our community’s landmarks can be,” Draughon said. “Must we lose them to appreciate their worth?”
Here is what others are saying about Lost Auburn:
Doug Purcell, executive director emeritus, Historic Chattahoochee Commission
“A thought-provoking book that graphically illustrates how incremental change, over a period of many years, can significantly alter a community’s sense of place. Communities can use this book as a template to record their architectural treasures that have been lost to fire, nature, neglect or, simply, poor planning.”
Dan Bennett, dean emeritus, Auburn University College of Architecture
“Lost Auburn is a unique history of the town and university which describes in loving specificity the many people and places that make Auburn special. Sadly, the book also details the loss of the very characteristics that created Auburn’s original sense of place.”
Robert Gamble, senior architectural historian, Alabama Historical Commission
“The authors’ affectionate regard for their hometown is unmistakable in a book that manages to instruct while bringing people and places to life again. Lost Auburn also reminds us of how we shape our built environments and are in turn shaped by them.”
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