Auburn is a transient college town for many, but Councilwoman Lynda Tremaine’s family has lived in Auburn for more than 150 years. Her great-grandfather John F. Heard moved to the small railroad town from Georgia during the Civil War era.
In the 1860s, Heard bought a small 20-year-old farmhouse on the “big road,” Moores Mill Road. Tremaine, 69, along with her high-school sweetheart and husband, still lives in the white, one-story home with her three cats, and according to her, even a couple of friendly ghosts.
“My mother was raised here, my grandmother was raised here, and I grew up here,” Tremaine said. “We’re deeply embedded with Auburn. It’s home, and I feel really passionate about it. We’re so lucky to live here.”
Along with the farmhouse, Heard bought more than 400 acres stretching from near Samford Avenue all the way to Interstate 85. Most of that land has since been sold as the City of Auburn has grown. Tucked away to prevent fading in a dark closet of Tremaine’s home is the original deed to the land. A signee of the agreement with the area’s Creek Indian tribe was President Martin van Buren.
“Not only was (Heard) a farmer, but he had a dry-goods store downtown too,” Tremaine said. “The more I read about him, he was really a jack of all trades.”
Heard was a farmer, a family man, a shop owner and a true Auburnite, but he was also a skilled workman. In 1889, when Auburn University was still the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Heard installed the first bell in Samford Hall’s clocktower.
“I told people during my campaign that my one claim to fame was that he installed the first bell in Samford Tower with his steam hoist,” Tremaine said. “He went down to the old railroad station, picked it up, got a wagon and got a helper, and they got it up there. So Samford Hall means a lot to me. I can still hear those bells chiming and know that it had to make him proud.”
More than 120 years later, Tremaine continues her family’s Auburn legacy. In August 2014, she was elected to represent Auburn’s 5th Ward on the City Council, a position in which she continues to serve. According to Tremaine, her family’s history was one of the driving forces that led her to run.
As Auburn continues to grow at one of the fastest rates in its history, many in Auburn are concerned the city might lose its Southern, small-town charm. Tremaine is one of those people.
Tremaine said she decided to run for City Council after having a personal encounter with national real estate developers who were buying up land near lots owned by her family for years. Those developers then built parking lots and fast-food franchises.
“I had gotten involved with going to some of the Planning Commission meetings over some things that I didn’t like that I was seeing that were being allowed on Gay Street where we owned property,” Tremaine said.
After the city voted in Tremaine’s favor to prevent some variances close to her property line, which would have allowed the neighboring property owners to deviate from zoning requirements, she was encouraged to run a grassroots campaign for City Council.
“People read about it in the paper and said, ‘See, you can make a difference. We need hometown people who really care about this town,’” Tremaine said. “I went up to City Hall, and it was about an hour before they were closing down qualifications, and nobody had put their name in [to run against the incumbent], so I told them to give me the paperwork.”
Tremaine’s grassroots efforts did not end during her campaign. She now holds monthly ward meetings at St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church at Auburn University on the first Monday of every month. During the ward meetings, citizens are encouraged to chat with Tremaine and share their thoughts on city issues.
“I was told by some people that I was wasting my time, that people wouldn’t come, but people come,” Tremaine said.
According to Tremaine, a major concern among the citizens in her ward is the unregulated growth and development downtown, which they feel threatens Auburn’s soul.
“You talk about how people love Auburn and the atmosphere and the small-town charm,” Tremaine said. “I’m just so afraid with what’s going on right now with the building of so many student apartments, which I call high-rises, about what it’s going to do to the whole atmosphere of downtown.”
Several new apartment developments are coming to downtown Auburn soon, including The Parker and The Standard, among others. The new developments, many of which will rise to the city’s limit of 75 feet, will add hundreds of student beds to downtown.
“I feel like a lot of people are going to be surprised when they see what’s happening,” Tremaine said. “It’s been reported in the newspapers, but until they start seeing what the height is actually going to look like, they don’t know.”
Keep Auburn Lovely, a group Tremaine supports, has been advocating for months to prevent large student-housing developments downtown. Tremaine said she and Keep Auburn Lovely are not antigrowth.
“I am not antigrowth,” Tremaine said forcefully. “A lot of people think that if you don’t want those [developments] that you just want Auburn to stagnate. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our downtown has got to continue to be a vibrant area to support local businesses. I am not against new buildings.”
Tremaine said downtown needs an upgrade, but that she is worried that the view of Samford Hall — the famous landmark in which her great-grandfather helped install the first clock bell — will soon be obstructed by student-housing developments.
“Someone argued with me that coming over the railroad track you would still be able to see Samford Tower,” Tremaine said. “No. You can now, over the Papa John’s sign, but once that tall corner apartment building goes up, you won’t. The skyline will be changed, and once it’s changed, it’s changed forever.”
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