Indian Queen Hotel (from BhamWiki)

The Indian Queen Hotel was a hotel located at Broad Street and 25th Avenue in downtown Tuscaloosa from the 1820s to the end of the Civil War.

The hotel was built by Thomas Balling and named for his purported ancestor, Pocahontas. A portrait of the Indian princess hung in the lobby. The hotel hosted sessions of the Alabama Legislature in 1827 and 1828.(ed. note: "Thomas Balling" should read THOMAS BOLLING)

On June 20, 1847 the hotel served as the meeting room for the organization of the Psi Chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, the first Greek letter fraternity at the University of Alabama.

In 1858 the hotel was put up for sale by Robert Jemison Jr along with six plantations and a livery stable.

During the Civil War it was used as a hospital under the supervision of Dr Anderson.

References

Sulzby, James Frederick (1960) Historic Alabama Hotels and Resorts. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press ISBN 0817353097
Ball, Marie (April 22, 1979) "Histories recalled with fond memories" The Tuscaloosa News
Cobb, Mark Hughes (July 10, 2009) "Digging up the truth about the Jemison house" The Tuscaloosa News

Tales of Old Blount County, Alabama - Page 87

Robin Sterling · 2013

Found inside – Page 87

Duffee later bought the Indian Queen Hotel in Tuscaloosa as well as other hotel properties in the city. He also owned and operated a successful hotel in Mobile where the young Duffee family spent their winters.

Delta Kappa Epsilon Quarterly - Volume 4, Issue 2 - Page 126

1886

Found inside – Page 126

In June , 1847 , Charles H. Foote ( 49 ) , of Huntsville , Ala . , arrived in Tuscaloosa and initiated the applicants for the charter , probably in a room at the Indian Queen , one of the two hotels then at Tuscaloosa .

Check HISTORY OF TUSCALOOSA 1816-1880 by Archibald Bruce McEachin

Jerome Cochran: His Life, His Works, His Legacy - Page 26

John T. Morris, ‎Barbara Ann McClary · 1998 · ‎Snippet view

Found inside – Page 26

The matériel was routed through Mobile , Alabama to the medical purveyor at Montgomery , and Cochran was ordered to set up a military hospital in Tuscaloosa . He rented the Indian Queen Hotel . This old hotel was the most nearly ...

Rowdy Tales from Early Alabama: The Humor of John Gorman Barr

John Gorman Barr, ‎G. Ward Hubbs · 1989

Found inside – Page 32

Owen was the Irish doorkeeper to the State House of Representatives while Tuscaloosa was the capital. ... According to advertisements, the Bank Coffee House was three doors from the Indian Queen Hotel,2 which was on the southeast corner ...

from HISTORY OF TUSCALOOSA 1816-1880 BY ARCHIBALD BRUCE McEACHIN

Stephen Miller remodeled the Indian Queen Hotel.

Hotels Everywhere

Taverns, inns, and hotels—the terms were used interchangeably—sprang up like weeds as soon as Tuscaloosa became the state capital in 1825. After all, those legislators had to stay somewhere. But those same legislators could not have been the best or cleanest guests. The owner of the Indian Queen Hotel announced one year “that since the adjournment of the Legislature our rooms have been thoroughly cleaned with lime, throughout, and are now in complete order for the reception of those who desire pleasant apartments.”

Moment in History compiled by Betty Slowe and Guy Hubbs.

THIS DAY IN DEKE HISTORY

June 20, 1847 - Psi Chapter is founded at the University of Alabama. The idea for a chapter there was first promoted by Cyprian George Webster (Phi-Yale, Class of 1848) who approached his friends Richard B. Owen, Charles F. Henry and Louis J. DuPré. Together, they selected as eligible men for their purposes. From the Senior Class, James I. Bonner; from the Junior Class, Edward G. Baptist, Thad. N. Perry, George W.F. Price, Milford F. Woodruff; and from the Sophomore Class, Edward L. Jones, John H. Lee, Charles A. Pegues, and Peyton W. Reynolds were chosen. Those men applied for a charter and, on June 20, 1847, Charles H. Foote (Phi-Yale College, Class of 1849) who was a resident of Huntsville, Alabama, arrived in Tuscaloosa to initiate the applicants, probably in a room at the Indian Queen, one of the two hotels then in Tuscaloosa. For some time after the installation of the chapter, its existence was kept secret. The following is set out in the 1910 Catalogue of the Fraternity: “… but soon the badge, with its cabalistic letters, was worn, exciting curiosity in the uninitiated, only to be based of its gratification.” Initially, there was no settled meeting place. For a short time, the chapter met at the Indian Queen, then at Washington Hall, sometimes in the room of a member, sometimes in rooms over stores, or wherever accommodations could be secured. “… such as to baffle the eye of the curious – ever seeking to shroud everything pertaining to the chapter in deepest mystery; yet the members attended with punctilious regularity, and performed their duties, especially literary ones, with great zeal.” “The exercises of the chapter were purely literary. Essays and criticisms were presented by members officially designated for the purpose. When these performances were of more than ordinary merit they were ordered to be filed in the archives of the society. Occasionally a paper was ordered to be sent to Phi at Yale, and in exchange, documents of a similar character were received from other chapters.” ROLL TIDE.

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INDIAN QUEEN HOTEL