BY: Kory Hobbs
Auburn University at Montgomery is currently home to over 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The campus sits on a beautiful 500-acre lot on the eastern side of Montgomery. The success of the university and campus would not have been possible if it wasn’t for what unfolded in the late 1960’s.
On a quest to expand higher education within the city of Montgomery, Charles Brightwell, the president of the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce looked around the city for the best candidates. The University of Alabama had an educational building near Maxwell Airforce Base off Bell Street that seemed like a logical place for Brightwell to begin his pursuit. However, when Brightwell reached out to the university they were not very keen on the idea of expanding throughout Montgomery. In 1967, the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce decided to contact officials at Auburn University by committee. A plan was put in place with the cooperation of the Auburn University Board of Trustees. The plan was simple, Auburn University would purchase the property on Bell Street if the state legislature would approve funding for a campus expansion within the city. It did not take long to get things rolling downtown, on September 8, 1967 Act No. 403, commonly referred to as the Montgomery College Bill was signed by Governor Lurleen B. Wallace. The Montgomery College Bill was passed in only five days and was led by the chair of the Finance and Taxation Committee, Senator Otis J. Goodwyn. Harry M. Philpott, Auburn University president who also helped get the bill passed through legislation began looking for a location for the campus. There were nearly two dozen bids but eventually the current location of the campus was chosen due to its proximity to Interstate 85 and the soil conditions at the time of construction were more ideal.
Everything did not go smoothly though. In early 1968 court cases would delay the project and cost the state almost half a million dollars. Eventually the project of expanding higher education in Montgomery was green lighted. The purchase of the property on Bell Street was completed for $225,000 with Auburn University immediately taking control and running the location for the 1968-1969 school year. The situation on Bell Street was not ideal but the plan was to expand from the very beginning. In the fall of 1969 the plan for Auburn University at Montgomery was released. It featured two main buildings, a combined administrative building with a large library and Goodwyn Hall named after the very senator who helped put the plan in motion. If you did not know about the original mascot, Senators, this is where it came from. Auburn University at Montgomery would begin in the fall of 1969 at the Bell Street location. The first full year on the new campus would be the 1971-1972 academic year and be home to over 1,500 students eventually growing to what it is today.