Auburn

History

Inhabited in antiquity by the Creek, the land on which Auburn sits was opened to settlement in 1832 with the Treaty of Cusseta. The first settlers arrived in the winter of 1836 from Harris County, Georgia. These settlers, led by Judge John J. Harper, intended to build a town that would be the religious and educational center for the area. War soon broke out between treaty violators and the Creeks, which led to the Creeks being forcefully moved towards Oklahoma. Auburn was incorporated on February 2, 1839, in what was then Macon County, covering an area of . By that time, Methodist and Baptist churches had been established, and a school had been built and had come into operation. In the mid-1840s, separate academies for boys and girls were established in addition to the primary school. This concentration of educational institutions led to a rapid influx of families from the planter class into Auburn in the 1840s and 1850s. By 1858, of the roughly 1,000 free residents of Auburn, some 500 were students. In 1856, the state legislature chartered a Methodist college, the East Alabama Male College in Auburn. This college, now Auburn University, opened its doors in 1859, offering a classical and liberal education. In 1892, the college became the first four-year college in Alabama to admit women. This, combined with increased interest in scientific agriculture and engineering and new funding from business licenses, allowed the city to start expanding again. By 1910, Auburn's population had returned to its antebellum level. SIAA championships won by the football team of what was then officially Alabama Polytechnic Institute, but often called "Auburn" for short, brought attention and support to Auburn, and helped fill the city's coffers. Fortunes were quickly reversed with…

Geography

The city of Auburn lies in western Lee County and is bordered by the city of Opelika to the northeast and by Chambers County to the north. The city stretches south to the Macon County line in the southwest. Auburn sits on the Fall Line at the juncture of the Piedmont plateau and the coastal plain. Portions of Auburn also include the southernmost exposure of rocks indicating the Appalachian orogeny—as such, the last foothill of the Appalachian Mountains lies in Chewacla State Park in southern Auburn. As a result of these three varied physical environments, Auburn has an extremely diverse geology. The southwest and west regions of the city on the plateau are marked by rolling plains and savannahs, with the undeveloped portion primarily being used for cattle grazing and ranching. South of this region sits the coastal plain, with sandy soil and pine forest. Parts of north Auburn have much more rugged topographies, with thick forests in high hills and deep hollows of the type common to parts of eastern Tennessee. The region surrounded by Chewacla Park in the south of the city contains sharp peaks and sudden drops of elevation as the 1.05 billion-year-old rock of the Appalachians meets the coastal plain. Auburn sits near the divide between the Chattahoochee and Tallapoosa River watersheds, though the vast majority of the city resides in the latter. Auburn is drained by three main creek systems: in the south, by the Chewacla/Opintlocco Creek system; in the north, by the Saugahatchee Creek system; and in the extreme northern reaches of Auburn by Sandy Creek. The dividing line between the Chewacla and Saugahatchee watersheds roughly follows railroad line east–west through the center of town. According to the United States Census Bureau in 2000, the city has a total area of…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  10,936
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  8,912
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  8,541
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7,793
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  7,786
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  7,745
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7,422
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7,116

Largest nearby schools

• Auburn High School
  High · Auburn · 2,143 students · 20:1 ratio
• Opelika High School
  High · Opelika · 1,562 students · 17:1 ratio
• Auburn Junior High School
  Other · Auburn · 1,516 students · 25.7:1 ratio
• Opelika Middle School
  Middle · Opelika · 1,132 students · 16.9:1 ratio
• Beauregard Elementary School
  Elementary · Opelika · 769 students · 16.7:1 ratio
• East Samford School
  Middle · Auburn · 742 students · 21.2:1 ratio
• Drake Middle School
  Middle · Auburn · 711 students · 20.3:1 ratio
• Beauregard High School
  High · Opelika · 555 students · 13.2:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2008-01-04
  14 km N of Hollins, Alabama