MAXWELL HALL
Building ID: 2152
420 Stadium Drive
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401
Maxwell Hall is the home of the Creative Campus, an organization dedicated to building a collaborative environment where students can connect with each other, faculty, and the community in turning innovative ideas into action. Situated on the highest point of the original campus, Maxwell Hall was built as the first celestial observatory at The University of Alabama. It is one of the oldest observatory buildings in the United States. Through the efforts of Professor F. A. P. Barnard, the first section of the building was completed in 1844. Prominently visible today are both the 18 foot dome and the north-south ceiling aperture above the west wing. Under the dome, Bernard installed an eight-inch refracting telescope, and for the northwest aperture, he installed a transit circle, a telescope to measure the time of meridian passage and altitude of a celestial body. During the burning of the campus in 1865, the observatory suffered greatly but was not destroyed. The doors had been forced open and most of the equipment had been ransacked and broken. Pieces of the telescope had been stolen by federal troops, but most of the remaining lenses were sent to Bryce Hospital for safe keeping. Because the observatory was the only surviving public building, it was used to store anything salvaged from the ruins of the University.