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Very few people can stake their claim to the building of the south quite like Horace King. He remains one of the most important architects to step foot in Alabama.
He was responsible for numerous feats of architecture that remain visible today, such as spiral staircases found in homes like Spring Villa Mansion and in the state’s very own capitol building.
His story begins in 1807, where he was born into slavery in South Carolina. Unlike most enslaved people, he was taught to read and write at a young age. Around 1830, King was purchased by contractor John Godwin. King learned how to build under Godwin and received some of his most important training under the noted architect and bridge builder Ithiel Town – one of the first professional architects in the United States. Town was well-known for Federal and Greek Revival building designs on the East Coast.
Godwin experienced financial difficulty in the late 1830s and transferred ownership of King to his wife and her uncle, in a move thought to protect King from being taken by creditors.
In the mid-1830s, Godwin sent King to Oberlin College in Ohio, the first college in the country to admit Black students. Following his education, King returned to work with Godwin, building courthouses and bridges throughout Georgia and Alabama.
Before the turn of the 1840′s, he was allowed to marry. His wife was a free woman named Frances Gould Thomas. In the 1840s, King and Godwin were officially considered “co-builders”, which would be another rarity for a Black man in the South at this time. In 1841, they rebuilt the Columbus City Bridge after it was destroyed in a flood.
King’s skill and reputation surpassed Godwin’s and he began working independently. He made friends such as Robert Jemison Jr., an attorney, senator and entrepreneur in Alabama, who had King supervise…
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