| Toomer's Corner (at right of large tree) has long been a
center of Auburn life. "In the past this was where people congregated
to talk, to hear the news of the town, to discuss politics and college
happenings," said Ellen Beard and Alice Cary Pick Gibson of the Auburn
Heritage Association. It also is a place to celebrate. "It's
wonderful to see so many happy people," a Georgia visitor said when caught
up in Toomer's Corner madness after Auburn's football team defeated Alabama
in 1982.
In 1952, Shel Toomer, after observing more than half a century of pep
rallies, parades, initiations, victory celebrations, and political speeches
at his corner, sold the business to Auburn native and fellow druggist McAdory
Lipscomb, who bought the three-store Toomer Building in 1974. When
did students begin "rolling Toomer's Corner" with toilet paper? "The
'toilet paper over the wires' tradition didn't really begin until about
fifteen years ago," Lipscomb told reporter Jackie Walburn in 1978.
But the corner had been a convenient place for victory celebrations for
decades before that. "I'ts stayed popular for whoopin' and hollerin'
because of tradition and the small town atmosphere of Auburn. The
students want to get together out in the open. . .and Toomer's Corner is
the best place for that," Mrs. Walburn quoted Lipscomb as saying. -- Photo:
AU Archives |
