Toomer's Corner: Difference between revisions

Toomer's Corner receives its name from a businessman and former State Senator Sheldon Toomer, who happened to be a halfback for Auburn's first football team.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://auburntigers.com/sports/2018/6/11/trads-13-auburn-rolling-toomers-html.aspx|title=Rolling Toomer's Corner|website=Auburn University Athletics|language=en-US|access-date=2018-11-28}}</ref> Toomer founded the Toomer's Drugs in 1896, which was started with a $500 loan from John Reese, and Toomer later founded the Bank of Auburn on the corner of Magnolia Avenue and College Street in 1907.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.toomersdrugs.com/about-us|title=Toomer's Drugs - An Auburn Tradition since 1896|website=www.toomersdrugs.com|access-date=2018-11-12}}</ref> The pharmacy was later sold in 1952 by Toomer to Mac and Elizabeth Lipscomb, who chose against renaming the pharmacy. In 1962 Auburn fans and students began to celebrate away games by rolling the power lines outside of the pharmacy and the trees directly opposite.<ref name=":0" /> There is much controversy over when the rolling became a celebration for all things Auburn. It is theorized by David Housel that it truly began in 1972 when Auburn received a victory against Alabama because Pat Sullivan was named Heisman in 1971 but no toilet paper was rolled on the corner for that.<ref name=":3" />

The rolling of the corner beganwas initially set off becauseby the employees that worked at Toomer's Drugs pharmacy hadusing inventedan ainventive way ofto signallingsignal ana victory for Auburn victorywhile duringplaying away games; they would throw the ticker tape from the telegraph onto the power lines outside of the store<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://ithappensinalabama.com/history-and-memory-of-the-toomers-oaks/|title=History and Memory of the Toomer’s Oaks ⋆ It Happens in Alabama|last=janet|date=2013-11-02|work=It Happens in Alabama|access-date=2018-11-28|language=en-US}}</ref>.<ref name=":2" /> In 1984, the drug store was sold to Mark Morgan.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|url=https://ithappensinalabama.com/history-and-memory-of-the-toomers-oaks/|title=History and Memory of the Toomer’s Oaks ⋆ It Happens in Alabama|last=janet|date=2013-11-02|work=It Happens in Alabama|access-date=2018-11-28|language=en-US}}</ref> FourFive years after the selling of the store to Morgan, the Iron Bowl made its first stop in Auburn and was one of the first times Toomer's Corner was covered with endless rolls of toilet paper.<ref name=":4" /> The store has been resold a couple of times in the 1990's but the tradition that Toomer's Corner sparked has remained. The power lines have since been relocated under the ground but Auburn's tradition of rolling the trees never slowed.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/2011/toomers-corner-auburn-fans-perspective/|title=Toomer’s Corner: An Auburn Fan’s Perspective|date=2011-02-22|work=Saturday Down South|access-date=2018-11-27|language=en-US}}</ref> As of 2018, Toomer's Corner continues to bring fans, residents, and even visitors of Auburn around the historic corner.