John Tyler Morgan House

The John Tyler Morgan House is a historic Greek Revival-style house in Selma, Alabama, United States. It was built by Thomas R. Wetmore in 1859 and sold to John Tyler Morgan in 1865. Morgan was a Confederate brigadier general amid the American Civil War and the second Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama during the Reconstruction era.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] In 1876, Morgan stepped down as supreme leader of the Alabama Klan and was elected as a Democratic U.S. senator from Alabama for six terms.^[2]^[3]^[4] He used this house as his primary residence for many of those years.^[6]

Location719 Tremont St., Selma, Alabama

Coordinates32°24′49″N 87°1′39″W

Area0.4 acres (0.16 ha)

Built1859

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John Tyler Morgan House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places

The house in 2011
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Location	719 Tremont St., Selma, Alabama
Coordinates	32°24′49″N 87°1′39″W
Area	0.4 acres (0.16 ha)
Built	1859
NRHP reference No.	72000159^[1]
Added to NRHP	September 27, 1972

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The building housed John T. Morgan Academy, a prominent segregation academy,^[7]^[8] from its incorporation in June 1965 until a new campus was completed in 1967.^[9] The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 27, 1972, due to its historical significance.^[1] It currently houses the Alabama Historical Commission's Old Cahawba Administrative Offices.^[10]

References

[1]
U.S. National Park Service, National Register Information System, March 13, 2009 version.
[2]
Davis, Susan Lawrence (1924). Authentic History Ku Klux Klan, 1865–1877. New York: Anonymous Publisher. pp. 45, 56, 59 – via Internet Archive. General James H. Clanton of Montgomery was the first Grand Dragon of the Realm of Alabama Ku Klux Klan, and continued in this capacity until his death, when General John T. Morgan was elected in his place, and served until 1876. The Ku Klux Klan in 1877 was led by General Edmund W. Pettus as Grand Dragon of the Realm.
[3]
Bowers, Claude G. (1929). The Tragic Era The Revolution After Lincoln. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Riverside Press. p. 310 – via Internet Archive. On his death the mantle [of Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon] passed to General John T. Morgan, who later became one of the most distinguished of Senators and statesmen.
[4]
"Rogers' Voice and Thad Stevens". The Montgomery Advertiser. Montgomery, Alabama. February 4, 1960. p. 4. Retrieved September 7, 2025 – via Newspapers.com. The first leader of the Klan in this state was Gen. James H. Clanton, for whom one of our fine towns is named. And on his death, the leadership passed to Alabama's Gen. John Tyler Morgan.
[5]
Svrluga, Susan (February 22, 2016). "Calls to change U. of Alabama building name to honor Harper Lee instead of KKK leader". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. Retrieved September 7, 2025. [John Tyler Morgan was] a former senator who was a Confederate general and a leader of the Ku Klux Klan.
[6]
"John Tyler Morgan House Marker". The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved November 9, 2010.
[7]
Berman, Ari (February 25, 2015). "Fifty Years After Bloody Sunday in Selma, Everything and Nothing Has Changed". The Nation. New York City. Archived from the original on July 17, 2015. Retrieved January 13, 2018. Morgan Academy, a segregated private school founded by whites three months after Bloody Sunday.
[8]
Tuttle, Elizabeth (July 31, 2016). "In Selma, income inequality, education and race still deeply intertwined". GlobalPost. Boston, Massachusetts. Administrators are quick to acknowledge that Morgan, like most other private schools in the area, began as a response to desegregation.
[9]
"History". John T. Morgan Academy. Archived from the original on September 25, 2010. Retrieved November 9, 2010.
[10]
"Old Cahawba Archaeological Site". Alabama Historical Commission. Archived from the original on October 27, 2010. Retrieved November 9, 2010.

John Tyler Morgan House

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