Auburn: A History in Street Names

Born into slavery, Gatsy Rice came to Auburn in the 1840s as a servant in a local household. After the war, she prospered as an independent seamstress- mending uniforms of East Alabama Male College cadets and others in town- and running a boarding house. She eventually owned property in both downtown Auburn and Opelika. Gatsy’s entrepreneurial bent made her one of the more interesting and admirable characters in Auburn’s past as she never let her lowly beginning stop her from reaching higher on the economic scale.

Carolyn Carlisle and her husband, Richard, lived for years in Auburn mere blocks from the university campus. She worked for a company in Opelika and for years with Auburn University’s Facilities Division. Richard and his brother Charles- grandchildren of slaves in the Auburn area- became well-known house painters in town. Once integration took place, Carolyn and Richard sent four children to Auburn University, and all graduated. The Carlisles are proof that hard work and determination can lead to success.

Auburn native Doris Hutchinson was a cheerleader at Drake High School in the 1960s when she got involved in civil rights issues locally. She helped lead efforts to improve her school and to gain access and acceptance for many of Auburn’s citizens to take part in commerce, recreation, and education in town, all the while maintaining a Christian attitude and love for all people.

Dr. Joseph Fanning Drake, a bright young man in Auburn, left because educational opportunities were better for him elsewhere in the early years of the twentieth century. He graduated Talladega College in 1916, earned a master’s degree at Columbia University in New York City, and later a PhD at Cornell University. This career educator served 35 years as president of Alabama A&M University in Huntsville and had an impact that was felt on that campus for generations afterwards.

Dr. Keith Black spent some of his early years in Auburn, but his parents recognized their exceptionally bright son would prosper with better educational opportunities elsewhere. The Blacks moved to Ohio, and Keith later earned admission to the University of Michigan, where he earned his medical degree. He became a world-renowned brain surgeon practicing in Los Angeles.

Lt. John W. Dunn, Auburn’s first full-time Black police officer, retired after twenty-five years on July 1, 1992, then learned he had cancer. He was not only a key member of the police force, but his work in the community made a great difference. He was a member of St. Luke CME Church and served on the Steward Board. He loved children and organized the Toys for Tots program in Auburn, to the degree that his colleague and friend, Captain John Lockhart, called him “a one-man Santa Claus.” Lt. Dunn served on the boards of both the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Lee County and the Alabama Department of Human Resources. He was a community relations officer for the Auburn Housing Authority and a teachers’ aide for the Alternative School at Loachapoka High. He and his wife, Estella, had five sons and two daughters. One letter to the editor of the newspaper, eulogizing Lt. Dunn, described him as “by every definition a true professional, a true servant, a true role model, and a true humanitarian.”