Indian Queen Hotel

The Indian Queen Hotel was a hotel located at Broad Street and 25th Avenue in downtown Tuscaloosa from the 1820s to the end of the Civil War.

The hotel was built by Thomas Balling and named for his purported ancestor, Pocahontas. A portrait of the Indian princess hung in the lobby. The hotel hosted sessions of the Alabama Legislature in 1827 and 1828.

On June 20, 1847 the hotel served as the meeting room for the organization of the Psi Chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, the first Greek letter fraternity at the University of Alabama.

In 1858 the hotel was put up for sale by Robert Jemison Jr along with six plantations and a livery stable.

During the Civil War it was used as a hospital under the supervision of Dr Anderson.

References

• Sulzby, James Frederick (1960) Historic Alabama Hotels and Resorts. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press ISBN 0817353097
• Ball, Marie (April 22, 1979) "Histories recalled with fond memories" The Tuscaloosa News
• Cobb, Mark Hughes (July 10, 2009) "Digging up the truth about the Jemison house" The Tuscaloosa News