Livingston, AL news and local guide

The first courthouse was built of logs; a frame courthouse on the square, built in 1839, burned in 1901, and the cornerstone of the present courthouse was laid on July 9, 1902. The town's landmark is the Bored Well on the courthouse square. Begun in 1854, it was drilled, according to local historians, by an old blind mule that pulled the auger around day after day until it struck an artesian spring in 1857. When people began to claim the water had medicinal value, Livingston became known far and wide as a health spa. A wooden Chinese-style pagoda covered the well until a brick structure replaced it in 1924, and the present pavilion was completed in 2005. The Livingston Female Academy, founded in the town's early years, grew into the Alabama Normal School for training teachers and later became Livingston State College, Livingston University and today the University of West Alabama. Sources The Historical Marker Database: Livingston, Alabama / Livingston's Bored Well (Alabama Tourism Department and the City of Livingston) The Historical Marker Database: Sumter County (Alabama Historical Association) Wikipedia: Livingston, Alabama