Fairhope, Alabama
208 S. CHURCH STREET
The home of another one of the city's famous former residents has been demolished.
Lydia Newcomb Comings, a teacher, lecturer and author, was born in Spring lake Illinois in 1850, married Samuel Comings in Illinois in 1902 and moved to Fairhope shortly after where she co-founded the School of Organic Education in 1907 (with Marietta Johnson and three other women).
Husband Samuel wrote an essay 'Industrial and Vocational Education: Universal and Self Sustaining' advocating Froebel's Kindergarten philosophy; he died in 1915 of a stroke.
Lydia toured the country with Johnson giving lectures on single tax theory and organic education.
She was president of that school's Board of Trustees for many years ... and president of the Library Association of Fairhope for over 40 years.
Comings was also active in the women's suffrage movement of the early 20th century and was instrumental in expanding physical education programs in schools across the country.
She helped start the Baldwin County Historical Society in 1923 and authored 'A Brief History of Baldwin County' in 1928; she also authored 'Muscular Exercises for Health and Grace in 1893.'
Comings died in 1946 at age 96 and is buried in the Colony Cemetery.
A meeting hall on the old Organic School campus (now the Faulkner Campus) was named for her, it was demolished too.
A new city ordinance to encourage preservation of historic structures was drawn up years ago but never adopted by a succession of city councils; there is a new proposal for a heritage village where old homes could be moved, rather than demolished.
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| BEFORE |
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| AFTER |
The home of another one of the city's famous former residents has been demolished.
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| Lydia Comings |
Husband Samuel wrote an essay 'Industrial and Vocational Education: Universal and Self Sustaining' advocating Froebel's Kindergarten philosophy; he died in 1915 of a stroke.
Lydia toured the country with Johnson giving lectures on single tax theory and organic education.
She was president of that school's Board of Trustees for many years ... and president of the Library Association of Fairhope for over 40 years.
Comings was also active in the women's suffrage movement of the early 20th century and was instrumental in expanding physical education programs in schools across the country.
She helped start the Baldwin County Historical Society in 1923 and authored 'A Brief History of Baldwin County' in 1928; she also authored 'Muscular Exercises for Health and Grace in 1893.'
Comings died in 1946 at age 96 and is buried in the Colony Cemetery.
A meeting hall on the old Organic School campus (now the Faulkner Campus) was named for her, it was demolished too.
A new city ordinance to encourage preservation of historic structures was drawn up years ago but never adopted by a succession of city councils; there is a new proposal for a heritage village where old homes could be moved, rather than demolished.
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