By: Lenzy Borden
What’s is Toomer’s Corner?
Toomer’s Corner is home to one of Auburn University’s most cherished traditions and one of Southern Living’s Top 100 Things to Do Before You Die. Let’s dive into a little history of this landmark. You will likely hear different forms of the story on campus visits and at Camp War Eagle, but this is how I like to tell it best:
Mr. Sheldon Toomer bought the drug store from his Stepfather after completing Pharmacy School at Auburn University (known then as Alabama Polytechnic Institute) in 1896. This drug store was the only business in town to own a telegraph, and when Auburn’s football team played away-games, they were the only ones around to get the current score.
As Auburn scored and Toomer’s received the updates, the employees would take the ticker tape from the telegraph and tape it to the windows. The more paper, the better Auburn was doing. Fans in the community would stop by, check the score, and go about their day. When they would post the final score that Auburn had won, the fans would rip the paper off of the windows and throw it in the oak trees at the corner of campus. This was the best way to let everyone know that our boys were bringing home another victory.
Eventually, ticker tape got to be expensive, so at some point we switched over to toilet paper, but the tradition is something we do for every victory we see. The picture below is from the 2010 National Championship. We take this pretty seriously, don’t you think?
Did Someone Say Lemonade?
Crossing the street back towards downtown, Toomer’s Drug Store is home to one of Southern Living’s Top 100 Things to Do Before You Die– try the lemonade. Toomer’s lemonade is a favorite of all who try it. You can go classic with the regular lemonade, or try one of their flavors. My favorite is the Strawberry-Lemonade for the real strawberries, and the frozen options are amazing. Ice cream, soda floats, Toomer’s T-shirts, and lemonade by the gallon can all be found at the heart of our downtown here in Auburn, Alabama.
