History
The former residence was built by John Simpson on the site of his earlier home in 1843. Simpson was sent to Florence by James Jackson, builder of the Forks of Cypress, another prominent antebellum structure in the Shoals area, to buy land and to operate a mercantile business.
The Simpson House/Irvine Place, as it previously was known, later was purchased by George W. Foster, builder of Courtview (now Rogers Hall), for his daughter, Virginia, and her husband, James Bennington Irvine. The residence later was inherited by the Irvine’s great granddaughter Mrs. Madding King.
Following World War II, the Kings restored the home, incorporating many architectural features still present today. In the early 1980s, then-owner Ellis Coats permitted Project Courtview, charged with the restoration of Rogers Hall, to use the mansion for Florence’s first Decorator’s Showcase as part of the project’s fundraising effort.
After serving briefly as a corporate headquarters, the mansion was purchased by David Brubaker and given to the University of North Alabama in memory of his young wife, Coby Stockard Brubaker, who lost her battle with cancer.
The newly refurbished structure was dedicated as Coby Hall in 2005.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Place, Coby Hall currently serves as the headquarters of UNA’s Continuing Studies and Outreach. The former residence also is the site for the annual Festival of Trees and is also a popular site for weddings, receptions and dinners.
Read more about this topic: Coby Hall
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“I believe that history might be, and ought to be, taught in a new fashion so as to make the meaning of it as a process of evolution intelligible to the young.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
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“Psychology keeps trying to vindicate human nature. History keeps undermining the effort.”
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