Toomer’s Oaks, Auburn city

You are watching Toomer’s Corner live, straight from the intersection of College Street and Magnolia Avenue in downtown Auburn, Alabama, USA. This is where the Auburn University campus meets the town. The Toomer’s Corner live cam looks over the Toomer’s Oaks and the crosswalks around them, so you can see what the heart of Auburn looks like right now. On a quiet weekday morning that means students heading to class. On a big game night it means trees covered in toilet paper.

What you see on the Toomer’s Corner webcam

The camera shows the corner locals just call “Toomer’s”: two live oaks at the edge of Samford Park, the gateway into campus, and the downtown storefronts across the street. On a normal day you’ll see students crossing to class, cars moving along College Street and people lining up for a lemonade. After a big Auburn win, the same view fills with thousands of fans. It’s the Auburn stop among our Alabama live cams, and few webcams anywhere show the mood of an entire town this clearly.

Why Toomer’s Corner is famous

The corner takes its name from Sheldon “Shel” Toomer. He played halfback on Auburn’s 1892 football team, later served as a state senator, and opened Toomer’s Drugs on the corner in 1896. The drugstore had the only telegraph in town. When news of an away win came in, employees threw ticker tape over the power lines. Toilet paper took over after Auburn beat Alabama 17-16 in 1972, the “Punt, Bama, Punt” game, according to Auburn Athletics’ official traditions page.

The story of the Toomer’s Oaks

The original oaks were poisoned after the 2010 Iron Bowl. The damage was found in early 2011, and after two years of trying to save them, the trees were taken down in April 2013. Two new live oaks, each about 35 feet tall, were planted in February 2015. The Magnolia Avenue tree never took well to the transplant, and in September 2016 a fan set it on fire after a win over LSU. On February 18, 2017, the university replaced both trees again, and asked fans to stop rolling them while the new oaks put down roots.

That pause lasted six seasons. In August 2023, Auburn’s arborists said the trees were strong enough to handle rolling and the cleanup afterward, and the tradition came back that fall. The Auburn University oaks timeline covers the full history, including the younger trees in Samford Park grown from acorns of the original oaks.

When to watch rolling Toomer’s Corner live

Rolling follows the big wins, and football most of all. Fans start pouring into the intersection within minutes of the final whistle, whether the game was at Jordan-Hare Stadium or away. For the best chance to catch it on the live cam, check in on the night of an Auburn win in the fall. A home win over a rival usually draws the biggest crowd. The next morning is worth a look too: that’s when city and university crews clear the paper out of the branches and off the street.

Things to do around Toomer’s Corner

Toomer’s Drugs is still open on the corner. It sells Auburn souvenirs, sandwiches and ice cream, along with the hand-squeezed lemonade people have been ordering there for generations. Across Samford Park is Samford Hall with its clock tower, the building on most Auburn postcards. Jordan-Hare Stadium is a short walk down the road. Most of downtown’s restaurants and bars are on College Street and Magnolia Avenue, within a couple of blocks of the camera.

If you like watching campus life, this isn’t our only one. The Red Square webcam at the University of Washington shows a very different campus plaza, in Seattle, in real time.

How to get to Auburn and when to visit

Auburn is in Lee County in east Alabama, right off Interstate 85. It’s about an hour’s drive from Montgomery and around two hours from Atlanta, where Hartsfield-Jackson is the airport most visitors fly into. Football season, from September through November, is when Auburn is at its liveliest, and hotels fill up fast for home games. Spring is calmer, with the A-Day spring game in April. Summer is the quietest time downtown, because most students are away.

Why check the Toomer’s Corner live cam

Before a game, the camera tells you how full downtown already is. After a win, it shows the rolling as it happens. The rest of the year, it’s a simple way for Auburn alumni and fans far from home to look at the corner they remember. When you’re done here, there are hundreds more live webcams from around the world to explore.