Past and present of Pike County, Illinois, Part 3

Author: Massie, Melville D; Clarke, (S.J.) Publishing Company, Chicago
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 760

USA > Illinois > Pike County > Past and present of Pike County, Illinois > Part 3

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PAST AND PRESENT OF PIKE COUNTY.

the capitol building has been described as "a plain two story wooden structure, the lower floor of which was devoted to one room for the House of' Representatives and a passage and stairway to the second floor. The second story consisted of two rooms-the larger for the Senate chamber and the smaller for the Council of Revision. The Secretary of State, Auditor and Treasurer oc- cupied offices, detached from the capitol, rented for their use.

The State archives, constituting a small wagon load, were removed from Kaskaskia to Vandalia by Sidney Breese, then clerk to the Secretary of State, for which service he received $25.00; and the first session of the Second General As- sembly met in the first capitol owned by the State. December 4, 1820. During the session an act was passed (January 27, 1821) approving and confirming all the acts of the commissioners and declaring Vandalia to be the "permanent, seat of government for twenty years from and after De- cember 1, 1820." Another act of this session incorporated the town of Vandalia; and among other powers and duties vested in the board of trustees, they were authorized to "employ some skillful person to paint the State House in a neat and workmanlike manner, and to make such al- terations in the chimneys of the house as they may deem necessary." It was further made the duty of the trustees of the town of Vandalia "to take possession of and keep in good repair the State House during each and every recess of the General Assembly." The said trustees were further authorized to "allow the Secretary of State to occupy one of the small rooms in the State House, and the Auditor of Public Ac- counts the other small room until the meeting of the next General Assembly."

THE SECOND CAPITOL.

The building just described was destroyed by fire December 9, 1823, after having been occu- pied but three years, and was succeeded by a more pretentious brick structure costing about $15,000, of which amount the citizens of Van- dalia contributed $3,000. This second State cap- itol was erected during the summer of 1824. In

Governor Cole's biennial message (November 16, 1824) he says concerning the rebuilding of the capitol : "The citizens of Vandalia have rebuilt it, and will, doubtless, not be disappointed in their just expectation of being reimbursed for the expenses they have incurred in thus providing for the public accommodation." The confidence of the citizens, it seems, was not misplaced; for the General Assembly made an appropriation (De- cember 8, 1824) of $12,164.71 to different citi- zens of Vandalia, to be paid in the paper of the State Bank of Illinois, for money, labor and ma- terial advanced in the construction of the new capitol. This capitol continued in use until 1836, the last legislative session held in the building being the second session of the Ninth General Assembly (December 7, 1835, to January 13, 1836).

The schedule to the constitution providing for the location of the capital specified that the place chosen should remain the capital for a period of twenty years, and the act changing the capital from Kaskaskia to Vandalia specifically declared Vandalia to be the "permanent seat of govern- ment for twenty years on and after December I, 1820;" still, before half of the specified twenty years had passed, the question of removal was agitated and a strong sentiment was soon created in favor of a location farther north and nearer the center of population, which was already leaving Vandalia far to the south. In 1833, this senti- ment took shape in an act of the Eighth General Assembly (February 5) providing, "That at the next election to be held in the several counties of this State for members of the Legislature, there shall be opened at each place of voting, a book, in which shall be entered the votes of the qualified voters in favor of the following named places, as their choice for the permanent location of the seat of government of this State, after the time prescribed by the constitution for its re- maining at Vandalia, to-wit : Geographical center of the State, Jacksonville, Springfield, Vandalia, Alton and Peoria. The place receiving the high- est number of votes shall forever thereafter re- main the seat of government of the State of Illi- nois." The question was submitted to the people in accordance with the provisions of this act and

PAST AND PRESENT OF PIKE COUNTY.

the election, which was held August 4, 1834, re- sulted as follows :

Votes

The Geographical Center received. 790

Jacksonville received 273

Springfield received 7,075

Peoria received

.423

Alton received 8,157

Vandalia received

7,730

At this election Sangamon county polled the largest vote of any county in the State, 2,297 (51 votes more than were cast for sheriff at the same election), of which 2,261 were for Springfield, 21 for the Geographical Center (which was sup- posed to be in the immediate neighborhood of Il- liopolis), I for Jacksonville, 3 for Peoria, 10 for Alton, and I for Vandalia. Putman, on the other hand, polled the smallest vote, only 4, of which 3 went to Peoria and I to Springfield; 369 votes were cast in this county for sheriff at the' same election. Cook county, like Putman, was more interested in local affairs than in locating a State capital, casting at this election 515 votes for sher- iff and but 52 on the capital question. Of these 52 Cook county votes Peoria received 23 and Springfield 13, while 9 went to the Geographical Center, 4 to Vandalia, 2 to Jacksonville, and I to Alton. Fayette county was naturally interested in the question and, while but 627 votes were cast for sheriff, 668 votes were rounded up on the question of locating the capital; of which Alton received 7, Peoria 2, Springfield I, and Vandalia the remaining 658. Calhoun was the only county casting a unanimous vote for any place, Alton receiving her entire vote of 158.

THE THIRD CAPITOL.

Though Alton received the highest number of votes and was entitled, under the act of 1833, to be made the permanent seat of government, this fact was never officially declared, and so far as the public records show, the vote was never can- vassed, nor the matter referred to during either session of the Ninth Assembly. Outside of the Legislature, however, the matter continued to be discussed, and one of the arguments in favor of

removal was the need of a better State house, and as one had to be built it would be better to locate it nearer the center of population. The wide-awake citizens of Vandalia, who had al- ready built one State capitol without legislative warrant, sought to overcome this argument and, accordingly, in the summer of 1836, during the recess of the General Assembly, tore down the building which they had built twelve years be- fore and used the material so far as it was avail- able in the construction of a new capitol at a cost of about $16,000. Of this amount $6,000 was paid by Governor Duncan out of the con- tingent fund and $10,000 advanced by the citizens of Vandalia. No law had been enacted authoriz- ing the destruction of the old State house nor the construction of a new one, but the self-sufficient citizens of Vandalia took the matter into their own hands as they had done in 1824, and the first official reference to the tearing down of the old capitol and replacing it with a new one is found in a brief paragraph of Governor Duncan's mes- sage to the Tenth General Assembly (Decem- ber 9, 1836), as follows :

"In consequence of the· dilapidated and failing condition of the old State house, the public offi- cers, mechanics and citizens of this place, believ- ing that the Legislature would have no place to convene or hold their session, have built the house you now occupy. This work has been done in a time and under circumstances which evinces an industry, zeal and public spirit that does honor to the place and commands our grateful acknow1- edgment, and I hope their services and expenses will be promptly remunerated."

The work done on this building was certainly of a character superior to that of 1824, for, after a lapse of sixty-three years, the building still stands and is the present court house of Fayette county.

The last session of the Legislature to meet at Vandalia was the first session of the Eleventh General Assembly which convened December 3, 1838. During this session (February 16, 1839) an act was passed conveying the capitol, built less than four years before, to the county of Fayette and the town of Vandalia, the west half of the building to the county to be used as a court

PAST AND PRESENT OF PIKE COUNTY.

house and the east half to the town for school purposes, while all the unsold lots belonging to the State within the original four sections granted by the general government to the State, were conveyed to the county of Fayette, to be sold by the county commissioners, and the pro- ceeds to constitute a road and bridge fund for the county. Until 1857 the east half of the old cap- itol was used for school purposes as contemplated by the act of 1839. In 1851 the "Fayette Semi- nary" was incorporated, and under its charter was entitled to the east half of the building "to be held and used as a county seminary." So far as can now be ascertained, the trustees never or- ganized an actual school under this charter, but June 19, 1856, they conveyed the property to the county of Fayette. This conveyance was legal- ized by special act of the Legislature (February 15, 1857.) The proceeds of the sale were turned over to the Vandalia school district, and the old capitol and surrounding grounds have since be- longed to the county of Fayette. Since that time the building has undergone material changes both as to its outside appearance and interior ar- rangement. In 1858-59 the county spent about $50,000 in remodeling the building, the original cost of which was less than one-third of this sum. Besides a complete re-arrangement of the inter- ior, handsome porticoes were added to the north and south sides of the building, supported by mas- sive brick pillars which added much to the archi- tectural appearance of the plain old capitol. After a lapse of forty years these brick pillars were re- placed in the summer of 1899 by modern iron columns. For many years it was one of the hand- somest and largest court houses in the State, and even yet it surpasses many of the county build- ings erected in other counties half a century later.

The enterprising move on the part of the "pub- lic officers, mechanics and citizens" of Vandalia, however, did not settle the State house question, for an act was passed (February 25, 1837), pro- viding that the long-discussed question should be settled by joint ballot of the two houses, to be convened in joint session for that purpose, three days after the passage of the act. Accordingly, on February 28, 1837, at 10 o'clock a. m., the two houses met in joint session and on the fourth

ballot Springfield was chosen as the new capitol, receiving 73 votes, a majority over all competi- tors for the prize. On the final ballot Vandalia received 16 votes, Jacksonville II, Peoria 8, Al- ton 6, Illiopolis 3, and I vote each was received by Bloomington, Shawneetown, Hillsboro, Graf- ton, Caledonia and Essex.

THE FOURTH CAPITOL.

Already an act had been passed (February II, 1837), making an appropriation of $10,268.82, including twenty-eight separate items, "in full of all materials furnished, money advanced, and the work and labor done to and upon the said State house," so that the "public officers, mechanics and citizens" of Vandalia were reimbursed for their outlay on the third capitol, and on March 3, 1837, an act supplemental to the act of Febru- ary 25 was passed authorizing the commissioners of Sangamon county to convey to the State the "public square" in Springfield, containing two and one-half acres, more or less, and naming Archibald Job, A. G. Henry and Thomas Hou- gan (or Hogan) as a board of State House Commissioners to superintend the erection of the new capitol. Fifty thousand dollars had already been appropriated for building purposes, the citi- zens of Springfield subscribed $50,000 additional, and the corner stone of the new building was laid with impressive ceremonies July 4, 1837. Major E. D. Baker, ten years later a Representative in Congress from this State, and still later a United States Senator from Oregon, who fell in one of the early engagements of the Civil war, was the. orator of the day; and the oration of this bril- liant young lawyer is said to have been worthy of the occasion. Dr. Hogan declined to act as State House Commissioner, and William Hern -. don, in 1839, was appointed to fill the vacancy. John F. Rague was selected by the commission- ers as the architect, and the work went forward on the new capitol. A few months only had been required to complete either of the former capi- tols, but this was a more serious undertaking, and its completion proved to be the work of years instead of months, the last of the numerous "ap- propriations for completion of the State house"

PAST AND PRESENT OF PIKE COUNTY.

being made in 1851 and the work completed in 1853, sixteen years after the laying of the corner stone, and at a total cost of about $260,000, in- stead of $120,000 as first estimated.

The commissioners made their last report to the Twelfth General Assembly (December 15, 1840) in which they reported an expenditure of $182,- 800, besides liabilities incurred to the amount of $29,153, and estimated as necessary to complete the building a further appropriation of $39,000. They were immediately legislated out of office and a new commission was appointed, consisting of the Secretary of State, Auditor and Treasurer, who, at this time, were James Shields, Lyman Trumbull and Milton Carpenter, respectively. They were authorized to effect a settlement with former commissioners and to complete the con- struction of the State house, for which work $7,000 was appropriated. Two thousand six hun- dred dollars more was appropriated at the next session, and in 1847 the Governor was given a place on the commission instead of the Secretary of State, and $20,000 more appropriated to com- plete the work. In 1849 the new commission re- ported that work had been done and contracts made which had exhausted all available funds and $7,000 additional was appropriated, and again in 1851 $11,000, the final appropriation for completing the capitol ; but in 1854 $20,000 was further appropriated for enclosing and embellish- ing the grounds about the building so as to "cor- respond with and be equal to the court house square in the city of Chicago."

THE FIFTH CAPITOL.

The State capitol, the corner stone of which had been laid with impressive ceremonies July 4, 1837, was fifteen years in building; and, fif- teen years after its completing, it was so inade- quate to the wants of the State that the erection of a new capitol seemed imperative. At the time of is erection it was the architectural wonder of the State and commonly considered beyond the necessity of the times, and the tax-paying abili- ties of the commonwealth. It was frequently characterized as a monument of extravagance, and excused on the ground of State pride rather

than the immediate or future necessities of the State government. The population of the State in 1837 was less than a half million. In 1867 it was nearly two and one-half millions ; an increase of four hundred per cent in thirty years. In the meantime Springfield had grown from a town of I,100 to one of 17,000, while Chicago had in- creased from 4,000 to about a quarter of a mil- lion. The increase in wealth had more than kept pace with the growth of population; and in 1867 (February 25) the Twenty-fifth General Assem- bly passed an act providing for the erection of a new State house. This act authorized the Gov- ernor to convey to the county of Sangamon and the city of Springfield the existing capitol and grounds in consideration of $200,000 and the further consideration of the site for the erection of the new capitol. The act limited the cost to three million dollars, and named a board of seven commissioners to carry out the provisions of the act in superintending the erection of the building. The act contained an emergency clause and the commissioners proceeded to their work without delay. On March II, 1868, ground was broken for the new building. On June 1Ith the first stone was laid, and on October 5, 1868, the formal laying of the corner stone took place, Judge J. D. Caton making the principal address -an eloquent and scholarly essay of historic value, fortunately, has found a place in the prin- cipal libraries of the State. In September, 1869, the foundation was completed at a cost of nearly half a million dollars ; in 1876 the capitol was first occupied in an unfinished condition; in 1885 the final appropriation was made, and it was com- pleted in 1888.

The first appropriation, $450,000, made in 1867, was wholly exhausted before the completion of the foundation, which cost $465,686.67. In 1869, a further appropriation was made of $450,000 ; in 1871, $600,000 more; in 1873, $1,000,000, and in 1875, $800,000. These appropriations made a total of three and one-half million dollars, the limit fixed by the constitution of 1870, beyond which the Legislature could not go without a vote of the people ratifying further appropriation. In 1877, an appropriation of $531,712, contingent upon the approval of the people, was made for

PAST AND PRESENT OF PIKE COUNTY.

the completion of the State house, and submitted at the November election of that year. The prop- osition received but 80,222 affirmative votes out of a total of 389,189 cast at the election. Again, in 1881, a similar appropriation was made and again submitted at the election in November, .1882, and was again defeated, receiving but 231,- 632 votes out of a total of 532,683. Again, in 1884, the same proposition was once more sub- mitted to a vote at the November election, and se- cured the endorsement of the people, receiving 364,796 votes out of a total of 673,086. June 29, 1885, an act was passed to render effective the act of 1883, and the final appropriation of $531,- 712 was made available after October 1, 1885. A new State house commission was appointed by the Governor to superintend its expenditure, and the capitol was completed in 1888, twenty-one years after its building was authorized. The sev- eral appropriations enumerated above, together with smaller sums appropriated during the prog- ress of the work, as well as during the years when work was practically suspended, made for repairs, for protection and preservation of work already done; for vaults, laying walks upon the grounds, planting trees, and other items, not, perhaps, properly chargeable to the first cost of building, amounted in the aggregatte to nearly four and one-half million dollars.

The first Board of State House Commission- er's, named in the act of 1867, consisted of seven members as follows: John W. Smith, John J. S. Wilson, Philip Wadsworth, James C. Robin- son, William T. Vandeveer, William L. Hamble- ton and James H. Beveridge. March 12, 1867, Jacob Bunn was appointed, vice John J. S. Wil- son, and on the organization of the board was elected president of the commission. In 1869 the board, by act of the General Assembly, was reduced to three members, and the Governor re- appointed Jacob Bunn, James C. Robinson and James H. Beveridge, of the old commission, to constitute the new board, of which Mr. Bunn was made president and Mr. Beveridge secre- tary. In 1871 Mr. Robinson resigned his ap- pointment and John T. Stuart was named to fill the vacancy. These commissioners continued to act until 1877, at which time, there being no

funds available for carrying on the work of building, they were relieved, by act of the Gen- eral Assembly, from further duty. After the favorable vote of 1884, ratifying the legislative appropriation of 1883, Governor Hamilton ap- pointed, December 30, 1884, à new board, con- sisting of General John Cook, Rheuna D. Law- rence and John O'Neill; but, on the assembling of the Legislature the Senate failed to confirm these appointments, and Governor. Oglesby ap- pointed George Kirk, William Jayne and John McCreery, who directed the expenditure of the final appropriation and completion of the building.

In response to an advertisement by the first board of commissioners offering a premium of $3,000 for the best design for the building, twen- ty-one designs were submitted, from which that of John C. Cochrane, of Chicago, was chosen, July 2, 1867, and in January, 1868, Mr. Cochrane was appointed architect and superintendent of the works, on a contract of two and one-half per cent of the cost of the building and W. D. Clark, of Davenport, was appointed assistant su- perintendent. In 1886 Alfred H. Pinquenard, of the firm of Cochrane & Pinquenard, undertook the personal supervision of the work, and acted as resident supervising architect until his death, November 19, 1876. M. E. Bell, who had been appointed assistant superintendent in 1874, vice W. D. Clark, assumed the personal supervision of the work after the death of Mr. Pinquenard.

This great work, continuing through twenty- one years, was not carried forward without de- lays and embarrassments. From the first there was a strong element in the State opposed to the construction of the building. At first this oppo- sition was confined to interested localities that wanted the capital located elsewhere, but as times got "hard" and the appropriations began to mount into the millions, the opposition became more wide-spread and of deeper significance. As early as 1871, petitions, carrying 40,000 names, were presented to the Generaly Assembly, ask- ing that further appropriations be withheld until the questions of location and cost.could be sub- mitted to a vote of the people. Peoria made a munificent bid for the transfer of the capital to that city, and Chicago, in protest against the in-

PAST AND PRESENT OF PIKE COUNTY.

adequate accommodations of the old building and the slow progress of the new one, invited the Twenty-seventh General Assembly to hold its adjourned session in Chicago, offering suitable assembly halls, executive and committee rooms free of charge to the State. This offer, in spite of the constitutional provision that all sessions of the General Assembly inust be held at the capital, was accepted by joint resolution of the assembly. The great conflagration which, in 1871, swept away all the public buildings of Chi- cago, prevented the carrying out of this plan and avoided the possible complications which might have arisen on account of it. From 1875 to 1885 no appropriation was made available for prose- cuting the work, and for about eight years no progress was made toward the completion of the building, nothing being attempted between 1877 and 1885 except to protect the work done pre- vious to that time. No report of the last board of commissioners is on file concerning the com- pletion of the building, but the Auditor's reports show that the last of the appropriation of 1885 was expended in 1888.

The site selected for the building and given by the county of Sangamon and city of Spring- field, in part consideration of the transfer of the old capitol and grounds to the city and county, is a beautiful plot of ground about one-fourth of a mile southwest of the old capitol, containing eight and one-half acres, sloping gently toward the east, the direction in which the capitol faces the business part of the city. The original plans contemplated a further addition of ground to the south end of the site which, unfortunately, was never secured, and the south portico of the build- ing, as provided for in the original design, was never constructed, for want of necessary space, the south wall of the south wing being flush with the street.

The building, in the form of a Latin cross, is of the composite order of architecture in which modern effects of utility and convenience are happily combined with the strength and beauty characteristic of ancient styles of building. The circular foundation, ninety-two and a half feet in diameter, upon which the great dome rests, is twenty-five and a half feet below the grade line,

based upon the solid rock, and the walls support- ing the dome are seventeen feet in thickness from the foundation to the floor of the first story. The foundation for the outer walls is eleven to sixteen feet below the grade line, these walls being nine feet thick up to the first floor. The foundation walls are all built of granular magnesian lime- stone of unquestioned strength and durability, ob- tained from the Sonora quarries of Hancock county. The outer walls of the superstructure are constructed of Niagara limestone, the lower story from the quarries of Joliet, and the upper stories from Lemont. The extreme length of the build- ing from north to south is 379 feet, and from east to west 268 feet. The height from ground line to top of dome is 361 feet, and to tip of flag staff 405 feet-higher, exclusive of the flag staff by 74 feet, than the dome of the national capitol at Washington. The building consists of basement, first, second and third stories, gallery floor and dome. The basement is used for vaults, en- gine rooms, carpenter shop, and storerooms for various purposes. The first floor is de- voted (1899) largely to offices for various State boards, the east wing being occupied by the Railroad and Warehouse Commission on the north side, and by the Bureau of Labor Sta- tistics and State Board of Health on the south side; the north wing, by the Superintendent of Insurance on the east side, and by the land de- partment of the Auditor's office, the Farmers' Institute and the supply department of the Secre- tary of State on the west; the west wing by the Board of Live Stock Commissioners on the north side and by the chambers of the Supreme Judges on the south, while the south wing contains the office of clerk of the Supreme Court, the ship- ping department of the Secretary of State's of- fice and the War Museum on the west side, and the offices of the Adjutant General and State Board of Pharmacy on the east. The second floor (called the main floor by the architect, and origi- nally reached from the outside by a broad flight of marble steps on the east front) contains the ex- ecutive offices, the east wing being occupied by the Governor's suite of rooms on the north side and the Secretary of State's on the south; the north wing by the State Board of Public Chari-

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Past and present of Pike County, Illinois, Part 3

Author: Massie, Melville D; Clarke, (S.J.) Publishing Company, Chicago Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 760

Author: Massie, Melville D; Clarke, (S.J.) Publishing Company, Chicago
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 760