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THE CORYDON STATE HOUSE
A Hoosier Shrine
The DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION STATE OF INDIANA 1930
Gc 977.202 C81c
INDIANA COLLECTIO
PUBLIC LIBRARY FORT WAYNE & ALLEN CO., IND.
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02548 4145
Gc 977.202 C81c Cottman, George S. 1857- 1941. The Corydon state house
THE CAPITOL BUILDING AS RESTORED
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
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324203
Table of Contents
Page THE BACKGROUND 7
IN THE HEART OF THE HILLS. 9
HISTORY AND HEARSAY 12
State Documents 13 County Documents 16
THE STATE'S BEGINNING. 23
The Constitutional Convention 24
CORYDON AS THE STATE CAPITAL. . 25
ACQUISITION AND RESTORATION OF THE CAPITOL 36
GOVERNOR HARRISON AND THE COUNTY 39
COUNTY FEATURES . 41
The Cave Country 43
Wyandotte Cave 45
Marengo Cave. 48
SUPPLEMENTARY MATTER :
The Constitution Elm 49
The "Battle of Corydon" 50
Boone's Mill and Cave. 51
The Old Capitol Hotel . 52
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SAND PLAINS AND WAT PRAIRIES
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A HOOSIER SHRINE
By GEO. S. COTTMAN
THE BACKGROUND
To the uninformed within or without our borders who may not know why a certain old stone building in the little hill town of Corydon, Indiana, should be especially honored by the state, this introduction is written. Also it is a back- ground that may be helpful to a fuller understanding of the narrative proper.
The story of it, filled out, goes back to that dramatic event of which we have heard much lately, the conquest of the Northwest by George Rogers Clark and his handful of valorous backwoodsmen-an exploit that secured for the future nation of the United States not less than a quarter of a million square miles. From the western boundary of Penn- sylvania to the Mississippi River, from the chain of inland seas to the Ohio River stretched this vast domain, spacious enough of itself to make a separate empire. Hemmed in by navigable waters, blessed with countless natural resources, it was destined to be the home of teeming multitudes and the seat of five great states shaped to the democratic ideal, and which should lead the rest of the nation in the direction of universal freedom.
From the time the United States took possession of this region as a grant from Virginia to the present moment one great unfolding process has been going on. Not only has the wilderness been made to blossom as the rose for the benefit of mankind but, socially and politically, there has been a segre- gation and crystallization, a growing from the simple to the complex, a progress from paternalistic dependence to self- determining independence. What began as the Northwest Territory, inchoate and tentative, gradually divided and sub- divided until the five separate areas we now call States took their fixed boundaries, and the one original political unit became five units, each independent of the others.
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These mutations were all according to plans and speci- fications. From the beginning the goal was statehood-a group of states-and to shape the character of those states a special instrument was framed. This known as the "Ordi- nance of 1787," not only laid the foundation for and made mandatory a republican form of government consonant with the Federal Constitution, but it also barred the way against the institution of slavery, which elsewhere had its clutches on the throat of the young nation. A few pregnant words in- corporated in the Ordinance-"There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory,"-went far toward determining the character of the population that came flowing in from the south and east as the new country was opened up for settlement, and so fixed the status of its civili- zation for future time. To those like-minded immigrants, haters of slavery and seekers of a land where they could work out their higher ideals, the future was bright with promise.
We may more fully appreciate the meaning of independ- ent statehood if we consider the successive steps through which it was attained after the formation of our nation, when the organization of a public domain became one of the gov- ernmental questions. These steps, in the case of Indiana, were as follows: When first organized under that name, in 1800, it consisted of all the territory won by Clark, with the exception of what is now Ohio. Then came divisions, as the population increased, one made in 1809 reducing the once vast Indiana to, virtually, its present dimensions. The territory, as such, passed through two forms or grades of government, the first being administered by a governor and
three judges of federal appointment, and these changing to a governor and legislative council, who were appointees; a house of representatives elected by the people, and a delegate to Congress elected by the legislature. With the granting of statehood all federal jurisdiction was withdrawn and the whole governing body was chosen by the people. The latter status was much like that of a boy attaining his majority and leaving the parental roof to face for himself the respon- sibilities of life. Thus it may be assumed that after sixteen years of preparation, while the proper growth was making, the final attainment of statehood had its inspiration and hope for the forward-looking majority. The majority, it is said,
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because until the last moment there were timorous souls who feared to take up the burden of new responsibilities with their increase of taxation. Such, however, were a small minority.
And there were reasons for inspiration and hope. The Indianans had the smallest of the five states of the group, but, as fortune would have it, we lay directly in the line of that vast tide of commerce that in time to come was to sweep to and fro between an East more opulent than the orient of Marco Polo and a West more glamorous in its potential wealth than any El Dorado of the imagination. Wedged in between the great "artery of the West," the Ohio River, and the great- est lake system on the globe, with its fertile soil, its natural resources and its climate a happy medium between the rigors of the north and the enervation of the south, it gave promise of being a tight little commonwealth snugly situated at the heart of things. But those who watched its beginning could have at best only a hazy and symbolic conception of the state as it was to be under the magic wand of progress. We who look back and see what that progress has been with its varied developments undreamed of a century ago have yet more reasons for regarding the founding of a state as a matter of great moment. The realization of this is part and parcel of what may be called a state-consciousness which has been growing in our midst for some years. The sentiment for recognizing this in a concrete way by honoring the place of the state's birth came to the surface as far back as 1913. Corydon was that place; the old stone capitol, still stand- ing there, under the roof of which the transition from ter- ritory to state was made, was the very cradle of the common- wealth, and this was the stimulus for a legislative movement looking to the purchase of the building; of which more will be said in its place (p. 29).
IN THE HEART OF THE HILLS
In these days of ever-multiplying automobile tourists the week-end pilgrimage has become a popular form of recrea- tion. An interesting objective with good scenery en route is a sufficient incentive, and of these the State of Indiana, through its Department of Conservation, is offering more and
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more. This is particularly true of the south part of the state with its flavor of history and its picturesque hill country spreading in scenic variety from the Whitewater to the Wabash. Here, along the lordly Ohio or in the counties con- tiguous to it, are the old towns, from Brookville to Vincennes, that represent the urban beginnings of our commonwealth, and here the region whence came so many good Hoosier families that are now scattered over the state. Here, too, the state itself had its origin in the little valley town ensconced amid the hills-and that is Corydon.
If the tourist seeking Corydon approaches from the north it is likely he will travel by road No. 31 via Scotts- burg, Sellersburg and New Albany. If he does, a short dis- tance beyond Scottsburg he will come to two features that should be of interest to one who is sight-seeing. The first of these is the neighborhood where occurred the Pigeon Roost massacre, noted in our Indiana history as the bloodiest event of the kind in the annals of the state. As a memorial of the tragedy a monument in the form of a tall shaft of stone stands a short distance east of the road and about two miles south of Vienna. The other feature that challenges the at- tention is the State Forest Reserve, lying just within the bounds of Clark County. This reserve of approximately 5,000 acres, with its extensive tree nurseries as part of the state's conservation and reforestation system, is well worth a passing notice, and if one will take the pains to climb the tall steel tower that tops the highest hill in the reserve he will get one of the most far-reaching views to be had from any point in the state, and one of the most beautiful, especial- ly as he looks southward into the hill country. At this lati- tude begins that system of peculiar conical hills called the "Knobs," and on the far side of a broad, rolling, heavily- wooded valley that sweeps to the westward the group of these Knobs known as the "Silver Hills" lie limned against the sky in bold silhouettes. Southward of these, at intervals, rise others of the Knobs which the tourist will better note as he continues on toward New Albany. Southward, too, stretches for miles what seems a great rampart, which lies, a broad belt of blue, against the western horizon. This wall and these sentinel hills give one the sense of a mysterious region beyond, thus guarded from intruders, and one of
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lively imagination may borrow zest from the fact that the object of his quest lies hidden there with the way of access as yet unknown.
As a matter of fact the curious rampart with its odd- looking outlying hills and the intriguing lands beyond, speak- ing of poetic mysteries, are none the less wonderful when the geologists have explained them. What seems a wall, viewed from a distance, is designated in the books as the "Knobstone Escarpment," being the sharply-descending edge of an up- land or plateau, spreading beyond. This upland, composed of soft shales, erodes in its own peculiar ways, thus forming the rounded hills; and as to the mysteries beyond, we find their equivalent when, the rock formations shifting to a de- composable limestone, we come to a land of caverns and sub- terranean streams.
Road No. 62 leading westward from New Albany to Corydon, a distance of twenty miles, first runs into a pocket of hills, then by a long winding climb mounts the escarpment and enters the upland beyond. Here one finds himself travers- ing a beautiful, undulating landscape, the salient features being a broad, shallow creek valley bordered by panoramas of picturesque hills and ridges. The road is good and the rid- ing so pleasant that almost before the traveler knows it he is entering the streets of Corydon, a town of something less than 2,000 people, "beautiful for situation" where it nestles low in the meeting valleys of Big and Little Indian creeks, with the surrounding heights looking down upon it. If you climbed the heights so as to also look down you would find the town site to be in a big oval dish up the sloping sides of which the scattering homes mount ambitiously till some are perched on the commanding hill tops. On the lower level the houses snuggle beneath the shelter of umbrageous trees, and there by day and night the hurrying waters of Big and Little Indian croon liquid melodies to them. Very peaceful and rural is the spirit of this Mecca of Hoosierdom in spite of its in- vasion by the fussy, skurrying automobile, and it seems more impressively so when we remember that it is almost within sight of the three Falls Cities to the east, which collectively make a population center but little short of 400,000 souls. Here for more than a hundred and twenty years it has pursued the even tenor of its way, wholly inconspicuous save
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for one brief chapter in its history and the renown since reflected by that episode. This was the dozen years between 1813 and 1825, during which period the place was successive- ly the capital of the territory and that of the state, with the added honor of being the scene of the transition from one to the other.
And this brings us finally to the main theme of this booklet-the old capitol building, still existing as a symbol of our political beginnings and as a historical memorial. It stands in its otherwise vacant square in the middle of the town, a plain, two-storied, cube-shaped structure with a hip roof surmounted by a cupola. In its exterior there are few architectural graces, but the whole building speaks of mass- iveness. The walls are of rough blue limestone, quarried from the neighborhood, the maximum thickness of them being not less than two and a half feet, and the heavy masonry being apparent at the door and window spaces. The house was, obviously, built to withstand the years, and thus far it has done so with no signs of deterioration.
HISTORY AND HEARSAY
Within the last few years curiosity has been stimulated regarding the history of the Corydon capitol and the exact re- lation of the territory and state to it. Certain traditions about it have been handed down. The date of its construc- tion is usually given as 1811-1812, and its builder as Dennis Pennington, a stone mason, and one of the earliest and best- known citizens of Harrison County. While some say that he was the actual artizan who built it, others state that he was the contractor only. It seems to be generally taken for granted that the building originally erected as a court house was completed by 1813, and that it became the capital at that time. Then there are conflicting statements about various other things relating to Corydon of the capital period, and all in all, one must conclude that along with the bona fide history of the place there is more or less that has been handed down loosely and accepted without verification, as al- ways happens where history of interest has been made.
Since traditions often-perhaps usually-have a valid foundation, the present writer has no desire to take issue with these, but he feels that the first consideration here is to deal
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with his subject as accurately as may be from the evidence in the case, and to that end he has studied with some dili- gence whatever he could find bearing upon the matter.
Unfortunately the evidence is incomplete and fragment- ary, owing to a culpable negligence that once prevailed in Corydon as elsewhere throughout our state. In Chamber- lain's Indiana Gazetteer of 1850, Samuel Merrill, the compiler of the book, speaks of the "laws, records and other papers relating to the early business of the territory" as missing from the state archives, and cites an instance of twenty-seven years before where papers were officially burned up at Cory- don because some clerk had complained of being troubled with them. Thus it happens that in the records of Harrison County relating to the old court house there are tantalizing gaps. Fortunately, however, some that were lost have been recov- ered, and there now exists an interest in their careful preser- vation by the county officials.
Owing to the dual service rendered by this old building in the past data concerning it are to be sought in two sets of archives-those of the state and those of the county. Those of the state were carefully gone into some years ago by Miss Ethel Cleland, then of the State Library, and as her research gives every evidence of thoroughness I here reprint her find- ings as they appeared in the Indiana Quarterly Magazine of History for March, 1913.
STATE DOCUMENTS-MISS CLELAND'S RESEARCH
Upon a request for information received by the Legis- lative Reference Department of the Indiana State Library in regard to the erection of the first State House at Corydon, the bill or bills providing for the purchase of the ground and the erection of the building, and the surrender of the ground to Harrison County, the ensu- ing investigation was undertaken. After a cursory sur- vey of the subject the question became, to show first whether the State ever owned such ground or building, and if not, who did, and by what right the State occupied them. The sources of information consulted are (1) the territorial acts, (2) the early State laws, (3) the early legislative journals, (4) the limited material in the State Library on the subject.
(1) TERRITORIAL LAWS .- In 1813 Corydon was fixed as the seat of government by "An act to remove the seat
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of government from the town of Vincennes to the town of Corydon, in the county of Harrison" (Territorial Laws, 1813, p. 51). This act is entirely silent on the sub- ject of property or quarters to be occupied by the legis- lature or the judges of the general court. In the laws of the same year (1813, p. 80), an appropriation is made to one Mark Barnett "for rent of two rooms for the use of both houses of legislature during the present session," which, of course, was held in Vincennes, show- ing that the legislature rented quarters previous to re- moving to Corydon.
The territorial laws of 1814 contain nothing bearing on this question. In those of 1815 we find (p. 72) an ap- propriation to Elizabeth Spencer for house rent, but it does not state that it is for the use of the legislature. However, a joint resolution of the same year (p. 117) grants the same person "a further allowance for candles and house rent for the present session." From this it would seem that the legislature rented quarters when the capital was removed to Corydon. Another resolution of 1815 (p. 115) bears so directly on the court house (later called State House) of Corydon that it is quoted in full.
"A resolution for the relief of Dennis Pennington.
"Whereas, it has been represented to this legislature, that Dennis Pennington, who was the undertaker for erecting the Court House in Corydon, in consequence of not receiving the money as contracted to be paid, has been compelled to pay a considerable sum, in interest, etc. And whereas, the Circuit Court for Harrison County do not conceive that they have any power by any existing law to give the said Pennington relief-
Therefore, Be it resolved by the Legislative Council and House of Representatives, That the associate judges for the county of Harrison be, and they are hereby au- thorized to make the said Pennington any other and further allowance as, from a view of the whole circum- stance, shall be considered by them equitable and just, to be paid out of the county funds as in other cases.
"This resolution to take effect from its passage."
(2) EARLY STATE LAWS .- In 1816 the constitutional convention fixed the seat of government at Corydon "until the year 1825, and until removed by law" (Journal of the constitutional convention of 1816, p. 61). In the federal Enabling Act of 1816 four sections of land are granted to the state for the purpose of fixing the seat of government thereon. The legislature in 1820 (laws of 1819-20, p. 18) appointed "commissioners to locate a site for the permanent seat of government." But neither in this act nor in the subsequent act of 1821, 1822, 1823, 1824 and 1825 is there any mention of state property and
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buildings in Corydon, or the disposal thereof, except, in a joint resolution of 1824 (laws of 1823-24, p. 113) the state treasurer is authorized to sell such furniture be- longing to the state as could not be removed to Indian- apolis. There are three other resolutions that seem to have a bearing on the question-one in 1816 (laws of 1816, p. 249) in which the legislature adjourned the Circuit Court from the court house in Harrison County to meet in the seminary in Corydon while the legislature was in session; a similar resolution in 1820 (laws of 1820-21, p. 132), adjourning the Circuit Court to meet in a private house, at the date the legislature convened ; while another resolution of the same session (laws of 1820-21, p. 142) authorizes repairs to the "State House" for the next session of the legislature (evidently the building was known indiscriminately as "Court House" and "State House"), these repairs to be paid for from the State treasury.
(3) EARLY LEGISLATIVE JOURNALS .- In the Senate Journal of 1816-17 (p. 22) we find the following :
"Resolved, By the Senate that a select committee to whom was referred an investigation of private engage- ments to provide a house for the governor etc., etc., be instructed to enquire what is the situation of the right of occupancy of the General Assembly to the Court House of the county of Harrison, and what privileges have been granted by the county court or citizens of said county, and what measures may be necessary to be adopted for the future accommodation of the legislature during the continuance of the seat of government at Corydon, and that the House of Representatives be re- quested to give similar instructions to their committee with leave to report thereon."
A similar resolution was adopted in the House (House Journal, 1816-17, p. 27), and a joint committee was ap- pointed to investigate the matter (Senate Journal, 1816- 17, p. 23, and House Journal 1816-17, p. 27). The re- port of this committee is found on page 57 of the House Journal of 1816-17 as follows :
"Your committee have made the enquiry into the right of occupancy of the Court House in Corydon for the use of the State, and find that the associate judges of Harri- son County, June term, special court 1816, made the fol- lowing order, to-wit:
" 'Ordered, That the Court House of Harrison County, in the town of Corydon, be tendered to the Territorial and State legislature for the use of the State House so long as Corydon shall remain the seat of government.'
"If the Court House be sufficiently guaranteed to the General Assembly of the State of Indiana by the above
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order, your committee would recommend to the General Assembly to devote the room occupied by the clerk's of- fice in the Court House to the auditor for an office, and that another room in said house be devoted to the Secre- tary of State for an office, and further we would recom- mend that the books and papers belonging to the legis- lative department be deposited in the secretary's office. "The committee are decidedly of opinion that more substantial assurances ought to be given to the General Assembly by the citizens or court of Harrison County for the use of the Court House for the benefit of the State while the seat of government remains at Corydon."
An interesting agreement was a contract entered into by citizens of Harrison County to furnish a convenient dwelling for the governor, and also, it would appear, to pay certain sums of money for the use of the state. In the treasurer's and auditor's reports of 1816 to 1823 we find receipts for sums of money recovered from sundry citizens of Harrison County.
COUNTY DOCUMENTS
Research in the Harrison County court house discloses additional information, though it is fragmentary .* The earliest document of a consecutive character is the record book of the Court of Common Pleas, covering the period from March, 1809 to February, 1812. This valuable relic of ter- ritorial days long ago mysteriously disappeared from the archives but finally was located and recovered. It is filled up largely with the entries of the county business, hence af- fords a few glimpses bearing upon the antecedents of the court house. The earliest of these is an item under date of March 9, 1809, which reads :
"Henry [Hervey] Heth and William Henry Harrison came personally into court and acknowledged themselves indebted to the Court of Common Pleas of Harrison County in the sum of five hundred dollars provided the said Heth and Harrison do not on or before June, 1812, convey by a good and sufficient deed to the said court for the use of the said county for public grounds, two lots in the town of Corydon, in said county, containing one acre and four perches each, being heretofore laid off by them for the public ground in said town."
*To the present court house officials, and particularly to Mr. James Brewster and his sister, Miss Elizabeth Brewster, who have long been connected with the auditor's office, the writer is indebted for assistance in his hunt for source material.
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