USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana > Part 47
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The building is in length four hundred and ninety- two feet on the cast and west fronts ; the centre, from east to west, two hundred and eighty-two feet by one hundred and cighteen in width ; the north and south fronts, each one hundred and eighty-five feet ; height of dome, two hundred and thirty-four feet, diameter seventy-two feet ; height of east and west fronts, one hundred feet ; south and north fronts, ninety-two feet ; basement story, twelve feet high ; first story, eighteen feet six inches ; second story, nineteen feet ; Represen- tatives' Hall, forty-eight feet ; Senate Chamber, forty- eight feet ; Supreme Court room, forty feet ; third story, sixteen fect six inches. The outer walls are faced with cut stone, backed with brick-work, and laid in cement mortar. The frame-work of the roof is of wrought iron. The exterior covering of the roof is slate and copper. The Tennessee Street, or principal front, has a flight of stone steps, sixty feet in width, leading to the grand portico and corridor of the first floor. The pediment of this portico is sup- ported by polished fluted columus, with carved capi-
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CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS.
tals, the tympanum richly ornamented with the State's coat-of-arms. The dome is the leading archi- tectural feature.
From the foundation to the springing line of roof the dome is constructed of Indiana stone, built in a direct plumb line, " solids over solids and voids over voids," cut and dressed to such exact dimensions that, with a small stretch of the imagination, it may be considered as one large block of stone, perforated for passages and window openings. No plastering, stucco; or iron-work is required as finish or ornamentation, outside or within, as all decoration is cut on or in the solid stone. A dome constructed in this manner will serve as a useful monument or memorial, as on the inside walls, as well as the corridor sides, there are niches for statuary, and panels for inscription and relief work. Access to the lantern and gallery is by easy stairways from the third floor. A gallery thus constructed in the interior affords a sheltered " lookout," and at the same time relieves the dome of the common defect of insecure and leaky con- struction.
The exterior of the main building indicates the locality of the various departments, such as the Hall of Representatives, Senate Chamber, State Library, and Supreme Court room. The steps ascending to the first floor, from each street on the four fronts, constitute an attractive architectural feature, and for convenience will be duly appreciated. The legislative halls and principal rooms are lighted direct from the outside, roof and ceiling lights being carefully avoided. The ceilings of the Senate Chamber, Hall of Repre- sentatives, State Library, and Supreme Court room are constructed with panel work, and such ornaments are introduced as will best harmonize with the decora- tions of the side walls and furniture. In the interior arrangements the architect has introduced all the modern improvements in heating, plumbing, and ventilating, elevators for passengers and fuel, dust flues from each department, electric and telephone combinations, soft water for lavatories, electric clocks, and electric lighting of gas. The halls are set at regular intervals with polished marble columns on granite bases, and extend the entire length of the building, nearly five hundred feet, forming the finest
colonnades in any public building in the Union, except those of the national capitol at Washington. The niches and panels of the dome and the surrounding colonnade are intended to be occupied by busts, statues, and other memorials of the State's history, especially of its participation in the war for the Union.
Up to the close of the building season in 1882 the contractors, Howard & Denig (Mr. Howard succeed- ing Mr. Kanmacher), had completed the work in admirable style to the floor of the third story. Thinking their contract likely to be a losing one from the rise in the price of material and labor, they asked the Legislature for a large extra compensation, failing in which they would be compelled to abandon the contract. The Legislature concluded to abide by the bargain, and hold them to it. Work was stopped for the greater part of the year 1883, and then the sureties of the contractors concluded to take the building and complete it on the original terms. They did a considerable amount of work in the fall, and the case looks promising for as speedy a completion as was originally anticipated. The commissioners have watched the progress of the work incessantly and anxiously, and have secured, so far, as perfect a piece of builders' skill as can be found in any modera structure in Christendom. " On the resignation of Professor Collett, W. B. Seward, of Bloomington, was appointed in his place, and on the death of Gen. Love, Mr. Henry Mursinna, of Evansville, filled that vacancy. The board now consists of the original members (Gen. Morris and I. D. G. Nelson) and Mr. Seward and Mr. Mursinna, with the Gov- ernor ex officio a member, and Capt. John M. Go- down, secretary, succeeding W. C. Tarkington, who resigned in a year after his appointment in 1877.
The State Buildings .- These are on the south- west corner of Washington and Tennessee Streets, and cover the whole lot belonging to the State, on which the first treasurer's office and residence were built. After this house was abandoned by the treas- urer, in 1856 or 1857, it was rented till it was torn down, in 1865, and replaced, in 1867, by the present buildings for the State offices, which were then scat- tered about, some in the " McOuat Block" on Ken- tucky Avenue, some in the State-House, and some in
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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.
the Arsenal building, north of the State-House. John L. Smithmeyer planned the new State buildings, but was not thought at the time to have made a par- ticularly good job of it, either in convenience, beauty, or durability. It accommodated all the State offices, including the Supreme Court and the " chambers" of the judges, except the State library and the Goy- ernor's office, which remained in the old State-House till it was sold to be torn down, when they were removed, the one to the "Gallup" or " MeCray Block," where it is yet, the other to one of the rooms of the State building. The office of the superintend- ent of public instruction was kept mainly in the Gallup Block for a half-dozen terms or more. Some half-dozen or more years ago a large addition to the State buildings was made on the south, for the State- House Board, the superintendent of public instrue- tion, and some other public uses. The State geologist and museum are in the second story of the "Gallup Block," with the State Board of Agriculture. The State Bureau of Statistics is in the Masonic Temple. These will all go to the new State-House.
Post-Office .- The post-office building, in which the Federal courts meet and all the national offices are kept, is a large but not very impressive looking stone structure on the southeast corner of Market and Pennsylvania Streets. It was begun in 1857, on the site of the blacksmith-shop attached to the first carriage-factory, on the same square. The ground was swampy, and at the southwest corner the excavation for the cellar broke into a section of quicksand and liquid mud, which had to be drained by a steam-pump and filled in with broken stone and cement for many a day before a safe foundation was made for the massive structure that was to rest upon it. In 1860 it was completed, at a cost of one hun- dred and sixty thousand dollars. Some years ago it was enlarged by an addition to the depth eastward that nearly doubled its capacity. An elevator was put in the south lobby. The post-office was moved into it in 1860, after moving about over the village, town, and city in a vagabond way for nearly forty years. When Mr. Henderson first took the office in March, 1822, it was kept in a house near Mis- souri Street, the line of the future canal. That was
a convenient point between the settlement on the river and that further inland. It was moved from there, in 1823 or 1824, to Henderson's tavern, where " Washington Hall" afterwards stood and where the " Glenn Block" now stands. Then, on the accessiou of Capt. John Cain to the office, in February, 1831, he removed it to the north side of Washington Street, half-way between Meridian and Illinois, where, a few years later,-in 1835 or thereabouts,-was erected the " Union Row," the first " block" of build- ings in this place. One of these Capt. Cain owned, and in it he put the post-office as soon as it was finished. For some years before 1849 it was kept on the west side of Meridian Street, in the building next to the Relief Engine House, now replaced by " Hubbard's Block." It was removed by Col. Rus- sell, or by Dr. Dunlap before him, to the west side of Pennsylvania Street, adjoining the Journal office, where a fire broke out that damaged both establish- ments considerably, though not enough to interfere with the course of business of either. This was near 1850. After the fire a removal was made to the east side of Meridian, in a three-story brick of Judge Blackford's,-used as a hospital for Confed- erate prisoners during the. war,-now replaced by the " Blackford Block." From that building it went to its own in 1860, under John M. Talbott. Our postmasters have been:
Samuel Henderson 1822-31
John Cain.
1831-41.
Joseph M. Moore. 1841-
Jobn Cain
1841-45
Livingston Dunlap.
1845-49
Alexander W. Russell
1849-51
James N. Russell
1851-53
William W. Wick
1853-57
John M. Talbott. 1857-61
Alexander H. Conner
1861-66
David G. Rose.
1866-69
William R. Holloway
1869-81
James A. Wildman.
1881
Joseph M. Moore was appointed by President Harrison. In a few months he was dismissed by Tyler and Cain reappointed. Col. Russell died in the office in 1851 or 1852, and his son James was appointed to serve out the term.
Some items of the business done in the post-office
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CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS.
in 1870 will furnish an interesting comparison with the report of the year just closed :
1870.
Sales of stamps and stampcd envelopes ...... $84,188.46 From money-orders and deposits of postmasters on
meney-order acoount ... $494,386.55
Registered letters for distribution. 19,120
Registered letters for city delivery. 8,376
Registered letters fer mailing. 1,240
Letters delivered from boxes and general delivery .. 306,000
Letters advertised and sent to Dead-Letter Office ...
18,400
Letters, by mail, delivered by carriers
2,276,134
Letters, local, delivered by carriers.
1,472,640
Newspapers delivered by carriers.
376,704
Letters collected by carriers
1,349,943
Letters received for distribution
9,403,200
Letters deposited in office and collected frem street boxes.
1,331,457 10,734,657 6,000
Letters, city, sent to Dead-Letter Office.
Letters, held for better direction, sent to Dead- Letter Office.
7,200
Letters, addressed in initials or fictitious names, sent to Dead-Letter Office. 500
Letters returned from botels and sent to Dead- Letter Office. 800
Letters returned to writers. 7,000
Bags of newspapers mailed, received, distributed, (equal to 70,200 bushels) ..
42,570
Lock-pouches and mail-boxes dispatched. 28,600
Lock-pouches and mail-boxes received.
28,500
1883.
Carriers employed.
33
Delivery trips daily 1104
Collection trips daily. 1170
Registered letters delivered. 48,498
Mail letters delivered .. 4,432,675
Mail postal-cards delivered.
983,419
Local letters delivered.
538,548
Lecal postal-cards delivered.
477,564
Nowspapers, etc., delivered.
2,460,000
Letters returned to the office.
5,135
Letters collected
2,410,791
Pestal-cards collected.
946,268
Newspapers collected.
289,157
Total postage on local matter delivered in boxes, general delivery, and carriers.
$15,426.55 $30,729.78
Incidental expenses.
$1,553.54
Number of letters, postal-cards, and circulars dis-
tributed on letter case during the year 1883 .... Newspapers, periodicals, circulars, merchandise,
and transient matter distributed on paper cases. Lock-pouches dispatched. 34,675
Canvas bags dispatched. 36,500
Lock-pouches received. 39,055
Canvas bags received .. 27,375 Total number pouches and canvas bags received and dispatched during the year 1883. 137,605
Number of letters mailed without postage .... 3,580 Number of packages mailed without postage. 237 Total number of letters and packages mailed with- out postage during the year 1883
GENERAL BUSINESS, JANUARY 1st TO DECEMBER 1st, 1883.
Receipts.
March 31, 1883 $51,272.98
June 30, 1883. 49,366.27
September 30, 1883 48,546.13
December 31, 1883 45,486.92
Total receipts.
$194,672.30
Total expenses 74,091.24
Turned over to treasury.
$120,581.06
1
Expenditures.
March 31, 1883 $18,342.34
June 30, 1883. 18,348.92
September 30, 1883 18,732.89
December 31, 1883
18,667.09
$74,091.24
MONEY-ORDER DEPARTMENT.
No. orders issued.
No. orders paid.
Domestio 20,199
Domestio 73,468
Canadian
56
Canadian 259
British
532
British 51
German 83
Swiss
47
Swiss
15
Italian.
62
Italian
1
Freoch
14
French
6
New Zealand.
2
New Zealand ..
2
New South Wales
1
21,495
India
1
Belgium.
1
73,888
Postal-notes issued ........ 1,960 | Postal-notes paid
9,663
The business of the money-order department from January, 1883, to January, 1884, will amount in the aggregate to one million dollars.
Public Halls .- The court-house was the public hall of Indianapolis for twenty-five years. As related in the general history, it was used as a church, con- cert-room, lecture-hall, show-room, hall for public meet- ings and political conventions, almost alone, during that quarter of a century. The hall of the House of Representatives was occasionally used for meetings of the graver grade by permission of that body formally voted. John B. Dillon delivered his lectures on In- diana history there in 1844, the General Conference of the Methodist Church was held there in the spring of 1856, and Fanny Lee Townsend lectured on Women's Rights in the Senate chamber in 1850, but the court-house was the general dependence. In 1847 the Grand Lodge of the Masonic Order of the State decided to build a large and handsome edifice here for the use of the order, and make one story of
Amount paid carriers
1,715,500
034,000
3,817
German 583
Letters, total, sent from office ..
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HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.
it a public hall. In May they bought the vacant lot southeast corner of Tennessee and Washington Streets, and formed a company-the Grand Lodge taking a large share of the stock- to erect the build- ing. The plan was proposed by one of the first resi- dent architects here, Mr. J. Willis, and the late William Sheets superintended the work, subsequently receiving a handsome and costly silver service from the order for the gratuitous work he had done for them in this respect. On the 25th of October the corner-stone was laid with impressive Masonic cere- monies, and the singing of a hymn written for the occasion by Mrs. Sarah S. Bolton.
The work hung heavily for want of ready means, and it was not till the spring of 1850 that it was so far advanced that the hall could be opened. When entirely inclosed, but before the floors were laid, a man by the name of Becker, while stepping across the upper story on the joists, fell to the ground-floor and was instantly killed but a minute or two before his two little boys passed the hall on their way home from Sunday-school. Their first look inside showed them the dead body of their father. In the summer of 1850 the hall was first occupied by Mrs. Lesder- nier for a dramatic reading. In the winter the Con- stitutional Convention, which had met in the hall of the House, was forced out by the meeting of the Legislature and went to Masonic Hall. It was fitted up with a platform at the south end, and with rows of red settees for the members. At night it was lighted by three great, black, ugly chandeliers, with seven or eight sprawling branches that looked like monstrous spiders. They were supplicd with gas made of grease and refuse in a little building in the rear, as were a street-lamp or two in front. Here all public exhibitions and entertainments were given from 1850 to about the close of the war, when Morrison's Opera-Hall, on the northeast corner of Meridian and Maryland Streets, then recently completed, began to be used for such purposes considerably till it was burned, in the winter of 1869. The fire had caught in the heating-furnace and made dangerous headway before it was discovered. An alarm would have made a panic and catastrophe. A preacher who made the discovery gave no alarm, but went among
the audience whispering the news to them, with directions to go out quietly, and all got out safely, some without knowing what the matter was till they saw the flames burst out. Occasional use was made of two other halls in that time, but being smaller and less accessible they were hardly an exception to the universal use of the larger. In 1875 Masonic Hall was rebuilt, the order using all the upper stories of the front building and making a separate but con- nected building of the public ball, which is a better one than the old one. The Grand Lodge long since absorbed all the stock issued in 1847.
The smaller halls were "College Hall," in the third story of the building erected by Daniel Yandes and Thomas H. Sharpe on the site of the old McCarty store, southwest corner of Washington and Pennsyl- vania Streets, a little before the Masonic Hall was built; and " Washington Hall," opposite "Masonic Hall," built within a year or two of the others. A number of minor halls have been built since, but require no special mention here.
Theatres .- The first theatrical performance in Indianapolis Mr. Nowland puts in the winter of 1825, but Mr. Ignatius Brown, citing the Gazette as au- thority, says it was in December, 1823. A reference is made to it in the general history. The first dra- matic performance, with a stage, scenery, orchestra, a full cast of parts and regular " posters," occurred in 1838 or 1839. It was not largely patronized, but its expense was small, and it did well enough to come again in two or three years. The better class of Indianapolis society, and that best able to make its patronage desirable, was not partial to the theatre. The religious element was immovably dominant and by no means tolerant. It would go to a menagerie, or "animal show," as it was usually called, but not to a circus. If the two were combined the bad ruined both. Schools were sometimes given a holiday to visit a menagerie, but scholars who visited a circus were usually rewarded by a private performance like the ring-master's whip and the clown, dissimilar only in its reality. Concerts were tolerable if not credit- able, but a theatre was irredeemable depravity. The feeling has changed a great deal in the last twenty- five years. In 1858 it forbade the Widows' and
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CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS.
Orphans' Society from receiving a five-hundred dollar benefit at the Metropolitan Theatre. In 1868, ten years later, it moved the very same society to conduct a series of dramatic performances in Morrison's Opera- Hall, for the very same purpose as that so peremp- torily repelled before. The town had grown then till it was big enough and rich enough to furnish paying patronage without dependence on the "rigidly righteous," and moral antipathies, finding themselves powerless to restrain the theatrical demoralization, abandoned the contest and grew weak from disuse. It is not certain that the hostility of the old citizens did not, in the main, benefit the reprehensible shows by the allurement of doing a forbidden thing. At all events, Indianapolis has always been held a first- rate town by showmen of all varicties, from an operatic star to a double-headed baby. Negro minstrels and circuses are especially popular, or have been. The theatre before the war was poor property; during the war it was a bonanza. Since the war it has fluctuated, with a general tendency towards improve- ment.
Returning from this digression to the first regular dramatic season in the city, we find that a Mr. Lind- say was the manager, and Mr. Ollaman's wagon-shop, opposite the court-house, on Washington Street, the theatre. A low stage was built at the south end, on the floor, level with the sidewalk, or lower, while the seats were given a little elevation as they ap- proached the entrance. The orchestra was a fiddle, a clarionet, and a brass instrument, the scenery poor and primitive, but it was scenery, and the perform- ance much like other third-rate stage work. The plays oftenest noticed on the bulletin board were " The Stranger," "Pizarro," "Swiss Cottage," " Loan of a Lover," and " Virginius." Comic songs were introduced between the tragedy and the after-piece, among which the boys picked up the "Tongo Is- lands," with a lively air and an inextricable tangle of unintelligible chorus ; " Jenny, Get Your Hoe-Cake Done," a "nigger" song of the "Jim Crow" or early variety ; " Near Fly Market Lived a Dame," and similar rubbish no worse than most of the comic trash of the stage to-day, and less likely to be indecently suggestive. It was silly, but it was not nasty. In
1840-41, Mr. Lindsay came again and fitted up in better style the old Indiana Democrat office, on the site of the News building, and here he had two of the finest dramatic performers in the United States of that day, Augustus A. Adams and Mrs. Drake. A mistimed debauch had lost the eminent tragedian a chance of a better engagement, and he came here in default of having anything else to do. Mrs. Drake was possibly in a similar strait, or she would hardly have come here to play in a little theatre that could not seat more than two hundred. However, they did come, and Indianapolis that winter had as fine playing as any city in the Union. The leading performers were in their prime and did their best.
A funny scene occurred here that was the town talk for a month. Capt. George W. Cutter, author of the "Song of Steam" and " E Pluribus Unum," both of unusual merit,-written several years after this time, however,-was a member of the Legisla- ture from Terre Haute, a pock-marked, brilliant-eyed, voluble declaimer of the sun-soaring, eagle-screaming order, who had made a conspicuous figure in the great Harrison " log-cabin" campaign the year before, and he boarded at the " Washington Hall," where Mrs. Drake did. She was old enough to be his aunt, if not his mother, but he fell desperately in love with her, and she apparently with him. The billing and cooing of these oddly-mated turtles was endless fun for the other inmates of the hotel. He always attended her to the theatre, and remained at the " wings" when she was on the stage. One night her part required a fall, and her adorer fancying it a real one rushed upon the stage, to the utter con- fusion of the scene and the uproarious delight of the audience, and tenderly raising her ponderous loveli- ness,-for she was " fat, fair, and forty,"-carried her off with many sweetly murmured condolings. They were married soon after this pathetic incident. Mrs. Drake returned here and played with her daughter, Mrs. Harry Chapman, and Mr. Chapman, at the Metropolitan during the war. Capt. Cutter served out his legislative session and never returned.
In 1843 the " New York Company of Comedians" leased the upper story of Gaston's carriage-factory, where the Bates House is now, fitted it up as a
17
258
HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.
theatre, and gave concerts to cover some evasion of the license law, and followed them with dramatic performances, usually farces or comedies. The com- pany waa said at the time to be an unusually good one. One of the earliest of the pioneers of the city, Mr. R. Corbaley, was killed at this theatre one night by walking off the platform in front of the upper story where the performances were given, where there was no guard-rail. He fell to the pavement, some twelve or fourteen feet, and died in a short time.
More conspicuous every way, both as a social and dramatic event, than any incident so far related, was the formation of the " Indianapolis Thespian Corps" in 1840. It is hard to determine, at this distance of time, whether the " corps" was an offshoot of the first brass band, or the band was a suggestion of the " corps." In any case they came very closely to- gether, and some of the leading men in one were equally prominent in the other, as Edward S. Tyler, then a bookbinder, now a farmer in Perry township ; James McCready, then a tailor, afterwards mayor, and now an officer of the Indiana National Bank ; James G. Jordan, then a law student, afterwards city clerk and secretary of the Bellefontaine Railroad Com- pany, with O. H. Smith as president-died in 1850. Among the performers were other young men of the city, unknown now, however, except as shadowy memories, save William Wallace. The theatre was a frame building on the northwest corner of Market and Mississippi Streets, which had been erected for a foundry the summer before and never used. There was no floor, the sills were raised a foot from the ground on blocks,-a sort of special providence for the boys who wanted to " slip in,"-and the seats were raised one above the other from the north end at the stage to the south end on Market Street. Dr. Mears had a " hay press" west of it on the same lot to make baled hay for flat-boat transportation down the river. The stage was about fifteen feet wide by twenty feet long, and was provided with better scenery, by the gener- osity of Jacob Cox, than many a better theatre could boast. Price of admission, a quarter, with frequent compromises upon merchantable articles of equivalent or approximate value, as silk handkerchiefs, chcap breastpins, especially " log-cabin" pins manufactured
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