USA > New Jersey > The history of New Jersey : from its earliest settlement to the present time : including a brief historical account of the first discoveries and settlement of the country, Vol. II > Part 19
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On the 4th of February the sum of two hundred and eighty- five dollars and sixty-six cents was appropriated for completing the parts of the work already begun.
On the 4th of November Abraham Kitchell and Joseph Stil- well reported "that they had examined the accounts and vouchers of Moore Furman, appointed by the act of February 19th last, to complete the State House yard, and find that there appears to be a balance due the said Moore Furman of twenty- eight pounds two shillings and one penny, equal to seventy-four dollars and ninety-five cents."
November 3d, 1801, Messrs. Peter Gordon, of Hunterdon ; Samuel W. Harrison, of Gloucester, and Gershom Dunn, of Middlesex, were appointed a committee to examine what repairs are necessary to be made to the State House, and on the 4th they reported "that the platform and banisters at each end of the house, the belfry, window frames and sashes, all should be immediately painted over to preserve the wood from decaying, as they observe the paint chiefly washed off; also, new steps on the north side, and some small repairs to the steps on the south side, together with a new cellar door frame, which repairs it is supposed, by the best information they can obtain, will amount to two hundred dollars."
November 3d, 1803, it was resolved by the General Assembly " that a committee be appointed to inquire into the cause and conduct of the mob assembled in Trenton in the month of Feb- ruary last, and also by whose direction or approbation the State House was occupied as a ball-room on the 4th of July, and of
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the riot in Trenton in said month, and whether the magistrates of Trenton used all due diligence in suppressing said disorders ; and likewise whether any, and how many of the principal in- habitants of said town, as far as can be ascertained, appeared at the time to approve or discountenance such conduct, and that they report to this House their opinion thereon, and what measures, if any, would be proper in order to prevent such dis- orders in the future ; and that the committee have power to send for such evidences as they think necessary ;" but it does not appear that anything ever came out of it, further than the adop- tion of the accompanying resolution, which was passed by both Houses on the roth of the same month :
" Resolved, That on the adjournment of the Legislature the Clerk of Assembly and Moore Furman, Esq., or either of them, be requested to take charge of the State House, with directions not to permit it to be occupied for any other purpose than for the accommodation of the constituted authorities for which it was erected."
Previous to this time the building had been used for exhibi- tions of various kinds, balls and lectures of a sensational charac- . ter, as abolitionism and such like, which at that day were of an unpopular and exciting nature, as intending to interfere with an institution which the great mass of the people then considered · not only right, but of Divine appointment.
: James Jefferson Wilson was the Clerk of Assembly, and on the IIth of November a resolution was passed by both Houses placing the State House yard in his care, reserving the use of the build- ings in said yard for the necessary occasions of the officers of government.
March 3d, 1806, a law was passed appointing commissioners to make certain repairs to the State House, to provide and hang a suitable bell, etc .; for although when the building was erected they had built a belfry, yet they had not provided a bell, but when this had been done, it was used for informing the members of the two Houses, as well as the courts, of the hour of meeting, since which time the bell has been discarded and an American flag substituted, which is kept floating to the breeze from the top of the building during the sessions of the Legislature.
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On the 3d of November, 1807, the commissioners reported " that the ceiling of the council-room had been repaired in such manner as appears durable and safe ; that the outside covering of the wings of the house being found defective, new coverings of boards have been put on in such a manner, the commissioners believe, as to completely exclude the water for a considerable length of time ; had the appropriation been permitted, the com- missioners would have thought it their duty to have had it covered with copper, and they would recommend that this should be done to make the coverings durable and waterproof; that the platform of the cupola has been covered, first with boards, and afterwards with copper, and all the leaks that could be dis- covered in the roof have been stopped; that a bell has been procured and hung, the workmanship of which appears to be well executed, and is as large as the limits prescribed by law would allow, weighing three hundred and eighty-one pounds; that the various expenses incurred in effecting these objects having employed all the money appropriated, and, indeed, rather . exceeded the appropriation, they have not thought it their duty to procure a carpet for the Supreme Court room, as mentioned in the law."
On the same day a resolution was adopted requesting them to proceed to the completion of the duties assigned them, by pro- viding a suitable carpet to cover the floor of the Supreme Court room.
February 19th, 1813, a bill was passed to provide for the paving of the walks in front of the State House, and on the 20th the House passed a resolution appointing Richard L. Beatty, the Clerk of the House, to take charge of the State House, with its appurtenances, during the recess of the Legislature ; and on the 29th of October a report was made to the House " that the sum of two hundred and ten dollars had been expended by Mr. Richard L. Beatty for removing the dirt and completing the pavement in front of the offices, fixing the curbstones on the same, and in some necessary additions to the offices of the secre- tary and clerk ; that said sum will be inadequate to the object, and that a further appropriation is necessary."
On the 30th a bill was passed by the House to provide the
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means to complete this improvement, and on the 3d of Novem- ber it passed the Council.
February 3d, 1815, a committee appointed to devise ways and means, and report a plan for rendering the hall in which the Assembly sits for the discharge of public business more comfort- able, presented the following report :
"That in the opinion of the committee, from a common six- plate stove placed under the floor of said hall, and enclosed with brickwork, a column of heated air may be so introduced into the hall as to render it more comfortable, at a small expense, and thereby effecting a material saving of fuel, and that this improve- ment may be made so as to be perfectly consistent with the safety of the whole edifice. Further, that by the addition of two batten doors at the entrance of this hall, much cold air would be ex- cluded."
Whereupon they submitted to the House the following :
" Resolved, That the Treasurer of this State, as soon as may be practicable, procure a good-sized six-plate stove, of cast iron, and have the same so enclosed with brickwork as to introduce into this hall a column of heated air, or make such other im- provements for this purpose as he shall deem expedient ; and that he further cause a batten door to be placed at the entrance of this hall; that the said treasurer employ suitable persons to make the said improvements, and when finished, to lay the bill before this House.
" Resolved, That the treasurer be authorized to employ proper workmen to examine whether any of the pillars in the hall of the assembly-room can be removed without material injury to the State House, and make a report to the next Legislature of the result, together with an estimate of the probable expense."
April 2d, 1845, Samuel R. Gummere, Samuel R. Hamilton, and Stacy A. Paxson, were appointed commissioners " to cause a good and substantial roof to be put upon the State House, and to cause the stucco-work, or rough-casting, to be removed and replaced with new work, in the style of the Mercer County Court-house; to cause neat porticoes to be placed over the north and south doors of said house, and such other repairs as they may deem necessary, and to have the grounds around the
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building properly fenced, graded, and planted with suitable ornamental trees."
They were also to cause to be erected two buildings fronting on Second street (now State), of forty feet front by fifty-five feet deep each. Each of said buildings to be divided into two offices, with suitable fireproof vaults, for the accommodation of the Secretary of State, the Clerk of the Supreme Court, the Clerk of the Court of Chancery, and the State Treasurer, and in 1848 very extensive alterations and additions were made, including the last-named, and at the same time the beautiful rotunda in the centre of the building was erected.
The architect was John Nottman, of Philadelphia, and the builders were Joseph Whitaker and William Phillips, of Trenton. At that time material and labor were very cheap, and the build- ings were completed at a cost of twenty-seven thousand dollars.
February 20th, 1850, a joint resolution was passed authorizing the treasurer to cause the necessary fixtures and apparatus to be put up for lighting the State House with gas, and on the 11th of March, 1853, it was ordered by resolution that the court- rooms be lighted with gas.
March 24th, 1863, the Legislature appropriated ten thousand dollars to add a wing on the southerly side of the State Capitol for a library and committee rooms, and the commissioners of the State Library were empowered to have the work done.
April 14th, 1864, an additional sum of sixteen thousand dol- lars was appropriated, and the act authorized, in addition to a library and committee rooms, an executive chamber, and rooms for other needful purposes to be erected.
April 6th, 1865, five thousand dollars was appropriated to procure the necessary shelving and furniture for the new library room, and to make such alterations as may be necessary in the old library room for the accommodation of the United States Courts, and to set apart some suitable room in the building for a jury room, and to procure the necessary furniture, carpeting, etc., for the new executive chamber and committee rooms, the same to be furnished in a neat and becoming manner.
March 31st, 1871, an act was passed appointing Charles S. Olden, Thomas J. Stryker, and Lewis Perrine commissioners,
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to cause to be erected a suitable addition to the State House, to provide larger and more commodious rooms for the meetings of the Senate and General Assembly, for committee rooms, and other needful purposes, to correspond as near as may be to the present building in architectural design and appearance, author- izing them to procure plans and specifications, and to adopt said plans with the approval of the Governor, President of the Senate, Speaker of the House, and Committee on Public Buildings ; to receive proposals for making such repairs, alterations and addi- tions, by contract or otherwise, subject to the approval of the Governor, President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House. The sum of fifty thousand dollars was appropriated. They were authorized to draw from the treasurer from time to time such sums of money as was necessary to the progress of the work, and were directed to deliver a copy of their accounts and vouchers with the comptroller, to be filed in his office, and audited accord- ing to law ; and they were required to report at the next session of the Legislature their proceedings under this act.
The commissioners commenced proceedings under the act, May 31st, 1871 ; and the buildings for the Senate and General Assembly were completed and ready for occupation on the sec- ond Tuesday in January, 1872.
On the 3Ist of March, 1872, a supplement was passed appro- priating one hundred and twenty thousand dollars for the com- pletion of the buildings, resetting the fence and flagging on Delaware street ; three thousand dollars for furnishing and fitting up the executive chamber and suite of rooms; two thousand dol- lars for furnishing and fitting up the court of chancery and ante- rooms; two thousand dollars for furnishing and fitting up the supreme court and ante-rooms, and two thousand dollars for furnishing and fitting up the several offices on the first floor of the east wing. In 1873 an additional sum of forty-three thousand dollars was appropriated for the improvement and addition to the front of the State House, completing the unfinished repairs and improvements, and for fitting up the library ; making total amount appropriated two hundred and twenty-two thousand dollars.
By this addition the library room is increased in size about
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one-third, and the court rooms nearly double their former capacity.
The contractors for the stonework were Robert S. and Wil- liam Johnston, of Trenton ; for the carpenter work, Frederick Titus and Robert M. Conrad, of Trenton ; for cast-iron work, Samuel J. Creswell, of Philadelphia ; for wrought iron-work, John E. Thropp, Duncan Mckenzie, and Peter Wilkes of Tren- ton ; for the plumbing, Stephen K. Philbin and John E. Eyan- son, of Philadelphia ; for the gas fitting, Daniel Lodor, of Trenton.
The senate chamber, assembly room, executive chamber, court rooms, entries and coridors are frescoed in the highest style of the art, by Louis Woelfle of Trenton.
The building is heated and ventilated by steam-works erected in the southeastern end of the lot, with an engine of fifteen horse power, and a fan eight feet in diameter, making two hun- dred and eighty revolutions per minute, and carried by air ducts under ground to the building, and thence by iron pipes to the different parts of the same. There is a dome in each legislative room, finished on the inside with handsome stained glass; in the four corners of each are represented commerce, mining, agricul- ture, and machinery. The outside dome lights were made in one piece, at Pilkington's rolled-plate glass works in England.
The front building is one hundred feet by fifty feet deep ; rotunda, thirty-four feet ; the old legislative rooms, now fitted up for executive department, offices for the Adjutant-General, Commissioner of Railroad Taxation, Comptroller, and Commis- sioners of the Sinking Fund, are one hundred and forty-six feet by seventy-two feet, including the hall; the corridor, library- stairs, telegraph office, and janitor's room are twenty-two by forty-four feet ; the assembly room is forty-two by fifty, speaker's room, fourteen by twenty-four, with lobbies, committee rooms, and cloak rooms, a room for journal clerk, and another for the engrossing clerk ; the senate chamber is thirty-eight by forty five, with a retiring room for the president, eighteen by twenty-four, committee rooms, cloak rooms, journal clerk and engrossing clerk's rooms, and lobbies. There is a gentlemen and ladies' gallery to each house. The audience room for the Governor is
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twenty-five by forty-five feet ; the Governor's office is thirteen by sixteen feet six inches, and his private office is the same size. There are two offices for the Governor's clerks, in one of which is a double fireproof ; these rooms are the same size as are those of the Governor. The porch in the rear of the building is forty- four by eleven feet:
The engine and boiler house is forty-four by thirty feet, and two stories high ; the coal-vault is thirty-one feet by fifteen, and all built of brownstone. The chimney is sixty-two feet high above the first floor of the engine house.
On the 18th of March, 1875, the sum of fifteen thousand dol- lars was appropriated to put in a new three-story front, and to fit up offices on the second floor for the Clerk of the Supreme Court and Clerk in Chancery, and for providing a suitable place in the third story for the minerals of the Geological Sur- vey, and the flags presented by the State to her regiments in the field during the war of the Rebellion.
On the 18th of March, 1796, it was resolved that Maskell Ewing, Clerk of the House of Assembly, be directed to enter on the minutes of the House this day, the titles and names of the several books now belonging to the Legislature ; and that he be further directed to procure at the expense of the Legislature, a suitable case for the keeping and preservation of such books ; and further, also, that he be responsible to the Legislature for the safe keeping and preservation of the same. This was the nucleus of the present extensive and valuable library now belonging to the State, and contained in the building fitted up for that pur- pose in the State Capitol.
The first mention we have of a State Library is in the pro- ceedings of the Legislature of October 28th, 1796, at which time the Speaker laid before the House a copy of the journals of the Senate of the United States, in the first session of the Fourth Congress, which was at that time nothing more than a case which Maskell Ewing had prepared by order of the House, · as above stated.
February 18th, 1804, the clerk was directed to procure for the use of the Legislature, eight copies of Jefferson's Manual relative to the mode of conducting business in legislative bodies. On
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the same day a resolution was passed by the House to appoint a committee to report rules for the library belonging to the Legislature, and for the preservation of the books; also, that they make out a catalogue of the same and cause it to be printed, and that they report what books, if any, are necessary to be purchased. Messrs. William Coxe, of Burlington ; Ezra Darby, of Essex, and John A. Scudder, of Monmouth, were appointed.
February 23d, 1804, Mr. Coxe, from the committee appointed to make a catalogue of the books in the library belonging to the Legislature, and to draft rules for the regulation of the same, reported by name one hundred and sixty-eight volumes, a large number of which were the laws of this and other States, journals of Council and Assembly, the minutes of the Legislatures of other States, as well as the Congress of the United States.
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A code of seven rules were adopted February 29, 1804, as follows : .
Ist. The books were to be put under the care of the Clerk of the House of Assembly, who was to provide a book in which each member of Council or Assembly was to enter the name or names of the books taken out by him, and the time of taking out.
2d. None but members of the Legislature were to be permitted to take out books, and they were to consider themselves bound not to take a book from the State House without entering the name of it in the library book.
. 3d. The words New Jersey Legislature was to be branded on each book, and to be numbered on the back.
4th. The list of books was to be printed in the votes of the House of Assembly, with the rules, for the information of the members.
5th. The Clerk of the House and the Clerk of Council were required to cause the copies of the laws of the United States transmitted by the General Government, and which have been retained by the two Houses, to be bound in the same manner as the first four volumes, and to proceed in the same manner in the future.
6th. The Clerk of the House of Assembly was required to have the laws of this State, and journals and votes reserved for the use .
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of the House, to be bound in the same manner, and he was to do the same with those of the Council.
7th. All the binding was to be of leather, strong and neat, and as nearly as can be similar to that of the laws of the United States.
October 23d, 1804, Governor Bloomfield, in his message to the House informed them that the journals of the Senate and House of Representatives, the fifth volume of the Laws of Penn- sylvania, and a copy of the acts of the Legislatures of Ohio, Kentucky, and North Carolina had been received and placed in the library of the Legislature of this State.
At the session of 1803 the Secretary of Council and Clerk of the General Assembly were directed by a resolution of both Houses to have the laws of this State, and of the United States, and the journals of Council and minutes of Assembly bound ; and at the session of October, 1804, they reported "that on examining the library they were able to find but one complete set of the laws of this State, which they have had bound; that of the laws of the United States, five complete sets were found, which are also bound ; that of the journals of Council, six sets, and of the minutes of Assembly eight sets were completed and bound. The binding is well executed, with good materials, and cost fifty cents per volume, or ten dollars altogether."
In 1808 the laws and journals of Congress, and the laws of sister States received during the year, were deposited in the library of this State, and three hundred and forty-two copies of the laws of the United States delivered to the treasurer for dis- tribution.
October 29th, 1812, Messrs. John Beatty, of Burlington, and Joseph Falkenbridge, of Cape May, on the part of Council, and Jacob R. Hardenburgh, of Sussex ; Mahlon Dickerson, of Mor- ris, and Ephraim Bateman, of Cumberland, on the part of the House, were appointed a joint committee to examine the books and papers in the State Library, and report the same to the House, and make a catalogue of the same; and on the 4th of February, 1813, the committee reported "that on examining the State Library, they are of opinion that to execute the duty assigned them will require more time than they can devote to it,
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and at the same time attend to their other duties in the House ; they submitted the following :
" Resolved, That Richard L. Beatty, the Clerk of this House, be requested to cause the books in the State Library to be assorted and placed in regular order on the shelves ; to inquire for- and procure such books as may have been taken out of the same, and have them replaced in the library ; and in cases where any volume or volumes have been lost of any regular set of books, that he be authorized to procure others at the expense of the State, and that he be paid for his services by this House."
On the roth of February, 1813, the first act of the Legislature was passed by the House, entitled " An act concerning the State Library."
October 26th, 1814, Messrs. Samuel Bayard, of Somerset ; Nicholas Mandeville, of Morris, and Robert M. Holmes, of Cape May, on the part of the House, and Messrs. Andrew Howell, of Somerset, and Caleb Earl, of Burlington, on the part of Council, were appointed a committee to consider what rules are necessary for the preservation of the library, and on the 2d of November they reported three rules, " that during the recess of the Legis- lature the library be confided to the special care of the Secretary of State, whose duty it shall be not to suffer any book or books, pamphlets, maps, charts, or other documents to be taken there- from, except by the Governor or one of the members of Council while sitting as a Court of Errors and Appeals, from whom respectively some memorandum in writing signed by the person taking a book or other documents from said library, to be taken and reserved by said Secretary until the book so taken be returned in like condition as when delivered out.
"2d. That during the sitting of the Legislature, every mem- ber of the same desirous of a book or other document from said library is required to send or give a memorandum in writing containing the title of the book or document wanted, and signed with his hand, to the doorkeeper of Council, who is thereupon required to obtain such book or document, if in the library, for the person desiring the same, and to keep such memorandum until such book or document, if obtained, shall be returned.
" 3d. That at the close of the session of each Legislature it
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shall be the duty of the President of Council to call on the door- keeper of Council to ascertain whether there are any books or documents in the hands of either of the members of said Houses not returned ; and if such be the case, said President is hereby authorized to take such measures as he may deem prudent and advisable for effecting the return of said books or other docu- ments ; and for the service by these resolutions required, a com- pensation shall be allowed in the incidental bill."
On the 13th of January, 1815, the rules were considered by the House, and amended by inserting, "the Speaker of the House of Assembly " after the words " President of Council," and also to add, "to remind the members of their respective Houses having books belonging to the State to return the same prior to their leaving the seat of the Legislature." With these amendments they were passed, and on the 18th were concurred in by Council.
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