Plan of Raleigh

1792

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Title	Plan of Raleigh
Date	1792
Creator	Christmas, William.
Subject	Raleigh (N.C.)--History City Planning--North Carolina North Carolina State Capitol (Raleigh, N.C.)
Index Terms	Christmas, William
Place	Raleigh (Wake County, N.C.)
Description	During the colonial period North Carolina's legislature was reluctant to designate a fixed seat of government. The few times a capital was named, circumstances changed and the center of population began to shift. New Bern had been the colony's seat of government between 1766 up to the American Revolution. During the Revolution, however, the "Palace" was too much associated with royal government; and wary of invasion, the government once again became migratory. In 1787 the legislature turned the problem of locating a state capital over to a convention called in Hillsborough for the purpose of considering the proposed federal constitution. This convention passed a resolution that the capital be placed within ten miles of Isaac Hunter's tavern in Wake County. The legislature, however, was given the task of deciding the exact site within the circle around Hunter's land. No further action was taken during the sessions from 1788 to 1791, thanks to opposition from those who claimed such a site in the wilderness would never be more than a village. In early 1792, advocates of the Wake County site finally got enough support to name a commission to locate the exact site of the capital. The Assembly appointed another group to oversee the building of a state house in the new capital, to be named in honor of Sir Walter Raleigh. William Christmas, a senator and a surveyor by profession, drew the plan for Raleigh. Using a total of 400 acres, Christmas designated the axial center of the city as Union Square. It was composed of six acres and intended as the site of the future State House. The map described the square as "a beautiful eminence which commands a view of the town and fine prospect of the surrounding county." Flanking the corners of the center square were to be four four-acre squares or parks reserved for public purposes. These were named Caswell, Nash, Burke, for the state's first governors and Moore, in honor of Attorney General Alfred E. Moore. The four main streets were named Halifax, Newbern, Fayetteville, and Hillsborough, judicial districts toward the north, east, south, and west. These streets ran from the four sides of Union Square and were to be 99 feet wide; the other 17 streets were to be 66 feet wide and were named for the remaining judicial districts, the points of the compass, the commissioners themselves, and several other prominent citizens, including the former owner of the land. The remaining 276 acres were marked off in one-acre lots to be sold at public auction, with the proceeds used to build the capital and other public buildings. The plans of William Christmas followed those drawn up in 1758 for George City, proposed as a colonial capital during Governor Arthur Dobb's administration. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Savannah, Georgia are examples of colonial cities established before Raleigh that used a gridiron pattern of streets broken by public squares in each directional quadrant.
Time Period	(1789-1820) North Carolina's early statehood
Format	Plans (maps)
Call Number	V.C. 5
Collection	Vault Collection. State Archives of North Carolina
Physical Characteristics	Oversized document
Language	English
Copyright	May be protected by copyright law (Title 17 US Code). Obtain proper release forms prior to reproducing this material.
Digital Format	image/jpeg
Digital Collection	Treasures
Audience	All

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Plan of Raleigh

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