State

By Charles Parker Buildings Mirror Our Growth Thirteen buildings grouped a round square now house nearly 9.000 state employees. Completion of the new Highway Building in 1952 brought to 13 the number of State buildings grouped around or adjacent to Capitol Square, on which stands the 1 12-year-old gran¬ ite structure that originally housed all State offices and employees. The history of the 13 buildings, now housing or headquarters for S.66I em¬ ployees, is a rich and running story of North Carolina’s growth. The first State Capitol in Raleigh was completed in 1794. two years after the establishment of the Capital City in 1792. It was a brick and wooden structure, similar in plan to the present building. It burned on July 21, 1831. destroying with it the famous statue of Washington by Canova. The cor¬ nerstone of the second Capitol was laid in 1833 by Governor Swain. For years the Capitol housed all State and legislative offices. In addition to the legislative halls, it now contains the offices of the Governor. Auditor. Sec¬ retary of State, and Treasurer. These departments employ a total of 75 work¬ ers, but only a fraction of this number is housed in the ancient Capitol. The remainder have offices in more mod¬ em buildings. Supreme Court Spurs New Buildings Need for larger quarters for the Su¬ preme Court led to the construction in the 1880’s of the brick building on the comer of Edcnton and Salisbury streets now known as the Labor Build¬ ing. Other State departments, crowded out of the Capitol itself, found space in this new four-story building. Con¬ structed with convict labor and com¬ pleted in 1883, the building now contains offices of the Banking Com¬ mission. Insurance Dept., and Dept, of Labor, with a total of 165 em¬ ployees. The Governor’s Mansion. 210 North Blount Street, stands on Burke Square, which in 1792 was suggested as a "proper situation for the Governor’s house." The building was authorized by the General Assembly of 1885. and finished with convict labor in 1891, using brick made at the penitentiary. As the State and its governmental functions grew, additional space was acquired or leased in privately con- THE STATE. January 3. 1953 structed buildings until 1913. when building the present group of granite and limestone buildings bordering Cap¬ itol Square was begun. Again the ex¬ pansion of Stale office space was caused — as it was to be once again a quarter of a century later — by the needs of the Supreme Court lor more adequate quarters and the creation of new departments as the State grew. The State Library was originally lo¬ cated on the third floor of the Capitol. It moved, in turn, to the first Supreme Court Building (now Labor Building), and followed the Supreme Court to its new location in the 2nd Supreme Court Building, a four-story structure between Fayetteville and Salisbury streets, completed in 1913. which has been known as the Library Building since the removal of our Supreme Court to its present location in the Justice Building. The Library Build¬ ing also houses the Utilities Commis¬ sion and the Secretary of State’s annex, as well as the State Library and the Library Commission, with a total of 68 employees. The Highway Commission first maintained offices in the old Commer¬ cial National Bank Building (now First-Citizens Bank & Trust Co.) but later moved to the old Highway Build¬ ing on East Morgan Street in October 1921. when the State's first big road building program was beginning. This building was U4*d to handle the sale of license tags which were originally sold in the small room in the Capitol now used for the elevator shaft. This was where, in the early I900’s, today's huge automobile licensing business was born. Secretary of State W. N. Everett was in charge of the license depart¬ ment. Rapid increases in the number of cars after World War I made it impossible for all sales to be handled in the old building. As the Secretary of State was allowed under the law to keep 10 per cent of total collections from stiles, a huge surplus was created, and Mr. Everett proposed to the Gen¬ eral Assembly that the money be used for a new building. This proposal was adopted and the present Revenue Building was born. The Highway Com- OI.DEST — The building on the left is the oldest Slate Department Building. It is now the Labor Building, but was built — as this photograph made around 1900 indicates — to house the Supreme Court. The building on the right is the Eagle Hotel, built in 1812 and (lie first large brick structure in Raleigh other than the original Capitol. It was purchased by the State and used for the Department of Agriculture and Museum until it was demolished around 1920 to clear the site for the present Agriculture Building. — (N. C. News Bureau Photo). 7