Volume X
Number 42
Eatend
THE STATE
1 943
A Weekly Survey of North Carolina
ter, June I, IMS. »l lb» Pontofflee it Relelcli. North Corollo*. unitur Ui* Art of March 3. 1879
The State Capitol
When the old building was burned, the
Legislature appropriated 850.000 for a
new one. Before the present structure was
completed, the cost had run up to more
than $500,000.
North Carolina’s first capitol, which was destroyed by fire in 1831.
from Rnloigh to Fayetteville, thcso
two bilb to rebuild at Raleigh met
with vigorous opposition. Accord¬
ingly. Senator Seawoll’a bill was
quickly disposed of. Senator Wil¬
son of Edgecombe moved to table it.
and it was tabled. The House bill
was longer discussed. The discussion
was prolonged for two days, but on
a yea-and-nay vote the bill failed, 65
to 68. The Assembly of 1831 refused
to rebuild.
A year passed, and the ruin» of the
old statehouse still marked the site of
the former capitol. But the Con¬
stitution, or rather the Ordinance, of
1780. located the capital at Raleigh,
and the Legislature bad no power to
move it. If was even questioned with
great seriousness whether the Assem¬
bly could hold its sessions in the Gov¬
ernor's mansion, at the end of Fay¬
etteville Street, as that was outside of
the limits of the town. To move the
capitol, a convention was necessary,
and a majority of the Legislature was
not favorable to a convention.
At the session of November, 1832.
tlm Assembly, by a vote of 35 to 28
in ,tho Senate and 73 to tirt in the
House, resolved to re¬
build nil the old site,
and 850,000 was ap¬
propriated for the
pnr|»ose.
William Boy lan,
Duncan Cameron.
Henry Sea well, Romu¬
lus M. Saunders and
William S. Mahoon
were appointed com¬
missioners to have the
work done. The com¬
missioners, with $50,-
000 at their command,
did not dally. The
rubbish was cleared
away, the excavations
made and the founda¬
tions were laid. On
July 4, 1833, the corn¬
erstone was set in
place.
Гр
to that
time W. S. Drum¬
mond was the super¬
intendent and chief
ON the morning of June 21,
1831, the State Capitol of
North Carolina was destroyed
by fire. Although the public records
of the State were saved, the State
Library, containing many valuable
books and manuscripts, was lost.
The citizens of Raleigh naturally
bemoaned the destruction of the build¬
ing, but Governor Stokes did not re¬
gard it ns a great loss. In his opinion
there were some mitigating circum¬
stances. In his message to the
General Assembly, when it met the
following November, he said that the
calamity was not so
great, because the old
statehouse, built in
1794, was almost
ready to tumble down
of its own accord, and
that perhaps many
valuable live* had been
.aved by it* being de¬
stroyed by fire instead
of tumbling down on
the Legislature while
in session.
At once, Senator
Sen well of Wake
brought forward a bill
providing for the erec¬
tion of
и
now capitol
on the site of the old
one. At the same
time n similar bill was
introduced in the
House of Commons.
As there was a strong
sentiment in the state
favorable to the re¬
moval of the capital
(Coni, on
рад*
.i?)
1
