NORTH CAROLINA
In two more months the State Senators and
Representatives, who were elected this month, will
be in session in our State Capitol at Raleigh.
Few, if any, of these men and women will give
any thought to this proud and noble edifice; but
will be giving their time and thoughts to the busi
ness at hand.
Thinking that the invalued history of this build
ing will be of interest to many of you, the fol
lowing information was obtained from the State
Department of Archives and History.
At the time of the erection of the Capitol, it
was one of the most notable buildings in the
United States. Whether we consider its massive
structure or its admirable design or the thorough
execution of every detail of the work, it was a
remarkable performance; and when we recall the
condition of affairs of the State in the 1830’s we
find greater cause to regard the structure with
admiration and to praise that generation of North
Carolinians for the public spirit which led to its
erection.
For more than a century our people had no
Statehouse. In early Colonial days the public docu
ments were kept at Edenton, but there was no
government building. In 1766 an appropriation
was made to build a governor’s mansion at New
Bern, and four years later the public offices were
established there—the General Assembly, how
ever, frequently met elsewhere.
During the Revolution, in 1779, in order to
have a central meeting place, the Assembly ap
pointed a committee to select a site, either in
Johnson, Wake or Chatham counties, for the
State Capitol. Two years later, however, Hillsboro
in Orange County was selected as the Capital. The
offices were established there, and the palace at
New Bern was sold. The Capital had not been
established long before the Tory, Farming, cap
tured Hillsboro, carrying off the Governor and
all the State officers who were present at the
time. Because of the activity of the Tories in the
Upper Cape Fear region, the Assembly began to
hold their meetings in various places—as far west
as Salem and as far east as New Bern.
This was one of the darkest hours of the Rev
olution, so the legislative body was protected from
a Tory raid by a regiment of militia. It would
have been sorrowful had the dreaded Fanning
swooped down on the Assembly and again car
ried off the officials of the State, unless the legis
lators had taken the bushes, like Patrick Henry
and the Virginia Legislature.
Eventually, in 1792, one thousand acres of old
fields and thickets near the Wake County Court
house were purchased, and the streets, squares
and Statehouse were planned for the capital city.
The Statehouse, erected as soon as the trees and
underbrush was cleared away, was similar in gen
eral plan to our present Capitol, with passage
ways on the first floor and the legislative halls
above. The brick was made near-by, and the con
struction was hurriedly and roughly done.
After we had won our second war of inde
pendence and the exterior of the building was
covered with stucco, an order was given to Ca
no va, the great Italian sculptor, for a colossal
statue of Washington. This statue was brought
from Italy by a man-of-war especially detailed for
the purpose, was transported to Fayetteville by
water and with great ceremony conveyed into
Raleigh. It was huge, massive and perfect in every
detail. It was one of the masterpieces of the world
—there was nothing in America comparable to it.
In 1830 the Statehouse caught fire and the
records in the public offices were for a time in
danger of being destroyed. Fortunately, the fire
was stopped in time. The Assembly of that year
directed that the damages be repaired, and that
fire-proof materials be used in every place pos
sible. It was while this work was going on that
the flame started that destroyed the building and
Canova’s statue of Washington.
At that time the people of the State were
dreadfully poor. The West had no outlet for its
surplus production, there were no internal im
provements, and railroads had not been intro
duced. This was truly the darkest period in the
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