Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be reproduced without permission. State Capitol Buildings "Our Heritage" By Claude Moore November 2, 1990 This year is the 150th anniversary of the completion of the present capitol building in Raleigh which is considered the most beautiful capitol building architectually in the United States. When it was built, the total cost was around $530,000 & that was six times the revenue for the state in 1840. From 1663 to 1770, there was no permanent capital city, but in 1770, Tryon Palace was completed & New Bern became the capital. Governor William Tryon & Governor Joshia Martin were the only two colonial governors to live in New Bern. From 1776 until 1792, the Assembly met at various towns mostly in courthouses & sometimes in churches. In 1792, Raleigh became the capital of North Carolina & the state purchased 1,000 acres from Colonel Joel Lane. A square of six acres was set aside as the capitol square & the new capitol building was built between 1792 & 1794. It was of locally made brick. The building was designed by the architect Rhodham Atkins of Massachusetts. A portice & the dome were later added. In 1831, the capitol building was burned while workers were repairing the roof of the building. The greatest loss was the statute of President Washington by Antonio Canonva. Towne & Davis of New York & David Paton of Scotland were selected as architects for a new capitol. The plan used was of Greek Neoclassical design with Doric columns and a small dome covered in copper. The architectural inspiration was from the famous Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, built in 483 B.C. The new capitol was built of granite from a quarry about a mile southeast of the Capitol Square. The stone was hauled to the building site on rail flat cars drawn by mules. The corner stone was laid on June 3, 1833 by Governor David L. Swain & it was completed in 1840. At the later date Raleigh had only 2,244 residents. The new capitol was considered commodious & for years all the rooms were not used. There were fireplaces in every room. There was a large chamber for the Senate & one for the House of Commons. All the state offices had offices in the building. It was not until after World War I that state government outgrew the capitol building. In the center of the building there is a rotunda, today the walls are adorned with portraits & statuary. The floors are stone & every effort was made to make the building as near fire proof as possible. The building has entrances on all four sides & the south end faces Fayetteville Street which was for a long time the center of the business section of Raleigh. The Governor's Mansion was located at the end of Fayetteville Street from 1816 to 1865 on the site of the present Memorial Auditorium. The capitol building is now mostly a museum except for the office of the governor & the secretary of state. Thousands of tourists, as well as school children, are taken on guided tours of the building throughout the year. Many ancient trees on the grounds have had to be replaced & the cast iron fence once surrounding the square was taken down many years ago. ============================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. The electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Guy Potts ==============================================================