Moving the Capital To Montgomery

Moving the Capital to Montgomery

By Peter Brannan, Montgomery Advertiser, July 26, 1946

By an act of the legislature of 1844-45 a proposition was made to submit the question of the removal of the Capital from Tuskaloosa (spelled then with a "k" ),this of course having to be done by constitutional amendment. The election was held in the Fall of 1845 and 27,320 Alabamians voted against the removal. But 33,798 of our voters declared for removal, and Representative J. C. Wilson of Lauderdale County, on January 7, 1846, introduced a bill "for the removal of the seat-of-government from Tuskaloosa and for other purposes." This bill provided that the seat-of-government "shall be and remain in the city of Tuscaloosa ... until a State House equal in every respect to the one now occupied by the general assembly is erected and completed and fully finished at such place as the Legislature may hereafter select by joint ballot of the two Houses, free from public expense and the keys of the same tendered and given to the Secretary of State as a present to the State, together with sufficient quantity of land on which the State House shall be built." The act, as approved January 21, 1846, also provided that the State archives and furniture housing them should be moved to the new seat without expense to the State. It provided a building commission of five men and said that "a good and indefeasible title to the said land shall be made and delivered to the State of Alabama at the same time when the keys are tendered."

Balloting
On the 28th of January, 1846, in compliance with the provisions of the above act, the Senate and House met in joint session in the House and balloted 16 times when finally Montgomery received 68 votes, a majority of all cast. On the first ballot the vote stood: for Tuskaloosa, 39; Wetumpka, 28; Mobile, 6; Montgomery, 3; Statesville, 2; Selma, 9; Marion, 4; and for Huntsville, 6. Those who voted for Montgomery on the first ballot were : Messrs. Gilchrist, Hardaway, Kendrick, McClung, Oliver, Scot, Shorter and Ward of the Senate; and Messrs. Barnett, Bates, Bibb, Billingslea, Cooper, Cook Ellsberry, Grady, Hobdy, Judge, Long, McGriff, Merrick, Robertson, Sanford, Shanks, Snowden, Stallworth, Stringer, Tarver, Taylor of Butler, Warren of Coffee, Watts, Williams of Henry and J. Williams of Jackson. On the 10th, 11th, and 12th ballots Blount Springs, Greensboro, Decatur, Tuscumbia, and Maplesville received votes. On the 16th ballot the vote was: Tuskaloosa 39; Wetumpka 9; Mobile 3; Montgomery 68 and Selma 11. Those who voted for Montgomery on the final ballot were: Messrs. Ache, Clark, Faulkner, Gilchrist, Griffin, Hardaway, Hey, Kendrick, McClung, McLemore, Oliver, Scott, Shorter, Smith and Ward of the Senate, and Messrs. Allen, Austile, Barnett, Bates, Bibb, Billingslea, Bowdon, Browne, Brantley, Clay, Cobb, Cooper, Cook, Ellsberry, Fletcher, Garrett of Cherokee, Garland, Grady, Hastie, Hardwick, Holly, Hobdy, Heflin, Hill of Talladega, Judge Kerr, Long, Mason, McElroy, McGriff, Merrick, Miller, Murphy, Norman, Owen, Robertson, Sanford, Sandidge, Shanks, Smith of Mobile, Snowden, Stallworth, Stringer, Tarver, Taylor of Butler, Walker of Benton (now Calhoun), Warren of Coffee, Warren of DeKalb, Watts, Williams of Henry, J. Williams of Jackson, and C. F. Williams of Jackson, of the House of Representatives.

Building Commission
Miles W. Abernathy, George Steele, Daniel Pratt, Johnson J. Hooper, and A. B. Clitheral (so Simpson, the Capitol historian says, though Owens' History says John K. Coflins) were named by the Legislature as the commission to examine the new structure and see that it (and the Montgomery citizens) complied with the requirements of the act. The town of Montgomery did not learn of its selection as the seat-of-government until the late afternoon of the 30th (January, 1846) when the news came by stage.

The City Council of Montgomery immediately issued bonds in the sum of $75,000 and at the suggestion of Col. Charles T. Pollard, they were all bought by local business people.

The Montgomery committee to direct the building of the structure were Charles T. Pollard, Chairman; Wade Allen, Silas Gaines, N. E. Benson, Charles Crommelin, Wm. Knox, Thomas Mays, John Whiting, Justus Wyman, and the Mayor. The plan for the Capitol was drawn by Stephen Decatur Button (who is generally credited to Philadelphia) of Columbus, Ga.-- that is, the Muscogee Democrat, who writes a story of the letting of the contract, etc., calls him "our fellow citizen" --and the constructors to erect the structure were B. F. Robinson and R. N. R. Bardwell, both of whom were city aldermen in Columbus. A clipping from the Huntsville Southern Advocate, before me, gives an account of the laying of the corner stone July 4, 1846, by the Masonic Grand Lodge and names the ten items placed in the stone. One of these was a "list of the present Legislature," one was a Bible with a silver key, and one was the current local newspaper, November 5, 1847, the building having been completed and turned over to the Secretary of State in October. H. W. Watson, clerk of the Montgomery County Court, recorded in Book X, page 417, the deed from the City of Montgomery to the State of Alabama, signed by the then Mayor, N. E. Benson, and L. B. Hansford, city clerk. The city conveyed "that parcel of land lying within the corporate limits of the said city at the head of Market Street, bounded East by Union Street, and West by Bainbridge Street, and measuring on Union and Bainbridge Streets three hundred feet, and measuring East and West on the lines of said lot four hundred feet, forming an oblong square, being that parcel of land in the City of Montgomery, on which the new state house has been erected and which was set apart for that purpose on the original plan of the City of Montgomery called New Philadelphia together with all the appurtences belonging to the said lot of land, to have and to hold the same to the State of Alabama forever."

Moving the Archives

When the attorney for the Secretary of State pronounced the deed "ample" he returned to Tuskaloosa and made ready to convey the records to Montgomery. They were packed into 113 boxes and loaded onto 13 wagons and set out for Montgomery in charge of James H. Owen, doorkeeper of the House of representatives. The weight of the records was 25,704 pounds and the cost of transportation was $1,325. This item was, according to the providing act moving the Capital, paid by the City of Montgomery. The wagon train which hauled the State records to Montgomery came over the "Centerville Road," a route not differing much from the present day Tuscaloosa to Montgomery highway, except that it crossed the river at "Hall's Ferry," years later known as Coosada Ferry.

The First Governor at Montgomery
Reuben Chapman was the first Alabama Governor to serve at Montgomery and he was inaugurated in the Hall of the House of Representatives, Dec. 16, 1847. Rev. Basil Manly, then president of the University of Alabama acted as Chaplain on the occasion. Coincidentally the Reverend Dr. Manly, then pastor of the First Baptist Church of Montgomery (when it was on Bibb, North Court and Tallapoosa Streets) served as Chaplain when Mr. Jefferson Davis was sworn in as President of the Confederate States of America.

This new Montgomery Capitol was destined to be short lived. It burned two years later, Dec 14, 1849, three days before the scheduled inauguration of Gov. Henry W. Collier, which event the destruction of the Capitol forced to be held in Court Street Methodist Church on Monday the 17th. Representative Benjamin H. Baker of Crawford in Russell County, and Senator James Abercrombie, a planter of the same county must be given credit for prompting a fight to have the State rebuild the Capitol building at public expense, and Thomas H. Watts, then a member of the House from Butler, championed Montgomery's claim for the new structure though there was a hard fight to carry the seat of government back to Tuscaloosa. Nicholas Davis of the House (of Limestone County), chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, adversed the Baker bill to have the State rebuild the Capitol, but A. H. Kendrick of Coosa, leader of the minority, fought Davis and with the aid of Senator Robert Ware of Montgomery they finally won again for this city. The "financial condition of the treasury" was at that time, as it has on many other occasions, blamed for the unwillingness of the Davis Committee to have the State bear the expense of rebuilding.

It is learned from the current journals that when it was proposed to move the Capital from Montgomery a suggestion was made to refund the City of Montgomery $30,000 to repay it for building the Capitol and for beautifying the grounds, so the cost of the original structure must have been accordingly. The present central unit, what we term "the old Capitol" was built by John P. Figh at a cost to the State of $62,527. Nimrod E. Benson and Justus Wyman got $1 000 each for supervising it, but the story of that building is not a part of this. Montgomery tradition is, and I guess it is so, that the hill at the head of Market Street where the town goats gathered each day was set aside in 1817 by Mr. Andrew Dexter as the site of the State Capitol building which he predicted would some day be here. Certain it is he conveyed it to the town and never sold it to a private owner. Thirty years later, the Legislature moved the Capital to Montgomery and the Montgomerians put it on Dexter's chosen site: Goat Hill.

Back to The Herald



	Moving the Capital to Montgomery By Peter Brannan, Montgomery Advertiser, July 26, 1946 By an act of the legislature of 1844-45 a proposition was made to submit the question of the removal of the Capital from Tuskaloosa (spelled then with a "k" ),this of course having to be done by constitutional amendment. The election was held in the Fall of 1845 and 27,320 Alabamians voted against the removal. But 33,798 of our voters declared for removal, and Representative J. C. Wilson of Lauderdale County, on January 7, 1846, introduced a bill "for the removal of the seat-of-government from Tuskaloosa and for other purposes." This bill provided that the seat-of-government "shall be and remain in the city of Tuscaloosa ... until a State House equal in every respect to the one now occupied by the general assembly is erected and completed and fully finished at such place as the Legislature may hereafter select by joint ballot of the two Houses, free from public expense and the keys of the same tendered and given to the Secretary of State as a present to the State, together with sufficient quantity of land on which the State House shall be built." The act, as approved January 21, 1846, also provided that the State archives and furniture housing them should be moved to the new seat without expense to the State. It provided a building commission of five men and said that "a good and indefeasible title to the said land shall be made and delivered to the State of Alabama at the same time when the keys are tendered." Balloting On the 28th of January, 1846, in compliance with the provisions of the above act, the Senate and House met in joint session in the House and balloted 16 times when finally Montgomery received 68 votes, a majority of all cast. On the first ballot the vote stood: for Tuskaloosa, 39; Wetumpka, 28; Mobile, 6; Montgomery, 3; Statesville, 2; Selma, 9; Marion, 4; and for Huntsville, 6. Those who voted for Montgomery on the first ballot were : Messrs. Gilchrist, Hardaway, Kendrick, McClung, Oliver, Scot, Shorter and Ward of the Senate; and Messrs. Barnett, Bates, Bibb, Billingslea, Cooper, Cook Ellsberry, Grady, Hobdy, Judge, Long, McGriff, Merrick, Robertson, Sanford, Shanks, Snowden, Stallworth, Stringer, Tarver, Taylor of Butler, Warren of Coffee, Watts, Williams of Henry and J. Williams of Jackson. On the 10th, 11th, and 12th ballots Blount Springs, Greensboro, Decatur, Tuscumbia, and Maplesville received votes. On the 16th ballot the vote was: Tuskaloosa 39; Wetumpka 9; Mobile 3; Montgomery 68 and Selma 11. Those who voted for Montgomery on the final ballot were: Messrs. Ache, Clark, Faulkner, Gilchrist, Griffin, Hardaway, Hey, Kendrick, McClung, McLemore, Oliver, Scott, Shorter, Smith and Ward of the Senate, and Messrs. Allen, Austile, Barnett, Bates, Bibb, Billingslea, Bowdon, Browne, Brantley, Clay, Cobb, Cooper, Cook, Ellsberry, Fletcher, Garrett of Cherokee, Garland, Grady, Hastie, Hardwick, Holly, Hobdy, Heflin, Hill of Talladega, Judge Kerr, Long, Mason, McElroy, McGriff, Merrick, Miller, Murphy, Norman, Owen, Robertson, Sanford, Sandidge, Shanks, Smith of Mobile, Snowden, Stallworth, Stringer, Tarver, Taylor of Butler, Walker of Benton (now Calhoun), Warren of Coffee, Warren of DeKalb, Watts, Williams of Henry, J. Williams of Jackson, and C. F. Williams of Jackson, of the House of Representatives. Building Commission Miles W. Abernathy, George Steele, Daniel Pratt, Johnson J. Hooper, and A. B. Clitheral (so Simpson, the Capitol historian says, though Owens' History says John K. Coflins) were named by the Legislature as the commission to examine the new structure and see that it (and the Montgomery citizens) complied with the requirements of the act. The town of Montgomery did not learn of its selection as the seat-of-government until the late afternoon of the 30th (January, 1846) when the news came by stage. The City Council of Montgomery immediately issued bonds in the sum of $75,000 and at the suggestion of Col. Charles T. Pollard, they were all bought by local business people. The Montgomery committee to direct the building of the structure were Charles T. Pollard, Chairman; Wade Allen, Silas Gaines, N. E. Benson, Charles Crommelin, Wm. Knox, Thomas Mays, John Whiting, Justus Wyman, and the Mayor. The plan for the Capitol was drawn by Stephen Decatur Button (who is generally credited to Philadelphia) of Columbus, Ga.-- that is, the Muscogee Democrat, who writes a story of the letting of the contract, etc., calls him "our fellow citizen" --and the constructors to erect the structure were B. F. Robinson and R. N. R. Bardwell, both of whom were city aldermen in Columbus. A clipping from the Huntsville Southern Advocate, before me, gives an account of the laying of the corner stone July 4, 1846, by the Masonic Grand Lodge and names the ten items placed in the stone. One of these was a "list of the present Legislature," one was a Bible with a silver key, and one was the current local newspaper, November 5, 1847, the building having been completed and turned over to the Secretary of State in October. H. W. Watson, clerk of the Montgomery County Court, recorded in Book X, page 417, the deed from the City of Montgomery to the State of Alabama, signed by the then Mayor, N. E. Benson, and L. B. Hansford, city clerk. The city conveyed "that parcel of land lying within the corporate limits of the said city at the head of Market Street, bounded East by Union Street, and West by Bainbridge Street, and measuring on Union and Bainbridge Streets three hundred feet, and measuring East and West on the lines of said lot four hundred feet, forming an oblong square, being that parcel of land in the City of Montgomery, on which the new state house has been erected and which was set apart for that purpose on the original plan of the City of Montgomery called New Philadelphia together with all the appurtences belonging to the said lot of land, to have and to hold the same to the State of Alabama forever." Moving the Archives When the attorney for the Secretary of State pronounced the deed "ample" he returned to Tuskaloosa and made ready to convey the records to Montgomery. They were packed into 113 boxes and loaded onto 13 wagons and set out for Montgomery in charge of James H. Owen, doorkeeper of the House of representatives. The weight of the records was 25,704 pounds and the cost of transportation was $1,325. This item was, according to the providing act moving the Capital, paid by the City of Montgomery. The wagon train which hauled the State records to Montgomery came over the "Centerville Road," a route not differing much from the present day Tuscaloosa to Montgomery highway, except that it crossed the river at "Hall's Ferry," years later known as Coosada Ferry. The First Governor at Montgomery Reuben Chapman was the first Alabama Governor to serve at Montgomery and he was inaugurated in the Hall of the House of Representatives, Dec. 16, 1847. Rev. Basil Manly, then president of the University of Alabama acted as Chaplain on the occasion. Coincidentally the Reverend Dr. Manly, then pastor of the First Baptist Church of Montgomery (when it was on Bibb, North Court and Tallapoosa Streets) served as Chaplain when Mr. Jefferson Davis was sworn in as President of the Confederate States of America. This new Montgomery Capitol was destined to be short lived. It burned two years later, Dec 14, 1849, three days before the scheduled inauguration of Gov. Henry W. Collier, which event the destruction of the Capitol forced to be held in Court Street Methodist Church on Monday the 17th. Representative Benjamin H. Baker of Crawford in Russell County, and Senator James Abercrombie, a planter of the same county must be given credit for prompting a fight to have the State rebuild the Capitol building at public expense, and Thomas H. Watts, then a member of the House from Butler, championed Montgomery's claim for the new structure though there was a hard fight to carry the seat of government back to Tuscaloosa. Nicholas Davis of the House (of Limestone County), chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, adversed the Baker bill to have the State rebuild the Capitol, but A. H. Kendrick of Coosa, leader of the minority, fought Davis and with the aid of Senator Robert Ware of Montgomery they finally won again for this city. The "financial condition of the treasury" was at that time, as it has on many other occasions, blamed for the unwillingness of the Davis Committee to have the State bear the expense of rebuilding. It is learned from the current journals that when it was proposed to move the Capital from Montgomery a suggestion was made to refund the City of Montgomery $30,000 to repay it for building the Capitol and for beautifying the grounds, so the cost of the original structure must have been accordingly. The present central unit, what we term "the old Capitol" was built by John P. Figh at a cost to the State of $62,527. Nimrod E. Benson and Justus Wyman got $1 000 each for supervising it, but the story of that building is not a part of this. Montgomery tradition is, and I guess it is so, that the hill at the head of Market Street where the town goats gathered each day was set aside in 1817 by Mr. Andrew Dexter as the site of the State Capitol building which he predicted would some day be here. Certain it is he conveyed it to the town and never sold it to a private owner. Thirty years later, the Legislature moved the Capital to Montgomery and the Montgomerians put it on Dexter's chosen site: Goat Hill. Back to The Herald
	The Montgomery County Historical Society 512 South Court Street, P. O. Box 1829 Montgomery, Alabama, 36102 Telephone 334-264-1837, Fax 334-834-9292 E-Mail: info@montgomeryhistorical.com Webmaster: Myra's Original Creations E-Mail: myralew@myrasoriginalcreations.com