Mr. Becker Goes to Springfield: The Old State Capitol

 I arrived in Springfield to see my first State Fair, but first I did a walkaround of the city's compact downtown.

When made a state in 1818, the Mississippi River town of Kaskaskia was the first state capitol, but persistent flooding resulted in a move north to Vandalia in 1820.  The rapid growth of the state created a push to move even further north, and in 1833 State Rep. Abraham Lincoln and a cadre of similarly over-heighted comrades known as the Long Nine led the successful push to have voters make Springfield the victorious choice, against four other alternatives, to become the next Illinois capitol, in 1839.

The building pictured here, was completed by architect John Francis Rague in 1840, using yellow limestone from nearby Crow's Mill. It originally held the whole of state government - legislative, executive, judicial - which sufficed only until 1876, when the structure became the Sangamon County Courthouse, undergoing massively transformative renovations for almost a century.

In the late 1960's, in a project championed by then governor Otto Kerner, the entire building was disassembled "piece by piece" to make way for an underground parking garage,,,

photograph: Sangamon Valley Collection

...and then re-assembled in for the form we see today, interiors recreated, after a massive research effort, to mirror as much as possible their original state, when Lincoln argued cases before the Illinois Supreme Court and delivered his "House Divided" speech as a legislator.  You can read a fascinating account of the story here.

Meanwhile, across the street, Mary adjusts Abe's coat. 

Springfield's Lincoln sculpture, Larry Anderson, 2004