Alabama State Capitol
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tiki-4
N 32° 22.605 W 086° 18.018
16S E 565819 N 3582412
The Alabama State Capitol was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962.
Waymark Code: WM20FG
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 08/14/2007
Views: 179
As a separate territory and state since 1817, Alabama has had five capitals. Saint Stephens, in southwest Alabama, was designated in the Congressional act creating the territory as the temporary seat of government. There, two sessions of the territorial legislature met. In accordance with the enabling act for statehood, the first Constitutional Convention assembled in the north Alabama town of Huntsville in 1819, where the first session of the General Assembly was held in the same year.
The territorial legislature, however, had chosen Cahaba (also spelled Cahawba), at the confluence of the Cahaba and Alabama Rivers, as the site for the capital of the state, so the second session of the legislature met there in 1820. Cahaba also was designated as the temporary seat of government in the Constitution, which expressly gave the 1825-26 legislature the power to decide upon a permanent site. That session of the General Assembly took the opportunity to select Tuscaloosa for the new capital, deserting the oft-flooded and unhealthy Cahaba site.
Tuscaloosa was a thriving community located on the shoals of the Black Warrior River and had been a strong candidate for the capital site when Cahaba had been chosen for the honor in 1819. Serving as the home for the government beginning in 1826, however, it was increasingly inconvenient as a seat of government for the rapidly growing state. Alabama's population gains concentrated in the state's more eastern counties as Indian lands there opened to white settlement, prompting a clamor for a more centrally located capital.
An amendment approved by the voters of Alabama struck out the section of the Constitution designating the 1825-26 selection as the "permanent" site for the capital, freeing the legislature in 1846 to choose another site from among a number of competing river towns. Montgomery, on the Alabama River, won the ensuing 16-ballot contest in the General Assembly.
Andrew Dexter, one of the founders of the town, had held on to a prime piece of property in long anticipation of the capital's eventual move to Montgomery. Dubbed "Goat Hill" for its use as pasturage, the site retained that affectionate appellation despite attempts to dignify the spot with names like "Lafayette Hill" (after the 1825 visit of the Marquis de Lafayette) and "Capitol Hill" (after the 1847 construction of the Capitol).
In 1846, following Cahawba and Tuscaloosa, Montgomery became Alabama's capital city. The first capitol building, a handsome Greek Revival structure designed by Philadelphia architect Stephen Button, was built in 1847. In 1849 the building burned. Between 1850-51, the present capitol building, also n the Greek Revival style, was constructed on the same site. A rear wing was added in 1885 and the two side wings between 1906 and 1912. A rear extension with a neoclassical portico similar to the original west front portico was completed in 1992.
Not only is Alabama State Capitol a revered symbol to thousands of Alabamians but a significant monument in American history.
A major effort to rehabilitate the Capitol began in the 1970s. While most of this work was finished in 1992, efforts to restore and enhance the historical character of the building are ongoing by the Alabama Historical Commission.
Type of Capitol: State, Province, Canton, or Other Primary Division of a Nation
Address:
600 Dexter Ave.
Montgomery, AL USA
36104
Dates of Construction: 1850-51
Major Renovations: 1970
Hours: M–F 9–5, Sat. 9–4, closed state hoidays
Capitol Web Site: [Web Link]
Historical Monuments/Memorials: Not listed
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