History
See also: History of IllinoisThe first capitol building was in Kaskaskia, Illinois. It was a two-story brick building that rented for $4 per day.
Vandalia became the second capital in 1820, and was the site of three capitol buildings. Vandalia's first capitol was a simple two-story structure, which was destroyed by fire. In 1824, Vandalia's second capitol was built to replace the burnt building for $15,000. Soon after the third capitol building was built, many Illinoisans began lobbying to move the capital to a more central location in the state. In 1833, the General Assembly responded by passing an act allowing Illinoisans to choose their capital city. This worried the people of Vandalia, who did not want to lose the capital. Therefore, in 1836, without authorization from the General Assembly, the city tore down the third capitol building and replaced it with the fourth, a brick state house, costing $16,000. Despite this, in 1839, voters selected Springfield, Illinois as the new state capital city, where it remains to this day.
Illinois' fifth capitol building was built in Springfield in 1853 at a cost of $260,000. Construction on the sixth, and present capitol, was begun in 1868. The building took twenty years to complete at a cost of $4.5 million.
Read more about this topic: Government Of Illinois
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“While the Republic has already acquired a history world-wide, America is still unsettled and unexplored. Like the English in New Holland, we live only on the shores of a continent even yet, and hardly know where the rivers come from which float our navy.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The principal office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity.”
—Tacitus (c. 55–c. 120)
“History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this.... It is not “history” which uses men as a means of achieving—as if it were an individual person—its own ends. History is nothing but the activity of men in pursuit of their ends.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)