The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-12-09
An U-npretentious and Unfinished
Used 1t ON Nov. IL, $500.
CELEBRATION ON WEDNESDAY
WHEN EMINENT MEN WILL BE GATH
Erred IN THE CAPITOL.
President Mckinley and Others to
Participate in the Centennial
Anniversary Exercises.

| Special to the indianapolis Journal.
WASHINGTON, Dec. spectators In
the House of Representatives OF Dec. Il
will look down upon a large assemblage of
illustrious. men gathered together to wit
ness the ceremonies celebrating the one
hundredth anniversary of the removal of
the Nations seat of government from
Philadelphia to Washington in $500.
President Mckinley will be given the
honor seat on the floor of the hall. Others
OH the floor will be Vice President-elect
Roosevelt, the ex-Vice Presidents, the
members of the Presidents Cabinet, the
| chief justice and justices Of the Supreme
| Court of the United States. the senator's
and representatives. Admiral Dewey, the
hero of Manila bay; Lieutenant General
| Miles, in command of the army; Secretary
Langley, of the Smithsonian institution;
the Governors of the States and Territories
OF the Union the commissioners of the
District of Columbia and various men who
have received a vote of thanks from Con-
gress.
The Capitol to-day is a much more pre-
t~entious structure than that in which,
much to their disgust, the members Of the
Sixth Congress assembled in Washington
on Nov. II, 1900. On that date. a century
ago, the cornerstone of the Capitol had
been laid for seven years. General George
Washington had performed the ceremonies
on Sept. IS, 1898. A grand Masonic, military
and civic procession took part in the cere-
monies, the Masons being represented by
the Grand Lodge of Maryland and Lodge
No. %, of Alexandria, Va. The Father OF
his Country delivered an grafton, after
which 1.-The ~assemblage retired TO an ex-
tensive booth, where they enjoyed a bar
becue feast"
Capitol hill had been selected as the site
for the Capitol building because it was Ie-
garded as the probable central point OF
the future city. The three commissioners
appointed by Washington to govern the
District of Columbia offered a premium
of $500 and a building lot for the best de-
sign of a capitol Fourteen designs, most
ly by artisans. were submitted. One showed
a building adorned by a weathercock forty
feet broad. Another depicted a ehurchlike
edihce, with a row of Brownie-like figures
arranged across the front. Secretary of
State Jefferson promptly rejected all but
two of these designs as beneath serious
consideration. The latter were submitted
by DR.. William Thornton, an English ANA
teur craftsman, and Stephen Hallette, a
French architect. Hallette's design was
about TO be accepted when a decision was
given in favor OF Thornton's, which won
the premium. Hallette was, however, made
supervising architect of the Capitol, with
a salary of 5000 a year. Thornton and
Hallette subsequently quarreled. The lat
ter was dismissed and was succeeded by
George Hadfeld, an Englishman. The lat
ter soon fell out with the commissioners,
and James Hoban, architect of the White
House. proceeded to make the building
ready for Congress.
ONE WING ONLY IN 1900.
In November, 1900, when the Senate and
House of Representatives moved from
Philadelphia to Washington, they found
only the north or Senate wing of the old
Capitol in place. The south, or House
wing, had not been commenced, and only
the foundations of the rotunda between
the two wings were in place. A picture of
the Capitol as it appears to-day shows a
small dome on either side of the great GEN.
trail dome. The portion of the building i'm
mediately beneath the small dome TO the
north represents all OF the Capitol standing
a century ago. The Senate, meeting for
the first time in Washington Nov. II, 1900,
was called together by Jefferson, then Vice
President. in the original Senate chamber.
The Senate. floor was that of the present
basement beneath what is now the United
States Supreme Court room. The ceiling
extended up to the garnet floor, where a
working space was left for clerks. The
Senate gallery was about OF a level with
the present Supreme Court floor. Just be-
hind the Senate and in the center OF the
basement was the Senate lobby, running
north and south, and behind the latter
were several committee rooms lining the
west side of the building.
The wing designed for the House Of Rep
resentatives not. having been even begun,
that body met Nov. IL in a long apartment,
including the northwest corner and the
greater part of the west side of the Senate
wings main floor and Immediately over
the Senate committee rooms. The ceiling
extended entirely 10 the roof, there being
no attic space provided. A small ante
room in the southwest corner was occupied
by the clerk Of the House. This entire
space, occupied a century ago as a House
OF Representatives, is now subdivided into
several offices attached to the Supreme
Court.
The House of Representatives., thus hold
ing its sessions in a room designed for the
Senate officials, was seriously crowded.
Loud complaints were uttered. 1t was soon
decided to construct a temporary house on
the site of the proposed south wing, and
TO build the walls of that wing around the
makeshift, later to be replaced by a per-
manent hall THE Oven" as this tempo
rary house became known, because of its
lack of ventilation. was ready for the first
session OF the Seventh Congress when it
assembled Dec. II, 1901. The ground plan
was an ellipse seventy by ninety feet. The
curved walls. eighteen feet high. were OF
brick. The foundation was laid under the
present statuary hall. The Oven" was
connected with the Senate wing by a COW
cred way, AS feet long, built Of rough pine