The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1906-05-12

house. There was somewhat of con-
test between New Brunswick and Wood
bury, but Trenton showed in a substan-
tial way its eidenvce of good intention
by the liberal subscription. and captured
the prize. It would seem as though the
spirit which prompted the people here TO
contribute $4,000 for the relief of San
Francisco, thus outdoing. in proportion,
every other city in the state. existed
away back in those eraly days of the
city.
The capitol in its original form was
small, rough-cast affair, only about one
third the size of the present front. The
principal room .yas devoted to the meet
ing of the council, as the legislative body
was called until 1874. There were eight
rooms on the first floor and the corner
rooms were occupied by the adjutant-
general and the quartermaster-genera
respectively. This building was not only
the State Capitol, but provided the chief
entertainment hall in the city, in which
and in which concerts were held. The
building was ample for the needs of the
State, for the population in 1880 was but
las, ,239, or but 100000 more than the
present inhabitants of this city alone.
There were then 13 counties and repre-
sentation was literally construed. Bur-
Iington, Sussex and Hunterdon were the
largest counties, having been subsequent
ly slpit. Mercer county was part of
Hunterdon. There We're entitled to four
Representatives each, while Bergen,
which stood then for Hudson, and Essex,
which included Union, had three mem
bers each.
The development of the state house
was gradual The first improvement
made to the building proper was an al
legged fireproof wing for the preservation
of the supreme court records, and it weS
partly constructed of material taken from
the vault Of the East Jersey proprietorS
at Perth Amboy. In 1877 an attempt
was made to beautify the grounds around
the state house by laying out a sidewalk
from the front to the entrance, but as
the public grounds were used as a COM
mon there was no success in making it
public park acceptable for ornamental
| ton. This sounds strange at the present
day. when the state house park is one
of the beauties Of the city, with its vel
yety lawn, splendid walks, playing foun-
tain and magnificent flower beds
There was an early scandal attached
to the capitol which is rehearsed in the
early copies of the "True American. .
According to this story the Federal
Bucks" who were accused of being des=
cendents of Tory ancestors. arose from
their oFurth of July dinner. broke into
the state house and conducted an i'm
promptu dance. The description which
is handed down to postefity suggests
that before they broke away they were
very much in need of a patrol wagon
The legislature ordered an investigation,
with the result that the assembly room
of the capitol was closed to all public
functions.
The crowning feature of the capitol
is the golden-topped rotunda. which sep
arates the old part from the new. 1t
is 106 feet from the inside of the roof
to the tiled floor of the main corridor.
1t is circumscribed on the second and
third floors by brass rallied corridors con-
Meeting the front and rear buildings.
This rotunda is the development of the
original cupola on the first little state
house.
The first attempt toward securing a
dome of some pretensions was made in
184S, when the state house was improv-
ed at an expense of $4,000. Subse-
quently, in 1868. the building was en-
iarged by the addition of wing for
library and legislative committee rooms.
Another improvement was made in
1854, when $4,000 was spent to extend
the second corridor and wing to give the
governor greatly needed conveniences.
The separate chambers for assembly
and senate were erected in 1871, and
completed in 1878, the appropriation that
year being $4,000. The capitol was
made three-story building in 1875 by
special appropriation. 1t was about
this time that vaults were provided for
the preservation Of records and the safe
keeping of battle fogs.
March 81, 1885, the front wing of the
State House was entirely destroyed by