The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-04-07

~ URROUNDED by mountain peaks Of
 the Blue Ridge, towering TOO feet 0 above the sea, and noted for their picturesqueness of scenery and salubri- ousness of climate, is Huntsville, the first seat of government of the state of Ala bama.
 Huntsville vas the temporary capital for less than two years, but during that brief period there transpired more i'm portant state history than during any other like period since Alabama became a state of this great union.
 It was at Huntsville that the first constitution of Alabama was written and the seat of the territorial government was located there at the time this con- stitution was ratified by the congress of the United States and adopted by the people of Alabama and the state ad- mitted into the union It was on the public square in Huntsville that the first governor of the state of Alabama touched his lips to the Bible and solemnly swore "to support the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of Alabama" and a short time after this the first state legislature assembled in Huntsville and enacted the first laws ever written on the statute books.
 First Convention.
 The members of the first constitutional convention. as well as the members of the first state legislature were highly educated and intellectual body of men. The constitution which tdey drafted re- mained in force until the year 1881, with a few amendments adopted in 1SS0 Since the five other constitutions of the state have been written and adopted, but the constitution of today contains much that was embodied in the first constitution. drafted at Huntsville. This first con- stitution was written and adopted by the convention in twenty-eight days, in- cluding Sundays while the constitutional convention of 19o1 which drafted the present constitution of Alabama, was in session eighty-four days.
 Some of the statutes enacted by the first legislature of the state are still law and many of the statutes enacted by subsequent legislatures have for their foundation the acts of the first legisla- ture of the state. Thus 1t will be seen
 
 had within her borders some as able law yers and statesmen as could be founo at any day or in any land.
 Today there is not person living who remembers when the seat of state gov ernment was located at Huntsville, and in that city now there are many people who do not even know that Huntsville was ever the seat of state government. All traces of the building used as the state house have long since disappeared and 1t is difficult now for one to even ascertain where the building stood.
 The town site of Huntsville was laid off during the year 1Sl0. Whether the or- ganizers of the town realized at that early day that the seat of the state government would be located there at a future day is unknown, but certain it is that they looked into the future and planned for the building of an important city. In the center of the town, $40 feet above sea level, on the plateau overlook ing the mammoth spring which today supplies the city with water, was reserved a square for public use. In the center of this square was large sink hole. This sink was filled up and over the spot was erected large two-story log build ing. The first story was used for court trials and the second story was used for the assembling of public meetings. It was in the second story of this old log building that the first constitutional convention was held and it was there that the last territorial legislature met and the first state legislature assembled. This building was erected in the year 1e11 and the first court was held in It that fall. Just when this building was remoyed no one seems to know Today the Madison county court house occu- pies the spot where this log building stood. The present court house was ] erected in the year 1888, at a cost of s52,000.
 Oldest English Town.
 Huntsville Is the oldest Engiish set tnd town in Alabama and one among