Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-10-25

met. The senate held its sessions on,J
the second floor. During the exer-
eises today President Wilson sat in
the chair occupied by John Hancock |
when he presided over the continental |
congress at the signing of the declara-
ton of independence. II was the first /
time the chair had been used since .
President Grant requested the privi- /
Iege of sitting in it in 1876.
The invocation was delivered By I
Rev. Henry n, Couden, D. D., the chap |
lain of the house of Representatives at
Washington. This was followed by
the singing of Hail Columbia"
Frank Miles Day of Philadelphia
read brief statement concerning the (
restoration of the building. Mr.. Day
vas chairman of the committee of
architects having charge of the work.
Then followed the delivery of the
building to the city by the president
of the Philadelphia chapter of the
American Institute of Architects. John
Hall Rankin, and its acceptance by the
city.
SALUTE Of Il GUNS.
The grafton by Speaker Champ
Clark and the address OF President
| Wilson, who stood on the rostrum OF
the house where Washington delivered
| his farewell address, followed.
! The exercises were closed with the
singing of another patriotic song and
the announcement of the benediction
Z Inv he oh D1afr 80 Tr,nsf
senate, Rev. Forrest ]. Prettyman.
AS the ceremonies came to an end
a salute of u guns was fired by the
warships in the Delaware river.
Congress hall is a two-story, single
rooted building. 1t stands on the
southeast corner of Sixth and Chest
nut streets, or in other words, in the
northwest corner of independence
square. To the east of it is Independ-
,r>ence hall
NThe building was constructed for
county purposes Two different funds
were raised to cover the expense. In
colonial, days It was the custom for
the mayor of Philadelphia when going
out of office TO give a banquet In
stead of doing this one of the mayors
contributed the sost of the feast. 150
pounds; to the A,ding fund for the
new county hall. other money
used in its construction Name from the
sale of an old jail .and workhouse
Gangs of convicts known linen al
"wheelbarrowmen" began its AQnstruc
ton in 1887 and it vas compieNed IL
1889.
On March 4, 1889. the assembly of
Pennsylvania, acting for the county
of Philadelphia, rendered the use of
the building as the temporary home
of congress. Congress. which was
meeting then in New York, after much
debate fixed the permanent location
of the national government on the
banks of the Potomac and Philadelphia
mainly through the efforts of Robert
Morris and to the disappointment of
New York, was decided upon as the
; seat of government for ten years. On
, Dec. 6, 1890, the third session of the
: First congress met in the hail. the
: first speaker of the house of represen
2 tatives being Frederick Augustus
3 Muhlenburg. George Washington was
f inaugurated in the hall on March 4
1 1898, and in it he delivered his fare
1 we'll address. John Adams was in
: augurated as the second president o.
f the United States within its walls anl
/ Thomas Jefferson was there sworn il
a as vice president.
MINT rs ESTABLISHED.
: While congress sat in the hall the
United States mint and the United
States bank were established; Yer
I mont, Kentucky and Tennessee wer,
+ admitted to the union; the army ant
0 navy were reorganized on permanen
:, basis; Jays historic treaty with Eng
q land was considered and ratified; tn,
. whisky instruction was suppressed
the wars with the Indians were sue
: cessively conducted by Harmar, 81
n Clair and Wayne; the brief war witt
France was undertaken and within it
S walls was officially announced tn
II death of George Washington in 1893.
II Congress (the first session OF tn
sixth sat in the hall for the last tim
e on May II, 1900. The last act of th
l. senate was to request the president t
e instruct the attorney general to prose
n cute William Duane, editor of tn
e Aurora, for defamatory libel.
n A committee of congress recon-
ii mended an appropriation of $4,000
e to Philadelphia as compensation TO
e the ten years use of the building, bu
e the expenditure was never authorized
Is After congress vacated 1t, the hall wa
e. used by the courts and the voices Q
q all of the famous Philadelphia lawyer
n rang through its rooms. The builC
"a ing was abandoned by the courts /
n 1895 since which time several colonis
d societies have used it as headquarteri
The structure was twice threatene
e. by fire, in 1921 and in 1851, but littl
s. damage was done.