The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1913-10-26

signing of the declaration Of independ-
ence. 1t was the first time that chair
had been used since President Grant
requested the privilege of sitting in
1t in 1876,
The invocation was delivered by Rev.
Henry n Couden, d. d., the chaplain
of the house of representatives at
Washington This was followed by the
singing of Hail, Columbia" ..
Frank Miles Day, of Philadelphia,
read a brief statement concerning the
restoration of the building. Mr.. Day
was chairman of the committee of ar
chitects 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 Jno.
Hall Rankin, and its acceptance by
the city
The Grafton by Speaker Champ
Clark and the address of President
Wilson, who stood on the rostrum of
the house where Wash h'ngton deliver
ed his farewell address, followed
The exercises were closed with the
singing of another patriotic song and
the announcement of the benediction
by the chaplain of the United States
Senate, the Rev Forrest j. Prettyman.
As the ceremonies came to an end
salute of twenty-one guns was fired
by the warship in the Delaware river
Congress Halls is 2-story, shingle'
rooted building. 1t stands on the south
I sues in the case contrary to its former
| streets. or in other words, in the
northwest corner of independence
| Square. To the east of ii is lnde
pendence Hall.
! The building was constructed foi
county purposes. Two different funds
were raised to cover the expense. II
colonial days it was the custom fol
the mayor of Philadelphia when goin2
out of office to give banquet. In
stead of doing this, one of the mayors
contr buted the cost of the feast, lot
pounds. to the building fund for the
new county hall. The other money
used in its construction came from
the sale of an old Jail and work house
Gangs of convicts, known then as
"wheelbarrow men" began its con
struction in 1877 and it was completed
in 1889.
On March 4, 1889, the assembly o
PENNSYLVANIA, acting for the county
of Philadelphia, rendered the use of tn,
building as the temporary home o
congress. Congress, which was meeting
then in New York, after much debat'
fixed the permanent location of tn
national government on the banks o
the Potomac, and Philadelphia, main
" through the efforts of Robert Morris
and to the disappointment of NeN
York, was decided upon as the seat Q
government for ten years. On Decen
Der G, 1890, the third session of tn
first congress met in the hall, tn
first speaker of the house of represer
tatives being Freerick Augustus Mul
lenberg. George Washington was il
augurated in the hall on March 4, 49,
and in it he delivered his farewe
address. John Adams was inaugul
ated as the second president OF tn
United States within its walls and The
mas jefferson was there sworn in a
vice president.
While congress sat in the hall tn
United States mint and the Unite
States bank were established; NeI
mont, Kentucky and Tennessee wer
admitted to the union, the army an
navy were re-organized on a permit
uent basis; Jays historic treaty wit
. England was considered and ratified
the whiskey insurrection was SUI
pressed: the wars with the Indian
were successfully conducted by la