Alabama Capital Burns 174 Years Ago Today

The first Alabama Capitol Building in Montgomery burned to the ground 174 years ago today. (12/14/1849)

There are no photos of the fire than I am aware of, but there is there is this sketch:

 

The fire apparently started because of wood badly placed in one of the many fireplaces in the building.

From The Alabama Pioneers site:

At one o’clock on that day the House was engaged on the call of the counties for the introduction of bills and petitions. The order was temporarily suspended to allow the consideration and second reading of a series of resolutions, introduced by Mr. Elevens, of Dallas, to abolish the white basis of representation. Mr. Jones offered a motion that 133 copies of the resolution be printed for the use of the House, Pending this question, the roof of the House of Representatives was discovered to be on fire. The House journal of that session does not show that the House adjourned. The reference to the fire in the journal of the House for that day’s session is the following, which follows the proceedings:

“Note by the Clerk: Pending the above motion, at one o’clock and fifteen minutes P. M., an alarm of fire was given. The roof of the Capitol was discovered to be in flames, and in three hours from the first alarm the broken walls alone remained. The public records of the various departments were saved and the greater part of the furniture. The fire originated over the Representative Hall.”

The present capitol building was built on the same foundation that had been constructed for that first building.