Alabama's First Statehouse

Alabama's First Statehouse. . , Shocking Bicentennial Discovery , As a Bicentennial project, the large steel structure before you was constructed to mark the location of Alabama's first statehouse and to evoke its size and shape. The same written instructions that Alabama's first governor gave to his contractors in 1819 were used to size this commemorative structure. , So imagine everyone's surprise when archaeologists discovered that the buried foundation of the statehouse deviated from the governor's plan in a most unusual way. The floor plan of the statehouse was not rectangular like this commemorative structure, instead it was trapezoidal! , Just like this steel structure, the real statehouse sat very close to Capitol Street, and the back and side walls met at right angles. However, the front wall was pushed outward at an odd angle, so the front door could open onto the curving path of Arch Street. , The result was a trapezoidal shape that would have been very apparent from a bird's eye view, but barely noticeable when viewed from the street. , [Captions] , [Top middle] Computer reconstructions of Alabama's first statehouse based on archaeological evidence. , [Bottom middle] Both the birds-eye view (above) and the street view (below) were made by Jeremiah Stager, Office of Archaeological Research, University of Alabama, using software by Lumion. , [Map on right] Alabama's first statehouse stood on the corner of Arch and Capitol Streets with its front door facing Arch St. Alabama's first governor, William Wyatt Bibb, believed that a grander statehouse would be funded in 1825, so he reserved the best location-the land inside the semi-circle formed by Arch Street at the terminus of Capitol Street, for that purpose. Ultimately, that second statehouse was built in Tuscaloosa instead.