The Capitol Columns - Where Are They Now?

"Pictures of the old Capitol Building in Harrisburg, destroyed by fire in 1897, show that six stone columns supported the massive portico. When the structure fell from force of the fierce flames, the six columns stood alone, like vast tree trunks in some desolated forest."

 What eventually became of them? 

Two of them are at the entrance to the Market Street Bridge, across the Susquehanna River, Harrisburg;

The Wi-Daagh Monument

 One is at Lochabar, -the superb country estate of Hon. Watson L. Barclay, the Williamsport financier and political leader, near Jersey Shore; 

One is at the Jersey Shore Cemetery,

 and the fifth is used as a Soldiers' Monument in Wayne township, Clinton County, where it was recently the scene of an embittered controversy between rival groups of local patriots."  -  Altoona Tribune, 1925 (full article near the bottom of this post)

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The building before the fire.

See more photos of the fire here:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2021/02/when-state-capitol-burned-february-2.html

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MORE ABOUT THE COLUMNS 

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This is the story, What Happened To The Columns,  that began my journey to see the Wi-Daagh monument in Antes Fort Pa.  That monument is made from one of the stone columns.  Another of the columns stands in the Jersey Shore Cemetery, and a yet another stands as the Soldiers monument in Linnwood Cemetery.  Two additional columns from the capitol flank the entrance of the market street bridge in Harrisburg.

The Column In The Jersey Shore Cemetery - 

The pillar in the Jersey Shore Cemetery was acquired by Mayor Peter Bricker.  Adam Burger, a stonemason from Antes Fort , added the soldier and oversaw the relocation. The monument was dedicated on May 30 1908.

May 2019
The Monument in the Jersey Shore Cemetery

Harrisburg Telegraph, 1905

Soldiers Monument, Linnwood Cemetery - 

 Not only is the top of the column much different than the others, but the color is also very different. However, publications as early as 1900 state that this is one of the front columns.

The Monumental News, Volume 12
R.J. Haight, 1900 - Monuments

The Lock Haven Express

June 13 1947

The Times (Philadelphia)

October 12 1900

The Wi-Daagh Monument

 On Private Property In Antes Fort Pa

Read more about this monument, and the interesting combination of legend and history behind it, here:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-widaagh-monument-in-antes-fort.html

The Columns Flanking The Harrisburg Bridge

 Vintage post cards showing the capital columns at the entrance of the Market Street Bridge in Harrisburg Pa

"The Market Street Bridge includes two columns at the east entrance from the old state Capitol that burned in February 1897. Plaques on the south column contain historical information about the Camelback Bridge. The north column contains information about the current Market Street Bridge and a stone tablet from the tollhouse of the Camelback Bridge."

Market Street Bridge, January 2021

Local historians are adamant that these columns are not the front columns like the ones that went to Lycoming county, but rather, side porch columns.  Who am I to disagree?  However, it's obvious the columns have been modified, what is there today is not quite the same as what was there originally. 

In 1925, The Altoona Tribune reported that these columns were two of the original 6 from the font of the capitol.

"Two of them are at the entrance to the Market Street Bridge, across the Susquehanna River, Harrisburg"  - full newspaper article below.

From The Pennsylvania Historic Resource Form found here:
http://www.dot7.state.pa.us/CRGIS_Attachments/SiteResource/H000141_01D.pdf

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Altoona Tribune 

Altoona, Pennsylvania

08 Jan 1925, Thu  •  Page 6

Harrisburg Telegraph 

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

15 May 1940, Wed  •  Page 12

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