Enjoying a bit of history in Corydon while preparing for the future.

Yesterday, Paula and Nick from Doxpop ventured South to Corydon to speak to local attorneys and their staff about e-filing.

Of course, we couldn't leave Corydon without walking over to the old Capitol, which is on the South lawn outside the current courthouse. We interrupted Denzil McKim, who was painting and cleaning in preparation for the bicentennial. He was kind enough to pause in his work to let us look around and answer questions.

If we were looking from this angle two hundred years ago, the view would be obscured by the "Consitutional Elm". Legend has it that during the hot days of summer, the representatives would move their debates outside to enjoy the shade of this tree.

A little piece of the tree still exists and sits under its picture inside.

The desks that the Representatives and Senators used are reminiscent of old school desks, with room to write and keep notes. Denzil added the interesting fact that until 1952, Indiana schools taught everyone to write with their right hand, so in a mild form of intolerance, there are no left-handed desks in this building. 

Presumably, this is where the Grand Poobah sat.  The governor's office was in his house, so this would be for the leader of the House or Senate. In 1816, there were 29 Representatives, 10 Senators, and 3 Justices that used this building for their meetings.

In the early 1800's, you had to have at least 60,000 people to join the club, so it was this 1815 census that allowed Indiana to make the move from a Territory to a State. If you squint closely at the top entry, it says "Wain" County contributed 6,406 souls to that count. Doxpop is located in Wayne County, and we currently account for 14 of the people there.

If you look closely, you'll see that at first, the addition was done wrong and because it was in ink, Dennis Pennington's error is preserved for posterity. Dennis Pennington was a leader in early Indiana politics, notable among other things for the strong anti-slavery stance he took during the drafting of the constitution. 

Back in the modern world, we found this monument to former governor Frank O'Bannon on the Southwest corner of the block. From this statue, you can still see the newspaper his family owns and still operates.

Of course, the reason we were here was also a bit more modern. Doxpop was giving a presentation on our e-filing solution for attorneys to a group of attorneys and their staff at the Harrison County Courthouse on the North end of the lawn.


And finally... no travelogue would be complete without a restaurant recommendation. Although we didn't have time to eat there this time, a stroll one block further South will bring you to the Point Blank Brewery, which has great pizza (and presumably, beer.) If you decide to spend an afternoon in Corydon, you can easily walk to all of these places, and walking is the appropriate way to soak in history.