PORTSMOUTH -- A newly formed citizen's group has proposed a solution to the nagging problem of where to rebuild New Hampshire's original statehouse. The 1758 structure once stood in the center of Market Square in downtown Portsmouth, but was demolished in the 1830s. A small portion of the building survived, was disassembled by historic preservationists in 1990 and today sits in a trailer in Concord, NH -- waiting. In recent years, members of the Mayor's Blue Ribbon Committee to "Save Our Statehouse" (SOS) have considered over 20 locations in downtown Portsmouth, none of which have proven suitable for modern needs.

"Put it on wheels!" says Hunking Langdon, president of the new citizen's action group Capitol Defense. The group met today with the mayor's committee and offered a plan by which the 30 x 80 foot historic structure can readily be transported from one site to another.

"Think of it as history on the move," Langdon told stunned organizers today. "We do it with nuclear missiles -- so how hard can it be?"

The provincial statehouse, New Hampshire's first capitol, has been largely homeless since 1958 when its one remaining section was moved from Court Street to the new Strawbery Banke Museum. Initially the new reconstructed statehouse was to be part of the campus of more than 30 historic houses there. Nearly $2 million was appropriated for reconstruction by the NH state government in the mid- 1970s, but then Governor John Sununu axed the plan.

Recently, the SOS committee has tried to find a proper location. Strawbery Banke has since rejected it, and every other location proposed has been either too costly or come under fire from one constituency or another.

"Everybody pretends to like history, but they don't want it in their back yard," Langdon says. "If this building is going to become a Trojan Horse, it might as well look like one."

"It's not as crazy as it sounds," said one member of the official SOS group who prefers to remain anonymous. "Our state government has been giving New Hampshire citizens the run-around since it was formed after the Revolution. This idea is founded on those same principles."

Chamber of commerce Tourism Committee members endorsed the Capitol Defense plan immediately

"Think of the photo opportunities!" said a committee spokesperson. "The city can drag it downtown for Market Square Day, then pull it over to Prescott Park by the river for the Arts Festival. During Fourth of July we can just roll it down the street like a giant parade float."

Designed and built under two British governors when NH was an English colony, the Old Statehouse briefly became the center of state government when Portsmouth was temporarily the Revolutionary capital. The Declaration of Independence was read aloud from its granite steps. George Washington spoke from the statehouse balcony during his visit in 1789.

"Maybe we should all get inside, roll it to the lawn of the Concord capitol, jump out, and take over the legislature," Landgon said jokingly. "No, there’s probably too many legislators. We wouldn’t stand a chance.""

Langdon admits the concept of a transitional government building was not wholly his idea.

"I was doing research on Mobile. Alabama and Wheeling, West Virginia," he says. "I figured if they could move a whole town, we could move a little building."

By J. Dennis Robinson
Special to the Granite State Nose
September 2001
Copyright (c) 2001 SeacoastNH.com. All rights reserved.

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