Downtown Springfield public square with Old State Capitol demolished before restoration, April 8, 1966. File/The State Journal-Register#picpast #spihistory; architecture; downtown; public squarePublished as Picturing the Past, April 1, 2018.Today is April Fool's Day, but if you notice something missing in a view of the downtown square on April 8, 1966, it's not a joke. The Old State Capitol is really gone. It was a sign that one of the most consequential changes made to downtown Springfield was well under way. The exterior of the former State Capitol building, which more recently had served as the Sangamon County Courthouse, had been disassembled stone-by-stone and preserved, while the inside was demolished. Soon, work would begin on excavating the site to make way for underground parking and office space. Then the building would be reconstructed to its appearance when Abraham Lincoln served as a state legislator. The process took three years. [File/The State Journal-Register]
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