Raleigh, North Carolina (Fanning's, 1853)

RALEIGH, city, seat of justice of Wake co., and the capital of North Carolina, situated about six miles west of Neuse river, which is not generally navigable for ordinary vessels above Smithfield, 27 miles southeast of this place. Four broad avenues divide the town into as many squares, which are each again subdivided info four squares by streets of less width. At the junction of the main avenues, in the midst of an open park of 10 acres, stands the statehouse, a chaste and elegant structure of granite, 166 feet long, and 90 feet wide, surrounded by massy columns, and crowned by a beautiful dome. In 1831, the statehouse upon the same site was destroyed by fire, with a marble statue of Washington, by Canova. The Gaston and Raleigh railroad extends to the former place, 85 miles distant, where the Greenville and Roanoke connects it with Petersburgh.

In 1810, the population was about 1,000; in 1820, 2,674; in 1830, 1,700; in 1840, 2,224; in 1850, 4,518.