Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
1854 - Raleigh

Raleigh, a city, capital of North Carolina, and scat of justice of Wake co., a few miles W. from Neuse river, 148 miles N. by W. from Wilmington, CO miles N. N. E. from Fayetteville, and 286 miles from Washington. Lat. 35° 47' N., Lon. 78° 48' W. The situation is elevated and healthy. An open area of ten acres, named Union Square, occupies the centre of the city, from which four principal streets, 99 feet wide, extend in different directions. The state house, situated in Union square, is among the largest and most splendid capitols in the United States. It is built of granite, and surrounded with massive columns of the same material, after the model of the Parthenon, and surmounted by a handsome dome. The dimensions are 166 feet long by 90 wide, and the cost above $500,000. The former state house, which contained a marble statue of Washington, by Canova, was destroyed by fire in 1831. The North Carolina Institution for the Deaf and Dumb has recently been established at this place. The foundation has also been laid of the State Lunatic Asylum, on Dix's Hill, in the W. part of the town. Raleigh also contains a court house, a market house, two bunks, and churches of the Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Baptists, Methodists, and Roman Catholics: 13 or 14 newspapers are published here. It is the terminus of the Raleigh and Gaston railroad, which, with other lines, forms a direct communication with Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia. The North Carolina railroad, now in progress, passes through this city, connecting it with those of South Carolina on one hand, and with the seaports of North Carolina on the other. Population in 1850, 4518.

A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States: Giving a Full and Comprehensive Review of the Present Condition, Industry, and Resources of the American Confederacy ... Thomas Baldwin (of Philadelphia.) Joseph Thomas January 1, 1854 Philadelphia : Lippincott, Grambo & Company 1854.

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