|
 During the late
winter and spring of 1992, Fever River Research conducted extensive
archaeological investigations at the site of the proposed Quincy
Metropolitan Exposition, Auditorium and Office Building Complex
(otherwise known as the Quincy Civic Center). The project area,
which was located only three blocks southwest of the original
central business district, was platted by John Woods in April 1831
as one of the first additions onto the original town plat of Quincy,
Illinois. By 1840, although less than 20 years old, Quincy had
developed into a bustling river port community with significant
mercantile, commercial, and industrial functions, and the Quincy
Civic Center neighborhood had developed into a middle to upper class
neighborhood by that time. At the time of the 1993 research, the
project area included a wide range of 1830s through 1880s housing
that documented the transformation of a neighborhood from one
occupied by upper class families who constructed substantial brick
and frame dwellings, to one occupied by lower income families—often
with multiple families occupying a single house which had been
broken into multiple apartments. The research conducted by Fever
River Research resulted in the detailed documentation of nine
pre-Civil War houses. Floor plans, elevation drawings, as well as
details of windows, doors, and construction techniques were
documented. Additionally, archaeological excavations were conducted
around three of these structures, resulting in the detailed
documentation of exterior activity areas (including the physical
remains of summer kitchens, carriage houses, privies, cisterns, and
trash disposal pits). In particular, a series of sequential privy
pits from these sites resulted in the recovery of a wide range of
artifacts once associated with the families that occupied these
sites. The emphasis of the research conducted at the Quincy Civic
Center Site was to document the structure of the early upper class
sites using the multiple data sets associated with 1) the extant
architectural remains (i.e. the houses), 2) the more traditional
archaeological remains (i.e. subsurface features and household
artifacts), as well as 3) the archival record (particularly federal
and state census, property ownership, and tax records). Research
themes have focused on such issues as the changing use of both
interior and exterior space through time, and the increased product
consumerism of the house occupants. |
