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  Pre-Civil War Domestic Environment of Quincy, Illinois

During the late winter and spring 1992, extensive archaeological and architectural research was conducted within downtown Quincy, Illinois by Fever River Research at the site of the proposed Quincy Metropolitan Exposition, Auditorium and Office Building Complex (otherwise known as the Quincy Civic Center).  This project area, which was located approximately three blocks southwest of the original central business district, offered an excellent opportunity to study the pre-Civil War domestic environment within a major Illinois community.

The Quincy Civic Center project area was located within a few blocks of the central business district and only a couple of blocks east of the Mississippi River bluff crest.  By the 1870s, the community had developed into a thriving industrial center.

By the early 1990s, the Quincy Civic Center neighborhood had transformed to an older, run-down neighborhood with a variety of middle nineteenth century housing once associated with the community's early merchant class.  Much of this housing had suffered from neglect generally often had been converted from owner-occupied, single-family houses to non-owner-occupied, multi-family rental units. 

This figure illustrates the extent of the Quincy Civic Center project.  The entire area illustrated was slated for demolition and development during the summer of 1992.  Detailed floor plans, photographs, and structural notes were taken for all of the extant dwellings in the project area, which are illustrated here in orange.  Additionally, subsurface archaeological investigations were conducted within the Gardner landholdings, which is illustrated in yellow.

Detailed structural investigations were conducted within all eleven dwellings within the Quincy Civic Center project area.  Much of this work required selective demolition to record details regarding the earlier dwelling’s characteristics.  This photograph illustrates physical remains of an early cooking fireplace (and associated hearth) that has long since been removed from the dwelling.

Although many of the houses present within the Quincy Civic Center project area were small, they represent some of the better quality houses present in early 1840s Quincy—as is evident by the quality stairhall present in this house. 

Detailed architectural drawings were prepared for each of the houses in the Quincy Civic Center project area.  Besides floor plans, details of stair halls, doors, windows, and cornices were prepared for the majority of the dwellings.

 

This is an example of the architectural field notes that were prepared on the houses in the Quincy Civic Center project area.  This figure illustrates the cornice and built-in box gutters associated with the 1860s Italianate Littlefield house. 

 

Upon returning to the office, the architectural field notes were digitized and entered into a CADD program. 

Detailed floor plans of each of the nineteenth century houses in the Quincy Civic Center project area were produced.  These floor plans not only illustrate the houses as they were originally constructed, but also emphasize the change through time associated with these dwellings.  The physical changes in these dwellings document the changing domestic environment of the families that occupied the dwellings, and gives us insights into the quality of life associated with these families. 

Additionally, the architectural research was supplemented with traditional subsurface archaeological investigations.  This picture illustrates the initial backhoe trenches associated with the archaeological fieldwork.

 

Upon locating subsurface features with the backhoe trenches, the archaeological features were exposed in plan view and excavated.  This photograph illustrates a series of privy pits located behind the early Littlefield house.

This plan map illustrates the various features noted in the previous photograph.  This small area contained numerous privy pits, brick piers, and post holes that document the evolution of the rear yard at the early Littlefield house.  These features document an early summer kitchen and associated privy pit; later modifications to the yard include the demolition of the summer kitchen and the construction of successive privy pits. 

The privy pits excavated at the Quincy Civic Center project yielded a wealth of information regarding the lifestyles of the early inhabitants of this neighborhood.  These privy pits (such as the shallow wood-lined privy being excavated here) contained a wide range of ceramic and glass artifacts, as well as seeds and bones—all of which lend themselves to the interpretation of mid-nineteenth century lifestyles.

 

Later privy pits at the Quincy Civic Center were brick-lined and considerably deeper than the earlier wood-lined pits.  These privy pits contain a wealth of data on nineteenth century lifeways.

 

Here is a suite of artifacts recovered from one privy pit that illustrates the character of a circa 1870 table setting associated with one of the neighborhood families.

 

This photograph illustrates a suite of artifacts recovered from one of the earlier privy pits and illustrates the character of a circa 1840 table setting. 

This photograph illustrates a series of early infant nursing bottles—complete with ceramic cap and rubber nipple.  Although nursing bottles are fairly common by the early years of the twentieth century, they are not overly common during the middle nineteenth century.  These examples in urban Quincy illustrate the changing character of women in upper class society during these years. 

 

Upon completion of our field work, the houses came down and the Quincy Civic Center was constructed.  Fortunately, the combined architectural and archaeological research has given us new insights into the lifeways of the nineteenth century inhabitants of this community.

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