For many years, the residence in which this photo was taken was referred to as the Dunn house, since it was thought the Territorial Chief Justice Charles Dunn purchased this building at Old Belmont in 1837, the year after the First Territorial Legislature met at Old Belmont, after which the legislature moved to Burlington, IA. and finally to Madison, WI. Subsequent research in 2007 indicated that Dunn actually lived in Elk Grove from 1836 to 1846, and that he purchased this house in 1847 -- living there until his death in 1872.
It is now thought the building was constructed by John Atchison in 1836 and rented to the Territorial Government for use as a lodging house. Atchison was the person who platted Old Belmont in the hopes it would be chosen as the Territorial Capitol. Madison was chosen, however.
The 1881 Layafette County History refers to the building as "The old 'Lodging House,' [which] ... was fitted up for and occupied by Judge Charles Dunn, as a dwelling." In 1906, at the urging of Jenkin Lloyd Jones, originally from Hillside, WI, who became a famous Chicago Unitarian Minister and was an Uncle of Frank Lloyd Wright; and after a visit by Reuben Gold Thwaites, the director of the State Historical Society, a movement was started to restore the two remaining buildings (one of which was a barn) from the 1836 Wisconsin Territorial Legislative sessions. Following Thwaites annual report, in late 1906, the State Historical Society Executive Committee did more extensive research and indicated the building in which this photo was taken was the First Supreme Court, The building was continually identified as the Supreme Court from 1906 until the property was transferred to the State Historical Society from the Department of Natural Resources in 1995 -- at which time additional historical research indicated it was actually a lodging house. Parenthetically, the lodging house designation makes sense when considering that in 1836 the Supreme Court consisted of three judges who met once a year at the Territorial Capitol site. Also archival records suggest this building and others were hastily built by John Atchison in 1836 and rented to the Territorial government for $50/day for all buildings. The bill from Atchison does not indicate how many buildings he rented or the size of them.
Except for this 1889 photo, the building was not referred to as the Supreme Court until the 1906 Historical Society Executive Committee report. Further, only this interior shot was labeled "1st Wis Supreme Court". The home, also shown in this gallery, was not labeled. Possibly it was thought this room was just the chambers where court sessions were held, but the entire building was not considered a supreme court building.
The small circular photo, 2 1/2 inches, is from a Gundry family photo album with that page titled "A Visit to Old Belmont, Oct. 1889." The Gundry family were affluent, dry good merchants in Mineral Point at the time. The father, Joseph Gundry was 67 and his son, Joseph H. Gundry was 40 in 1889. It is assumed a member of the Gundry family added the photo captions -- since it was similar to the writing throughout the album. It is also assumed the photo was taken by a brand new Kodak camera first offered to the public in 1888. The small box camera cost $25 with a preloaded film which could take 100 exposures. The camera and exposed film was then mailed to the Eastman Kodak company, which developed, printed and returned the photos and a new preloaded camera for $10. It is assumed the Gundry family could afford a camera of this nature.
The presumed people in the photo possibly could not afford such a camera. Who were they, and did they tell the Gundry's, at least that room, was where the First Supreme Court had sessions? As mentioned, Charles Dunn died in 1872 and after one or two more owners, the property was purchased on June 3, 1879 at an auction by a Platteville resident, Carson F. Harbers -- known as "Fritz" Harbers. Shortly after purchasing the property, Harbers rented it to a German immigrant farmer: Christian "Chris" Cordts. It is thought Chris Cordts (47) his wife, Mollie (45) and a daughter, Emma (7) are in the photo. It is doubted the Gundry's are pictured because of the less-expensive clothing of the subjects, their ages, and the casual sitting position of the man.
Note, another photo of this same room, without anyone shown, was taken about 1906 when the "First Territorial Capitol" movement was started. Chris Cordts still lived there in 1906. Newspaper stories from the time indicate he had rented the house for about 25 years. "Fritz" Harbers, the land lord, died Jan. 8, 1909.
