The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 92, July 1988 - April, 1989 Page: 273
682 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Designing Architect
same time, the unprecedented expansion of the young nation de-
manded buildings of greater and greater size and quality.
By i 9o00, when Myers's career was waning, the profession was begin-
ning to be dominated by architects with academic training in American
universities. The American Institute of Architects had become a strong
national organization after healing regional animosities of the 188os.
Laws to examine and register architects were in effect in several states.
Technology had developed better building materials, engineering tech-
niques, and such benefits to office management as the typewriter, the
telegraph, and blueprinting.
Although Elijah Myers designed residences and churches, he is best
known for the volume of his public work in an era when architects were
selected by competition for city halls, courthouses, and state capitols. So
much time and money could be invested in an unsuccessful proposal
that it is easy to understand Myers's hostility toward other competing
architects. While the AIA was working to change the system of select-
ing architects, Myers attempted to beat the system. Some of his suc-
cesses survive to demonstrate his talents, but he was not able to keep up
the pace he set for himself. Many of his greatest achievements were
compromised by ethical and legal questions that he could not com-
pletely conceal from potential clients. His attempts to cover his tracks
will always frustrate his biographers.3
In the 186o census, Elijah E. Myers and his wife, Mary, ages twenty-
eight and twenty-three respectively, were recorded as living in the
Frankford section of Philadelphia. He identified himself as a master
carpenter. In the 1870 census they were located in Springfield, Illinois,
and Myers was listed as an architect. The couple had a six-year-old son,
George, and a three-year-old daughter, Julia, both born in Illinois. The
only surprise in these records is that Elijah had aged fourteen years
while Mary was only seven years older. Such deception is relatively in-
nocent, but it reveals a casual attitude toward the truth that casts doubt
on anything else they might say about themselves.
In February, 1870, the Macoupin County Courthouse in Carlinville,
Illinois, was completed. An impressive structure by today's standards, it
demonstrated Myers's mastery of his profession. Its records show that
he also participated in the graft that drove its cost to $1,342,000, a phe-
STract on Competztions as presented by the Committee on Professional Practice. Ordered
printed by the Ninth Annual Convention, American Institute of Architects, held at the Library
Room of the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, Wednesday, November 17, 1 875.
Official documents do not provide a physical description of Myers, but he must have had a
charisma not evident in mere letters and photographs. His physical descriptions of his build-
ings are amusing to academic architectural taxonomists, but he was an adept designer whose
terminology was less outrageous than that of modern real-estate promotions.273
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 92, July 1988 - April, 1989, periodical, 1989; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101212/m1/311/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.