Corydon’s Constitution Elm stood a few blocks north of Indiana’s first capitol. About 50 feet high and spreading more than 130 feet, the huge elm offered shade from the summer sun, and during the sweltering June days of 1816 the framers of the Indiana Constitution met under it. The Constitution Convention was attended by 43 representatives from the territory, who relied heavily on existing constitutions, especially those of Ohio and Kentucky, when preparing Indiana’s state laws. Indiana’s first capitol, completed in 1816 at a cost of $3000 and designed for use as the Harrison County Courthouse, housed the General Assembly and Supreme Court until the capital moved to Indianapolis in 1825. Elm disease killed the tree in 1925, only the trunk remained at the Constitution Elm Memorial, pieces of the tree were sold as souvenirs, and in 1937 a protective sandstone memorial was erected over the trunk.