John F. Rague

Who is John F. Rague?

John Francis Rague was a mid-19th century architect who designed and built the 1837 Old Capitol of Illinois and the 1840 Territorial Capitol of Iowa. He was born March 24, 1799 in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, he studied under Minard Lafever in New York, and moved to Springfield, Illinois in 1831. While there he designed both the Illinois and Iowa capitol buildings, and became a close friend of Abraham Lincoln. He moved to Dubuque, Iowa in 1854, where he designed a number of buildings, including the city hall, central market house, and jail.