[1] However, the new free-state government still wished to move the territorial capital from Lecompton, and so the legislature convened at Lawrence to decide a new location.

Perry Fuller—a man who had been successful in establishing Centropolis as a city—and several associates purchased 14 quarter sections of farm land near Minneola, hoping to expand the small town into the future capital.

Fuller appealed to Jeremiah S. Black, Attorney General of the United States, who ruled that the legislative bill had been a violation of U.S. statues, and was therefore invalid.

[1][2] Following this bill, work began on Minneola, and several buildings were constructed, including a potential governor's house, and a seven-story hotel.

Eventually, the Statesman was suspended and the proposed legislative hall was moved to Ottawa in 1864, where it served a variety of purposes until it was relocated for a second time and destroyed by fire.