Missouri State Capitol, Jefferson City, M0 (May 28, 2021)

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We visited the Missouri State Capitol and took a no-mask self-tour. This capital is great. The history and the interior is very nice. They had a self-guided indoor and outdoor map that provided great information. This is the 3rd Capitol built as the two previous ones were burned down in 1837 (fire) and 1911 (dome struck by lightning causing fire). “The ground-breaking for the present capitol occurred on May 6, 1913, after the state’s voters overwhelmingly approved a bond issue to determine its location and finance its construction. The building was completed in 1917, and officially dedicated on Oct. 6, 1924.” “Inspired during the period known as the American Renaissance—a time of political and cultural activity influenced by Greek and Roman classicism, the new capitol was to be bigger, better, bolder—truly a testament to the idealism that marked early 20th century American democracy.” ” Covering nearly three acres, it stands upon 285 concrete piers which extend to solid rock at depths from 20 to 50 feet.   In keeping with the directive to construct a “Missouri-made” building, the exterior is of Carthage, Missouri limestone marble, as are the floors of all the corridors, the rotundas and the treads of the stairways.”

The grand staircase is one of the capitol’s outstanding features. It is 30 feet wide and extends from the front portico to the third floor.  At the entrance is a set of mammoth bronze doors, 13 feet by 18 feet.
  • Missouri River Statue
  • Mississippi River Statue

These Heroic allegorical bronze figures depicting Missouri’s two historically great rivers—the Mississippi and the Missouri—by Robert Aitken and a 13-foot (4 m) tall statue of Thomas Jefferson made by James Earle Fraser  below

Thomas Jefferson – who the city is name after.
Missouri Veterans Memorial
Fountain of the Centaurs
Signing of the Treaty
As shown above, Meriwether, Lewis, Seaman the dog, William Clark and George Drouillard
Fountain of the Arts
the view of the dome from the first floor rotunda is magnificent. A huge bronze chandelier, weighing 9,000 pounds, hangs from the dome’s eye, 171 feet above. 
  • Mastodan Fossils
  • Mastodan Tooth
The Missouri Replica
The Missouri Replica
No one who works at the Capitol could explain the Bank Door. Someone that it was a safe and that the inside was turned into an office. Guess they needed space.
  • William Clark
  • Meriwether Lewis

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