The Ohio Statehouse covers nearly two acres of ground and when it was new had a place inside for every branch and function
of state government. The massive building was surpassed in size only by the U. S. Capitol in Washington.
|
The building originally cost 1.3 million dollars, the equivalent of nearly 100 million dollars in today's money.
|
When the Statehouse was new, every part of state government could fit inside the building. The State Library and the Supreme Court, which
each occupied only one corner of one level of the building, now each have their own building.
|
The Statehouse is constructed of limestone that was obtained from a local quarry that the state purchased to assure a ready
source of building supplies. The limestone contains many fossils, including examples of Ohio's state fossil, the trilobite.
|
Marble used in the building had to be imported from many different states and countries.
There is no marble naturally found in the state of Ohio!
|
The Ohio Statehouse can really be called the first "skyscraper." It was the tallest building on the city skyline
until 1927, when another Columbus landmark, the LeVeque Tower would be completed.
|
Lucy Webb Hayes, wife of Governor Rutherford B. Hayes began an important tradition when she made a push to have official
portraits made of all the state's Governors. When her husband became U.S. President, Mrs. Hayes would begin another tradition,
the White House Easter Egg roll, and prohibit the consumption of alcohol in the Executive mansion, earning her the nick name "Lemonade Lucy."
|
Columbus residents would often take advantage of the Statehouse's wide green lawns by allowing their milk cows and carriage horses to
graze there during the night. Animals that were not taken home promptly would be stabled in a small area in the building's basement.
Legislative action ended the use of the building for a stable in 1878, but newspaper reports show that cows were dining on Statehouse
grass through the 1880s.
|
The first Governor to use the office in the Statehouse was Salmon P. Chase. He would later serve as Secretary of the Treasury during the
Civil War and later as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The modern financial institution was named in his honor.
|
Convicts from the Ohio State Penitentiary were used in early stages of the Statehouse construction. Prisoner sentenced to hard labor
would make bricks, cut and dress stone and do other tasks. A tall wooden fence around Capitol Square became a land mark in downtown
Columbus, and was a necessity to keep the prison laborers on the job site.
|
The cornerstone for the Statehouse was laid in 1839, and the building was totally completed 22 years later. The legislature actually
moved in to work in 1857, and the opening celebrations in January of that year were very well attended, with some people staying at
the party all night because there were no hotel rooms available.
|
Although it was built in the 1800s, the Ohio Statehouse had such modern conveniences as indoor plumbing and central heating. Rain water
was collected in large iron tanks for use in the plumbing system. Located under the roof, these tanks are no longer used but have
never been removed.
|
The floor of the Statehouse Rotunda is made up of nearly 5,000 individual pieces of marble, all cut and fitted by hand. The design at the
center of the floor traces the development of the United States: the 13 stones at the center represent the original colonies; the three rings
symbolize areas of territory that enlarged the nation; surrounding the rings is a star burst with 32 points, one for each of the states in the
Union when the floor was laid down; and surrounding the entire design is a gray band representing the U.S. Constitution.
|
In an average day the Ohio Statehouse uses about the same amount of electricity as five suburban households. Modern technology such
as compact fluorescent bulbs and highly efficient air handling systems helps make sure energy usage is carefully managed.
|
The Statehouse began with a contest! In 1838 the government announced a design competition to decide how the new government building
would look. 50 entries from architects and artists around the country were received, and first premium was awarded to Henry Walter
of Cincinnati.
|
Abraham Lincoln visited the Ohio Statehouse three different times during his political career. First, in 1859 he spoke from
the east steps of the building to a crowd of approximately 50 people. His second visit happened in 1861 when Lincoln sat in
the Governor's Office with then Governor William Dennison. It was this visit where Lincoln received word that the Electoral
College had confirmed his popular-vote victory in the 1860 presidential election. Lincoln's last visit came four years later
in 1865, after his assassination when more than 50,000 people came to pay their respects as his casket lay in state in the
Statehouse Rotunda.
|
Inside the building's cornerstone many items were included in a time capsule. Items included copies of the U.S. and Ohio Constitutions
as well as the Declaration of Independence, examples of U.S. coins and currency, newspapers of the time and samples of Ohio's industrial
and agricultural products.
|
Many of the interior spaces of the Statehouse are very large, and it takes large piece of art work to decorate them. The biggest painting
in the Statehouse depicts the Signing of the Treaty of Green Ville. The painting was completed in 1945 by Howard Chandler Christie, a native
of Muskingum County. Twenty three feet across from side to side, the painting and its frame weigh 1800 pounds. To judge just how large the
painting is, remember that the human figures are larger than life size, about eight feet tall! The picture is so large that during renovation
work at the Statehouse in the mid-1990s, it could not be removed from the building, and so was protected from the dirt and disturbance in its
own air conditioned wooden house on the floor of the Rotunda.
|
