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Wyoming State Capitol
The Wyoming State Capitol in
Cheyenne, Wyoming houses the state legislature and the office of the
governor, constructed between 1886 and 1890; then designated a
National Historic Landmark in 1987. The capitol would be started
before the territory became a state, and is located just north of
downtown Cheyenne. It is a Corinthian style structure with center
dome and portico that reminds visitors of the US capitol. There are
three stories above ground level and a basement level, constructed
of sandstone quarried by Fort Collins, Colorado and by Rawlins,
Wyoming. The magnificent dome is covered in 24 karat gold leaf and
thus far has been gilded six times, between 1900 and 1988. The dome
is 146 feet high and 50 feet wide at the bottom, and can be seen for
many miles around the city. The interior has a ground floor rotunda,
where the dome is quite visible overhead, especially since it
showcases green and blue stained glass that was acquired in England;
and since the sunlight isn't able to shine through the stained
glass, there are electric lights in the dome so that it can be
illuminated for visitors and other dignitaries. The beautiful wood
used in the rotunda is cherry, and it contains a significant statue
of Chief Washakie of the Shoshoni, with various wings around the
rotunda having numerous taxidermy specimens; including a mounted
buffalo that had been raised with the state herd in Hot Springs Park
by Thermopolis. That buffalo weighed in at a ton and a half when
alive and is the third biggest buffalo recorded in the Boone and
Crocket Book of Records. The outside approach to the front steps
showcases a magnificent statue of Esther Hobart Morris, who was
quite important in gaining women's suffrage in the territory,
created by sculptor, Avard Fairbanks. The Act to grant women the
right or actually, privilege to vote, had been passed by the First
Territorial Assembly and signed into law by Governor J. A. Campbell
in 1869; making Wyoming the first place in the world that allowed
women to vote. Esther would be appointed as the first woman justice
of the peace in the territory in 1870, and there is a copy of her
statue in the National Statuary Hall in DC.
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