The Ohio Statehouse is the state capitol building and seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio. The Greek Revival building is located on Capitol Square in downtown Columbus. The capitol houses the Ohio General Assembly, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate. It also contains the ceremonial offices of the governor, lieutenant governor, state treasurer, and state auditor. Built between 1839 and 1861, it is one of the oldest working statehouses in the United States. The statehouse grounds include two other buildings, the Judiciary Annex or Senate Building, and the Atrium; the three are collectively referred to as the Ohio Statehouse into the present day. The statehouse's prominent architecture has earned it several landmark designations, including as a National Historic Landmark. The building sees about 500,000 visitors per year.
History
Chillicothe was Ohio's first state capital, from 1803. Due to political fighting among state leaders, the Ohio General Assembly temporarily moved the capital to Zanesville in 1810. Legislation enacted in that year provided for the selection of a new state capital "not more than 40 miles (64 km) from what may be deemed the common center of the state." In 1812, the General Assembly restored Chillicothe as the temporary state capital until the new capitol could be built. State leaders faced ongoing pressure to make the capital city more accessible by moving it closer to the center of the state. In response, the legislature appointed a committee to evaluate potential options for the new capital city. Four prominent Franklinton area land owners proposed a largely empty tract of land across the river from Franklinton. The land owners offered to donate two 10-acre (4.0 ha) parcels of land to the state and proposed spending up to $50,000 to build structures and make other improvements to the area. On February 14, 1812, the General Assembly created a new capital city on the "High Banks opposite Franklinton at the Forks of the Scioto most known as Wolf's Ridge". Approximately a week later, after intense debate, the legislature selected Columbus as the name of the new town. In the following months the new town was surveyed and laid out in rectangular grid. The layout set aside two 10-acre parcels of land, one for a statehouse, at the location of the present day Statehouse, and the other parcel would become the site of the Ohio Penitentiary. Public sale of town lots for the new city began in June 1812. In 1816, the General Assembly met in Columbus for the first time in a brick building on the corner of High and State Streets. The land for the eventual permanent statehouse was planned during the initial platting of the city. 10 acres were selected, and Jarvis Pike was hired to clear the land and enclose it in a stake-and-rider fence. In return, Pike was allowed to grow corn and wheat on the plot for years.
Design and construction
In 1838, Ohio's government announced a competition to select the design for a new Statehouse. This strategy was not unusual at the time, as important public buildings such as the U.S. Capitol had resulted from similar contests. From about fifty entries, three winners were selected: first prize was awarded to Henry Walter of Cincinnati, the second to Martin Thompson of New York, and the third to painter Thomas Cole, also of New York. However, the organizing commission responsible for choosing the winners was unable to agree on a final design for construction. When the cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1839, the commission was still without a final design. Consultation with New York architect Alexander Jackson Davis resulted in a composite design that merged some key features of the three winning entries, but it was rejected as being too expensive. Henry Walter, the first-place winner of the design contest, was chosen to supervise construction of the new capitol and he began working on another composite design that was based largely on the design of third-place winner, Thomas Cole. Cole had a personal friendship with one of the commissioners, a man named William A. Adams who was from Steubenville. Cole's nephew, William Henry Bayless, a Steubenville native, was apprenticed in the office of Alexander Jackson Davis. Work on the building's foundation and lower level had only just begun when the Statehouse project encountered the first of many difficulties. The legislation that made Columbus the official capital city of Ohio was set to expire. While various factions within the government engaged in debate over relocating the capitol to another city, construction of the Statehouse was stopped. Open excavations were refilled with earth, and Capitol Square became open pasture for livestock. The Statehouse remained neglected until February, 1848, when William Russell West and J.O. Sawyer of Cincinnati were appointed architects and general supervisors of the project. By May of that same year construction had resumed. A cholera epidemic began in Columbus, prompting widespread flight to the countryside by residents. Once the epidemic subsided, work on the Statehouse continued, interrupted only by intermissions during the harsh Ohio winters. Comparing plans of the various architects it is apparent that perhaps the most striking change and one that has endured in the finished building, was that West and Sawyer eliminated the rounded dome that all previous designers had suggested for the building, instead replacing it with a low conical roof.
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