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| Not numbered. | Kanawha County | Visited: September 2, 2019 | Plaque? YES! 🙂 |
| What is it? | It’s the West Virginia State Capitol building! |
| What makes it historical? | THE PLAQUE SAYS: West Virginia’s Capitol first located in Wheeling, 1863; located in Charleston, 1870; again in Wheeling, 1875, and finally in Charleston, 1885. It was located 2 mi. west until destroyed by fire, 1921. Present building was completed in 1932.
OTHER TIDBITS: After a 12-year game of capitol ping-pong, Charleston became the permanent capital of West Virginia by popular vote! Builders added to the old 1870 capitol to create a towering new building in Second Empire style! This building, sadly, burned down on January 3, 1921, and for the next six years, the legislature met in a temporary wood-frame structure called the “pasteboard capitol,” until it, too, burned down on March 2, 1927! During that six-year “pasteboard” period, the state government hired Cass Gilbert, the Ohio architect famous for designing the world’s first skyscraper, the US Treasury and Supreme Court buildings, and the capitols of Minnesota and Arkansas, to build a new one! His final creation—built from 700 train cars of Indiana limestone and topped with a 23 1/2 karat gold leafed dome that’s five feet higher than the US Capitol dome—took eight years to complete for just under $10 million! It was dedicated on West Virginia’s 69th birthday: June 20, 1932! |
| How can I Help the Helpers? | HERE’S HOW:
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| How do I find it? | Listed Directions: Greenbrier St. (WV 114) & Kanawha Blvd. (US 60) 0.2 miles off Exit 99 (Greenbrier St./State Capitol) of I-64/I-77 Annotations: From Charleston: ~0mi (0km) — 0hrs |
| When should I go? | The Capitol buiding is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM until 5:30 PM, and from 12:00 PM unti 5:30 PM on weekends and holidays! |
