The Territory of Colorado was created in 1861. In 1876 President Ulysses S. Grant signed a proclamation admitting the State of Colorado to the Union as the 38th state and earning it the moniker the "Centennial State". The capitol building was built in the 1890's.
On the day of my visit the chamber was locked.
Colorado has thirty-five senators who meet 120 days annually. At one time the senate chambers was commonly referred to as the "Cave of the Winds" due to poor acoustics, but that was corrected after 1906 when the ceiling walls were closed over. The Senate Chambers is also home to stained glass portraits that are Colorado's Second Hall of Fame.
The House Chamber was also closed but a kind worker had the key and allowed me a look from the gallery. She also took reservations for a tour of the Observation Gallery just below the dome.
Colorado has sixty-five representatives who meet annually in the largest meeting room in the Capitol. Over the years several changes have been made to the great room, but in essence it is still the same as it was over a century ago. The walls have been covered with soundproof tiles and the original arched skylight was replaced with floodlights that illuminate the room more efficiently. The representatives vote via the red ("no"), green ("yes"), and white ("help") buttons.
Ninety-four steps up a narrow metal staircase reaches the Observation Gallery. This gallery is above the "Hall of Fame" stained glass windows at the top of the rotunda and just below the dome.
Outside balconies exist as part of the gallery but were closed for repair. This picture was taken from the entrance of one of the balconies and is view of a portion of Denver's downtown.
This picture was taken from the gallery and shows two of the sixteen members of the Hall of Fame.
John Evans, the second governor of the Colorado Territory, founded the Illinois Medical Society. Evans also researched the cholera epidemic of 1848 and 1849 which was instrumental in developing congressional quarantine laws to prevent the spread of this disease.
Mrs. Frances Wisebart Jacobs was an ardent supporter of charitable organizations that assisted the poor, aged, hungry, homeless, and sick.
The Colorado capitol has the distinction of being the only state capitol situated exactly one mile above sea level. A brass plaque on the top flight of steps at the west entrance honored this distinction. After vandals stole the plaque for the fouth time, an inscription "ONE MILE ABOVE SEA LEVEL" was made into a stone step. In 1969 engineering students from Colorado State University found that the inscription was not exactly a mile high, and as such a geodetic survey plug has been embedded three steps higher than the original inscription.
This bronze figure of a Union Soldier facing South with gun in hand was built to honor Colorado's Civil War heroes and to promote civic pride. It is the work of Captain John D. Howland, a prominent member of the 1st Colorado Cavalry and accomplished artist. The stone base of this monument is adorned with four tablets that list the battles and the names of the soldiers who died.
The Liberty Bell is one of the bronze bell replicas cast in France for the U.S. Government and presented to each of the states and U.S. territories.
In 1974 the Liberty Bell Replica was placed in the Old State Museum, and later placed on the corner of Sherman and 14th Street. In 1986 the bell was placed in it present location on the Lower Capitol Lawn / Lincoln Park.
Italian Visionary and Great Navigator:
This bold explorer was the first European to set foot on uncharted land on a West Indies beach in 1492. His four voyages brought Europe and the Americas together, forever changing history. A new nation was to rise. A new Democracy was born.
Sculptor: William F. Joseph
Presented to Denver by J.K. Mullen in 1920.
Presented to Denver by Stephen Knight in 1922.
This statue on the east lawn of the capitol depicts a Native American standing over a dying bison. Preston Powers was commissioned to make the bronze sculpture. It was a part of Colorado's exhibit at the 1893 World's Fair Exposition at Chicago and then placed on the Capitol's East Lawn.
