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The Texas State Capitol
Best State House in the U.S.
by BILL O’NEAL, State Historian of Texas
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ALL HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF TEXAS STATE LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES
This proud proclamation was made by the Austin Daily Statesman on Thursday, May 17, 1888. The newspaper enthusiastically reported on the spectacular activities of the previous day — Dedication Day for the magnificent new State Capitol building. The massive red granite structure was crowned by an impressive dome which, with a 14-foot statue of the Goddess of Liberty perched above, soared 311 feet into the air. Not only was the dome the tallest of any state capitol in the United States, it was seven feet taller even than the dome above the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Although the new statehouse still lacked finishing touches, the eager public was permitted to tour the edifice on April 21 — San Jacinto Day — 1888. An entire week, Monday through Saturday, May 14–19, was designated “Dedication Week,” and gala activities were planned for each day. Railroads offered excursion rates to Austin. Although Austin now boasted a population of 14,000, existing rooms in hotels and boarding houses were inadequate for the expected crowds. An “encampment” was laid out on the northwestern outskirts of town (at present-day Camp Mabry), and streetcar and railway lines were extended to the campsite. All preparations proved necessary, because throngs of eager tourists, estimated at 20,000 total, came.
Fireworks lit the sky, the “State Capitol Waltz” was played incessantly and souvenir programs were made available. A primary center of activity was the “Resolute Grounds,” a military drill field north of the new capitol. Grandstands were built, and proceeds from the beer concession exceeded $5,000.
SENTINEL OF ETERNITY: The four-story domed edifice that state senator Temple Houston helped to dedicate on May 18, 1888.
Militia companies were popular throughout Texas at this time. For decades, Texas volunteers had formed local troops to battle Comanche war parties and to march off to the Civil War. The Texas Militia Act of 1879 organized local companies across the state into a brigade with three regiments, along with a separate battalion, all of which comprised the First Division of the Texas Volunteer Guard (T.V.G.). In 1885, the resort town of Lampasas, 65 miles northwest of Austin, staged a statewide encampment of the T.V.G.
The event drew huge crowds, including Gov. John Ireland, and the sham battle was especially popular. The T.V.G. encampment became a popular annual event, staged by various cities around the state.
The 1888 encampment was held in Austin during Dedication Week. As was customary, prizes were offered for the best company performances, various companies sponsored dances, and a sham battle was scheduled. Companies participated from across Texas, along with a few militia troops from out of state. There were three companies from Austin, including the Austin Greys, a crack outfit that acquired new uniforms for the occasion.
In addition to militia activities, the drill field was used for other groups. Texas cowboys staged contests that soon would captivate rodeo fans. The Farmers Alliance of the South, a national farm organization founded in Lampasas County, provided demonstrations, and so did bands and orchestras. America’s first team sport was sweeping the nation, and “base ball” games were played on the drill field.
The greatest attraction that week, though, was the massive State Capitol Building. The building commissioners happily boasted that the Texas State Capitol is “larger and finer than the German Reichstag or English Parliament buildings,” in addition to being bigger than any other state capitol in the United States. The enormous edifice stretched 566.5 feet east to west and 288 feet north to south. The copper roof covered 88,000 square feet. Tourists could visit nearly 400 rooms in the 360,000-square foot structure. There were more than 400 doors and 924 windows. Perhaps most impressive were the big chambers of the House and Senate, the immense rotunda beneath the dome, and the handsome Governor’s Reception Room, popularly known as the “Living Room of Texas.”
GIVE ME LIBERTY: Statue of the Goddess of Liberty on the Capitol grounds prior to installation on top of the rotunda, 1888.
On the morning of Dedication Day, Gov. L.S. “Sul” Ross, State Senator Temple Houston, Attorney General James Stephen Hogg, members of the Capitol Board and of the Capitol Building Commission, and other dignitaries mounted a special platform built in front of the great arched entrance on the north side of the Capitol. A military parade marched up Congress Avenue toward the superb structure, and a crowd of 20,000 closed in on the speaker’s platform.
The principal address came from Temple Houston, the last of eight children born to Sam and Margaret Lea Houston. In 1860, Temple had been the first baby born in the new Governor’s Mansion, which was in view from the speaker’s platform. Temple Houston exhibited his father’s flamboyance and his gift for oratory — along with his love for Texas. “She has a history all her own,” he emphasized, “wild, romantic, heroic.”
He briefly but emphatically recounted the history of Texas, frequently triggering applause and cheers from the audience. Indeed, thousands of copies of this electrifying speech were printed and widely distributed. “Texas stands peerless among the mighty, and her brow is crowned with bewildering magnificence!” he exclaimed. “This building fires the heart and excites the mind of all.”
As Temple Houston closed his address, thunder rumbled amid black clouds approaching from the southwest. Governor Ross offered closing remarks, but he was cut off by a bolt of lightning and a stunning clap of thunder. A sudden — but brief — thunderstorm ended the proceedings with dramatic emphasis. There was a banquet that evening, followed by a Grand Dedication Ball held in the House and Senate chambers and the library in the new capitol. As the Daily Statesman reported, “Never was there another such day.”
The 1888 edifice was Austin’s fourth statehouse. In 1839, when the log cabin village of Austin was platted, a hill at the north end of Congress Avenue was designated for the capitol building. But the first statehouse was built just west of Congress between 8th and 9th Streets. Erected of pine planks from the forest near Bastrop, the structure was 100 feet long, north to south, and about 60 feet wide. There was a “dog-trot” hallway, with the House chamber on the south and the Senate north of the passageway. On the west side of both chambers were committee rooms. A few nearby log buildings housed different government departments. Comanches still raided in the area, and there were two brief invasions of the Republic of Texas by Mexican troops, so an eight-foot stockade fence was erected to protect the capitol complex.
Texas has had four statehouses in Austin, including temporary log buildings and an 1853 Greek Revival building shown after a devastating 1881 fire.
On the site of the destroyed 1881 capitol, the framing of the current dome rises above red granite walls.
Earlier in the century, during the 1850s, the new state of Texas began to receive annual payments from the federal government as part of a $10,000,000 settlement from the Compromise of 1850, along with $7,750,000 in damage claims due to the war with Mexico. Throughout the decade public buildings — including courthouses, a penitentiary in Huntsville and a Greek Revival executive mansion in Austin — were erected in the Lone Star State. One of the first of these public buildings was the “Colonial Capitol.”
Built in 1852-53 at a cost of $150,000, the limestone structure was 140 feet east to west, and 90 feet deep. The basement floor had 12 offices, including the governor’s suite. On the main floor were the House and Senate chambers, as well as the Supreme Court. The third floor had a library, a museum and galleries for the House and Senate chambers. The galleries constantly posed structural problems, while the small dome presented a laughable appearance.
Texas exploded with growth during the 1850s, and expansion continued after the Civil War. With the end of Reconstruction, 90 Texans met in Austin in 1875 to create a new state constitution. One point of agreement was that the 1853 Capitol was too small and unimpressive and should be replaced by a large and majestic building. Although the state didn’t have ample cash, Texas controlled vast public lands. The delegates discussed using from 1 million to 5 million acres for financing, with 3 million acres as the final consensus. The lands were surveyed in 1879, and the next year the Building Commission launched an architectural design competition. The design of Elijah Myers of Detroit was approved in May 1881, whereupon the Building Commission advertised for a contractor.
Meanwhile, on Nov. 9, 1881, the 1853 Capitol was gutted by an accidental fire, which was fed by heavily varnished wood furniture. The site for new construction thus could be cleared, while a temporary statehouse was built across the street from the capitol grounds. Dedicated on Jan. 1, 1883, the stone structure housed executive offices on the ground floor, legislative chambers on the second floor and judicial quarters on the third floor. Later used for Austin High School, this building burned in 1899.
The contracting firm Taylor, Babcock and Company of Chicago, was headed by Abner Taylor, A. C. Babcock, and John V. and Charles B. Farwell. These men formed the Capitol Syndicate, which constructed a magnificent statehouse from 1885 to 1888. During construction the assigned lands were handed over, and with 3 million acres under barbed wire, 150,000 head of cattle, and a western boundary that extended 200 miles down the Texas-New Mexico border, the XIT became the largest ranch of the Old West. It was fitting that the financing of the largest state capitol building of the 19th century produced the West’s biggest cattle ranch.
A construction community was put together on the grounds around the building site. Railroad tracks were extended to the construction site, as red granite from present-day Marble Falls was delivered to Austin. As many as 1,000 laborers worked on the project, including convict contract workers — a cause of public controversy. On Dedication Day in 1888, the sudden thunderstorm that ended the speechmaking also revealed a leaky roof. Other defects were found, and the Capitol Board wouldn’t agree to receive the building until Dec. 6, 1888.
ECHO CHAMBER: The Texas star in the center of the dome is eight feet in diameter and looms 266 feet above the rotunda’s floor.
Nearly a century later, in 1983, the east wing was severely damaged by fire. A major restoration project was launched, followed by a four-story underground expansion to the north that more than doubled the size of the Capitol.
On Dedication Day in 1888, Temple Houston praised and described “the best state house in the United States” — a description that still rings true.
