Arkansas State Capitol

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The Capitol Building

The Arkansas State Capitol Building, located in Little Rock, is the seat of government of the state of Arkansas.

The exterior of the Capital is made of limestone, which was quarried in Batesville, Arkansas. Total construction cost was $2.2 million with today’s value of the building being $320 million. The front entrance doors are made of bronze, which are 10 feet (3 metres) tall, four inches (10 cm) thick and were purchased from Tiffany's in New York for $10,000. The cupola is covered in 24 karat gold leaf. The government was formerly located in the Old State House.

The winning design was by architect George R. Mann. Construction took 16 years – from 1899 to 1915. The Capitol was built on the site of the state penitentiary and prisoners helped construct the building. They lived in a dormitory that was left on the Capitol grounds while construction was taking place.

As an interesting sidenote, the Capitol construction site was incorrectly laid-out by the builder, future Governor George Donaghey, due to his failure to use surveying instruments. Instead, he visually lined-up the plot using Fifth Street without recognizing that the street was not aligned on an east-west grid; Fifth Street ran parallel to the Arkansas River course. Therefore, the structure is situated in a north-south manner from end-to-end which does not fit within the grid street pattern of the Little Rock downtown.

[edit] Monuments and memorials

The Arkansas State Capitol grounds has multiple monuments and memorials reflecting various parts of the state's past and present. They include the Monument to Confederate Soldiers, Liberty Bell replica, Bauxite and Granite Boulders, Confederate War Prisoners Memorial, Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Arkansas Medal of Honor Memorial, Memorial Fountain, Monument to Confederate Women, and Little Rock Nine Civil Rights Memorial.