Virginia State Capitol
Virginia State Capitol is a building in Richmond, the city which is the third State Capital of Virginia. It houses the oldest legislative body in the United States, the Virginia General Assembly.
Note: "Capital" denotes the location of the seat of government, while the "Capitol" is a building.
Virginia's State Capitals
During the colonial period prior to the formation of the United States, Virginia's first State Capital was Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown, where the first legislative body, the Virginia House of Burgesses met in 1619.
After a fire at Jamestown in 1698, a group of students at the College of William and Mary proposed that it be moved to a more healthy location on higher ground near their school. In 1699, the State Capital was officially relocated to Middle Plantation, which was soon renamed Williamsburg.
A grand new building, called the Governor's Palace, was built there, and served until the American Revolutionary War broke out, when Governor Thomas Jefferson urged it that the capital be relocated to Richmond in 1780.
Years later, the massive Governor's Palace at Williamsburg was reconstructed and is a major attraction at Colonial Williamsburg.
Designing and building the State Capitol
Thomas Jefferson is credited with the architectural design of the Virginia State Capitol building, which was modeled after the Maison Carree, an ancient Roman temple at Nimes, France. Jefferson had the architect, C.L. Clerisseau substitute Ionic for the more ornate Corinthian column designs of the prototype in Frances. builder The site selected in on a major hilltop overlooking the falls of the James River. The cornerstone was laid on August 18, 1785, with Governor Patrick Henry in attendance. It was sufficiently completed for the General Assembly to meet there in October, 1788.
American Civil War
The building also served as the Capitol of the Confederacy during the American Civil War (1861-1865). The State Capitol Building, the adjacent Virginia Governor's Mansion, and the White House of the Confederacy (about 3 blocks away to the north) were spared when departing Confederate troops were ordered to burn the city's warehouses and factories, and fires spread out of control in April, 1865. U.S. President Abraham Lincoln toured the Capitol building during his visit to Richmond about a week before his assassination in Washington, DC later that month.
1870: Tragedy
After the end of the American Civil War, during the Reconstruction period, Virginia was under military rule for almost 5 years, ending in January, 1870. In the following months, a dispute over leadership of the City of Richmond government led to the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals holding a hearing on April 27, 1870 on the large courtroom second floor of the Virginia State Capitol Building. Several hundred people crowded in. Before the proceedings could begin, the gallery (balcony) gave way and fell to the courtroom floor. This added weight, in addition to the crown already there, caused the entire courtroom floor to give way, falling some 40 feet into the Hall of the House of Delegates. The injured stumbled, crawled, or were carried out onto the Capitol lawn in the mayhem which followed. 62 men were killed and 251 were injured. There were no women believed to have been present when the collapse occurred. The dead included a grandson of Patrick Henry, and 3 members of the General Assembly. Injured included both men contesting the Richmond mayoral position, the Speaker of the House of Delegates, a judge, and ex-governor H.H. Wells.
Rebuilding, expansion, renovation
Despite calls for the building's demolition, the damage from the tragedy in 1870 was repaired.In 1906, two wings not in the original plans were added to the east and west ends of the building. Early in the 21st century, major remodeling and repair work began.
Sources
Dabney, Virginius (1990) Richmond: The Story of a City, University Press of Virginia; Charlottesville