Jefferson City, MO

When states decided to design their capitol, it appears they took a few different approaches: design a version very similar to the U.S. Capitol - with dome, columns, and wings; design a version that looked very different than the U.S. Capitol - domeless, columnless, and wingless; or design something that‘s just a little weird. Missouri falls very squarely into the first approach, with the building looking like a mini-me version of its inspiration.

It was completed in 1917 and is the state's sixth capitol building and the third in Jeff City (with the previous two burning to the ground) 

The tour was ok, with nothing memorable to report. The highlight most likely would have been murals in the Senate chamber by Thomas Benton Hart, Missouri’s most famous artist. Unfortunately, they were unviewable as the senate was having new carpeting installed.

The first floor contains the Missouri State Museum which contains exhibits portraying the state's natural and cultural history. Which of course includes an exhibit on Lewis and Clark. The former sailor in me found the large brass model of the battleship the U.S.S. Missouri (BB-63) interesting. It was used for antenna testing by the Navy in the 1940s.

The Capitol grounds contain the requisite statues of Lewis and Clark as the length of the adjacent mighty Mo is dotted with them - if they camped there, crapped there, or fished there (or not) a statue has been erected. There are two other more interesting statues on the river side of the Capitol building:

- Louisiana Purchase Statue is a high-relief bronze sculpture by Karl Bitter, that memorializes the signing of the Louisiana Purchase Treaty on April 30, 1803, by James Monroe, Robert Livingstone, and François Barbé-Marbois. It's a nice touch that in a city named after Thomas Jefferson, a little glory is reserved for those who negotiated the treaty that he gets credited for. Take a look at the photo though: is it just me or do all three faces look the same? 

- The Fountain of the Centaurs precedes the above statue and appears quite playful even though the two centaurs are in a life-and-death struggle with some sort of water creature.

There is also a statue¹ of the city's namesake located in front of the building. It was designed by James Earle Fraser who also sculpted statues of Albert Gallatin and Alexander Hamilton located north and south of the U.S. Treasury Building in Washington, DC. Apparently, he was very good with buckle shoes, knee socks, and cravats.     

Endnotes:

¹ Statue vs. Sculpture: A statue is a type of sculpture. So all statues are also sculptures, but not all sculptures are statues. The subject must be a person or animal to be called a statue. On the other hand, a sculpture can be representational of any scene or object or be entirely abstract.

06.30.2022

* The casual observer can't help but notice that this centaur is actually an ichthyocentaur, which is a subgenre of the centaur with the torso of a human, and the body of a horse containing fish features like fins and webbing.