Visit to Wisconsin State Capitol

Visit to Wisconsin State Capitol by Rashid Fehmi

The long July 4, 2021 weekend was approaching fast and we had still not decided what we were going to do.  Last year was also a long weekend with Friday being the official holiday but it was a holiday eaten up by Covid-19.  Most people had been sent home.  WFH was the new thing. Quarantine was in the air.  Who could have imagined that there will be shortage of toilet paper in the United States of America.  But it happened, people drove miles (Yes some went to Wisconsin)  to find the paper to clean their behinds.  Thankfully, 2021 was different. Vaccination had helped.  We were vaccinated and CDC guidelines were clear and masks were no longer required.  We had been thinking about seeing all the State Capitols in the USA.  It was the perfect opportunity to start doing that.

Madison, Wisconsin is about 210 miles from Rochester, MN, a 3 hour drive.  Initial plan was to leave on Friday after work and be there by evening, check in a hotel and go to the State Capitol on Saturday.  The beauty of a road trip is that you can plan and undo your plan.  That is exactly what we did. Left on Saturday morning.  Idea was to stop somewhere have breakfast and then go on.  Again, change in plan. Ended up driving non-stop to the Capitol. 

Life has been made so easy by navigation apps.  With turn by turn directions it is hard to get lost. If you miss a turn the app recalculates and politely says "re-routing" instead of calling out your stupid mistake. 

We were surprised to see the number of people that were out there walking.  Lines and lines of people enjoying the clear weather, parents pushing the stroller with kids enjoying the nice breeze that was blowing past the stalls that must have been put up the night before.  Looked like as if there was a fair going on.  Saw many people carrying beautiful flower bouquets that they must have bought from local florist who had setup shop under a red Canopy.   No one could imagine that a year back everyone was inside and even if you took the risk of being outside you had to mask up and be six feet apart.  Things looked normal once again.

We drove into a parking ramp parked our car.  While going down noticed the sign.  Take your parking ticket with you.  Good reminder as the pay machines are on the main floor.  Went back to the car picked up the parking ticket and it was time to go and see the Capitol.  The building from outside is a classical dome building designed and constructed under the supervision of George Brown Post, who died before the building was completed.  It took almost 11 years to build this beautiful building that was completed in 1917.  Post died in 1913 leaving his sons to finish his work that costed about $7.5 million.  Today the building alone is insured for over $200 million.  That estimate may even be on the lower side as renovations have costs over $150 million.

Due to Covid-19, even though the building was open to visitors the tours had not yet started.  So we were on our own to tour the building.  The good thing was that the observatory deck was open and we were able to go up the fourth floor and took the stairs up to the deck.  There are two more decks but those are closed to the public.  There is a circular gallery that has many exhibits displaying many historical pictures and artifacts.  You could easily spend hours reading through the information.  Some facts about the building.  This building has the only granite dome in the United States.  The height of the dome from the ground floor is almost 285 feet, when compared to the National Capitol building in Washington it is 3 feet shorter.  Outside of the building is also all granite.  State code does not allow any building to be taller than this building within one mile radius.  Another fun fact; this building had the first automatic voting system installed.  

What was fascinating to me was that the entire building had a pneumatic (driven by pressure) clock system.  This was installed in the Capitol in 1909. The master clock that you see in the picture was housed in the basement of the East Wing and controlled 170 secondary clocks through out the building.  When I peeked through the glass of the master clock I could see four small bellows that would sent a puff of air through wrought iron piping every minute.  The puff of air advanced the hands of each secondary clock keeping standard time throughout the Capitol.  The master clock costed $125 when purchased.  Iron piping was installed through out the Capitol to carry compressed air. The clocks were later painted to match the color of the building.

There are total six floors, basement, ground floor and four additional floors. First floor has the Governors Conference Room. Most of the business is done on the second floor that has the Assembly Chambers, Senate Chambers and the State Supreme Court.  I could only peak through the glass behind the cast iron doors that were locked.  Need a guide to be escorted in these rooms.  The Senate Chambers is decorated with French and Italian marble, walnut furniture and a colorful skylight and seats thirty-three elected senators that enjoy this place for a four year elected term.  While the Assembly Chambers feature New York and Italian marble, Wisconsin oak furniture is enjoyed by ninety nine elected members for two years.  There is a thirty foot sky light.  Finally the Supreme Court room is decorated with German and Italian marble, mahogany furniture and four murals by Albert Herter.  

Looking around one will find beautiful marble all around that makes the building look majestic and beautiful.  This beauty comes from forty-three varieties of stone from all over the world.  At the end of each wing there are murals standing on a star.  The hand rail on the steps are carved out of marble and are unique to the building.  

Tours will start soon.  So check the website and plan your visit so that you can get a guided tour.  For us it was time to say good bye and explore another Sate Capitol.  Counting St. Paul I would say two down and 48 to go.

Feel free to comment and ask questions.