Oklahoma State Capitol

1.2 Move to Oklahoma City and construction (19101917)

The Oklahoma State Capitol is the house of government of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the building that houses the Oklahoma Legislature and executive
branch oces. It is located along Lincoln Boulevard in
Oklahoma City. The present structure includes a dome
completed in 2002. The building is a National Historic
Landmark.

State government ocials let voters decide on whether or

not to move the capital to Oklahoma City. On June 11,
1910, the state seal was taken from Guthrie and moved
south to Oklahoma City, where the Oklahoma State Capitol is located today. Lee Cruce, the second Governor of
Oklahoma commissioned the architectural construction
of the present day structure. Prior to its construction,
state government oces were housed in the Huckins Hotel in downtown Oklahoma City.[4]

Oklahomas rst capital was Guthrie, Oklahoma, but it

moved to Oklahoma City in 1910. Construction began
on the Oklahoma State Capitol in 1914 and was completed in 1917. Originally, it housed the judicial branch
of Oklahoma, but the states high courts moved to the
Oklahoma Judicial Center in 2011.
Construction on the Oklahoma State Capitol began af[5]
The state capitol complex is the only state capitol grounds ter a groundbreaking ceremony on July 20, 1914. The
[5]
building
was
completed
on
June
30,
1917.
in the United States with active oil rigs.

1.3 Expansion and change (1998-present)

1
1.1

History

In 1998, state legislators and the governor enacted legislation to create the Oklahoma Centennial Act, which
formed the Oklahoma Capitol Complex and Centennial Commemoration Commission.[5] The commission
worked to fund a dome for the Oklahoma State Capitol and construction of the dome began in 2001 and
was completed in 2002. It included a 22 feet (6.7 m)
bronze sculpture called The Guardian.[5] During exterior restoration work in 2014, engineers discovered signicant cracks in the precast panels that comprise the
dome.[6]

Early capital of Guthrie (18891910)

Oklahomas territorial capital and rst state capital was

located in the city of Guthrie.[2] The settlement of the rst
state capital began at noon on April 22, 1889, when cannons sounded the start of the Oklahoma land run.[3] The
town was designated as the territorial capital in 1890.[2]

In 2006, plans were made to move the judicial branch

into the old Oklahoma Historical Society building, as the
agency was moving into the Oklahoma History Center.[5]
The court oces moved to the new Oklahoma Judicial
Center in 2011.[7]

1.4 Monument controversy

In 2009, Oklahoma State Representative Mike Ritze
sponsored a bill to have a monument to the Ten Commandments installed at the capitol. His family supplied
$10,000 to fund the monument, which was installed in
2012.[8] The following year, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued Oklahoma over the placement
of this religious monument on public property.[9] Later,
the New York-based Satanic Temple, citing the governments constitutional obligation to not endorse any particular religion, announced they would apply to have a
privately funded statue honoring Baphomet on the capi-

Entrance to Oklahoma State Capitol (1972 photograph)

5 SEE ALSO

tol grounds.[10] A vandal destroyed the Ten Commandments monument in 2014 and plans for the Baphomet
statue were put on hold as the Satanic Temple did not
want their statue to stand alone at the capitol.[11] The
Oklahoma Supreme Court declared all religious displays
illegal at the capitol and the statue was erected elsewhere
in Detroit.[12] The statue may be moved to Arkansas if a
Ten Commandments monument is erected there.[13]

3 Interior
The west wing of the Capitol houses the Oklahoma House
of Representatives chamber and oces. The east wing
houses the Oklahoma Senate chamber and oces. The
ceremonial oce of the governor is located on the second oor. Elected state ocials such as the state auditor
and inspector, state treasurer, and state attorney general
have oces on the rst oor. The building also contains
a museum, a cafeteria, and a barber shop.

Exterior and Capitol complex

3.1 Art
Chickasaw artist Mike Larsens mural Flight of Spirit,
honoring the Five Moons, notable 20th-century Native
American ballerinas from Oklahoma is on display in
the Capitol rotunda. Several large paintings by Wayne
Cooper are on display in the building. Many of them depict the early heritage and oil history of the state. Seminole artist Enoch Kelly Haney's painting The Earth and
I are One is on display on the rst oor of the building.

The north faade of the Capitol building.

See also: Oklahoma History Center

The Oklahoma State Capitol, located at 2300 North Lincoln Boulevard, Oklahoma City is composed primarily
of white limestone and Oklahoma pink granite.[14] However, the buildings dome is made of steel-reinforced concrete and reinforced plaster casts.[15]
The state capitol complex is famous for its oil wells and
remains the only state capitol grounds in the United States
with active oil rigs.[16] The capitol building is directly atop
the Oklahoma City Oil Field.
The state capitol building and the surrounding government buildings, non-government agencies, museums, libraries, and tree lined streets and boulevards form the
Oklahoma State Capitol Complex[17] or Capitol Campus.
The complex includes the State Capitol Park, the Oklahoma History Center, the Oklahoma Judicial Center, and
the Oklahoma Governors Mansion. The 14,000-squarefoot (1,300 m2 ) mansion has a limestone exterior to complement the Oklahoma State Capitols exterior. The surrounding neighborhood is home to numerous restaurants
and bars.
The Oklahoma History Center opened in 2005 and is operated by the Oklahoma Historical Society. It preserves
the history of Oklahoma from prehistoric Native American tribes to the present day.

The Senate lobby includes a 6 by 10 feet (1.8 m 3.0

m) oil-on-canvas painting of the Ceremonial Transfer
of the Louisiana Purchase in New Orleans - 1803 by
Mike Wimmer. The Senate Lounge displays a watercolor painting entitled Community of Boling Springs
by Sonya Terpening.[18]

4 Gallery
Oklahoma State Capitol Facade
Oil Rig at Oklahoma Capitol
Oklahoma Capitol West Facade
Meeting Place Monument/Flag Plaza at Oklahoma
Capitol

5 See also
List of state capitols in the United States
List of National Historic Landmarks in Oklahoma
List of tallest buildings in Oklahoma City
History of Oklahoma
History of Oklahoma City
Government of Oklahoma

External links
Oklahoma State website

[15] Introduction. Oklahoma State Capitol Dome. Retrieved

May 3, 2010.
[16] "State Capitol, Oklahoma County Website (accessed
May 3, 2010)

Voices of Oklahoma interview with Charles Ford.

First person interview conducted on August 03, [17] Oklahoma State Capitol Complex Maps. Oklahoma
Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2015-03-13.
2010 with Charles Ford talking about the historical signicance of the Senate Collection at the
[18] Senate Artwork. Oklahoma Senate. Retrieved 2015Oklahoma State Capitol. Original audio and tran03-13.
script archived with Voices of Oklahoma oral his[19] Oklahoma Capitol Building. C-SPAN. April 12, 2012.
tory project.
Retrieved March 14, 2013.

References

[1] "Oklahoma County, National Register of Historic Places

[2] Wilson, Linda D. Guthrie. Encyclopedia of Oklahoma
History and Culture (Oklahoma Historical Society). Retrieved 2015-03-13.
[3] Hoig, Stan. Land Run of 1889. Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture (Oklahoma Historical Society).
Retrieved 2015-03-13.
[4] Our History. Guthrie Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 2015-03-13.
[5] Savage, Cynthia. Oklahoma Capitol. Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Retrieved 2015-03-13.
[6] Green, Rick (23 December 2014). Oklahomas 12-yearold Capitol Dome is signicantly cracked. The Oklahoman. Retrieved 2015-03-13.
[7] Hoberock, Barbara (31 July 2011). Oklahoma high
courts move out of Capitol into Judicial Center. Tulsa
World. Retrieved 2015-03-13.
[8] McNutt, Michael (15 November 2012). Ten Commandments monument is installed at Oklahoma state Capitol.
The Oklahoman. Retrieved 2015-03-13.
[9] ACLU Challenges Oklahoma State Capitol Ten Commandments Monument (Press release). American Civil
Liberties Union. 13 August 2013. Retrieved 2015-03-13.
[10] Burke, Daniel (9 December 2013). Satanists want statue
next to 10 Commandments. CNN. Retrieved 2015-0313.
[11] Evans, Sophie Jane (24 October 2014). Oklahoma driver
taken to mental facility for evaluation after 'smashing his
car into Ten Commandments monument because Satan
told him to do it'". Daily Mail (London). Retrieved 201503-13.
[12] Protesters: Don't turn Detroit over to Satanists
[13] Satanic Temple unveils controversial Baphomet sculpture
to cheers of 'Hail Satan'
[14] Oklahoma State Capitol Art Collection. Oklahoma Arts
Council. Retrieved 2013-03-13.

8 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

8.1

Text

Oklahoma State Capitol Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_State_Capitol?oldid=674512090 Contributors: Mav, Decumanus, Bobblewik, M00dimus, TommyBoy, Woohookitty, Kbdank71, Rjwilmsi, Rogerd, Ichabod, Tyoda, JdforresterBot, Bgwhite,
TexasAndroid, Rt66lt, RussBot, Gaius Cornelius, Gadget850, Meegs, DFulbright, SmackBot, YellowMonkey, Gilliam, Hmains, Roygene,
Chris the speller, Dual Freq, D-Rock, Muboshgu, Smallbones, Bigturtle, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, SuperNova, Mattson, Yassie, Wamills,
Billy Hathorn, NickW557, Cumulus Clouds, Cydebot, Odie5533, Ebyabe, Rougher07, Philippe, McGhiever, Sirkan, RBBrittain, Jllm06,
Just H, IvoShandor, CommonsDelinker, Native Boy, Tulsa2185, Vanrechem, Philip Trueman, GimmeBot, Goldnpuppy, AMbot, Kumioko
(renamed), Scee0912, Xnatedawgx, ClueBot, Parkwells, CPacker, Okiefromokla, Addbot, Proxima Centauri, Lightbot, MarquetteGoldenEagles, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Xqbot, Dcheagle, Full-date unlinking bot, Fsb-aeOKC, NameIsRon, WikitanvirBot, Immunize, Okiebradshaw,
EleferenBot, Babymestizo, ClueBot NG, Lmhyde, John from Idegon, Okheric and Anonymous: 46

8.2

Images

File:Entrance_to_OK_State_Capitol_(1972).jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Entrance_to_OK_

State_Capitol_%281972%29.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Billy Hathorn
File:Flag_of_Oklahoma.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Flag_of_Oklahoma.svg License: Public
domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Nuvola_apps_kaboodle.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Nuvola_apps_kaboodle.svg License:
LGPL Contributors: http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/gnome-themes-extras/0.9/gnome-themes-extras-0.9.0.tar.gz Original
artist: David Vignoni / ICON KING
File:Oklahoma_State_Capitol.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Oklahoma_State_Capitol.jpg License: CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Caleb Long
File:Oklahoma_State_Capitol_-_Dome_(2522081817).jpg
Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/
Oklahoma_State_Capitol_-_Dome_%282522081817%29.jpg License: CC BY 2.0 Contributors: Oklahoma State Capitol - Dome Original
artist: Serge Melki from Indianapolis, USA
File:Oklahoma_State_Capitol_April_3,_2007.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Oklahoma_State_
Capitol_April_3%2C_2007.jpg License: CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 Contributors: Own work (self-taken) Original artist: Caleb Long

8.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0