Hidden Treasuresof the State CapitolOur monument to democracy and prairie living. Story by Sheryl Schmeckpeper Photographs by Steve and Bobbi Olson |
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THE SOWER TOSSING SEEDS from atop Nebraska’s Capitol is hard to miss when visiting Lincoln. At almost 20-feet tall, the bronze sculpture is visible for miles around the city.
But the 9 ½ ton sculpture perched on top of the Capitol’s 400-foot
spire does more than throw seeds toward the northwest. He also serves as a lightening
rod.
That’s right. The Sower is prepared
to take the heat if a bolt of fire threatens the state’s seat of government.
While it’s hard to miss the
sculpture balanced on top of 14-foot shocks of wheat, visitors have to look
closely to see some of the Capitol’s other treasures.
For instance, Roxanne Smith, the Capitol’s tourism supervisor, gets down
on her hands and knees on the Rotunda’s floor to show visitors the fossil
in the slab of marble.
“It’s a crinoid” she said, while pointing to the spot that’s
been walked over millions of times without being noticed. Then she invites those
who want to see a crinoid to visit Morrill Hall at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
where the “ancient filter feeder” is part of the inland seas diorama
in the Toren Gallery of Paleozoic Life.
While some people might tire of pointing
out fossils and explaining the significance of the 48 steps (one for each state)
leading to the Capitol’s main entrance, Smith and her crew thrive on sharing
their knowledge with the thousands of visitors who walk the building’s
hallowed halls each year.
And hallowed it seems.
The main floor’s arched hallways,
the inscriptions, murals, mosaics, paintings and domes all contribute to that
building’s cathedral or museum feel.
But while many people “ooh”
and “aah” over the Capitol’s second-floor Rotunda, few people
know that the dome and its chandelier are suspended.
“If the dome had been supported
from the ground floors, it would have been less flexible and would have resisted
the movement of the tower . . . which would have caused cracks in the dome,”
said Jamison Wyatt, one of the Capitol’s youngest tour guides.
On a recent tour, Smith and Wyatt
teamed up to point out some of the “did you know?” details and unusual
features about the building that is somewhere between 76 and 86 years old, depending
on which section is being discussed.
As expected, the tour began with a
history lesson.
In 1919, Nebraska’s leaders
began the process of constructing the state’s third Capitol building.
The first, completed in 1867 – one year after Nebraska claimed its statehood
– lasted only fifteen years. And by the early 1900s, the second Capitol
building had deteriorated and needed to be replaced.
The problem, said Bob Ripley, was
that few people in the state knew how to construct stone and block buildings.
The first two crumbled because they
were not built on solid foundations, and after a couple of years, they started
settling and cracking, he added.
Determined to build a Capitol that
represented Nebraskans’ belief in the strength of the state and its government,
officials created a Capitol Commission to oversee the construction of the new
building, said Ripley, who oversees the staff of 30 entrusted with maintaining
the building’s integrity.
The United States had just won World
War I, which had thrust it into a position of world power. There was a lot of
optimism about what the government could do for the people, Ripley said.
The governor appointed Nebraskan Thomas
Kimball – one of the nation’s most noted architects – to guide
the process. Kimball in turn proposed hosting a competition to find the right
architect and design and further proposed having it judged by three anonymous
non-competing architects, with the members of the Capitol Commission having
the final say.
Kimball knew the competition would
draw interest from renowned architects because Capitols are “big and dazzling,”
Ripley said.
In the end, seven firms were asked
to compete, including Bertram Goodhue, whose “cross within a square”
design topped by the tower caught the judges’ attention.