Statehouse

ohio statehouse, 1861

Why were prisoners from the Ohio Penitentiary used as workers (for the building of the Ohio Statehouse)?

In the 1830s when the Statehouse was started, there were not many people living in Columbus, and certainly not enough to pay for their labor. The State of Ohio would not have had enough money to pay to build the statehouse if they had to pay wages. It was also considered acceptable to make prisoners at the state penitentiary work since the state was paying to house and feed them through their prison terms. The architect and those who oversaw the work of the prisoners were paid for their services.

Where did the stone come from?

The stone came from the quarries located on the west side of Columbus and were brought to the site by laying track from the quarry to the statehouse site. The quarries were owned by Lucas Sullivant, founder of Franklinton and the original founder of the first settlement in Central Ohio, Franklinton. The quarries are still there and are sometimes referred to as the Marble Cliff quarries. More than 100 years later, the quarries were again reopened in the exact spot for stone to be used in the restoration of the Ohio Statehouse in the 20th century. If you look closely at the stones (easiest to see on the front steps of the Statehouse), you can see fossils in the limestone.

Did President Lincoln visit here?

Yes, President Lincoln was at the Statehouse on several occasions. He made a speech on the steps of the east side of the Statehouse. Today there is a plaque on a pillar in the atrium to mark where he stood. After he was assassinated, his body also laid in state in the rotunda of the Statehouse. His body was carried here on a special train and was being taken back to Springfield, Illinois to be buried. Thousands of people from Columbus came to pay their respects.

Why did some people not like the top of the Statehouse?

The Ohio Statehouse is a very early example of what a new state in the Union wanted its major government building to look like. Ohio became a state in 1803. In other states, it was popular to build a large building with a dome (like the United States Capitol). There were several architects who worked on the building, and some of the drawings showed a dome on top of the building. However, the final design is much smaller, and some people have said that it looked like a “cheese box.” However, others, like the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, considered it to be an unusual and very beautiful top to the building.