Portal:Oklahoma/Selected article/18



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 the meeting place of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. It is located along Lincoln Boulevard in Oklahoma City. The present structure includes a dome that was completed during 2002. The building is a National Historic Landmark.

The state capitol campus is famous for its oil wells and remains the only state capitol grounds in the United States with active oil rigs. The capitol building is directly atop the Oklahoma City Oil Field.

Oklahoma's first capitol was originally located in the city of Guthrie. At noon on April 22, 1889 cannons sounded the start of the Oklahoma land run. In only six hours about 10,000 people had settled in what would soon become the capital city. Within only months Guthrie became a modern brick and stone town with municipal water, electricity, a mass transit system and underground parking garages for horses and carriages.

Oklahoma's newly established state government had an election to decide where the capitol should be located. As a result, on June 11, 1910, the state seal was taken from Guthrie and moved south to Oklahoma City, the present site of the state capitol. For several years the capitol offices were housed in the Huckins Hotel in downtown Oklahoma City. (Read more . . . )