Mississippi State Capitol

About this property

The Mississippi State Capitol or the “New Capitol,” has been the seat of the state’s government since it succeeded the old Mississippi State House in 1903. Located in the centrally located state capital / capital city of Jackson, in Hinds County, it was designated as a Mississippi Landmark in 1986, and subsequently a National Historic Landmark in 2016. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. After years of public debate, the 35th Governor of Mississippi Andrew Houston Longino (1854–1942, served 1900–1904), who took office in January 1900, soon convinced the members of both chambers of the Mississippi Legislature, that it was finally time to construct a new Capitol in Jackson, and he was appointed chairman of the State House Commission in the following month of February 1900 by the State Legislature. Fourteen architects submitted plans in response to the architectural contest advertised though newspapers in five large prominent cities across the country seeking submissions of bids and proposal drawings. Bernard R. Green, the architect / engineer who designed the Library of Congress's Thomas Jefferson Building in Washington, D.C., was hired as a consultant by the State House Commission of Mississippi to review the submissions; he chose the plans prepared by architect Theodore C. Link (1850–1923), of St. Louis, Missouri. Erected on the former site of the old Mississippi State Penitentiary, the Capitol was completed within 28 months of construction between January 1, 1901, and August 20, 1903, at a cost of $1,093,641. Most fortuitously, rather than issuing bonds as was planned, the cost of the Capitol was paid in full at its 1903 completion after the State of Mississippi was awarded a substantial windfall of one million dollars in a legal lawsuit settlement ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington for back taxes owed by the Illinois Central Railroad of Chicago. The Capitol originally housed all three branches of typical American government - legislative, executive, and judicial. Currently, the Legislative branch is the only full-time serving branch still remaining. The Mississippi Supreme Court met in the New State Capitol for seven decades from 1903 until 1973. The main offices of the Governor of Mississippi are currently residing across the street in the Walter Sillers Building. In 1933–1934, a major repainting program transformed the interior of the Capitol from its original plain white plaster ceilings to a much more colorful and decorative palette. This project, funded by the Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) and overseen by Jackson architect A. Hays Town, included artwork in the domes of the central Rotunda and that of the Senate Chamber.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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