Kansas State Capitol

Governor's Ceremonial Office

Toured the Kansas Capitol located at Topeka.  The building was restored a few years ago, and the results are beautiful.   The building is constructed of limestone blocks.

There are five floors.   The capitol building also houses the original Kansas Supreme Court, and has ceremonial offices for the governor to issue proclamations and such.  The secretary of state also has a ceremonial office in the capitol building.

The building also houses offices for the legislators and meeting rooms for legislative committees.

Since the governor was not in the building on the day of our visit (August 27), we got to take over his desk!

Kansas Capitol - House of Representatives

A view of the House chamber, from the visitor's gallery

A view of the dome, from the 5th floor of the state capitol building.

In the 1880s, the political battle between the establishment Republicans and the populists became so intense that each faction elected its own legislature.  One group commandeered the legislative chamber, and the other group broke open the chamber doors with a sledgehammer (shown here).