Although we’ve lived in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for more than a year, we’ve yet to explore many of the sights tourists usually prioritize during a visit to this state capitol.

One that we finally crossed off our list was touring the Capitol building. When we visited the Wyoming State Museum with Brian’s parents earlier this year, there was an area dedicated to the four-year restoration project – concluded in July 2019 – that took place to return this historical building to its former splendor.

Built in 1888 and known as the ‘people’s house,’ the Capitol building now offers free self-guided tours that highlight this public works project. Upon entering, we stopped in the docent’s office where the gentleman working gave us some background materials and directions to begin our tour by watching a video in a room on the western side of the building.

From the video, we learned that the building was last updated in the 1970s and much of that work not only failed to address foundational infrastructure issues, it also concealed many of the historical elements that gave each room in the building its character. The renovations leading up to 2019 were meant to improve safety, restore the character of the facility, and make it more accessible to the public.

If you’d like to see the video about this work, I’ve added it here:

Based on our visit, I would say mission accomplished! I was amazed that we were free to roam about the building, passing by people who were in the middle of their work day. The state legislature was not meeting during our visit so we were also able to enter the Senate and House of Representatives chambers.

We took in the views from the second floor of each chamber. I really enjoyed the stained glass ceilings, marble desk tops, and interesting artwork in each one. Brian enjoyed looking for the names of different legislatures, which were clearly defined at their desks. Outside each chamber, the walls were lined with portrait sets featuring the individuals serving through the years, dating back to the late 1800s.

The central rotunda is quite impressive – we climbed the stairs to the top so we could take in the full scope of each floor as well as the artwork and sculptures in this main area.

Constructed in 1888, the rotunda is surrounded by four niches on the third level. Originally intended to house sculptures, the niches were never filled and sat empty for decades. At the start of the Capitol Square Project, the decision was made to finally fill the niches with sculptures. After an international search, the committee made the unanimous decision to commission the artist Delissalde to create four bronze female allegories for the Capitol.

https://www.wyomingcapitolsquare.com/photo-blog/2019/6/11/rotunda

One element in this space that the video called to our attention was an error in the staircase handrail – one of the spindles is upside down, as you can see in the photo below. The builders claimed this was intentional and that they purposefully wanted to leave an imperfection since nothing could be perfect but god. They may have actually said that – or it might be an excellent and enduring cover story!

We had read about the mural in the Joint Committee Room, which was done by a local artist and depicts many of Wyoming’s top sights, professions, and other hallmarks.

The room is locked when not in use, but we happened to pass one of our state representatives in the hall who asked if we’d like to go in! He kindly took time to unlock the room, tell us a little about his work on the joint committee, and point out some of the mural’s key elements. After a few moments he ran off to a meeting, leaving us to take it in at our leisure – we didn’t stay long, concerned that someone else might come by and wonder what we were doing in there!

We also required help to find the original walls, which are on the garden level. I found the stone wall, which marks the edge of the 1890 expansion, but we couldn’t find the brick walls, which mark the edge of the 1917 expansion.

We came across a very friendly woman vacuuming the floors and asked if she knew where we could find the brick walls. She led us into the legislative offices and opened the doors into what appeared to be a private lunch room for employees. Sure enough, at the back of the room were the brick walls we were seeking! She said we could roam around so we enjoyed walking the old corridor before thanking her and heading on our way.

Another high point of the garden level was seeing the old vaults, which were manufactured in Cincinnati, Ohio. Each one had a unique painting, and the paintings were discovered under layers of old paint during the restoration work! I made sure to pause and enjoy each one – the nature scenes were beautiful.

We concluded our tour by walking the underground corridor from the Capitol building over to the Herschler Building. At the end of the corridor their was an open area with a photography exhibit, statues, and some permanent chess and checker boards.

No one was using them so Brian challenged me to checkers. We had to do a quick Google search to make sure we remembered how to play. It had been a really long time for both of us! Brian was shocked by my successful triple jump of his pieces – that move bought me some street cred and threw him off his game for a minute, but ultimately I was defeated. We’ll have to pull out our chess board at home and give that one a try now as well!

It was a fun few hours touring the Capitol building, learning more about its history and the work that went into its restoration, and discovering some of the hidden elements accessible to visitors today. I’d definitely recommend a visit as part of a day in Cheyenne, along with a visit to the Wyoming State Museum, which is nearby.