FUN FACTS about the West Virginia Sate Capitol Building

Every year, I get asked many trivia questions about the West Virginia State Capitol Building...Thats odd right? I mean this blog talks about coal towns in West Virginia. WHY would anyone who photographs coal towns in West Virginia, get questions about the state capitol building in Kanawha County??  Earlier in this blog I quoted my one of my kids after we trekked through hard core coal towns in McDowell, Raleigh and Wyoming Counties. When we made it to Charleston, they said. It glitters, my God, this is a city. AND truth be told, its beautiful. HOWEVER, it would be remiss on my part not to share some NOT SO COMMON trivia about the West Virginia State Capitol Building, are you ready?? 

FYI, Cass Gilbert was the architect. He also designed the Supreme Court Building of the United States. IF you want to know about Cass Gilbert and what he did, check out the Cass Gilbert Society on line at https://www.cassgilbertsociety.org/

COST

On June 20th 1932, what we now know as the WV State Capitol was dedicated to the public. It took 8 years to build and cost (in 1932 dollars), JUST SHY of 10 million. HOWEVER, what is that in todays dollars? In 2022 dollars and adjusted for inflation, it would cost just under $190,960,274.00 

SIZE MATTERS

SO, after doing some raw research, here are a few cool items to know:

• The building itself is 292 feet tall and YES is THE tallest in West Virginia
• It has over 520,000 square feet of floor space
• The Eagle on top of the dome is 5 feet tall
• The chandelier in the main dome inside comes in at 4,000 pounds or 2 tons
• Ground breaking started in January of 1924

IF you want to know more? Check out the Summary of Facts for the WV Capitol Building which is maintained by the West Virginia State Legislature.

West Virginia History...

If you have the craving to know more about our state, start out by having a charming read of the current  West Virginia State Constitution

MORE updates on the way, BUT, enjoy the read