13-05-2025
Stories behind Wisconsin's four capitol buildings include pigs, destructive fires and Iowa
The ornate, stately Capitol at the center of Madison is one of Wisconsin's most recognizable landmarks, but the four-winged building that hosts lawmakers and visitors today isn't the original.
In fact, Wisconsin had four capitols before and after statehood, including a temporary fifth one in Burlington, Iowa. The current capitol was completed just over a century ago, in 1917.
Here's a timeline of Wisconsin's capitol buildings. Information was gathered from the 1947 Wisconsin Blue Book, interviews with historians, the state Capitol website and the Wisconsin Historical Society:
For just 46 days, legislators met in Belmont to pass the first 42 laws and decide where to place the permanent capitol. Buildings for the territorial legislature were constructed in advance by John Atchison, a land speculator.
Lawmakers accused Henry Dodge, the territorial governor, of repaying a favor to Atchison by choosing Belmont. Dodge argued he was placing it at the center of the territory and pledged to accept whatever choice for the next capital lawmakers came up with.
While the buildings fell into disrepair long after lawmakers left — at one point, they were used as livestock barns — Wisconsin made efforts to restore them over the last century.
Few original elements remain, including a box stove. But the structures kept their historic look, including red roofs, white paint and the square battlement front on the council house.
While the capitol was being built in Madison, lawmakers met in Burlington, Iowa, to conduct their work. At the time, the Wisconsin Territory included present-day Iowa, Minnesota and parts of Illinois and the Dakotas.
James Doty, who lobbied lawmakers to choose Madison, pitched Burlington as a way to get Iowa delegates on board, even though they likely knew the Mississippi River would soon become Wisconsin's western boundary.
Halfway through the legislative session, in December 1837, the two-story building in Burlington burned down. In the meantime, lawmakers met in two other existing buildings.
The building in Burlington "might be classified as a Wisconsin Capitol, (but) this meeting was an interim meeting insofar as Wisconsin was concerned," according to the Blue Book.
Construction on the capitol in Madison began in 1837 but dragged on for years, even after Wisconsin reached statehood in 1848.
When the building wasn't ready in 1838, lawmakers met in the basement of a nearby hotel. In late November, lawmakers met in the cold, unfinished capitol. One member wrote that ink wells froze inside the building.
"It's pretty ugly. People called it Doty's wash basin, because of this copper dome it (had)," said Bethany Brander, the site manager of the First Capitol in Belmont.
Pigs were kept in the capitol basement, and when lawmakers wanted to delay votes on bills, they would rile up the squealing swine to drown out the speaker's voice.
"It sounds like absolute chaos," Brander said.
Soon after the second capitol was completed, the growing state needed more space. Construction on a new building began in 1857, though lawmakers initially planned to expand the existing building.
The east and west wings were built first. The second capitol wasn't wrecked completely until 1863, when the north and south wings were added.
The building was a "structure of architectural beauty and an imposing capitol for a pioneer state," according to the Blue Book.
By 1903, the state again started to outgrow the capitol, and a commission formed to consider next steps.
A year later, a fire destroyed much of the building's interior and many state records, despite the third capitol's state-of-the-art firefighting system. No one died in the fire, but the loss was near $1 million.
Two months before the 1904 fire, lawmakers allowed private insurance for the capitol to lapse. Today, the building is insured for $200 million.
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Work on the current capitol began in 1906, and the building was completed in 1917. Two workers lost their lives during construction, which cost around $7 million. The price per person, based on Wisconsin's population at the time, was only $3.
Wisconsin's capitol dome is the largest dome by volume in the country and the only one built with granite. The state Capitol is only three feet and half an inch shorter than the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
From 1988 to 2002, the capitol underwent a $145 million renovation and restoration project. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2001 and is considered one of the country's most beautiful state capitols.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: The stories behind Wisconsin's four capitols — and a fifth in Iowa
