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| Arizona Capitol Museum |
The copper dome (Arizona has many copper mines) has a statue of Winged Victory, also referred to as the Greek goddess Nike.
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| Winged victory |
The building has four floors with a rotunda in the middle. Originally, the first floor was supposed to be the basement with a grand staircase leading up to the second floor. Now, the chandelier hangs at the second-floor level to illuminate the rotunda.
Interestingly, during construction, both electric lights and gas lights were added. The only power plant in Phoenix at the time was for the electric trolley system. The Capitol used the troll's generator but it only ran during the day. For lights at night, gas was used. So all of the light fixtures had downward-facing electric bulbs and upward-facing gas lights. They have subsequently been refitted to be only electric lights.
The second floor is where the supposed main doors are located. The open out into the air, so they remain locked. Except when maintenance has to clean the bird poop off the outside! The original plan was to make a grand staircase leading up to the doors but the budget fell short.
On the first floor, I visited the Buffalo Soldiers exhibit. The Buffalo Soldiers were the black cavalry troops formed after the American Civil War. They fought in the Arizona territory (among other areas) against the Native Americans. The exhibit ends with a room dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr.
Across the hall is an exhibit dedicated to the USS Arizona, a ship that was sunk during the Bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. The hall has a model of the ship.
A lot of the formal silver from the ship is on display.
A piece of the hull was taken out (the ship is still underwater in Honolulu Harbor) and has wound up at the museum.
The highlight of the second floor is the Iron Rails Connecting the Copper State exhibit. The Arizona Railroad Historical Society is building a large miniature train set representing the whole state. In a nod to history, the set represents Arizona in the 1950s. The train set is still being built. It was supposed to be finished in 2022 but the Covid lockdown slowed the project down. In another nod to history, the budget for the train set is similar to the late 1800s cost to build the entire building, approximately $136,000.
One of the unifying themes of the set is Arizona's 5 Cs. Cattle was first on display. They were raised in the Phoenix area and other environs. Phoenix had one of the largest stockyards owned by a single owner.
Another C is Citrus. With the desert environment, citrus trees grew well, except for the heavy sunshine. The railroad modeler giving a tour of the set said that they painted the trunks of the trees white to reflect the heat away. My use of the word "they" is intentionally ambiguous, since both the Arizonans from a hundred years ago and the railroad modelers both painted their respective tree trunks.
Cotton was another big industry. Egyptian cotton became popular but could not be grown in the wetter climate of the eastern American south, so the industry sprang up here. This might be one part of the display that isn't finished yet.
Just above cotton is the city of Prescott, one of the early territorial capitals. There was some wrangling over where the capital should be, with Tucson and Prescott competing. Eventually, the geographically middle compromise of Phoenix as the capital won the day.
The fourth C is Climate. People came to Arizona for the dry, healthful air. A famous example is Doc Holliday, part of Wyatt Earp's retinue. Holliday had tuberculosis.
The fifth C is not Cactus, though the model railroaders made a joke adding two additional Cs, one being Cactus.
The hall also has signs of various state items, the most fun of which is the state dinosaur, the Sonorasaurus. It's a Sonora lizard!
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| Chandelier |
Interestingly, during construction, both electric lights and gas lights were added. The only power plant in Phoenix at the time was for the electric trolley system. The Capitol used the troll's generator but it only ran during the day. For lights at night, gas was used. So all of the light fixtures had downward-facing electric bulbs and upward-facing gas lights. They have subsequently been refitted to be only electric lights.
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| Light goes in every direction |
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| Inside the copper dome |
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| View from the top |
The second floor is where the supposed main doors are located. The open out into the air, so they remain locked. Except when maintenance has to clean the bird poop off the outside! The original plan was to make a grand staircase leading up to the doors but the budget fell short.
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| Door to nowhere |
On the first floor, I visited the Buffalo Soldiers exhibit. The Buffalo Soldiers were the black cavalry troops formed after the American Civil War. They fought in the Arizona territory (among other areas) against the Native Americans. The exhibit ends with a room dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr.
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| Statue of a Buffalo Soldier |
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| A field uniform |
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| A cavalry coat |
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| A short movie on the soldiers |
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| Civil rights in Arizona |
Across the hall is an exhibit dedicated to the USS Arizona, a ship that was sunk during the Bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. The hall has a model of the ship.
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| USS Arizona |
A lot of the formal silver from the ship is on display.
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| Punch bowl |
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| Other fancy silver |
A piece of the hull was taken out (the ship is still underwater in Honolulu Harbor) and has wound up at the museum.
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| USS Arizona hull |
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| Map of the Pearl Harbor bombing |
The highlight of the second floor is the Iron Rails Connecting the Copper State exhibit. The Arizona Railroad Historical Society is building a large miniature train set representing the whole state. In a nod to history, the set represents Arizona in the 1950s. The train set is still being built. It was supposed to be finished in 2022 but the Covid lockdown slowed the project down. In another nod to history, the budget for the train set is similar to the late 1800s cost to build the entire building, approximately $136,000.
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| Massive train set |
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| A bit of Phoenix |
One of the unifying themes of the set is Arizona's 5 Cs. Cattle was first on display. They were raised in the Phoenix area and other environs. Phoenix had one of the largest stockyards owned by a single owner.
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| Cattle yards in Phoenix |
Another C is Citrus. With the desert environment, citrus trees grew well, except for the heavy sunshine. The railroad modeler giving a tour of the set said that they painted the trunks of the trees white to reflect the heat away. My use of the word "they" is intentionally ambiguous, since both the Arizonans from a hundred years ago and the railroad modelers both painted their respective tree trunks.
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| Arizona citrus |
Cotton was another big industry. Egyptian cotton became popular but could not be grown in the wetter climate of the eastern American south, so the industry sprang up here. This might be one part of the display that isn't finished yet.
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| Cotton |
Just above cotton is the city of Prescott, one of the early territorial capitals. There was some wrangling over where the capital should be, with Tucson and Prescott competing. Eventually, the geographically middle compromise of Phoenix as the capital won the day.
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| Prescott |
The fourth C is Climate. People came to Arizona for the dry, healthful air. A famous example is Doc Holliday, part of Wyatt Earp's retinue. Holliday had tuberculosis.
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| The climate section |
The fifth C is not Cactus, though the model railroaders made a joke adding two additional Cs, one being Cactus.
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| Plenty of that around here |
Nor is fifth C for Canyon, as in the Grand Canyon. The canyon is at the end of the display but that part is still being worked on. A photo is on the outside and the other face of the canyon is on the side of the display. An artist is painting the river on the floor but the paint was still drying when I visited, so I could only get a picture from further away.
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| Grand Canyon |
The fifth C is Copper, a mineral readily available in the area. The guy working on the display said that copper is represented by all the copper wiring that electrifies the system!
Out in the hall is a Lego recreation of the state flag. They had to get custom-colored pieces for the dark blue and the red. The flag is made of 113,998 bricks because that is also how many square miles of land are in Arizona!
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| Arizona flag |
The hall also has signs of various state items, the most fun of which is the state dinosaur, the Sonorasaurus. It's a Sonora lizard!
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| Sonorasaurus |
This survey chain was used in measuring the land back in the territorial days.
A map shows the tribes that inhabited the area before European and Eastern Americans came.
The governor's rooms have portraits and a few items from previous occupants.
Another exhibit details the history of the World War II Japanese Internment Camps that were in Arizona. President Roosevelt signed an order to displace Japanese-Americans on the west coast for fear of where their loyalties lie. The border line ran through Arizona.
The camps involved forced labor, some to support the war effort.
An effort was made to Christianize the Japanese-Americans even though the camps officially allowed freedom of worship. Shinto and Buddhist practices were allowed and thrived to some degree.
The older, first-generation immigrant prisoners often did not know much English and did not do a lot of the official work because of the communication barrier. Some turned to making art to alleviate boredom. Examples of lapel pins are on display, featuring birds carved out of scraps of wood or metal.
Back in the main hall, a display shows various ores that are found in Arizona.
Another exhibit is dedicated to women's suffrage and prominent women from the state.
The third floor has the meeting chambers for the legislative and judicial branches of the government. The house floor is open to visitors. The house chamber is decorated as it was during the Arizona Constitutional Convention, one of the steps the territory had to go through before becoming a state.
The Arizona supreme court room is not very large at all.
The senate chamber is loaned out to civic groups who want to use it for ceremonies. When I visited, the doors were locked for a later event. After visiting the museum, I walked over to the current senate building to get a picture.
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| Survey chain |
A map shows the tribes that inhabited the area before European and Eastern Americans came.
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| Earlier civilizations |
The governor's rooms have portraits and a few items from previous occupants.
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| Portrait gallery |
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| Governor's office sans furniture |
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| Items from popular governor George Hunt |
Another exhibit details the history of the World War II Japanese Internment Camps that were in Arizona. President Roosevelt signed an order to displace Japanese-Americans on the west coast for fear of where their loyalties lie. The border line ran through Arizona.
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| Map of divide |
The camps involved forced labor, some to support the war effort.
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| Enforced labor |
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| Items used in the camp (some made there) |
An effort was made to Christianize the Japanese-Americans even though the camps officially allowed freedom of worship. Shinto and Buddhist practices were allowed and thrived to some degree.
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| Religious practices |
The older, first-generation immigrant prisoners often did not know much English and did not do a lot of the official work because of the communication barrier. Some turned to making art to alleviate boredom. Examples of lapel pins are on display, featuring birds carved out of scraps of wood or metal.
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| Art from the camps |
Back in the main hall, a display shows various ores that are found in Arizona.
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| Natural resources |
Another exhibit is dedicated to women's suffrage and prominent women from the state.
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| Suffrage statue |
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| More stuff from the suffrage era |
The third floor has the meeting chambers for the legislative and judicial branches of the government. The house floor is open to visitors. The house chamber is decorated as it was during the Arizona Constitutional Convention, one of the steps the territory had to go through before becoming a state.
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| House chamber |
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| More of the house chamber |
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| View from the gallery |
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| A sample desk |
The Arizona supreme court room is not very large at all.
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| Supreme court room |
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| Another famous Arizonan! |
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| View from the gallery of the supreme court |
The senate chamber is loaned out to civic groups who want to use it for ceremonies. When I visited, the doors were locked for a later event. After visiting the museum, I walked over to the current senate building to get a picture.
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| Current senate |
On the fourth floor of the museum is a model of the building with a removable roof!
An old-time-style map shows the original trolley routes in Phoenix.
An exhibit talks about the construction of the building. Part of the work was putting the state's seal in the floor of the rotunda. The artists were given a description of the seal and recreated it almost perfectly...they left out the cow that's supposed to be in the bottom right.
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| Model |
An old-time-style map shows the original trolley routes in Phoenix.
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| Metro map! |
An exhibit talks about the construction of the building. Part of the work was putting the state's seal in the floor of the rotunda. The artists were given a description of the seal and recreated it almost perfectly...they left out the cow that's supposed to be in the bottom right.
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| Explanation of the error |
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| The seal in the floor |
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| The proper seal |
"Ditat Deus" means "God Enriches" and is the state motto. It refers to the wealth of resources in the state and is a nice expression of gratitude for such abundance.
The capitol museum is a great place to visit, with a lot of information about the history of Arizona.
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