It was today, 88 years ago in the early morning hours of December 28, our State Capitol building burned down, taking with it a good portion of our state’s records dated before 1930. The only thing that could somewhat be saved was the ground level floor and pieces of the second floor.
“Many people felt the fire was not a tragedy as much as it was an opportunity to build a new capitol building. The old capitol had become too small and outdated. Many people had called for a new structure that looked to the future, rather than the past, and could better accommodate a modern government with multiple agencies,” the State Historical Society wrote. “However, a new building especially in the years of the Great Depression, would cost a great deal of money and the state was not wealthy. The fire allowed the state to move forward towards a new capitol.”
The cause of the fire is still unknown, but arson was suspected.
