The Crumbling Capitol Gets a Patch-Up
As legislators prepare for the 1893 session, the barn-like structure in Olympia receives a new roof and a desperately needed expansion.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The interior of the barn-like old capitol building will present an altered appearance to the legislators when they assemble in it on Monday. Secretary Weir has expended the appropriation of $2,000 for strengthening the foundation and repairing the structure in such a manner that the lawmakers will be more comfortably housed. The removal of the state library to the McKenny block has made more room for committee work, and has also made it possible to enlarge the senate chamber, so that a space of about one-third of its former area has been added to its size. A new roof will keep the rain from the heads of the just and unjust senators. Additional chairs and desks have been provided.
“A new roof will keep the rain from the heads of the just and unjust senators.”
The state capitol in Olympia has since evolved into the grand, neoclassical campus seen today, but the late 19th-century struggle to provide basic, functional workspace for the government mirrors the modern, perpetual debates over maintenance and adequacy of civic infrastructure.
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