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Utah State Capitol
The huge granite building with a copper dome on the foothills in north Salt Lake City represents Utah to visitors and represents state government to the citizens of Utah.
Utah State Capitol
Jason Olson, Deseret News |
The site of the Utah State Capitol building overlooking the valley was selected by Utah's founding fathers shortly after settling the area. But by federal decree, the state's first Capitol was built in the central Utah town of Fillmore. Before that building was completely finished,however, Salt Lake City was named as the state's capital city.
Early legislators had no money to build a Capitol until the death of railroad magnate E.H. Harriman, whose estate left $798,000 to Utah.
Workers trucked chunks of granite from Little Cottonwood Canyon to the Capitol site, then built up the four-story edifice to its highest point — 285 feet at the top of its copper dome. The grey and white marble inside the building comes from Georgia. The marble columns are the longest solid marble in the United States.
The Capitol was finished in 1916, more than three years after construction started.
The Capitol is open year-round from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tours are given every half-hour from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday.
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