Today I visited the Michigan State Capitol.

Here is a better shot of the building itself.

The first Michigan State Capitol building, built in 1847, was considered “an old rattle trap.” In 1871 Governor Henry P. Baldwin challenged Michigan’s Legislature to build a fireproof capitol to house the state’s governmental offices, records, and civil war relics. Finished in 1879 and modeled after the United States Capitol, this building is one of the first post-civil war capitols to feature a lofty cast iron dome. Heralded a great success upon its completion, Michigan’s capitol became the model for statehouses across the nation.