Oklahoma City, the capital of Oklahoma

Guthrie, the first capital

The Organic Act of May 2, 1890, created Oklahoma Territory, with its capital at Guthrie, and when Oklahoma became a state in 1907 Guthrie remained the seat of government. The Enabling Act that admitted the state even included a clause keeping the capital there. But Oklahoma City had long been its rival.

The 1910 vote

On June 11, 1910, Oklahomans voted in a statewide election on the location of the capital, and a majority chose Oklahoma City. Governor Charles N. Haskell had the state seal taken there and set up the seat of government in the Lee-Huckins Hotel, a move Guthrie disputed.

The fight went to court. On November 15, 1910, the Oklahoma Supreme Court voided the election on technical grounds. The Legislature, meeting in special session in Oklahoma City, answered with a law of December 29, 1910, placing the capital there. Then, on May 29, 1911, in Coyle v. Smith, the US Supreme Court held that the Enabling Act’s clause tying the capital to Guthrie was unconstitutional, because Congress could not dictate where a state put its capital. In November 1912 voters rejected an initiative, State Question 40, to return the capital to Guthrie.

Building the Capitol

Ground was broken for the Capitol on July 20, 1914, and the cornerstone was laid on Statehood Day, November 16, 1915. Designed by the Oklahoma City firm of Layton and Smith and built by James Stewart and Company, the building was declared finished on June 30, 1917, ahead of its contract deadline.

It was finished without a dome. The dome in the original plans had been dropped in October 1914 to save money, and the Capitol went without one for 85 years. A $20.8 million dome was finally begun in 2001 and dedicated in November 2002. On top of it stands The Guardian, a sculpture of an American Indian figure by the artist and state senator Enoch Kelly Haney, set in place on June 8, 2002, the first American Indian sculpture on a state capitol dome.

Oil and energy

For decades oil wells pumped on the Capitol grounds. State Capitol Well No. 1, nicknamed Petunia, was completed in 1942 and not plugged until 1986. In 1990 the Capitol became the first state capitol to heat and cool itself with geothermal energy. It is also one of only two state capitols, with Illinois’s, on historic Route 66.

Visiting

Free guided and self-guided tours are run through the Oklahoma Arts Council. The Capitol stands at 2300 North Lincoln Boulevard in Oklahoma City. See the Arts Council’s tour page for times.