Giant Chunk Of West Texas Cost Of New Capitol
Thousands of Texans showed up in Austin on May 16, 1888 for the grand opening of the new state capitol paid for with three million acres of West Texas real estate.
Thousands of Texans showed up in Austin on May 16, 1888 for the grand opening of the new state capitol paid for with three million acres of West Texas real estate.
Billowing smoke and the crackling of a raging inferno interrupted Austinites’ lunch on Nov. 9, 1881. Frantic cries of “The capitol is burning!” alerted everybody to the disaster, but breathless diners arrived too late to save the historic landmark.
Flames quickly engulfed the building and in a matter of minutes caused the roof to collapse. By dark the capitol was a smoldering skeleton with only scorched walls still standing.
The blaze was blamed on a careless maintenance worker, who placed a red-hot stovepipe against the plank and paper walls of a storage room. Once the sides of the cramped cubicle ignited, stacks of old books provided plenty of kindling.
The conflagration consumed rare documents and treasured relics. The complete records of the state supreme court were lost as well as prized portraits of immortal Texans and archives dating back to the proud past of Lone Star independence.
Construction of a temporary capitol began immediately at the present intersection of Congress Avenue and 11th Street. Ready for business in 14 months, the modest substitute sheltered officials until the completion of the permanent replacement. Ironically the forgotten temporary capitol also burned to the ground around the turn of the century.
Prior to the 1881 catastrophe, Texans regularly entertained ambitious plans for a new and improved state capitol. As early as November 1875, a proposal was approved to finance the expensive enterprise by selling off a huge chunk of West Texas.
The State of Texas held title to 61 million undistributed acres, mainly in the sparsely settled western region, in addition to 20 million set aside for the educational purposes. With a combined holding of 81 million acres, nearly half of the original Republic’s total land mass, the public eagerly bought the idea of swapping a piddling three million for a first-class government headquarters.
Although future generations would criticize the scheme as a short-sighted giveaway, Texans at the time thought it was a heck of a bargain. Appraised at 50 cents an acre, the Panhandle parcel was worth only a million and half dollars on the open market. In exchange for what was generally considered wasteland, Texas received a capitol that cost a staggering $3,750,000 and was the envy of the nation.
In spite of coast-to-coast publicity, just two builders submitted bids. The winner was an Illinois contractor, who turned a fat profit by selling out to a Chicago syndicate.
The pleased proprietors of the XIT Ranch, the largest cattle spread in all of Texas, were a dry-goods merchant, his congressman brother, another politician and the man who raised Chicago from the ashes of the Windy City’s famous fire. But the glory of the Panhandle ranch was short-lived. By 1900 serious financial setbacks forced the systematic sale of sizable sections, and what was left of the XIT ceased breeding beef in 1912.
Although ground was broken in February 1882, construction of the capitol was postponed for a year. Problems aplenty plagued the project and occasionally halted progress for months at a stretch.
Two years into the endeavor, the superintendent rejected as inferior the initial sample of limestone from a local quarry. After a few years exposure to the elements, he argued, unsightly streaks were certain to appear.
The suggestion that a better grade of limestone could be obtained in Indiana raised Texan hackles. Adorn the Lone Star capitol with a midwestern mineral? Never!
Construction stayed at a standstill under the summer of 1885. A way out of the impasse came from the generous owners of Granite Mountain outside Marble Falls, who donated their rock free of charge. Fifteen thousand carloads of the red granite were required for the building’s beautiful exterior.
The terms of the contract stipulated the state would supply convict labor, a practice in tune with the Texas tradition that inmates should earn their keep. In protest of this “unfair competition,” the granite cutters staged a boycott and stonecutters brought in from Scotland finished the job.
A gala parade preceded the dedication ceremony in May 1888. State senator Temple Houston, the colorful 27 year old son of the San Jacinto hero, eloquently accepted the magnificent edifice on behalf of his fellow Texans.
Touring the imposing structure, citizens were awed by its sheer immensity. The seemingly limitless interior contained 392 rooms, 18 vaults and 404 doors with natural light provided by 924 windows.
The architectural achievement was proudly described as “second in size only to the National Capitol at Washington, D.C. and larger and finer than the German Reichstag or English Parliament buildings.” After all, the people of the greatest state in the Union would settle for nothing less than the biggest and the best.
Bartee Haile welcomes your comments, questions and suggestions at haile@pdq.net or P.O. Box 152, Friendswood, TX 77549. And come on by www.twith.com for a visit!
