Oklahoma City is the capital of the State of Oklahoma. The capital building is dignified and non flamboyant. Both the House and the Senate were in session, whe we visited. The chambers were understated. The statue on top of the dome is called The Guardian, a Native American holding a spear looking off into the distance. The state seal incorporates the seals of the five major tribes which made up the Indian Territory before the land rush in the late 1800s.
In 1914 the voters chose Oklahoma City to be the permanent capital, rather than the territorial capital at Guthrie. The governor at the time feared that the citizens of Guthrie would not be agreeable about the move. He sent a courier to the old capital under the darkness of a new moon and threw the state seal into the dirty laundry. Round about Midnight the seal with the laundry left the capital and journeyed to its new home in Oklahoma City.
Above is the interior of the dome. The colors and shape of the interior represent the state flower. Catty corner from the capital is the Oklahoma History Museum. The museum is still a work in progress, just having opened its doors within the past year. Many exhibits are interactive. The picture to the left shows Wiley Post’s airplane with the capital building in the background. There are exhibits on the various celebrities who have called Oklahoma their birthplace.
One of the best galleries features the history of the tribes who inhabited the land pre-Indian Territory days, during the Indian Territory after the deportation of the many tribes from the East Coast, and today.
Tags: famous museums, history museums