North Dakota: A Guide to the Northern Prairie State

by Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of North Dakota

One of the most notable events of recent years was the burning of the old capitol in December 1930. The year following there was talk of capital removal, the most serious contender being the city of Jamestown, 100 miles to the east. In the election of 1932, however, popular vote decided in favor of retaining the site at Bismarck, and on October 8 that year Vice President Charles M. Curtis laid the cornerstone of the new statehouse.

POINTS OF INTEREST

1. The 19 stories of the STATE CAPITOL (open weekdays 9-5; guide), N. end of 6th St., high on Capitol Hill, overlook the city and the broad Missouri valley. The white shaft is an impressive sight even to those who quarrel with the idea of a skyscraper capitol for a prairie State. Designed in 1932 by two North Dakota architects, Joseph Bell de Remer of Grand Forks and William F. Kurke of Fargo, with Holabird and Root of Chicago as associates, its clean hard modern lines are exponent of the fact that, as the architect F. A. Gutheim has said, "Domed pseudo-Renaissance state capitols are sinking low on the Western horizon." North Dakota has followed the example of Nebraska and Louisiana in building what may be a forerunner of a new and distinctive style of State capitols.

The possibility of architectural developments from this building does not, however, deter critics who find it difficult to reconcile the skyscraper with the prairies. The customary objection is that those conditions which are the raison d'etre of the skyscraper—high land values and congestion at transportation centers—are decidedly absent in Bismarck. The justification of the building, therefore, must lie in its expression of the dignity and power of the State government.

Despite criticism, the Capitol has its defenders, who feel the strength and height of the structure to be expressive of its intent. And no matter what the decision may be on the architectural problem, the building at any rate fulfills its utilitarian function: it is one of the most efficiently built government buildings in the country. It provides space for approximately one thousand State and Federal employees. The asymmetrical tower arrangement allows complete separation of the executive and legislative branches of the State, and despite differences of opinion as to the exterior of the building, opinion is general that the interior is both remarkable and beautiful.

The building houses State administrative offices in the tower and the State legislature in the circular three-story wing. The two sections of the structure are joined by Memorial Hall. The outer walls of the entire building are faced with Bedford limestone, and the base is trimmed with a broad ribbon of Rosetta black granite (gabbro), a relatively rare stone of volcanic origin.

A sweeping flight of steps leads to the plaza, above which rise the huge bronze-framed windows of Memorial Hall, topped with symbolic bronze figures representing the Indian, Hunter, Trapper, Farmer, Miner, and the Mothers of the State. These figures, as well as others in the interior of the building, are the work of Edgar Miller of Chicago.

The building can be entered from the plaza or on the ground floor through the porte-cochère. The ground floor corridor is wainscoted in rosy-tan Montana travertine. In the lobby is the custodian's desk where visitors register. From this point tours of the building leave hourly. To the right is the elevator lobby, where the sliding bronze elevator doors depict the Indian, the Hunter, the Cowhand, and other figures symbolic of the development of the State. At the end of the elevator lobby is the capitol café.

Steps ascending from the ground floor in a stairwell of highly polished black Belgian marble lead directly into Memorial Hall, which, although 342 ft. long, 25 ft. wide, and 42 ft. high, appears even more spacious with its 10 tall fluted bronze columns lining either side and catching the sunlight which floods through the tall windows of the facade. The walls are of polished Montana travertine and the floors of gray-white Tennessee marble. From the windows in the facade there is a beautiful view of the city, the winding Missouri, and the hazy blue bluffs beyond.