will rogers. will was an actor, a cowboy, a humorist. goodwill ambassador to the world. people know need to know will rogers is from oklahoma. around to the left there we have se coy ya. a char key who developed the cherokee alphabet. and just a wonderful story. because he was not literate in another language. and came up with what linguist say is probably the best way to write down the cherokee language. but i really would say the stories behind the art work would be one of the most important things for people to get out of their visit. come to the capitol. come to the oklahoma state capitol and see this beautiful building. hear the stories. see what's going on in the

capitol. welcome to the ohio state house. we often refer to it as the peoples how. our grand state capitol. and it's has been operational since 1857. construction began in 1839 and it was finally officially completed in 1861. so we're standing here in the 151 year-old building. in the grand rotunda. the center piece of the beautiful building. in fact there were seven different arkt tects on the project for 22 years it took to build. they disagreed on a number of things. however they all agreesed on essentially the same two thinged. the building should be massive enough to house all three branchs of the government. and the most beautiful room should be for the people of ohio. the designers actually looked to the greeks. this is done in greek revival

architecture. it was truly billed as a temple of dmob si. ohio being a very young state. they wanted to proclaim to the rest of the country and the rest of the world for that matter, that we were going to be politically important and we believed in the democratic ideals that the greeks essentially began. so it was finally completed just at the beginning of the american civil war. so it's done with a coupe la on the exterior. we're one of the a handful of state houses that does not have a dome on the top. it was truly designed to be a cup la. greeks did not use domes. they used the flat ceiling or the flat roof. as the coupe la. domes on state houses did not become prevalent because of post civil war. because the troops were marched

through the washington. that was just in awe spiring image. so many architects from the west further west they used that dome idea to design those state houses. 120 feet above our heads is a stain glass seal of ohio as it was in 1861. and as you gaze upon that seal, you notice the canal boat. because ohio was a big part of the eerie canal system. to this day the seal has changed several times throughout the decades. however, the major parts of the seal still exist with the hills. and the sunrise. but as you come down to the floor the floor has a very interesting pattern. there are nearly 5,000 pieces of individually cut marble. but the center of the room is the most interesting. it's said it's a key to american history as it was when the floor

was laid in about 1858. the center circle houses 13 individual pieces of cut stone. or cut marble. and it's said those represent the 13 original colonies. and then around that are 32 points to the star burst because there were 32 states in the union when the floor was laid. and that last band that binds all states together represents the u.s. constitution. the state house actually opened for business in 1857. the ground floor first floor and most of the building was completed minus the center of the state house. as the height grew so did the time it took to complete. so the legislature both the house and the senate actually moved into their chambers in 1857. as did the governor. he moved into the brand new governors office and that first governor to reside in the

building was sam p chase. governor chase went onto become ab ra ham lincolns secretary of treasury. and later became the chief justice of the u.s. supreme court. i'd like to take you inside the governors office and take a look at the history that resides in this space. not only connected to some of ohio's historic governors and our current governor as well. but also to lincoln. so let's take a look. it was in this room that ab lincoln came to visit the sitting governor at the time. governor den son. it was february 13, 1861. sitting across from the governor at this very desk behind me. it was in in room that he was delivered a telegram. and lincoln opened the telegram and it indicated that the electoral college had met, and had ratified the voice of the people. so he was truly the

president-elect of the united states. the oath of office used to be taken in march. so lincoln was on his way from springfield illinois to washington dc. and he had stopped along the way. and in many cases that same route during his funeral was retraced. so lincoln was once again here at the ohio state house when his funeral train came to columbus. on april 29th, 1865. lincoln did lay in state in the grand rotunda for 6 and a half hours. and just in that short amount of time, 50,000 people filed passed the president's open casket. it was a phenomenal site to see the numbers of people that came by horse and buggy in that day to pay respects to the slain president. throughout the state house we have eight of the hearing rooms named after ohio's eight presidents. ohio sometimes referred to as

the mother of presidents. here we are standing in the grant hearing room. grant served as president from 1869 to 1877. ohioens loved general grant. he was a hero in all aspects. of course ohio was part of the union. and really believed that slavery should not take place. and when grant won the victory and the ser render took place in virginia, he was proclaimed a hero. in each of our presidential hearing rooms we partnered with the ohio historical society. there are art facts that are associated with each of the presidents that reside in the secure case. and many of the artifacts are very interesting. for example here in the grant hearing room, we have a cigar. that was smoked by president grant. and it's on display for the public to see. now we're standing in the william mckinly presidential

hearing room. this is on the ohio house of representatives side. and william mckinly another great president that came from ohio. and this particular president also served as governor. he was president from 1897 to 1901. he is one of the four u.s. presidents that was assassinated in office. he was in a receiving line in buffalo, new york at the pan american exposition. he oftentimes wore a red carnation on his lapel. while working as governor. and again as the president. it said that a little girl about the age of 7 or 8 asked the if the for his flower. he took it off and gave it to her. about four people later was the assassin who shot him at point-blank range. he went onto live for several days. but infection had over come the wound. and he died shortly thereafter.

so when the legislature here in ohio found out about his death, they immediately began crafting a bill creating the red carnation as the state flower. and it's a memorial to this great president and great ohio governor. on the grounds of ohio state house is a monument dedicated to william mckinly. it's interesting where it's erected. it's erected at the exact place where it's said that he would come to work every day crossing high street. he'd turn around and wave good-bye to his wife for the day. always in the second story window waves good-bye to her husband. and of course would come into the state house and go to work. it's a great monument to him. oftentimes we don't take a look at the other two components of the monument. on one side of the monument is an adult male with a young boy. and he represents prosperity.

he's ushering youth into prosperity. because it was william mckinly that was president during the industrial revolution. and this country became very prosperous. on the other side of the monument is an adult woman with a young girl. she was represents peace and she's ushering youth into peace. so we're very proud of that monument. it's in a grand location for all ohioens and all of the country to enjoy. this building is seen as a tribute to the people of ohio because of the fact that it was built as a monument. to not only our ideas, our believes in democracy. but the idea this is a place we'll house our heritage as ohio. the public can come and participate in the process and learn about the history of the state as well as the future of the