apart, and just the stories that go with the artwork. across the way we have will rogers. will was an accounter, a cowboy a good will ambassador to the world. people need to know, will rogers is from oklahoma. around to the left there we have sequoia, a cherokee who developed the cherokee alphabet. just a wonderful story because he was not literal in another language, and came up with whatling wests say is the best way to write down the cherokee language. i really would say, the stories behind the artwork would be one of the most important things for people to get out of their visit. come to the capitol, 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 people's house. it is our grand state capitol it's been operational since 1857. construction began in 1839 it was finally officially completed in 1861. we're standing here in this 151-year-old building in what we refer to as the grand rotunda. the centerpiece of our beautiful capitol building. in fact there were seven different architects on the project throughout the 22 years it took to build. they disagreed on a number of things. however, they all agreed on the same two things, that the building should be massive enough to house old three branches of state government, and that the most beautiful room should be for the people of ohio.

the designers looked to the greeks. it was truly build as a temple of deck crasscy. ohio being a young state. they wanted to proclaim to the rest of the country and 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 cupola on the exterior. we're one of the state houses that does not have a dome on the top, it was truly designed to be a cupola, greeks did not use domes, they used the flat ceiling or flat roof as the cupola. domes on state houses did not become prevalent until post civil war, all of the troops

were marched through washington, d.c., as the dome of the u.s. capitol was being completed. and that was just an awe inspiring image. 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. as you gaze upon that seal, you notice the canal boat. to this day, the seal has changed several times throat the decades, however, the major parts of the seal still exist. as you come down to the floor, the floor has an interesting pattern. there are nearly 5,000 pieces of individually cut pash el. the center of the room is the

most interesting. it's a key to american history as it was when the floor was laid in 1858. the center circle houses 13 individual pieces of cut stone or cutg3u" marble. it's said that those represent the 13 colonies. that last band that binds all those states together represents the u.s. constitution. the state house 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 that it took to complete. the legislature, both the house and senate moved into their chambers in 1857 as did the governor, he moved into the

brand new governor's office, and that first governor to reside in this building was salmon p. chase. he went on to become abraham lincoln's secretary of the treasury. and the chief justice of the u.s. supreme court. i would like to take you inside the governor's office and take a look at this history that resides in the space. our current governor as well. also to abe abe lincoln, let's take a look. >> it was in this room that abraham lincoln came to visit the sitting governor at the time. it was february 13th 1861, it was in this state house sitting across from governor dennisen in this desk behind me. he was delivered a telegram, and lincoln opened the telegram, and had indicated the electoral

college had met and 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, d.c.. he had stopped along the way. and in many cases that same route during his funeral was retraced. abraham lincoln was once again at the state house april 29th, 1865. he did lay in state in the grand rotunda. in that short amount of time, 50,000 people filed past the president's open casket. it was a phenomenal sight to sigh the number of people that came by horse and buggy that day to pay their respects to the slain president.

we have eight of our hearing rooms named after ohio's eight presidents. ohio referred to as the mother of presidents. hear we are standing in the grand hearing room. grant served as president from 1869 to 1877. ohioans loved general grant. he was a hero in all aspects. ohio was part of the union and believed that slavery should not take place. when grant won the victory and the surrender took place in virginia, he was proclaimed the hero. in each of our presidential hearing rooms, we partnered with the historical society and there are artifacts that reside in i a secure case, and many of these artifacts are very interesting. 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 on the william mckinley presidential hearing room. william mckinley another greatk president that came from ohio. and this particular president also served as governor. mckinley was president from 1897 to 1901. and he is one of the four u.s. presidents that was assassinated in office. he was actually in a receiving line in buffalo, new york, at the panamerica 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 ovf 7 or 8 asked the president for his flower and took it off and gave it to her. about four people later was the assassin who shot him at point-blank range. and he actually went onto live for several more days.

but infection had overcome 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. a memorial to this great president and great ohio governor. on the grounds of the ohio state house is a monument dedicated to william mckinley. and it's interesting where it's erected. it's erected at the exact place where it's said he would come to work every day crossing high street. and he'd turn around and wave good-bye to his wife for the day. she was always in the second story window waving good-bye to her husband. and then he of course would come into the state house and go to work. it's a great monument to him, but 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. and he's ushering youth into prosperity. because it was william mckinley that was president during the industrial revolution. and this country became very prosperous. on the other side is an adult woman with a young girl. she 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 ohioans. it was built as a monument to our ideas, our beliefs in democracy but the idea that this is a place where we will house our heritage as ohioans, so the public can come and participate in the process and learn about the history of the state