Florida Time: The Old Capitol that dodged a wrecking ball – Daytona Beach News-Journal

Corvaya Jeffries|Palm Beach Post

Readers: In 1848, Florida, a state for only three years, had only about 58,000 residents. Its government was so small an oxymoron today it sought private tenants to fill some of the offices in its new 23,000-square-foot, three-story capitol!

Now, Tallahassee boasts 28 major state buildings and a 22-story capitol tower. Nestled at the towers base, making a stirring site on the approach along Apalachee Parkway, is the Old Capitol. Saved from the wrecking ball when the new building opened in 1978 and restored to its 1902 appearance, it has been turned into a state historic museum that both displays and is part of the states past.

You'll recall from our column in March 2019 how Tallahassee became the seat of government.

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The first statehouse, a log cabin, was replaced in 1826 by a two-story masonry building; it was never finished and its contractor went bankrupt. A state-of-the-art building, begun in 1839 and opened in 1845, the year Florida became a state. The building was extensively damaged in an 1851 hurricane.

At the turn of the century, when Floridas population had grown to about a half million, the capitol now featuring the luxuries of telephones and indoor plumbing was expanded to 44,000 square feet. The dome and north and south wings were added. It still held all of state government. East and west wings were built in 1923nand the north and south wings were expanded in 1936 and 1947.

Then Florida started to grow. At the end of World War II, it was ranked 27th in population. By 1960 it was tenth. In the 1960s, concluding the old edifice couldnt handle more additions, state officials began to build a brand-new capitol. It was dedicated March 1, 1978.

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The old building was scheduled for the wrecking ball. But Florida Secretary of State Bruce Smathers gathered public support to save it. In 1982, the restored Old Capitol opened as a museum. Its now the Florida Historic Capitol Museum and is managed by the Legislature.

The museum brings in two or three temporary exhibits a year, but has several permanent ones.

Visitors can walk through the restored Governors Suite, rotunda, halls and chambers for the Supreme Court, House of Representatives and Senate. Eight second-floor rooms have been filled with exhibits of photographs and artifacts interpreting Floridas history.

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Eliot Kleinberg has been a staff writer for the past three decades at The Palm Beach Post in West Palm Beach, and is the author of 10 books about Florida (www.ekfla.com). Submit your questions, comments or memories to FloridaTime@Gatehousemedia.com. Include your full name and hometown. Sorry; no personal replies.

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Florida Time: The Old Capitol that dodged a wrecking ball - Daytona Beach News-Journal