From 1830 to 1910, that building was home for the General Assembly. But by the time a new century dawned, a new building was needed. Fortunately, the state received a sizable amount of money from the federal government in payment for some Civil War damages long before, and those funds, combined with a legislative appropriation, allowed for construction of a new capitol. The total cost was some $l.8 million.

The new capitol remains today one of the most beautiful in the nation. Built mostly with hand tools, its marble halls still symbolize for Kentuckians the majesty of the law and of the state, as well as the fact that it is the people's house, a place where all Kentuckians meet as equals.

A regal and handsome structure, the capitol has a strong sense of balance, of scale, of stability. It is a place full of history. The pediment high outside shows a figure, Kentucky, surrounded by Progress, History, Plenty, Law, Art, and Labor. Below in the rotunda inside, major figures of the past are represented with statues. There stand Ephraim McDowell, medical pioneer, Henry Clay, the preserver of the Union, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, the natives who led different causes in the Civil War, and Alben Barkley, vice president of the United States and Senate majority leader.

The present, new capitol, the Old State Capitol, the two destroyed by fire-- all of them were more than structures, more than buildings. In the halls of all of them, history was made. The decisions affecting the future of the state were debated and discussed, not always quietly or rationally. During the Civil War, Confederates briefly captured the capitol, the only Union capitol seized by southern forces. Another disruption of government took place in 1900, when William Goebel was assassinated in front of the Old Capitol, in the midst of a disputed governor's race. For a time, a portion of the legislature met elsewhere, due to the uncertain conditions in Frankfort. Floods similarly disrupted governmental operations on occasion.

Yet through all that, the General Assembly met and shaped the state's future. In the halls of the legislature, presidential candidates Henry Clay and John C. Breckinridge made their first impressions and learned the arts of statesmanship. Vice President Richard M. Johnson and U.S. Supreme Court justices, from Robert Trimble of the 19th Century to Stanley Reed of the 20th, all served as legislators. Since World War II nearly forty percent of our governors have had previous experience in the General Assembly.

It was in the halls of the current capitol where women's rights leader Madeline McDowell Breckinridge successfully pled for the vote for women. Visitors and legislators alike can still stand in the House chamber where the first woman legislator, Mary Elliott Flanery, took her oath in 1922. Fourteen years later, the first black legislator, Charles W. Anderson, Jr., took his seat. Across the years, the General Assembly has changed in its make-up, whether due to party, occupation, gender, race, or religion. Yet in the core of its being, many things have not changed.

Legislators have always had to balance their local constituents' needs with the state's overall needs. They have had to balance funding wishes with budgetary realities. They have had to balance individual rights with community ones. All these balances are part of every session. Each legislature and each of its members also has to make sacrifices to serve. Over the years, election to the General assembly meant time away from home and family. In earlier times, transportation difficulties made the distances even greater. Yet, across the years, people have served and have crafted the laws that govern their fellow Kentuckians.

Those members of the General Assembly and those who simply visit can look out and see an oil painting on one wall of the capitol. It shows the explorer Daniel Boone first viewing the "beautiful level" of Kentucky. He saw a land of promise, a land with a rich future. That vision still drives the actions of present-day senators and representatives of Kentucky.

House Speaker Jody Richards of Bowling Green, right, discusses a legislative issue with Rep. Jack Coleman of Burgin.

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