THE CAPITOL OF TEXAS IS A MAJESTIC BUILDING

          Time for a quiz about your state capitol. Did you know

1.      that the Texas State Capitol is 113 years old this year?

2.     that it is, by design and contract, taller than the United States capitol? 308 feet and 4 inches to be exact.

3.     that there are 409 rooms in the building (including 147 wood-partitioned and plaster-partitioned rooms constructed since the building was completed)? Originally there was only one ladies’ bathroom.

4.     that about 30,000 people were there March 2, 1835 when the cornerstone was laid? About double the population of Austin even in 1890, which was 14,575. A great number of people were camped on the encampment grounds outside the city.

5.     that prison labor was used in the building?

6.     that it was built of all Texas materials?

7.      that it took 1,000 men four years to complete the building?

8.     that the state did not own the land upon which the capitol was built?

Now, there in lies an interesting story. When Texas became a republic in 1836 it was required by law to honor Mexican titles to land. Thomas J. Chambers, well versed in Mexican law, was given grants to many acres including what became Capitol Hill in Austin. His rights were disputed until 1858 when the Supreme Court affirmed that Chambers was the owner of at least 25 acres of the capitol grounds. Still, for years the state government chose to ignore his claim.

          Chambers was murdered in 1865, making his two daughters heir to the capitol land. The daughters, Mrs. Stella McGregor and Mrs. Kate Sturgis, both of Galveston, took the mater to court only to find that they could not sue the state without the consent of the Legislature which refused to help the sisters.

          In the 1890s the former Texas governor, Jim Hogg, suggested to the sisters that they build a log cabin on the grounds and move in. Then lawyer Jim Hog would defend the sisters in legal actions brought to oust them from their property. The sisters declined saying that such an action would be “un-lady-like.”

          Years have a way of rolling on. In 1925 lawyer R. E. Cofer met the sisters, examined their papers and found they did, indeed, own the land and all improvements on it. He and other lawyers put the case before the Legislature. “The claim caused much banter and merriment among the legislators. The claimants’ lawyers were greeted with jocular inquires, such as: ‘When are you and your clients going to move into the capitol?’”

          Finally, Senator John Davis from Dallas, told the legislators, “In my judgment as a lawyer, the state has a chance to settle a dangerous claim for a small sum.”   In 1925 the legislators agreed to “buy” the state capitol and its grounds from the sisters. The sum was $20,000 for the building and 25 acres of ground.

          The original cost of the capitol was $4 million paid with  3,000,000 acres of land, the major areas of ten counties in the Texas Panhandle, valued at $1 per acre plus other money—but that’s another story with many more problems.

          Closer to home, if you are a woman who was graduated from Alexander High School, you will be interested to know that March 31 is the date for the annual Alexander Ladies Luncheon. If you want particulars, call Mrs. James Littleton at home 968-2534, at work 968-6011.

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