The winding ride through the sun
struck mountains of Pennsylvania brought us to Columbus, Ohio nine long hours
later. That day was the beginning of the last large portion of our trip; we had
visited 36 states and had only 14 left to see, mostly in the western half of
the country. We had grown weary of the relentless winter battering the East Coast
and were thrilled to be back on the road. Spring was coming, and the west was
calling our name.
The first day in Columbus was
brisk, the city still trying to shake off the talons of winter. We woke up
early and cooked breakfast before heading downtown to visit the Capitol. After
battling fierce traffic and circuitous one-way streets in downtown Columbus, we
finally found the entrance to the public parking garage directly below the
Capitol. That is a convenience that we definitely appreciated, and this was the
only Capitol so far whose underground parking has been available to the public
as well as legislators and staff.
We parked and entered the building,
searching for a tour desk and information on the ground floor. We found the map
room, which has a mosaic of all the Ohio counties in six types of marble from
around the world, and discovered that the tours began on the far side of the
room. The guide informed us that a school tour was about to arrive momentarily,
so we decided to take a pamphlet with a map and wander around on our own. First
we climbed the nearest staircase, looking for the rotunda.
One unique feature of Ohio’s Capitol is that it was originally two buildings. The ‘Statehouse’ and the
‘Senate building’ used to be separate, with an open-air porch occupying the
space between them. Before the atrium was built, the space was called “pigeon
run” because of the pigeons that were always perched on the roofs of the two
buildings. Since it has been enclosed, the atrium, with all of its glass and
natural light, is used for any and all large events, groups, or gatherings. This
alteration was the perfect solution for a treacherous outdoor corridor that was
unpleasant and even dangerous to traverse in the winter months. While we were
there, there was some sort of function for the new lawyers in the state, and
the entire room was packed with people in their late twenties wearing suits, so
we slowly worked our way across the atrium and into the rotunda.
This Capitol rotunda was unlike any
other. For one, it was the pinkest rotunda we had seen so far on this trip, and
secondly, you could only view it from the main floor. There was no balcony or
gallery allowing access on the floors above, so the main floor was the only
vantage point. The entire room was a giant cylinder rising up to the dome and
stained glass window above, with tall, narrow stone arches adorning the entire
circumference. On four sides of the room, the arches led to other hallways with
the chambers, governor’s office, and historical exhibits. The floor was a white
and black tile in a circular pattern that almost looked like an optical
illusion.
When we were finished remarking on
the unusual aspects of the rotunda, we moved on the Governor’s Office.
Unfortunately, we were unable to enter without a tour guide (it seemed, in
fact, as if the room might not be accessible to the public at all). To make up
for not allowing access, they kindly placed a photo of the formal reception
room on an easel in the hallway so we could still get an idea of what the room
looked like.
We went upstairs and visited the
Senate Chamber. I was immediately amused by their choice in carpet, which can
only be described as vivid. Somehow after seeing all of the pink in the rest of
the building, I was still surprised. There were other aspects of the room that
were much more tasteful, however. The columns in the rear of the room are
Pennsylvania marble with Corinthian capitals. The chandeliers were gorgeous,
black and gold metal with a gothic design. I really liked them, but they seemed
sort of out of place in this “Greek Revival” chamber. The walls were painted a
tan color that complemented the plentiful carved woodwork around the windows
and doors. The desks were reproductions of the originals and wired with voting
buttons and microphones, but handsome nonetheless. The ceiling had intricate
carvings around the tops of the chandeliers and stained glass skylights
brightening the spaces in between. There used to be balcony seating for the
gallery, but the balcony was removed in the early part of the twentieth century,
so the public seating was moved to the edges of the room on either side of the
Senator’s desks. It was a beautiful chamber, no doubt, but some of the design
choices were certainly a little surprising.
The House Chamber was much larger
to accommodate its 99 members, but otherwise it looks very similar. The balcony
in this room was still intact, however, and it was actually the only way to
gain entry to the chamber. The desks date back to 1909, unlike the
reproductions in the Senate Chamber, but they have been wired for modern voting
technology. Again, I enjoyed the architecture and design of the ceiling, and
the stained glass skylights. Unfortunately, the same carpet and chandelier
choices continued into this room.
After visiting the chambers, we
decided to check out some of the rooms with historical exhibits. One of the
rooms was the George Washington Williams Memorial Room, which honors Ohio’s
first African-American legislator. The room is styled in the 1880s, with
various portraits of other African-American legislators. There was also the
Ladies Gallery, which was a room that pays tribute to first six female
legislators. It also had some displays with information on legislators,
activists, and other people that have contributed to the women’s rights
movement. Although I appreciate exhibits that commemorate members of
disadvantaged groups and the people that worked tirelessly to improve their
position, it always strikes me as being a gesture that could be described as “too
little too late.” It’s all well and good if there is a room in the building
commemorating African American legislators, but since they are still grossly
underrepresented in Ohio, the room doesn’t really do much to actually promote
equality. And furthermore, why did The Ladies’ Gallery have all sorts of
displays describing the many trials they faced and their bravery in fighting
for equal rights, but the George Washington Williams Memorial room did not? The
rooms just seemed like a symbolic gesture to me. Instead of passing legislation
or trying to do things that actually promote equality, did the state government
just put up a couple of historical exhibits and told themselves that they’ve
done enough?
After we finished touring the main
parts of the building, we returned to the ground floor and explored the gift
shop and Capitol museum. We bought a state postcard and key chain, as well as
some locally produced tomato sauce for dinner that night. After making our
purchases, we went to the museum, which we discovered was mostly about the
legislative process. There was also a café that served the employees, but
instead we decided to try a sandwich place across the street that had promising
reviews on Yelp.
We braved the bitter wind and crossed
the street to Market 65, which was a soup/salad/sandwich place. Immediately I
noticed that this must be a popular restaurant, because it was just after the
lunch rush, and the employees seemed as though they had just won a tremendous
battle. The assembly line for the food was a little, eh, chaotic, but the food
itself was pretty good. After eating our meals, we went back over to the
Capitol to take some pictures of the outside before climbing back in our Subaru
and driving to the museum.
The Ohio History Center is a few
miles from downtown Columbus by the police-training academy. It’s a large,
modern building, housing a number of offices as well as the museum on the main
floor. Admission was $10 per person, which is pretty steep for a museum, but
luckily the exhibits did not disappoint us.
The first area was dedicated to the
natural history and geology of Ohio, and included various semi-precious stones
like quartz that are native to the Ohio area. Then there was a room of battle
flags, mostly from the Civil War. As we exited the flag room and rounded the
corner, we came upon an exhibit about the 1950s, which was extremely
interesting.
The first wall showed an info-graphic
with various statistics comparing everyday life from the 1950s to present. For
instance, the median age in America was 30.2 years in 1950 and 37.1 years in
2013; the percentage of women in the workforce was 28.8% in 1950 compared with
58.6% in 2010; and the average household debt was less than $2,000 in 1950 and
a whopping $22,615 in 2012. Some other facts that the display illustrated
included the US population, median household income, and the minimum wage. I
was disappointed that the graphic did not include some other important facts,
like the cost of higher education, percentage of households with only a single
parent, and the average percentage of income spent on consumer products versus
living expenses. On the other hand, it did provide some interesting tidbits,
such as the number of drive-in movie theaters, television sales, and the number
of polio cases in the US. I’m not sure if the display was merely an objective
look at the differences, or if there was some ulterior politic motive, but it
occurred to me that many of the facts presented fall in line with comparisons
that the Republican Party makes from the 1950s to now. Considering Ohio’s
political demographics, it wouldn’t surprise me if there were some correlation.
The next portion of the 1950s
exhibit was extremely cool. Somehow, they managed to accommodate an entire
1950s two-bedroom house. It was stocked with every appliance, product, and trinket
from the time period, down to the vacuum cleaner in the hall closet. I had to
wonder how they found all of this stuff, because there was literally everything
a family would need over the course of their daily life. The sheer scope of the
collection was impressive, and I have to say that it was definitely one of the
most unique exhibits that we have encountered so far.
The rest of the museum focused
primarily on Ohio industry. Like much of the northeast and northern Midwest,
Ohio was a manufacturing hub from the formation of the railroads up until about
the 1960s, when new innovations and outsourced jobs reduced the industrial operations
to a shadow of their former selves. To emphasize the importance of the
railroads in the Ohio economy, the exhibit included one antique train car
inside, and a number of others just outside the huge windows along the exterior
walls. The railroads and canals greatly expedited transportation in the late
1800s and led to the manufacturing boom known today as the Industrial
Revolution. As the western parts of our country were in their infancy, life in
the east transitioned from widespread subsistence to the middle-class merchant
life of factory work and small business. Suddenly, the have-nots were presented
with real opportunity for social mobility, and the wealth gap slowly began to
close. In our history, 1870 to 1970 was the century of greatest innovation and
improvement in the lives of the majority of Americans, and much of it had to do
with the Industrial Revolution.
In Ohio, manufacturing mostly
consisted of furniture, porcelain china, and textiles. One of the more
interesting and unusual companies represented was the Harris & Bros Carriage
Makers, whose height of popularity was undoubtedly in the last few decades of
the 19th century. The small display showed a number of their tools, and
described their history and manufacturing process. Among the items in the rest
of the room, there was an antique fire truck, Edison bulbs, and an area
describing the importance of water and steam power.
The last two rooms were dedicated
to textiles and fine china. In the first, vivid quilts hung from the ceiling
all around the walls of the room, a railing separating the fabrics from the
greasy hands of the museum’s visitors. The second room was more like a hallway
leading to the museum’s lobby, with glass cases in the walls on either side.
The china tea sets in these cases were beautifully painted, and they were so
colorful and ornate that it looked like the kind of thing you would see in a
movie about the American elite. Each one
was certainly more fancy than anything I have ever drunk tea from.
After several hours of exploration
and research, we were definitely ready to relax. It was wonderful to see a
Capitol building that had its own personal style compared to others we have
visited, and the museum was one of the most interesting ones that we had seen
on the trip. Learning more about the 1950s and Ohio’s robust manufacturing
history, provided greater insight into the struggles of today’s world and
economy, as well as the drastic degree of the improvement of everyday life.
The next day, we set off for St.
Louis and Springfield, Illinois, which was the final capital city left for us
to visit east of the Mississippi River. The call from the west was intensifying
with each and every day.
No comments:
Post a Comment