Field Trip: Oregon State Capitol

On Thursday, March 24th, we did a home school field trip to Salem, OR.  

Our first visit for the day was the Oregon State Capitol.  I had printed out "passports" where the kids would have them stamped each place we toured.  At the end, they could turn them in for a chance to win a prize.  It was designed for all the kids on spring break so it worked out perfect for us!

Behind us, you see exhibits where you can learn about the legislative process, key legislative acts, and Oregon history.

It also has a rock and mineral collection displaying Oregon sunstones, our state gem, and thunder eggs, our state rock, as well as a number of rocks and minerals collected from throughout the state.

In Nevada, we lived close to our state capital and here in Nevada, we are lucky to live close as well.  I think it is very educational and important for kids to see the place where government happens.

Oregon State Seal.

During the first half of the 19th century, Oregon was claimed by many countries.  American, French-Canadian, and British settlers in the Willamette Valley began holding assemblies to debate property rights in the absence of a legal system.  A vote during one of those meetings in 1843 created a provisional government, the seal of which can be seen here.

Oregon became an official territory of the US in 1848 and this seal was adopted a year later.  The beaver was a nod to the past influence of the fur trade and the sailing ship a reference to commerce.  The Latin motto means, "She flies with her own wings."  Oregon would not become a state until 1859.

The murals on the wall were very neat!

The Rotunda Murals were painted as a part of the 1930's Federal Art Project.  Each depicts an event in the Euro-American settlement of Oregon:  Captain Robert Gray arriving at the Columbia River in 1792, Lewis and Clark arriving at Celilo Falls in 1805, the first white women to arrive welcomed by Dr. John McLoughlin in 1836, and the first wagon train arriving in 1843.  The imagined and stylized scenes continue the theme of western expansion that the building's designers featured.

The Rotunda.  

It is taller than a nine-story building.  You can see 33 gold leaf stars representing Oregon as the 33rd state admitted to the Union.  On the Rotunda floor, the State Seal features imagery symbolic to the early Oregon statesmen.

Office of the Governor.  I wasn't sad at all she wasn't there.

The Governor's Ceremonial Office is used for public signing of legislation and press conferences.  You'll find a hand-painted Oregon map and portraits of all of Oregon's governors.

They still had the old phone booths INSIDE the building.  Neat!

The Senate mural depicts a rider arriving in Salem bringing the news from Oregon City of Oregon's admission to the union.  The mural dates to the 1930's and dramatizes the long-wait for word that Oregon had become a state in 1859.

The Friezes above the Senate and House Galleries name 158 people significant to the history of Oregon.  If conceived of today, the list might include a number of other important Oregonians.

The Senate Chamber has desks for the 30 members.  Senators serve a four-year term.  Look for the brass plaques that name and date all who have sat at each desk.  

Notice the wheat sheaves and Chinook salmon on the carpet symbolizing Oregon agriculture and fishing - the 2nd and 3rd leading industries at the time of Capitol construction.

After viewing the Senate, we crossed over to the House of Representatives Chamber.

This carpet depicts the Douglas fir, Oregon's state tree.  

It also symbolizes the timber industry - the leading industry at the time of Capitol construction.

The House of Representatives Chamber has desks for the 60 members.  Representatives serve a two-year term.  As in the Senate, brass plaques name and date legislators who sat at each desk.

The House Mural depicts the 1843 Champoeg Meeting, one of several meetings in the Willamette Valley that led to the establishment of the first provisional government.  The painting imagines the scene when frontiersmen gathered to debate whether to join the US.