FIRE DESTROYED STATE CAPITOL 85 YEARS AGO

JEFFERSON CITY -- Eigthy-five years ago this week, as residents of the capital city prepared to attend evening church services, a single flash of lightning ignited a fire that destroyed Missouri's much-maligned Capitol.

On Sunday, Feb. 5, 1911, Jefferson City was struck by a thunderstorm that was to demolish a 71-year-old Capitol that many Missourians had come to hate. Completed in 1840, the Capitol was built from stone that came from a local quarry, but subsequent additions to the 85-by-192-foot structure had rendered it something resembling an eyesore.

Although the Capitol had graceful enough lines when it was originally constructed, a much larger dome was added in the intervening years, as well as long additions on both sides, leaving the state with a building that few admired and many deplored. One local historian called it a "monstrosity."

When the storm struck, a loud crash announced the arrival of a huge bolt of lightning that at first went undetected. But pedestrians spotted flames coming from the central portion of the building, and the Jefferson City Fire Department quickly responded. Apparently the lightning had such force that fires spread rapidly through several areas of the building, and other firefighters were called to the scene, including the department within the walls of the Missouri State Prison.

The Sedalia department was also summoned, but only firefighters showed up -- riding on a train that regularly traveled along the 60-mile route.

Nothing, however, could have saved the Capitol, since the fire spread quickly. By the time the city's main water line, which fed the department's hoses, collapsed, any hope of saving the Capitol vanished.

By morning, while smoke was still rising from the building, several of the walls had collapsed. The once-proud dome was nowhere to be found, lying amid the still-warm rubble. The Capitol interior had been almost completely gutted by the previous night's flames.

Perhaps the greatest loss, aside from some public records that couldn't be rescued by volunteers, were large paintings adorning the walls of the Senate chamber by the world-famous Missouri artist, George Caleb Bingham. The large panels depicted the same kind of early settlers and scenes featured in other Bingham paintings.

The Capitol that burned 85 years ago was the successor of an earlier structure that was destroyed as it was being built in 1837. Earlier that year, the Missouri General Assembly approved funds for a new fireproof Capitol, but flames destroyed the work that had started on the building.

Following this disaster, the legislature voted money for the one that was built in 1840 and was modified in 1880. This was the building that was destroyed in the flames of 1911.

On Feb. 7, 1911, the General Assembly approved a statewide bond issue totalling $3.5 million to replace the Capitol that burned, and voters later approved the expenditure by a 100,000-vote plurality.

Learning from tragedy, state planners agreed to erect a Capitol that would do credit to Missouri, adding not local but more esthetically pleasing marble and stone, changing the position of the building so that it faced north and south and not east-west as the earlier one did.

Ground was broken on the new Capitol, the one now standing, in May 1914, and construction was completed in fall 1917. The Capitol was formally dedicated in 1924.