page_title: Oregon State Capitol
section_title: Grounds
hierarchical_section_title: Oregon State Capitol / Grounds
caption_attribution_description: English: 360° panorama on the grounds of the Oregon State Capitol as seen on an August afternoon. Photo by Gregg M. Erickson.
context_page_description: The Oregon State Capitol is the building housing the state legislature and the offices of the governor, secretary of state, and treasurer of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located in the state capital, Salem. Constructed from 1936 to 1938 and expanded in 1977, the current building is the third to house the Oregon state government in Salem. The first two capitols in Salem were destroyed by fire, one in 1855 and the other in 1935.
  New York architects Trowbridge & Livingston conceived the current structure's Art Deco stripped classical design in association with Francis Keally. Much of the interior and exterior is made of marble. The Oregon State Capitol was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 29, 1988.
  The federal government's Public Works Administration partially financed construction which was completed during the Great Depression in 1938. The building was erected at a cost of $2.5 million for the central portion of the building, which includes a dome of 166 feet. The wings, which doubled the floor space of the building to about 233,750 square feet, were added later for $12.5 million.
context_section_description: The capitol grounds cover three city blocks and include Willson and Capitol parks. Near the west entrance of the capitol is a replica of Philadelphia's Liberty Bell. This bell is one of 53 full-sized replicas made in France and donated by the United States government to each state. Oregon received its copy on July 4, 1950. Throughout the grounds are native trees and shrubs, including blue spruce, Oregon-grape (the state flower), giant sequoia, coast redwood, Japanese maple, dogwood species, Bradford pear, cherry tree species, English holly, rhododendron, and magnolia tree species. One Douglas-fir tree was grown using a seed that rode aboard Apollo 14 to the Moon in 1971 and was transplanted to the capitol in 1976 from Oregon State University.
  On the east side of the building is Capitol Park, which includes a bronze equestrian statue by A. Phimister Proctor called The Circuit Rider, statues of Jason Lee (Jason Lee) and John McLoughlin (John McLoughlin) by Gifford Proctor, and portions of the Corinthian columns of the second capitol building. Lee established the Methodist Mission and what would become Willamette University. McLoughlin, of the Hudson's Bay Company, was proclaimed the Father of Oregon.  The Circuit Rider was added in 1924 as a monument to early preachers. During the Columbus Day Storm in 1962, this statue was knocked over and damaged but restored in 1963. There is also a memorial to Oregon's recipients of the Medal of Honor, dedicated on September 18, 2004.
  To the west of the building is Willson Park, named for Salem founder William H. Willson and sited roughly at the center of his former landholdings. From 1853 to 1965 it was a Salem city park. After the park was turned over to the state, Lloyd Bond and Associates were asked to redesign the park. Willson Park has the Waite Fountain, a gazebo built in 1982, and Peter Helzer's sculpture, A Parade of Animals (1991), which was designed as a play structure.  Waite Fountain was donated in honor of Oregon businessperson E. M. Waite in 1907 by his wife. The Breyman Fountain, added in 1904 as a memorial to Werner and Eugene Breyman, is at the far west end of the park. It was originally decorated with a statue of a soldier from the Spanish–American War and also served as a lamp post and horse trough. Today the statue holds no water and is sometimes planted with flowers. In 2005, a Walk of Flags feature was added that displays the flags of every state in the Union. In 2009, the nine flags of Oregon's federally recognized Native American tribes were added to the Walk of Flags.
  Other features on the capitol grounds include Sprague Fountain and the Wall of Water. The Wall of Water is located across Court Street from the main entrance. It was added in 1990 and has 22 nozzles shooting water 12 feet (3.7 m) into the air in a plaza that also has slabs of stone with  information about Oregon's history. Added in 1985, the Capitol Beaver Family sculpture represents the state animal. Additional features of the grounds include a peace pole donated by the Society of Prayer for World Peace, a large boulder that once lay along the Oregon Trail, a planter that spells out "Oregon" using shrubs, and a rose garden maintained by the Salem Rose Society.
caption: 360° panorama showing the Oregon State Capitol and the Capitol Mall
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