If you are driving around in downtown Jackson MS and are wondering why the State Capitol Building is on Mississippi Street and NOT on nearby Capitol Street, this is why: The OLD capitol is on Capitol Street.
The Old capitol served the citizens of Mississippi from 1837-1903. It is now a state history museum.
From Wikipedia: (
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"The Old Mississippi State Capitol, also known as Old Capitol Museum or Old State Capitol, is a building that is a Mississippi State Historic Site and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1990.
It is located at 100 N. State St, on the east side of State Street at Capitol Street, in Jackson. It is operated as a museum by the state of Mississippi. The building dates from 1837, and was the Mississippi statehouse until 1903. Among the features is a rotunda dome 94 feet high."
From the Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History: (
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"Jackson’s oldest building, the Old Capitol is home to a museum exploring the history of the site when it was the seat of Mississippi government from 1839 to 1903. Normal hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday."
And from Save My Place website: (
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"Old Capitol Museum
100 S. State St. | Jackson, MS
Built in 1839
National Register of Historic Places, 1969.
National Historic Landmark, 1990.
The Old Capitol Building in Jackson was designed by William Nichols and completed in 1839 after several years under construction. It was built during a time when the streets were still dirt and the state’s population was less than 1,000. It is a Greek Revival structure with massive limestone exterior, a copper dome and grand interior spaces. It maintains the distinction of being the site of a variety of Mississippi’s most important legislative actions. Among them the more notable are the 1839 Married Women’s Property Act, Mississippi’s secession from the Union in 1861 and the state constitution authoring in 1868 and 1890.
When the New Capitol was built in 1903, the Old Capitol was abandoned and nearly demolished when a women’s preservation group worked to save it and ultimately turned it into a state office building in 1917. In 1959, the last of the various state agencies that called it home vacated and it became the State Historical Museum in 1961. During the next forty-five years it led a proud museum program until it was forced to close after sustaining substantial damage during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
After the massive copper roof of the Old Capitol blew onto the grounds, torrential rain followed. The building flooded, damaging plaster ceilings and ornamentation as well as thousands of priceless artifacts from the Historical Museum collection.
The Mississippi Legislature voted to provide funding for its $16 million restoration the following year and began construction in 2007, initiated by a first shovel of dirt by Governor Haley Barbour. It reopened to the public on January 6, 2009, hosting the Legislature 170 years after they had originally occupied the building.
During the restoration a number of features were improved or corrected. Among them:
•Stucco was reapplied to replicate limestone, as it has been in the mid-nineteenth century.
•A wrought iron fence was installed, designed after the original.
•The Governor’s office was returned to a smaller, more modest room.
•The State Library was fully restored and the columns moved closer to the bookshelves as they had appeared in historic photographs.
•The Senate was reconstructed with a gaslight reflector, ornate dome design with octagonal coffers and rosettes. Reproduction desks and chairs with mannequins recreate debate scenes from the past.
•Legislative chamber doors were changed back to glass, a period decision to allow legislative bodies to observe the actions of one another.
•Staircase balusters were corrected.
Today the building serves as a museum of the historic events that have taken place in the area and features interactive multimedia exhibits. It is administered by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History."