When we visited the capitol it was late in the day and everyone had gone home. Fortunately for the avid Waymarker, they had left a door unlocked - we won't say which one. We stealthily entered through the unlocked door to find ourselves alone in the building, save for a few of the cleaning staff. Avoiding the cleaners we went about our business, snapping shots to our heart's content. The capitol building may be an impressive edifice on the outside, but it is a true work of art inside. Filled with marble, tile, intricate woodwork, gold gilt, murals, stained glass, statuary and memorials, it offers a new and beautiful vista around each corner. We're very thankful that someone here was a bit forgetful but hope that it doesn't happen too often.
One of several statues in the building is this larger than life bronze of homegrown suffragette Jeannette Rankin, probably best known as the first woman to serve in the U.S. Congress, serving two terms, from 1917 to 1919 and 1939 to 1943. A committed pacifist who cast the sole dissenting vote against The U.S. entering World War II, she helped pass the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote. Born near Missoula, Montana on June 11, 1880, Rankin spent her life after congress furthering pacifism and social welfare. She died on May 18, 1973, in Carmel, California, ostensibly while considering a third run for a House seat that year in protest of the Vietnam War.
This bronze statue of Rankin, by Terri Mimnaugh, was commissioned in 1980. Cast by Frontier Bronze of Great Falls, it is one of several pieces which adorn the Grand Staircase Landings of the capitol. A fairly comprehensive biography on Jeannette Rankin can be read
HERE.
Jeannette Rankin
Terri Mimnaugh, bronze, 1980, 100' x 29' x 29', cast by Frontier Bronze, Great Falls.
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A prominent advocate of women’s suffrage, Jeannette Rankin (1880–1973) became the first woman to serve in the United States Congress after Treasure State voters elected her to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1916. In her first term (1916–1918), she was one of only fifty-six legislators to vote against the United States’ entry into World War I. In her second term (1940–1942), she cast the lone dissenting vote against the United States’ entrance into World War II. This statue was the first major piece by Montana artist Terri Mimnaugh (b. 1955), and it was dedicated in 1980. An identical statue resides in National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington, D.C., where Rankin serves as one of Montana’s two honorees (Charles M. Russell is the other).
From the Montana Government