The Capitol at

Williamsburg, Virginia Williamsburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 15,425. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. It is ...

housed both Houses of the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 16 ...

, the

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

of State and the

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been establishe ...

of the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertGilbert (Saunders Family), Sir Humphrey" (histor ...

from 1705, when the capital was relocated there from Jamestown, until 1780, when the capital was relocated to

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

. Two capitol buildings served the colony on the same site: the first from 1705 until its destruction by fire in 1747; the second from 1753 to 1780. The earlier capitol was reconstructed in the early 1930s as part of the restoration of

Colonial Williamsburg Colonial Williamsburg is a living-history museum and private foundation presenting a part of the historic district in the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has 7300 employees at this location ...

. The reconstruction has thus lasted longer than the combined total of both original capitol buildings.

History of Williamsburg.

First Williamsburg Capitol (1705–1747)

In 1698, the Capitol building in

Jamestown, Virginia The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James (Powhatan) River about southwest of the center of modern Williamsburg. It was ...

, burned. Following the fire, the government of Virginia decided to relocate inland, away from the swamps at the Jamestown site. A better Capitol building was constructed by Henry Cary, a contractor finishing work on the College of William and Mary Wren Building (the legislature's temporary home). Begun in 1701, the Capitol was completed in 1705, although the legislature moved in during 1704. In 1714, the Governor's Palace was constructed between the College and the Capitol. The Colonial Capitol was a two-story H-shaped structure, functionally two buildings connected by an arcade. Each wing served one of the two houses of the Virginia legislature, the

and the

. The first floor of the west building was for the General Court and the colony's secretary, the first floor of the east for the House of Burgesses and its clerk. As a result of the fires that had destroyed several prior Virginia capitals, Cary built the first Capitol without fireplaces. In 1723, chimneys were added for fireplaces to help keep the Capitol dry. On January 30, 1747, the building burned and only some walls and the foundation remained.

Second Williamsburg Capitol (1753–1779)

Governor William Gooch urged that the Capitol be rebuilt, but many legislators preferred relocating the government to a city more accessible to trade and navigation. In the meantime, the burgesses met again at the nearby Wren Building. Finally, in November 1748, reconstruction of the Capitol was approved (by only two votes: 40 to 38). The burgesses met inside for the first time on November 1, 1753. In this building,

Patrick Henry Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736June 6, 1799) was an American attorney, planter, politician and orator known for declaring to the Second Virginia Convention (1775): " Give me liberty, or give me death!" A Founding Father, he served as the first a ...

delivered his Caesar-Brutus speech against the Stamp Act on May 29, 1765. Henry,

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

George Mason George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of the three delegates present who refused to sign the Constitution. His writings, including ...

, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee,

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

, and others played parts in the legislative maneuvering that ended in revolution. As fighting began in the North, the building featured discussion concerning Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights, his Virginia constitution, and Jefferson's first attempt at a bill for religious freedom. On June 29, 1776, Virginians declared their independence from

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

and wrote the state's first constitution, thereby creating an independent government four days before Congress voted for the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...

in Philadelphia on July 4. The Capitol at Williamsburg served until the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

began, when Governor Thomas Jefferson urged it that the capital be relocated to Richmond. The building was last used as a capitol on December 24, 1779, when the

adjourned to reconvene in 1780 at the new capital, Richmond. After the capital of Virginia was moved to

in 1779, the old Capitol was used for a wide range of purposes, from a court to a school. The east wing was removed around 1800 because of its dangerous condition, leaving only the west wing standing for the next 30 years, until it was destroyed by fire in 1832, leaving no trace of the original structure, except for the outline of its foundations.

Reconstruction

The building that stands now in

is the third Capitol on that site. Early in the 20th century, the Reverend Dr.

W. A. R. Goodwin William Archer Rutherfoord Goodwin (June 18, 1869 – September 7, 1939) (or W.A.R. Goodwin as he preferred or "the Doctor" as commonly used to his annoyance) was an Episcopal priest, historian, and author. As the rector of Bruton Parish Church, G ...

undertook restoration of historic Bruton Parish Church (c. 1711) where he was rector. His dreams of restoring other buildings of the old colonial capital city led to his affiliation with

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co- ...

heir and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

John D. Rockefeller Jr. John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist, and the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He was involved in the development of the vast office complex in M ...

and the creation of

. The reconstructed Capitol and Governor's Palace join the Wren Building of the

College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William I ...

as the three main structures of the restoration. The architects charged with restoration of Williamsburg chose to reconstruct the first capitol based on superior documentation of its design, including in the 1929-discovered

Bodleian Plate The Bodleian Plate is a copperplate depicting several colonial buildings of 18th-century Williamsburg, Virginia, as well as several types of native flora, fauna, and American Indians. Following its 1929 rediscovery in the archives of the Bodleia ...

, and its unique architecture compared to the second Capitol. Later architectural historians have since shown that parts of the reconstruction, chiefly its foundations, were embellished or conjectural and were based more on contemporary architectural ideas than actual historic evidence. However, the reconstructed Capitol is now itself valued as a Colonial Revival interpretation and work of architecture. The reconstruction opened to the public on February 24, 1934.

Gallery

File:MJK50112 Capitol (Williamsburg, Virginia).jpg, Reconstruction exterior File:House of Burgesses in the Capitol Williamsburg James City County Virginia by Frances Benjamin Johnston.jpg, Reconstructed chamber of the

File:Colonial Williamsburg at Night (25412267772).jpg, The reconstructed building at night.

References

External links

Colonial Williamsburg, Capitol web page
{{Colonial Williamsburg Capitol Buildings and structures in Williamsburg, Virginia Government buildings completed in 1705

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

Colonial Williamsburg Tourist attractions in Williamsburg, Virginia Historic district contributing properties in Virginia 1705 establishments in Virginia Rebuilt buildings and structures in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Williamsburg, Virginia