West of the Mississippi River, no state capitol building survives older than this one, the Old State House, formerly called the Arkansas State House. Between 1833 and 1842 this building rose under a plan commissioned by Governor John Pope; architect Gideon Shryock chose a Greek Revival style, and when the original design proved too costly, his assistant George Weigart changed the plans and oversaw construction. The Arkansas General Assembly even moved into the rooms while work was still underway.
In its long civic life it served as Arkansas’s capitol from 1842 until the new Arkansas State Capitol was completed in 1912. This is the place where a secession convention met, and where a later, fourth constitutional convention saw delegates agree to ensure voting rights for freedmen and establish public education. Not all moments here were orderly: on December 4, 1837, in the first session of the General Assembly held in this house, Speaker John Wilson killed Representative Joseph J. Anthony in a knife fight on the House floor.
Picture Speaker John Wilson and Representative Joseph J. Anthony on this very House floor in 1837, and the freedmen's voting rights debated here decades later.