Notice the Wisconsin State Capitol rising above you, home to the Legislature, Supreme Court, and Governor's office in Madison. Completed in 1917, this is the fifth building to serve as the Wisconsin capitol since the first territorial legislature convened in 1836 and the third since Wisconsin was granted statehood in 1848. It remains the tallest building in Madison, a distinction preserved by a state law that prohibits buildings within 1 mi (1.6 km) of the Capitol from being taller than the 187 feet (57 m) columns surrounding the dome.
Before this site and structure, territory government met in a prefabricated wood-frame council house sent to Belmont when the territory separated from Michigan Territory in 1836; that council house and a lodging house still stand and are operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society as the First Capitol Historic Site. Stand here and feel how many layers of government and of history overlap in this one place: legislative chambers, the supreme court, the governor's office, and a law that guards the skyline. Out at Belmont the prefabricated council house of 1836 still survives, kept by the Wisconsin Historical Society as the First Capitol Historic Site.