State Capitol – RDZ Photography

Salt Lake City – September 2022 – Utah State Capitol

The Utah State Capitol sits on the aptly named Capitol Hill above downtown Salt Lake City. Completed in 1916 it’s style is similar to most of the state capitol buildings in the U.S.

As always this posting is not meant to document all the features of the building, rather to reflect on some of the more photogenic views.

The lions guarding the side of the building were originally made out of concrete, but were replaced during a 4 year overall capitol restoration project ending in 2008. They are now made out of Italian marble, and were completed by Nick Fairplay.

This glass window features the ubiquitous Utah beehive. The beehive symbolizes the belief that the community works together as a whole to improve life for all.

One of the two grand marble staircases. Each staircase has a massive mural depicting the mormon settlement of Utah.

The rotunda ceiling. When the building was first completed the rotunda remained unfinished for 20 years until the cyclorama was completed in 1934.

The artwork around the rotunda was completed at the same time.

This bust is of the native Ute hunter and fur trader Unca Sam.

Nearby is a bust of Ute leader John Duncan.

Noted Utah inventor Philo T Farnsworth is also featured on the 4th floor gallery. Among his many discoveries Farnsworth is credited with inventing the first complete television.

Also from the 4th floor many of the details visible.

Montana – May 2022 – Helena and Missoula

Architecture, History, Nature, Water Features

Our trip’s northernmost stops were in Montana, Idaho and Washington. In Montana we spent the night in Helena.

When we first arrived we saw the state capitol on a hill as we entered town. To our amazement we just drove right up, parked on the street just outside and walked in!

As we wandered around we looked down a hall to a room that had a sign above that said ‘Office of the Governor’. A lady was standing in the doorway, and she encouraged us to come on in.

She told us the capitol is the ‘People’s Building’, and during business hours is always open to just come on in, no security checks whatsoever. She showed us around the office a bit, including the room that is used for the governor to greet people. It contained a set of flags for the state of Montana, as well as the 8 tribes that reside in the state.

She also told us the best way to see the rest of the building and encouraged us to ‘explore’.

The next day found us in Missoula. There we checked out the riverfront and some of downtown’s historic buildings.

Phoenix – August 2021 – Architecture Tour on a Sunday Morning

Architecture, History, Museum, Transportation

While much of Phoenix is a vast suburban landscape, there are a number of architecturally interesting buildings in the area.

What was once the Santa Fe Freight Depot is now the Maricopa County Assessors Office.

The Arizona State Historic Preservation Office in one of the few remaining old houses downtown.

What I thought was an observatory is a church.

Side view of the historic Maricopa County Courthouse, with a streetcar stop.

The Luhrs Tower dates from 1929. The building made an appearance in the movie Pyscho, and is thought to be haunted.

Arizona State University Music Building – Designed by Wesley Peters, son in law of Frank Lloyd Wright (more below on him). This is known as the Birthday Cake building.

Frank Lloyd Wright lived and worked in Phoenix for many years. There are a number of his designed homes, churches and public buildings in the area.

Gammon Auditorium – Designed by FLW but completed after his death.

Central Ohio – October 2020 – Views From Above Part 3

Architecture, Nature, Transportation

The drone tour of Central Ohio continues….

Highbanks Metro Park, with the first tree changing colors for fall

Big Meadows in Highbanks

The sheep farm across the road from Highbanks Park is the last bastion of the former rural atmosphere. The entire area around it is now suburbia.

The largest office building in Ohio – a horizontal skyscraper. The Chase offices in Polaris has 2 million square feet of office space. To compare the tallest building in the state is Key Tower in Cleveland (947’/289m) only has 1.5 million square feet.

Note the entire roof is covered in solar panels and the parking lots and garages to the right are being covered in solar panels.

Ohio gets cold, Ohio gets snow, but alas – no mountains, so this qualifies as a ski resort. Snowtrails near Mansfield.

Mansfield Reservoir

A covered bridge in Union County.

Just down the road from the covered bridge is this corn maze (Maize maze?)

A berry field with a pumpkin sales.

A grain elevator in Urbana, Ohio.

Literally turning to the right you get a view of the old train station, the vacant factory and the rest of the town.

A massive shrub nursery surrounds the town of New Carlisle.

Deceased people and cars.

This view of Madison County shows Interstate 70 along the upper right, US 40 (The National Road) through the left middle, and an airport runway running along side – all in perfect East-West orientations.

Scioto Downs Horse Race Track and Casino (newer building on the left)

The 105,000 seat Ohio Stadium. The GPS in the drone would not allow me to fly any closer without seriously violating FAA rules (which I did not!)

Franklin Park Conservatory

A view along East Broad Street in Columbus

New apartments surrounding Columbus Commons Park.

We end this tour with a view of downtown Columbus, including the State Capitol surrounded by 30 to 40 floor buildings.

Virtual Travel – Pennsylvania

Architecture, Art, Festival, History, Museum, Nature, Sciences, Sports, Transportation, Water Features

As with Ohio I have spent considerable time in Pennsylvania, with Pittsburgh feeling like a ‘hometown’ (Go Pens/Pirates/Steelers!)

History & State Capitol

1938 1955 1956 1986 2013

As with most states, the state capital is located (somewhat) in the middle of the state. Given that the vast majority of the people of Pennsylvania live on the ends, this meant a smaller city has been the capital – Harrisburg.

While outside the Pennsylvania Capitol looks like many others, inside is amazing!

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Unusual State Symbols

Official State Aircraft – Piper J-3 Cub. For decades Piper Cubs were built in Lock Haven, PA.

State Colors – Blue and Gold Featured on the flag and every license plate ever.

But in Pittsburgh the colors are Black & Gold! All the sports teams follow this color scheme.

Pennsylvania has a long industrial history, much of which has been lost. The city of Bethlehem has a vacant steel mill that is now a National Park site that serves as a reminder of this legacy.

Roads

1952 1960 1964 1973 1974

It is impossible to find a city with more cool bridges and tunnels than Pittsburgh. While it makes the commutes tough, it is a great visual experience driving around the city

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The Pennsylvania Railroad was the largest, and most famous railroad in the country in the late 1800s and early 1900s. This history is celebrated at two major rail museums, Steamtown in Scranton, and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

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Not to be outdone the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington, PA has a great collection of streetcars and interurbans.

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1976 – Philadelphia

There is another large city in Pennsylvania other than Pittsburgh 🙂

Philadelphia of course is the seat of the independence movement in the 1700s. That history is on evidence everywhere in the city. Trivia moment of the day – there are only 2 cities that have been in the top 10 in population for every official United States Census – New York and Philadelphia.

Near Philadelphia is one of the world’s best gardens – Longwood.

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1989 – Seasons

Most of Pennsylvania is beautiful rolling hills and mountains. Much of this area is filled with small towns and wooded countryside.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous structure is located in these hills – Fallingwater. Nearby is a second FLW house – Kentuck Knob. Both are stunning.

U.S. Route 6 traverses Northern Pennsylvania, and passes a number of interesting venues including Kinzua Bridge. When completed in 1882 it was the tallest bridge in the world, towering 300′ above the valley. It was decommissioned in the early 1960s and sold to the state with the purpose of becoming a park.

In 2003 a tornado struck the bridge and destroyed a large portion of it, but the remainder makes for a great walk.

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As you make your way along U.S. 6 you pass the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum in Galeton, the Coudersport Ice Cave, and the Zippo Lighter Museum in Bradford.

1995 – Hunseckers Mill Bridge – Lancaster County

It is thought that Pennsylvania has more named places than any other states as each hill and valley seems to be another named small town. Some are more famous than others such as Punxsutawney – home of Phil! Each February 2nd this little town is overrun by 40,000 people coming to see a groundhog pulled out of it’s fake home to see it’s shadow.

It is celebrated with another collection of fiberglass statues.

The town of Ridgway has an annual Chainsaw Carving contest that draws artists from all over the world.

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The C.F. Martin & Company has built outstanding guitars since 1833. Their factory is open for tours, and they welcome photography throughout! We have been of many tours of facilities over the years and this was one of the best.

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2007 – Pittsburgh

As noted in the opening, while I was not born or raised there I grew up close enough, and have spent most of my adult life spending time there, that it feels like home.

Built on steep hills along the 3 rivers (Ohio, Allegheny, and Mon), it has character. With the long history of steel, the city had enough wealthy people in the early 1900s that there is a great collection of historic skyscrapers. With the lack of build able land, the skyscraper construction has continued to this day.

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The interiors and trim are just as impressive.

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Pittsburgh has it’s fair share of quirky places, including Randyland and Bicycle Heaven. The best, by far, is Anthrocon – 7000 people descending on the city dressed in furry animal costumes.

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Virtual Travel – North Dakota

Festival, History, Nature, Transportation, Water Features

Today’s stop is North Dakota. A sparsely populated state along the Canadian border, North Dakota is a place with cold winters, hot summers and vast prairies.

History

1954 – Natural Resources 1983 – State Capitol

Bismarck is the state capital. The Capitol is the tallest building in the state, measuring 241′ (73m) high. Nearby is the North Dakota State Museum.

The grounds include a number of statues and monuments including Sakakawea, a Shoshone woman who helped Lewis & Clark make their way to the west coast.

Unique Symbols of North Dakota

Official State March – The Flickertail March. I am not certain it would work for the military but the Flickertail is a squirrel that has a distinctive jerk of their tails, or flicks, while running – and North Dakota has saw fit to make this their State March! (photos from statesymbols.org)

State Fossil – Teredo Petrified Wood. This petrified wood is unique in that it has ‘worming’ of the original wood that is clearly present in the fossils.

The Landscape

1958 & 1983 – Theodore Roosevelt National Park 1994 2002/2003 2011 2013

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is located in the far western part of the state. This massive park is a tribute to Roosevelt, who came to the area in 1883. After family tragedy, he returned to North Dakota the following year, and spent a few years in the area.

The area’s badlands and wildlife make for a scenic experience.

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Uniquely North Dakota

1965 – Rest Area 1984 – Interstate in the Badlands 2005 – Trail of Legends

Fargo is the largest city in the state, with 125,00 residents. It is on the Red River, which forms the border of Minnesota. The visitor center has the woodchipper from the movie ‘Fargo’

Medora is a small town near the national park. Among the attractions here is the cabin that Roosevelt lived in.

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As you leave Bismarck headed west you come to the small town of New Salem, with the giant fiberglass cow – Sue.

1973 & 2009 – Native Americans

Native American’s have inhabited the North Dakota area for thousands of years. Today there are 30,000 Native Americans living in the state, one of the largest percentages of any state, giving the state a strong native presence.

Sisseton Wahpeton Powwow Grounds (photo from Flickr)

Many have capitalized on the ability to have casinos to sustain their tribes, including Spirit Lake

Today’s younger Native American’s continue to take pride in their culture and lands. (photo from Earthjustice.com)

Virtual Travel – New Jersey

Architecture, Art, History, Nature, Transportation, Water Features

Welcome to New Jersey – my usual first views of the state are landing at Newark airport, for better or worse.

At the other end you can take a ferry from Delaware.

Overview

1955 2000 2002/2003/2004

The New Jersey State Capitol is in Trenton. (Photo from Flickr)

The unusual state symbols of the day include:

State Colors – Jersey Blue and Buff. This dates from the Revolutionary War when Washington assigned the colors to the regiments of the New Jersey Continental Line. It is thought he chose these because New Jersey (as well as New York) were settled by the Dutch, and those colors are the Netherlands colors.

State Tall Ship – A.J. Meerwald. This ship, built in 1928, is featured on maps below. It is a Oyster Schooner.

Officially known as the New Jersey State House, the building was completed in the 1790s, behind the capitols in Maryland and Virginia.

Let’s visit some other cities in the state starting with Atlantic City. It’s main business since being started in the 1850s has been tourism. It was marketed to the crowded city folks in New York and Philadelphia as a healthy resort on the ocean.

By the 1870s more than 500,000 people a day made their way to Atlantic City. By the early 1900s it had large hotels lining the coast, along those streets whose names have been made famous by the board game Monopoly, as well as the notoriety from the Miss America Pagent.

The mayor of the time quoted during Prohibition ‘we have whiskey, wine, women, song and slot machines. I won’t deny it and I won’t apologize for it.’

By the 1970s it had fallen on hard times, so they introduced legalized gambling. These photos show the rebirth in the 1980s, but the convention hall still being the showpiece.

Today it is similar, only with so many cities introducing gambling, the city has one again fallen on hard times. (photo from NJ public radio)

Much of the Jersey Shore (not beach or coast) has some cool/kitschy features, but the best is easily Lucy the Elephant in Margate. This 140 year old elephant still brings in the tourists.

Jersey City – The second largest city in New Jersey has the good fortune of being located just across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan. While the city has had it’s ups and downs, peaking out at 316,000 people in 1930, it dropped down to a low of 223,000 by 1980. This reflected the exodus of people from New York City as well, as everyone was headed to the suburbs.

Since then though, with significant renewal of the waterfront area the population has gone back up to 265,000, and continues to grow.

Just upriver Hoboken is experiencing a similar rebirth, but retains the fabulous Hoboken Terminal for New Jersey Transit Trains, and ferries to Manhattan.

Statue of Liberty

1983 1986

It is interesting that New Jersey has featured the Statue of Liberty on the cover of some of the maps, as technically it is in New York. The island that the statue sits on is in New Jersey water, but is a federally owned island that belongs to Manhattan.

This is a result of a dispute dating (amazingly) from 1664, that stated the New Jersey borders did not extend to the middle of the river, or bay. In 1834 the US Congress did set the boundary in the middle of the waterways, however specifically exempted Liberty Island, stating it would remain in New York. This was held up in 1908 by the Supreme Court, and again in 1987 when New Jersey sued to take control of the island. Clearly these maps from 1983 and 1984 were when Jersey was confident the island would once again be theirs.

Ellis Island however is much simpler, it is in New Jersey. So all those ancestors of ours who were so proud to step of the boat onto New York, really set foot in New Jersey.

Interestingly it is connected to New Jersey by a bridge that is not open to the public, just park service personnel.

Those immigrants – unless you were headed to New England, you were herded onto barges and sent to the train stations in Jersey City and Hoboken, having never set foot in New York.

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Liberty State Park in Jersey City is along the mainland near both islands. The park is on an area that was once large rail yards, with the centerpiece being the Jersey City Terminal of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. This building dates from 1889, and is currently undergoing renovations (for years).

Outdoors in New Jersey

1988 1990 1992 2007 Holgate 2009 2012/2014/2015 AJ Meerwald

Sandy Hook is a spit at the far northern end of the Jersey Shore, sticking out into New York Harbor. It is home to a vacant military facility, but is now a vast park, including large areas of natural settings with views across the harbor to Brooklyn and Manhattan.

New Jersey Palisades. This geological feature along the Hudson River just north of New York City has been protected since 1900, as the industry of the times were blasting it away for crushed stone. (all photos in this section fromonlyinyourstate.com)

Frankfort, Kentucky – May 2019 – A Small Capital City

Architecture, History

Even though Kentucky is middle of the pack in terms of states by population , their capital city Frankfort is the 4th smallest of all. There are less than 30,000 people in the city.

For the most part it feels like any other small town. They have a small downtown business district.

Interestingly there is a freight rail line going down the middle of main street.

The town is quite old – it was established in 1786.

There are a few restaurants and coffee shops in town.

In the center of town is the Old Kentucky State Capitol. It was completed in 1830 and used until 1910 as the Capitol.

William Goebel was elected governor in 1900, and served for 4 days before being assassinated. He was known for being a deal maker, and a deal breaker.

He had gained so many enemies that he walked with bodyguards, but to no avail – On January 30, 1900 shots fired from the state capitol building – leading to chaos in the Kentucky state government. He died 4 days later.

As you drive around town you see an interesting mix of old and new, with nearly all the new being the government buildings.

The lampposts have banners celebrating famous Kentuckians – while Johnny Depp was born in Kentucky he was raised elsewhere

We are in Kentucky so we need to celebrate horse racing.

Much like many of the state government buildings, the county courthouse is modern as well.

The original state arsenal however, is not. It dates from 1850 and now serves as a military museum.

Across the river and up a hill is the ‘new’ state capitol grounds. Included here is the Governor’s Mansion – which in it’s Beaux Arts style bears a strong resemblance to the White House.