Wyoming State Capitol

Cheyenne was laid out by the Union Pacific's chief engineer, Grenville Dodge, in July 1867, and the capitol was set at the head of Capitol Avenue facing the railroad depot ten blocks south, the government and the railroad looking at each other down one street. The territorial legislature put up $150,000 for it in 1886, the cornerstone was laid on May 18, 1887, with the town's shops closed early for the parade, and David Gibbs's sandstone building went up in stages: the domed center first, wings in 1890, a few months before Wyoming became the forty-fourth state, and longer wings in 1917. The dome was copper. It tarnished, and in 1900 it was covered in gold leaf, renewed several times since.

Between 2014 and 2019 the building was closed for its first full restoration. Workers stripping away later finishes found the original 1888 painted walls, skylights that had been covered for decades, and an 1887 Cheyenne Opera House playbill hidden in the building, and the painted decoration was brought back.

The capitol is open to visitors on weekdays, and the climb into the dome shows the signatures of the workers who built it.