{"id":66,"date":"2008-03-31T18:50:10","date_gmt":"2008-03-31T23:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=66"},"modified":"2022-05-04T06:40:15","modified_gmt":"2022-05-04T11:40:15","slug":"wisconsins-original-capitol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wisconsins-original-capitol\/","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin&#8217;s Original Capitol"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Sometimes fate determines whether a location will someday transform into a vibrant, active city or remain a sleepy rural hamlet. Many people are familiar with Madison, Wisconsin and its impressive State Capitol complex. They know its flagship University of Wisconsin campus, and the nearly half a million residents in its greater metropolitan area. Few, however, know of tiny Belmont (<a href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/BERYAeTCgjAvb8ac6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">map<\/a>). That&#8217;s a hamlet of less than 900 inhabitants. Fewer still know about the original capitol building that stands just outside its borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Easy Come<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/96225726@N08\/8871475884\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/7349\/8871475884_14ef872c75_b.jpg\" alt=\"First Capitol State Park in Belmont, Wisconsin. Photo by howderfamily.com; (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)\"\/><\/a><figcaption>First Capitol Historic Site<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Belmont was the site of the first Capitol of the Wisconsin Territory. John Atchison, a land speculator, designed a site complete with council house and supporting structures. He hoped to attract the fledgling legislature. Naturally, he also hoped to increase the value of his nearby land holdings. So he won the initial jockeying and the legislature met in Belmont during its inaugural session in the winter of 1836.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The choice wasn&#8217;t entirely arbitrary and had some logic behind it. The highest concentration of residents in the Territory lived within this southwestern corner, anchored by the local lead mining industry. However people living elsewhere also wanted to receive the status and recognition that would come with being the home of the capitol. They voiced their objections when Governor Henry Dodge selected Belmont. Specifically they questioned his motives because of his previous ties with Mr. Atchison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Easy Go<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The legislature convened at Belmont for a month and a half into early December. They met in a cramped building without heat or water in frigid conditions. Even so it passed significant legislation to organize a system of government, establishment a judicial system, and create several new counties. Also, after much debate they decided to move the Wisconsin capitol to Madison, a town that existed only on paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today the only vestige of original Belmont is the <a href=\"https:\/\/firstcapitol.wisconsinhistory.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">First Capitol Historic Site<\/a> maintained by the Wisconsin Historical Society. Even the <a href=\"https:\/\/belmontwi.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">village of Belmont<\/a> itself moved a few miles away when the Mineral Point Railroad bypassed the original site in 1867.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To think what might have been.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes fate determines whether a location will someday transform into a vibrant, active city or remain a sleepy rural hamlet. Many people are familiar with Madison, Wisconsin and its impressive State Capitol complex. They know its flagship University of Wisconsin campus, and the nearly half a million residents in its greater metropolitan area. Few, however, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,97,96,21],"tags":[434,439,438,437,435,436],"class_list":["post-66","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cities","category-government","category-history","category-states","tag-belmont","tag-first-capitol-historic-site","tag-governor-henry-dodge","tag-john-atchison","tag-madison","tag-wisconsin-capitol"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Wisconsin&#039;s Original Capitol - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Madison is a vibrant city but it wasn&#039;t the first capital of Wisconsin. That designation went to tiny Belmont.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wisconsins-original-capitol\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wisconsin&#039;s Original Capitol - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Madison is a vibrant city but it wasn&#039;t the first capital of Wisconsin. That designation went to tiny Belmont.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wisconsins-original-capitol\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-03-31T23:50:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-04T11:40:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/7349\/8871475884_14ef872c75_b.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Twelve Mile Circle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@TheReal12MC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@TheReal12MC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Twelve Mile Circle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wisconsins-original-capitol\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wisconsins-original-capitol\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Twelve Mile Circle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e\"},\"headline\":\"Wisconsin&#8217;s Original Capitol\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-03-31T23:50:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-04T11:40:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wisconsins-original-capitol\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":352,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wisconsins-original-capitol\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live.staticflickr.com\\\/7349\\\/8871475884_14ef872c75_b.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Belmont\",\"First Capitol Historic Site\",\"Governor Henry Dodge\",\"John Atchison\",\"Madison\",\"Wisconsin Capitol\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Cities\\\/Towns\",\"Government\",\"History\",\"U.S. States\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wisconsins-original-capitol\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wisconsins-original-capitol\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wisconsins-original-capitol\\\/\",\"name\":\"Wisconsin's Original Capitol - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wisconsins-original-capitol\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wisconsins-original-capitol\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live.staticflickr.com\\\/7349\\\/8871475884_14ef872c75_b.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-03-31T23:50:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-04T11:40:15+00:00\",\"description\":\"Madison is a vibrant city but it wasn't the first capital of Wisconsin. That designation went to tiny Belmont.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wisconsins-original-capitol\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wisconsins-original-capitol\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wisconsins-original-capitol\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live.staticflickr.com\\\/7349\\\/8871475884_14ef872c75_b.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/live.staticflickr.com\\\/7349\\\/8871475884_14ef872c75_b.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wisconsins-original-capitol\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Wisconsin&#8217;s Original Capitol\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places\",\"description\":\"(scroll down if article doesn&#039;t appear)\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e\",\"name\":\"Twelve Mile Circle\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Twelve Mile Circle\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.twelvemilecircle.com\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/TheReal12MC\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/tom\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Wisconsin's Original Capitol - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","description":"Madison is a vibrant city but it wasn't the first capital of Wisconsin. That designation went to tiny Belmont.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wisconsins-original-capitol\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Wisconsin's Original Capitol - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","og_description":"Madison is a vibrant city but it wasn't the first capital of Wisconsin. That designation went to tiny Belmont.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wisconsins-original-capitol\/","og_site_name":"Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","article_published_time":"2008-03-31T23:50:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-05-04T11:40:15+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/7349\/8871475884_14ef872c75_b.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Twelve Mile Circle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@TheReal12MC","twitter_site":"@TheReal12MC","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Twelve Mile Circle","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wisconsins-original-capitol\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wisconsins-original-capitol\/"},"author":{"name":"Twelve Mile Circle","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e"},"headline":"Wisconsin&#8217;s Original Capitol","datePublished":"2008-03-31T23:50:10+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-04T11:40:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wisconsins-original-capitol\/"},"wordCount":352,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wisconsins-original-capitol\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/7349\/8871475884_14ef872c75_b.jpg","keywords":["Belmont","First Capitol Historic Site","Governor Henry Dodge","John Atchison","Madison","Wisconsin Capitol"],"articleSection":["Cities\/Towns","Government","History","U.S. States"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wisconsins-original-capitol\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wisconsins-original-capitol\/","url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wisconsins-original-capitol\/","name":"Wisconsin's Original Capitol - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wisconsins-original-capitol\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wisconsins-original-capitol\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/7349\/8871475884_14ef872c75_b.jpg","datePublished":"2008-03-31T23:50:10+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-04T11:40:15+00:00","description":"Madison is a vibrant city but it wasn't the first capital of Wisconsin. That designation went to tiny Belmont.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wisconsins-original-capitol\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wisconsins-original-capitol\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wisconsins-original-capitol\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/7349\/8871475884_14ef872c75_b.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/7349\/8871475884_14ef872c75_b.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wisconsins-original-capitol\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Wisconsin&#8217;s Original Capitol"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/","name":"Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","description":"(scroll down if article doesn&#039;t appear)","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e","name":"Twelve Mile Circle","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Twelve Mile Circle"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.twelvemilecircle.com\/","https:\/\/x.com\/TheReal12MC"],"url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/author\/tom\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29636,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions\/29636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}