The Capitol Dome

[L Verge]

Congress may be lackluster right now, but the Capitol is still abuzz because the scaffolding has finally come down around the Washington Monument after the earthquake damage was repaired. However, the work now begins on restoring the Capitol Dome.

I turned on 60 Minutes this evening right in the middle of a history of the Capitol Dome, and if I heard correctly, a Lincoln myth was corrected. We have all heard that the work on the new dome was begun in the mid-1850s, but was going to be disrupted when the Civil War began. Mr. Lincoln ordered that work would continue as a symbol that the Union would continue.

Well, according to the Architect of the Capitol and a related researcher on tonight's program, that t'ain't exactly correct! After a contentious battle through the 1850s between the real architect, Thomas Walter, and the engineer assigned by the government - that power-hungry Montgomery Meigs -- work began to go more smoothly once Meigs was reassigned in the fall of 1859.

The foundry operator in New York, who was supplying the cast iron that would compose the new dome, signed a contract soon afterward to guarantee a finished job at 7-cents per pound of materials. When the war began, the company determined to complete the work for free rather than see the huge stockpile of iron rust (over 8 million pounds of cast iron composed Mr. Walter's dome).

If 60 Minutes, the current Architect of the Capitol, and the several sites I googled are correct, Mr. Lincoln is being credited for something that he doesn't deserve. His orders did not keep the Dome going up, a government contract and a generous contractor did.

I knew that Montgomery Meigs was a difficult, ego-driven person, but the program brought out the fact that he tried to claim that the Dome was his design, not Walters's. He also guaranteed his name would be attached by seeing to it that numerous metal strips with his name engraved were laid between the stones that surrounded the interior iron works. And I'm sure that he did it at the government's expense.

[PaigeBooth]

Very interesting, Laurie. And yes, I had always believed the story that Lincoln ordered for work to continue on the dome- I was so anxious to hear about this new turn to the story. Thanks for posting it!

[L Verge]

I had believed that too, Paige, until 60 Minutes and several government websites set me straight this week.