Then and Now: February 2012

This Month's Statehouse Photo

This month's photo is of the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta. The classical style building was designed by famed Chicago architects Willoughby J. Edbrooke and Franklin P. Burnham and completed in 1889. George Crouch sculpted the ornamental work on the building. The façade features a four-story portico, with stone pediment, supported by six Corinthian columns set on large stone piers. The Georgia coat of arms is engraved on the pediment. The governor, lieutenant governor and secretary of state have offices on the second floor, while the General Assembly chambers are on the third floor. The capital moved to Atlanta from Milledgeville after Georgia held a statewide referendum to ratify a new constitution in 1868. The current Capitol replaced the Atlanta City Hall and Fulton County Courthouse, which also was the seat of state government.

Sources: www.georgiaencyclopedia.org; wikipedia.com. 

25 Years Ago

Articles from the February 1987 issue of State Legislatures:

THE NEW SUPERFUND: WILL IT WORK THIS TIME?
“The first Superfund law, passed in 1980, barely made a dent in cleaning up the nation’s hazardous waste sites. Now there’s a new program.”

HISPANIC POPULATION GROWING AT TWICE NATIONAL RATE
“A new report from the Census Bureau indicates that the Hispanic population, at 18 million, is now 7 percent of the total.”

BUSES & BELTS
“Accidents involving school buses have sparked an emotional, nationwide debate about whether buses should be equipped with seat belts.” 

Did You Know?

Delaware, on Dec. 7, 1787, became the first state to join the Union. It gets its name from Sir Thomas West, Baron De La Warr, an Englishman and first colonial governor of Virginia. It is the only state to have a rounded boundary—an arc formed by drawing a 12-mile radius from the old courthouse in New Castle. Its long, straight western boundary became part of the Mason-Dixon Line that divided slave states from the others. Only Rhode Island is smaller.

—From “From National Geographic’s “Our Fifty States”