By M. Scott Morris/Daily Journal
You’ll find three floors filled with Mississippi history at the intersection of Capitol and South State streets.
The Old Capitol Museum in Jackson is a 173-year-old Greek Revival time machine. In its chambers, universities were created, and civil rights abuses were written into law.
“How did Mississippi get to where it is today?” said Clay Williams, museum director. “This building can explain that.”
The “new” Capitol opened in 1903. That’s where the modern-day business of Mississippi government happens.
But you’ll find that some of today’s controversial issues are continuations of debates that took place at the Old Capitol from 1839 to 1903.
“Mississippians did not begin funding public education until 1868. Until then, you had the county schools, or you had to have a private tutor,” Williams said. “Obviously, we’re still dealing with how to educate our children. They’re debating that now.”
Winds of change
The Old Capitol has operated as a museum since 1961. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina made a direct impact on the building and its mission. Heavy winds blew the copper roof off and caused other damage. That created an opportunity.
“After the hurricane, we decided to focus on the building and on the building’s history,” Williams said.
The House Chamber got period carpeting, and each window has a set of three arrows at the top of the drapes. A reporter mentioned the arrows in his coverage of the 1861 debate over secession, when Mississippi left the United States.
“We tried to recreate it as best we could,” Williams said. “Obviously, there aren’t many pictures of the inside of the building.”
He said the House Chamber is his favorite room because so many far-reaching decisions were made there.
“All of the colleges and universities that you know of, the legislation forming them came out of this room,” he said.
Some of Mississippi’s troubles grew out of the same room. There were 142,000 black registered voters in 1890. The number was down to 8,615 in 1896. The drop is directly attributable t