The Story of the Texas Capitol
Texas Capitol Visitors Center is housed within the oldest state office building in Texas, the 1856-1857 Old General Land Office building. Lively, colorful exhibits, interactive exhibits and small theaters are now featured where O. Henry once worked drawing maps while a new red granite capitol building was erected outside his window. A small theater features the specially produced video, “XIT A Capitol Deal.” Other exhibits present cowboy artifacts from the 1870s. Graphics highlight the story of the swap for three million acres of Texas panhandle land that became the great XIT Ranch, the ranch that built the beautiful red granite Texas capitol. Large Texas star structures feature interactive computers that take visitors on a virtual tour of the restored capitol building and tell interesting stories of the changing location of the Texas capital and capitol from 1600 to the present.
Austin, Texas