[6] Due to political fighting among state leaders, the Ohio General Assembly temporarily moved the capital to Zanesville in 1810.

[6][8] On February 14, 1812, the General Assembly created a new capital city on the "High Banks opposite Franklinton at the Forks of the Scioto most known as Wolf's Ridge".

Consultation with New York architect Alexander Jackson Davis resulted in a composite design that merged some key features of the three winning entries, but it was rejected as being too expensive.

Cole's nephew, William Henry Bayless, a Steubenville native, was apprenticed in the office of Alexander Jackson Davis.

With the Statehouse exterior nearing completion by 1854, Columbus architect Nathan Kelley was hired to supervise the design and construction of the building's interiors.

Isaiah Rogers, a well known architect based in Cincinnati at the time, was recruited to supervise the final stages of the Statehouse's construction.

During his tenure, Rogers oversaw completion of the building's interior and coordinated work on the distinctive rotunda and its enclosing cupola.

One of the building's most distinctive exterior features is the low, conical roof atop the cupola, positioned where many viewers expect to see a dome.

In the long span between beginning construction on the Statehouse and its completion, the "finished" design changed many times and various proposals included a round dome atop the building.

These open areas were from top to bottom of the structure and were intended to admit light and fresh air to the inner reaches of the building.

The advent of electric lighting coupled with the need for space meant that levels of offices would come to occupy these large open areas.

In 1901, facing significant crowding several changes were considered including a completely new statehouse designed to more closely resemble the national Capitol building in Washington.

Murals painted by William Mark Young for the Ohio State Exhibit at the 1933 A Century of Progress International Exposition, (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) were subsequently moved to the building.

Original furniture was sought for return to the building when possible and modern reproductions of long gone items such as carpets and light fixtures were created.

The Statehouse features a central recessed porch with a colonnade of a forthright and primitive Greek Doric mode, built of Columbus limestone that was quarried on the west banks of the Scioto River.

A broad and low central pediment supports the windowed drum, referred to as a cupola, which contains an oculus that lights the interior rotunda.

The relocation of the governor's working office to the Vern Riffe Center for Government and the Arts, located across High Street from the Statehouse, was originally a temporary action taken while the historic building was undergoing an extensive restoration and upgrading.

At the completion of the project the governor, George Voinovich preferred the larger, more modern space and did not return to the Statehouse office except for occasional ceremonial use.

Strickland considered the presence of the Governor in a building where the Legislature also works as both symbolic and practical examples of how the parts of government relate to each other.

Like Strickland, current governor Mike DeWine uses the Statehouse office on a regular basis, although his staff remains based in the Riffe Center.

The Atrium, which connects the Statehouse with the Senate Building, is a large open space which hosts government functions and ceremonies as well as various meetings and events.

President Abraham Lincoln visited the building on three different occasions, and a large marble bust erected after his death memorializes him and also depicts the Union victory at Vicksburg.

The design at the center of the floor traces the development of the United States: the 13 stones in the center represent the original colonies; the three rings symbolize areas of territory that enlarged the nation; surrounding the rings is a star burst with 32 points, one for each of the states in the Union when the floor was laid down; and surrounding the entire design is a gray band representing the U.S. Constitution.

Ohioans in Space is an oil painting by William D. Hinsch that pays homage to Ohio-born astronauts, including John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell, Judith Resnik, and Gene Kranz.

[18] The statehouse is topped with a two-story cupola, measuring 70 ft. tall and 64 ft. wide, which acts as an observation deck for viewing the surrounding city.

The Great Seal of Ohio and the state motto, "With God, all things are possible", are engraved at the foot of the steps leading to the west entrance.

The Ohio Statehouse functions both as a working government building that contains the activities of a legislature and governor's office, and as a museum.

As a tour group made their way through the building, they encountered living history presenters portraying notable individuals from the past.

It also holds a memorial sign on one of its pillars showing the exact location that Abraham Lincoln, prior to his run for president, stood to give a speech on the building's steps.