The Old State House is the oldest standing state capitol building west of the Mississippi River. Construction began in 1833 and was completed in 1842. Territorial Governor John Pope chose architect Gideon Shryock, who had previously designed the Kentucky state capitol building, to create plans for the Arkansas's capitol. Shryock chose the Greek Revival style, then a popular design for public buildings. The original plans were grand, and very expensive, so they were changed by George Weigart, Shryock's assistant who oversaw construction at the Little Rock site.
Arkansas became the 25th state in 1836 and was admitted along with Michigan under the provisions of the Missouri Compromise. The compromise mandated that a slave state and free state would be admitted to the Union simultaneously so that neither side would gain a majority in the federal legislature.
Much material for the building was obtained locally. The bricks were made on-site with slave labor. The Old State House served as the state capitol until 1911, when construction was completed on a new building, located at Capitol Avenue & Martin Luther King Drive.
