Stories - Capitol or Statehouse

Some call it the Kansas Statehouse while other say the Kansas State Capitol. There is a way to properly distinguish between the two.

Some states may still have a statehouse. However, the headquarters for Kansas government should be called a capitol. When the Kansas State Capitol was built, it was a statehouse but one could properly refer to it by either name.

If we follow the definition that appeared in the July/August, 2000 publication of State Legislatures, "Originally, capitol buildings were literally 'state' houses. All components of government were there, including administrative agencies." As statehouses became more crowded, with the growth of government, some of the agencies, usually the judicial branch was among the first, moved to buildings outside of the statehouse. Technically, the building then becomes the capitol and not the statehouse. Such is the case with the Kansas State Capitol.

Among the components of government housed in the Kansas State Capitol are the Kansas House of Representatives, Kansas Senate, Legislative Services, and Kansas State Library. The Kansas Judicial Center, located to the south of the capitol, houses the judicial functions of the state. The Docking, Landon, Curtis, and Eisenhower State Office Buildings near the capitol complex now house other major state agencies.