Frankfort is the capital city of Kentucky and is 54 miles east of the bigger and more populated city of Louisville. As we drove around Frankfort, we were pleasantly surprised to find that it’s got all the charm of a small town with a big personality.
Kentucky Capital Building in Frankfort – The Capital building was closed to visitors when we visited in June of 2021 due to Covid. We walked around the exteriors and took some pictures. We are hoping to be back sometime soon to check out the interior of the building.
A long and bitter quarrel among Louisville, Lexington and Frankfort over which city should be Kentucky’s Capital finally ended in 1904, when the legislature voted to spend one million dollars for a new capitol to replace the 1830 capitol on the old public square in downtown Frankfort. The current building in Frankfort was completed in 1909 and is the fourth permanent building since statehood in 1792. This building replaced the earlier 1830 capitol building, which still stands in downtown Frankfort.
Kentucky’s terracotta dome rises 215 feet and was patterned after L’Hôtel National des Invalides in Paris. That is the famous Parisian landmark where Napoleon and other French war veterans are buried.
