Illinois — The Balconies

image origin unknown,
provided by
Mrs. Zumpano's Fourth Grade Class

Black and prominent, the wrought iron balconies of the observation deck along with the columns below them give the otherwise typically shaped drums the appearance of being octagonal. While other capitols have observation decks around the drums, theirs are round. These are quite unique.

An Association
Sorry, I didn't need one for this capitol. Illinois is my home state, and this is the first capitol I saw. That makes it easy for me to remember. However, if you would like to make a suggestion, please see Visitor Challenge.

image courtesy of
Roger Johnson's Welcome to America

A Visitor-contributed Association
Thank you M.S. for sending your idea for this association. We appreciate your originality and hope our visitors will enjoy your story. Many will notice the error in the pronunciation of 'Illinois,' (the 's' is silent) but we're used to that. Perhaps it even makes this easier to remember!

"My Grandma has a balcony and she lives in a noisy part of the city. Whenever she hears a lot of noise outside she runs out on her balcony to see what it is. I can think of her balcony when I look at the Illinois capitol and remember she is looking for the noise like in Illi - noise."

M.S., Spring Hill, Florida

Cupolas
Around the drum of the Rhode Island capitol are four distinctive cupolas. The Illinois capitol (see the Illinois section above) is the only other one with cupolas there, but they only have two, in front. Many capitols have decorations in those two front corners that would be hard to mistake for cupolas.

The size of these four cupolas makes them easy to distinguish from the Illinois ones. When the finials on top are included, they come to the top of the columned section of the drum. They are huge!

A Two-part Association
The four cupolas look like smaller versions of the main dome; the domes are all the same color as the main dome and very similar in shape. Think of the main dome as a mainland, and the cupolas' domes as islands - Rhode 'Islands.'

The island association might be enough if you can remember Illinois' balconies and not confuse the two capitols. Just in case, notice the cupolas are colossal in comparison to Illinois' like the Colossus of Rhodes compared to normal statues. Colossus of Rhodes - 'Rhodes' Island.

A grand building with a grand entrance; a three-plus-story tall arch, the space beneath it uninterrupted by columns or balconies. By the way, the capitol is faced with Texas sunset red granite, hence the pinkish color.

An Association
It is a large arch. Large and Texas go together. If you've heard much about Texas, you've heard they make everything large there in the largest of the 48 contiguous states, and they are proud of that.