CAPITOL SQUARE FOUNDATION

The Capitol Square Foundation is working with the Ohio Women’s Suffrage Monument Commission to raise funds for a new monument at the Ohio Statehouse. Everyone is invited to donate for a monument representing women’s suffrage. For details about your part in this monumental project, please visit https://ohcapitolsquarefoundation.org/.

The Capitol Square Foundation was established to increase public awareness of and to involve citizens in the history of the Ohio Statehouse. Its purpose is to raise funds to obtain, restore and maintain artifacts and other items related to the history and enhancement of this grand monument and its adjoining grounds, so that the seat of Ohio's government may reflect the dignity of the state and its citizens.  

Projects supported by the Capitol Square Foundation have been the 1989-1996 Restoration of Capitol Square, Ladies’ Gallery, Cleisthenes bust, George Washington Williams Memorial, Great Ohioan Awards, Ohio Statehouse Museum Education Center exhibits and much more.   

Capitol Conversations

is a program initiated by the Capitol Square Foundation to bring prominent national speakers to visit and lecture at the Ohio Statehouse. 

In November of 2024, Doris Kearns Goodwin was at the Statehouse to be interviewed by Megan Wood, CEO and Executive Director of the Ohio History Connection. This fundraising event featured a reception and dinner, followed by remarks and a Q&A session. 

This program was in coordination with the Women’s Suffrage Monument Commission.  On the same day, several panel discussions were open to the public:    

The Power of Women's Votes: How Government Changed After the 19th Amendment

The Power of Women Leaders - How to Nurture and Support Them

“Ohioans in Space” Painting 

Artist Bill Hinsch was commissioned to paint a picture honoring astronauts born in Ohio and the engineers and scientists who made space travel possible. The finished 9-foot by 12-foot oil painting was unveiled in January of 2024 in the Ohio Statehouse Rotunda.  It depicts astronauts John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell and Judith Resnik, four of the Ohio astronauts noted for real firsts. An image of Flight Director Gene Kranz of Toledo represents the engineers and scientists without whom space travel would not be possible. Link to press release. It was the first painting created for the Ohio Statehouse Rotunda since 1957. 

Ohio Constitution exhibit and videos

The Capitol Square Foundation is proud of six new videos about the Ohio Constitution. Visit the Ohio Statehouse Museum Education Center to view the videos and pages from the Ohio Constitutions.  Watch all six videos online here.  

Women’s Suffrage Monument Commission

In 2019, the Ohio General Assembly approved the formation of the Women’s Suffrage Commission, which was tasked with commemorating the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women a constitutional right to vote.  The most important project conceived by the Commission was the erection of a monument on the grounds of the Ohio Statehouse that honors the flight for women’s suffrage and equality—past, present, and future.