Posted on February 28, 2019 at 7:58 AM by Bill Sowers
The Docking State Office Building stands pretty much empty now but 60 years ago plans were being made for its construction just west of the State Capitol. In January of 1949 the State Office Building Commission issued a summary report giving the general public an idea of just what was being planned. The 23 page document has architectural plans, drawings of what the planned building would look like, and covers issues of parking, current overcrowding of state agency offices and a visual look at what other states have done for state office buildings.
One striking thing about this 60 year old look ahead is the proposed model of the new state office building. It looks more like the Eisenhower State Office Building in Topeka (dedicated in 2005) than the current Docking State Office Building. An artistic rendition of possible future plans for the area around the State Capitol have a twin building to the structure being planned where the First Presbyterian Church is currently located, facing the planned building. In the end one might guess that removal of the historic church was scratched and the state office building being planned was built higher to allow much greater occupancy.
So come on over to the virtual halls of the State Library of Kansas' KGI Online Library and thumb through this booklet on the plans being made for a building that housed state agencies for over 50 years.