Wisconsin State Capitol

Cate Zeuske, former Secretary of Revenue and Wisconsin State Treasurer, can truly be called a champion for state pride and historical advocacy. In 2003, Ms. Zeuske’s husband was speaker of the Wisconsin state assembly. At one of the state functions, she happened to be speaking to the wife of the TX speaker and began discussing the widely successful annual ornament program the State Capitol of Texas had created. Inspired by the discussion, Zeuske spoke to her colleagues and discovered that there was a State Capitol Restoration Fund in existence for people to donate towards the restoration of the capitol building, but to date, no money had been raised. What the fund lacked was a visible vehicle to tie donors to the capitol and the pride in their state.

This was the onus for an annual ornament program for the Wisconsin State Capitol. The design has always been architectural facets of the building. In 2004, the piece was a golden likeness of the capitol itself. The original order sold through in 2 days and more had to be reordered, for a total their first year of 2500 ornaments. Each year the ornament continues to be popular.

The ornaments are distributed in various local historic gift shops, such as the Historical Society Gift shop and online store, Veterans Museum Gift Shop and Frank Lloyd Wright convention center. Other non-historic retailers offer the ornaments in their stores. One of these stores, Johannsen’s Greenhouse and Gifts in Madison, is one of the largest fundraisers for the ornament. All retailers agree to a minimum of $3 from each sale to go towards the fund. Zeuske has resisted urgings to raise the price of the ornament. “By keeping the price down,” she says, “everyone can take pride in owning a piece of local history as well as supporting the local economy.”

Both locals and tourists delight in the purchase of the annual ornament. Zeuske says, “I’m so proud of the beauty of this collection and the fact that they are made in America. The Capitol belongs to our community. And it is that community who should share in the knowledge that they are giving back to their treasured state”.

To learn more about the Wisconsin State Capitol, please visit their website at http://www.wisconsin.gov/state/capfacts/history.html.

 Download a PDF of the Wisconsin State Capitol case study