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CHARLESTON -- West Virginia's gold-domed state Capitol building is about to get some star treatment as the subject of the first documentary detailing its history.

"A Moving Monument: The West Virginia State Capitol," will have its public premiere at an invitation-only showing at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 6, at the Cultural Center, State Capitol Complex in Charleston. Gov. Joe Manchin III and West Virginia Division of Culture and History Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith will give opening remarks before the showing.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting will air the documentary statewide at 8 p.m. March 13, and in Charleston at 7 p.m. March 14.

The hour-long documentary was produced by MotionMasters, a Charleston film and video production company, in partnership with the University of Charleston.

"We West Virginians take such pride in our state Capitol," said Diana Sole, president of MotionMasters and the documentary's executive producer. "I was quite surprised no one had ever done a documentary on it. This one is rich in detail -- and it was very difficult to keep it under an hour in length."

The film's highlights include a vintage clip of President John F. Kennedy's address on the Capitol steps in 1963, footage from 1921 that showed the demolition of the state's second Charleston Capitol building after a fire destroyed it and an interview with a 95-year-old woman who saw the Capitol burn.

The project took more than a year and a half to complete. Crews shot or acquired nearly 70 videotapes and scanned about 900 photos, post cards and other documents. Additional footage gathered for the film will be available online at www.movingmonument.com.

The documentary was written by local author James E. Casto and narrated by Emmy-award winning state native Ed Rabel. Bob Thompson wrote the original music score.

"It's a remarkable story; it's a story that needs to be told," said Casto, associate director for public information at the Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing and former editorial page editor of The Herald-Dispatch. "People need to have a better appreciation of the building.

"As a journalist, I was a frequent visitor to the Capitol. I'd often be there very early in the course of the day. I'd be the only person in the hallway, and I'd hear my footsteps echoing and think, 'What a grand and glorious place this is.'"

West Virginia has had six statehouses in all. Some were in Wheeling, as the state government moved -- by steamboat -- from Wheeling to Charleston and back and forth again, earning recognition as "The Floating Capitol."

The state's present-day Capitol was completed in 1932 and is considered one of architect Cass Gilbert's greatest achievements along with the Woolworth Building in New York City and the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.

The documentary is designed for statewide television broadcast and will be provided free of charge to schools and libraries throughout West Virginia. It also will be available for purchase by the general public.

Photo courtesy of the James E. Casto collection

Taken from the vantage point of the future site of the state Capitol’s main unit, this photo records the laying of the cornerstone in the completed West Wing on April 10, 1925. Completion of the East Wing followed in 1927, with the main unit dedicated on June 20, 1932. Dignitaries on hand included former Governor William A. McCorkle (in light coat with goatee).

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Photos courtesy of MotionMasters

MotionMasters crew member Lukas de Gruyl pulls fellow crew member Doug Morris while he films footage for the documentary “A Moving Monument: The West Virginia State Capitol.”

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Photos courtesy of MotionMasters

Producer Diane Dimoff of MotionMasters, works with former network television newsman Ed Rabel. Rabel is the narrator for the documentary “A Moving Monument: The West Virginia State Capitol.”

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