Austin became the capital of Texas on Jan. 19, 1840, and this hill was platted as Capitol Square. A modest statehouse built here in the 1850s soon developed structural flaws. After that capitol burned on Nov. 9, 1881, authority for a new building rested on the Constitutional Convention of 1876, which had set aside about 3,000,000 acres of public land to finance it. Architect E.E. Myers of Detroit won a national competition with his plans for the capitol, and Mattheas Schnell of Rock Island, Ill., served as contractor. Basement excavation began early in 1882. Railroads built especially for the project hauled limestone from the Oatmanville quarries in Travis County and stone donated by the owners of Granite Mountain in Burnet County. The 900 workmen included 86 granite cutters brought from Scotland. Charles B. and John V. Farwell, Chicago bankers, funded the construction and were repaid in land in ten Panhandle counties, where they founded the famous XIT ranch. At dedication ceremonies on May 18, 1888, state senator Temple Houston, son of Sam Houston, accepted the capitol on behalf of the people of Texas and called it "a structure that shall stand as a sentinel of eternity."