The structure is of Maine granite, built in the style of the French renaissance, and is surmounted by a tower and dome, from which the eye may sweep over sixty miles of country to rest u])on the blue profiles of the Catskills, or follow the windings of the river, or return to trace the streets that are spread like a map at our feet. There is the City Hall, that was built in 1882, carrying in the spirit of its architectural design a suggestion of the Hollandish origin of the city. There are the two cathedrals -- one to the north and the other southward -- and numerous churches that testify to the religious sentiment still animating the descendants and successors of those who nodded to the preaching of Domine

548 The Hudson River

Megapolensis. There are the four libraries, the numerous educational institutions, the Dudley Observatory that was opened with such a flourish of trumpets in 1856, the numerous houses of a public character, and the residences of prominent citizens of the past and the present. On the outskirts of the town hangs a cloud of smoke from its blast-furnaces and factories, and at its wharves are the great lumber yards that contribute to its industry. The Capitol was commenced in 1881 and completed at a cost to the State of twenty-one million dollars, and is of such noble proportions that its mere bulk alone is impressive. The main structure is three hundred by four hundred feet on the floor plan, with walls that rise one hundred and eight feet from water-table to cornice. It contains chambers ample for all the departments and business of the government, besides housing the magnificent State Library, with its one hundred and fifty thousand volumes and its collection of priceless manuscripts and documents relative to the history of the State.