1888 Italian Renaissance Revival statehouse haunted by Comptroller Robert M. Love, assassinated at his desk in 1903 by a former employee.
1100 Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78701
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Capitol building and grounds are free and open to the public; State Preservation Board offers free docent-led tours daily.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Restored 19th-century state capitol with elevators, accessible entrances, and accessible tour routes through public spaces.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1888 · National Historic Landmark · National Register of Historic Places · Italian Renaissance Revival · Elijah E. Myers design · Site of 1903 assassination of Comptroller Robert M. Love
The Texas State Capitol was authorized after fire destroyed the previous state capitol in 1881. The state held a national design competition won by Detroit architect Elijah E. Myers, who also designed the state capitols of Michigan and Colorado. Construction began in 1882 and was completed in 1888 under the direction of civil engineer Reuben Lindsay Walker, who used Texas "sunset red" granite quarried from Granite Mountain near Marble Falls. The building was financed in part through a land swap by which the contractors received approximately three million acres of public land in the Texas Panhandle that became the XIT Ranch.
The completed Capitol stands 302 feet 8 inches from ground to the tip of the Goddess of Liberty statue on its dome — taller than the U.S. Capitol — and was the seventh-tallest building in the world at the time of its dedication on May 16, 1888. The building's Italian Renaissance Revival design features a central rotunda, House and Senate chambers, and offices for the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and other statewide officials.
On June 30, 1903, State Comptroller Robert Marshall Love was shot to death at his desk in his first-floor office by a disgruntled former employee, William Hill. According to KVUE's historical coverage, Love had greeted Hill and invited him into his office; Hill handed Love a letter, then drew a revolver and fired two shots into the comptroller's chest. Chief bookkeeper J.W. Stephens gave chase and a struggle followed in which Hill was shot and later died. Love remains the only elected statewide official in Texas to be assassinated at his desk inside the Capitol.
The Capitol was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986. A major restoration completed in 1995 added the underground Capitol Extension. The building remains in continuous use as the seat of the Texas Legislature.
Sources
The Capitol's defining ghost story is anchored in a well-documented event. On June 30, 1903, Comptroller Robert Marshall Love was shot to death at his first-floor desk in the Capitol; the murder remains the only assassination of a sitting statewide elected official inside the building. According to Ghost City Tours, Austin Ghosts, and KVUE's reporting, visitors have for decades described a man in period clothing wearing a top hat walking the Capitol's interior promenade or upper hallways. The figure is said to disappear when approached or followed into a corridor, and it is most often identified in local lore as the ghost of Love returning to the floor where he was killed.
The State Preservation Board's own "Capitol Myths and Legends" page (tspb.texas.gov/prop/tc/tc-history/myths-legends/) acknowledges the existence of Capitol ghost stories, treating them as part of the building's cultural history rather than endorsing them as fact.
A second recurring narrative attaches to Reconstruction-era governor Edmund J. Davis, whose apparition is sometimes reported in the older corridors. KXAN's coverage of the State Preservation Board's seasonal "Haunted Capitol" tour notes that staff have recorded handprints appearing on the inside of Capitol windows in areas not regularly accessed, and that custodial staff occasionally report sounds in unoccupied offices after legislative hours. These accounts are reported as anecdote rather than evidence.
The Capitol's ghost lore is unusual in that it ties to a verifiable, historically catastrophic event — a workplace murder of a sitting state official — rather than vague tradition. HauntBound treats the underlying event as historical fact and the apparition reports as testimony associated with that fact.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Free 30-minute docent-led tour of the public spaces of the Texas State Capitol, including the rotunda, House and Senate chambers, and Governor's Public Reception Room. Tours are administered by the State Preservation Board; ghost lore is not part of the official narration.
Self-guided exploration of the Capitol building, grounds, and the underground Capitol Extension. The promenade and first-floor offices where Comptroller Robert M. Love was killed in 1903 are publicly accessible.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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