WISCONSIN — May 29 is Wisconsin’s 175th birthday.

In March 1848, voters approved Wisconsin’s constitution, which is a requirement to become a state.

On May 29, 1848, Wisconsin became the 30th state admitted to the United States of America. Then-President James Polk signed the bill that made Wisconsin a state.

Nelson Dewey, who hailed from Lancaster, was the state’s first governor.

Wisconsin’s first territorial capitol was in Belmont, Wis. A second, temporary, territorial capitol was established in Burlington, Iowa.

The first Capitol in Madison began construction in 1837, before Wisconsin was admitted to the Union. The building was finished in 1848, the same year Wisconsin became a state. However, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society, the building posed a fire hazard and the government quickly outgrew it.

Construction began on a new capitol building in 1859. In Feb. 1904, it was destroyed in a fire. A new building was authorized in 1905, and construction started in 1909. The third, current Capitol was completed in 1917, with a price tag of $7,258,763.75, per Wisconsin Historical Society. Since then, the building has undergone a $158.8 million, 14-year renovation, which was finished in 2002.