Emancipation Hall opens at Capitol

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- The Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, plagued by years of delays and escalating costs, opened for business Tuesday.

House and Senate leaders spoke at the opening ceremony for the 580,000-square-foot, marble-metal-glass structure that cost $621 million, The Hill reported.

The center's construction began in 2002 as a way to offer tourists a more inviting and educational entrance into the Capitol. Until the newly christened Emancipation Hall's opening Tuesday, visitors were at the mercy of the weather, the Washington publication said.

Besides honoring the families of Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson, two Capitol Police officers killed in the line of duty in 1998, lawmakers recognized African-American slaves who helped build the Capitol.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio credited Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., and Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., for shepherding through legislation to change the name of the center hall to Emancipation Hall.

"I want to talk about the fact that it's so appropriate that, though long overdue, this Capitol Visitor Center is ready for 2009," Pelosi said, "which is the 200th anniversary, the bicentennial, of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator."