Local News Cole County History: The most famous room in town It is the room people remember for decades after their elementary school visit to the Missouri state Capitol. by Bob Priddy, Historic City of Jefferson Jun. 26 2021 @ 12:05am It is the room people remember for decades after their elementary school visit to the Missouri state Capitol. Most won't remember the name of the artist or anything the tour guide tells them about the painting that fills the big room. But they'll remember the room — the House Lounge, home of Thomas Hart Benton's mural "The Social History of Missouri." Not political history or military history, but "social history," which allowed Benton to explore the breadth and depth of Missouri life, culture and politics from the early 1700s - 1936, the year he transferred his pencil sketches laying on tables that are still in the room to the great walls.