What does a state Capitol do when its hall of fame gallery is nearly out of room? Find more space

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Visitors to the North Dakota Capitol enter a spacious hall lined with portraits of the Peace Garden State’s famous faces. But the gleaming gallery is nearly out of room.

Bandleader Lawrence Welk, singer Peggy Lee and actress Angie Dickinson are among the 49 recipients of the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award in the North Dakota Hall of Fame, where Capitol tours start. The most recent addition to the collection — a painting of former NASA astronaut James Buchli — was hung on Wednesday.

State Facility Management Division Director John Boyle said the gallery is close to full and he wants the question of where new portraits will be displayed resolved before he retires in December after 22 years. An uncalculated number of portraits would have to be inched together in the current space to fit a 50th inductee, Boyle said.

Institutions elsewhere that were running out of space — including the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall, the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s Plaque Gallery — found ways to expand their collections by rearranging their displays or adding space.

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