Think your office furniture is old? The U.S. Senate is still using desks made 200 years ago. A Mississippi senator is still using the one that Jefferson Davis sat at before becoming president of the Confederate States of America.

The British burned the U.S. Capitol building in the War of 1812. Congress hired New York cabinet maker Thomas Constantine to create 48 new, individual desks for senators. Some modern upgrades have been made, but all the desks installed in 1819 are still in use.

Some of the nation's most famous — and infamous — leaders have used the pieces of furniture. According to the Senate website, more than 1,800 senators have used these iconic desks over time.

Davis ' seat is one of a handful of special tables in the chamber, and he's not the only president to use Desk 60. Here's what to know about the historic furniture.

Did you know there are special desks in the U.S. Senate?

Most seats are first-come, first-served, but senators can change their seats on the first day of Congress. The decisions are made based on seniority, and the desks are moved as needed.

A few pieces of furniture are assigned and not part of the general swapping.

The Daniel Webster desk has been assigned to New Hampshire senators since the '30s, and it's gone to the senior senator since 1974.

The Henry Clay Desk has been assigned to the senior senator from Kentucky since 1999. The resolution formalizing that was amended in 2006 so U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, could assign it to his junior while he served as party leader.

A less serious tradition is the biannual assignment of the candy desks.

"Any desk can become a candy desk, but to become 'the' candy desk each Congress, the desk must be located on the Republican side of the Chamber, in the last row, on the aisle, and adjacent to the Chamber’s busiest entrance," the Senate website reads.

Since 1965, a GOP senator who sits near a particularly busy door keeps a drawer full of candy for the others. About 20 people have held the position. Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma has held the seat since January 2025.

Who has used Jefferson Davis' desk?

Davis, a Democrat, used the furniture before resigning in 1861 and leading the Confederate States of America in the Civil War .

According to an 1895 clipping from the Ann Arbor Register , Isaac Bassett stopped a soldier from destroying the desk during the war and repaired it. He reportedly refused to tell which one was Davis' for years to keep people from chipping off souvenirs.

By 1906, after Bassett's death, its history was more widely known, according to an article in the Ottumwa Semi-Weekly Courier . U.S. Sen. Francis Cockrell, D-Missouri, used the piece. He previously served as a brigadier general in the Confederate army.

In 1919 , U.S. Sen Pat Harrison told Mississippi reporter Edgar S. Wilson, "I'd rather sit here than any place in the senate. This is the desk where Jefferson Davis sat, John Sharp Williams used it when he was in the Senate, and when he left, I took it."

Since then, it's been held by several other men. (U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith , a Republican, is the first woman to serve the Magnolia State in the Senate.)

Longtime Sen. John C. Stennis used the seat. It was one of 11 that Harry S. Truman, of Missouri, used before becoming president.

After a 1995 resolution, the table has always gone to the senior senator from Mississippi. Roger Wicker , R-Mississippi, currently holds that position.

Bonnie Bolden is the Deep South Connect reporter for Mississippi with Gannett/USA Today. Email her at .