Capitals of states

[Sir Mohamed]

I always wondered why several states have capitals, that are little known outside America or even outside the state itself. Very often, it’s not the largest city of the state. That’s really paradox.

Just a few examples, that came in my mind:

- New York: Albany. Not NYC, Buffalo or Rochester. It’s Albany. A city, that no one knows, especially in other countries (I know people in Europe and the Arab world that think/thought that NYC and NY state is almost the same. They were surprised when I told them that NY state is a little larger than Greece).

- California: Sacramento. Also a city, that’s barely known, especially outside the US. The Golden State has several cities that are known around the globe like LA, SF, San Diego, Oakland or San Jose.

- Illinois: Springfield. Who the heck knows Springfield? Maybe because of the Simpsons and there are lots of Spingfields. Everyone thinks of Chicago first when he/she hears of Illinois.

- Nevada: Reno Carson City. None knows CC outside America or even outside NV. I would think of Las Vegas first.

- Florida: Tallahassee. Also barely known. Miami, Orlando and Tampa are much´better known.

- Pennsylvania: Harrisburg? I always thought it's either Philadelphia or Pittsburgh.

The only opposite examples I know are Salt lake City (UT) and Phoenix (AZ).

[ilikeverin]

Er, the capital of Nevada is Carson City.

[/]

Boston? Atlanta? Indianapolis? Honolulu?

[Sir Mohamed]

Er, the capital of Nevada is Carson City.

fixed.

[Dereich]

Several state capitals were chosen exactly because they aren't the largest city; the goal was to stop political dominance by one city leading to neglect for everywhere else.

There were also cases where there were several cities that could have qualified as the capital and the choice was a compromise. Florida, for example, chose Tallahassee because it was the halfway point between the two biggest cities of the day, St. Augustine and Pensacola.

[dead0man]

What Dereich said about getting power away from the big city in the state, plus some of them were picked just because they were in the middle of the state geographically.  Springfield for example.

[Mr. Smith]

Sacramento was pretty respectable when it became the capital, what with the Gold Rush and all that, whereas LA was nowheresville until the film industry opened up.

[Mr. Reactionary]

plus some of them were picked just because they were in the middle of the state geographically.  Springfield for example.

This. Richmond. Raleigh. Columbia. Nashville. Little Rock. Jefferson City. All pretty centrally located.

[Ebsy]

Jefferson City is also conveniently located far from either St. Louis or Kansas City, making it costly for residents of either to travel there, insulating it from the urban areas.

[YaBoyNY]

Albany was selected as NY's permanent capital in 1797 because it was a central business and trading center, right by both the Hudson and Mohawk rivers.

[muon2]

The original 1818 IL state capital was in Kaskaskia, a town on the Mississippi river. It had been the territorial capital from 1809 and was a major trading settlement. At the time of statehood most of the population was in the south near and between the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Chicago had a fort and trading post and had been burned by Potawatomi Indians during the war of 1812, and was only rebuilt in 1816. Chicago in 1818 was a tiny trading post, that wasn't even supposed to be in Illinois, but for the machinations of Nathaniel Pope who wanted a longer stretch of Lake Michigan and the lead mining area of Galena in the new state.

A year after statehood the capital was relocated to Vandalia in southern Illinois near the center of population of the time. Kaskaskia flooded frequently, and was all but wiped out in the late 1800's. Vandalia was a new town built just for the capital.

By 1837 the population has shifted north, but not to Chicago which still had less than 4000 people. A group in the state legislature representing Sangamon county successfully attached an amendment to  a spending bill for a new capital in Springfield. The legislative leader was Abraham Lincoln, so the state is aptly named the "Land of Lincoln".

I'm not aware that there has ever been a serious effort to move the capital from Lincoln's home city. The state has buildings in Chicago that provide offices for the statewide officials and hearing rooms for when the legislature is not in session.

[TDAS04]

Dover, Pierre, Frankfort

[This account no longer in use.]

Dover, Pierre, Frankfort

Frankfort was chosen as a compromise; it was halfway between Louisville and Lexington. Pierre is very strange, but you could argue it's because it's in the middle of the state. Dover, I have no f[inks]ing clue.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Probably the worst located state capital is Juneau. If only Congress had made moving the capital to the railbelt a condition of statehood.

[Antonio the Sixth]

It makes sense to me that a capital should be located somewhere near the center of a State (admittedly, the population center rather than the geographic center, but still).

[angus]

Who the heck knows Springfield?

I do.  In fact, I had no trouble naming the ones you mention.  On the other hand, I had trouble with six others.  I was able to name 44 of 50 on the fly:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=226550.msg4878724#msg4878724

I guess I don't think of how small or large, or how well-known or little-known, a city might be.  I don't think that necessarily factors into the choosing of a capital.  Brazil and Belize decided to move their capitals inland 50 years ago to places that didn't even exist before someone decided to put the seat of government there.  If people need to travel to the capital on business, it makes sense to put it near the geographic center.  Harrisburg and Albany might be better choices in this regard than more economically important cities for capitals.  There may be cultural influences at work.  When Americans were in charge of Germany, they put the capital in Bonn, but all the times Germans have been in charge of Germany, they prefer Berlin. 

Why did the US move its capital from Philadelphia to a swamp on the Potomac River?  The city of Philadelphia seems not to have gotten over this injury.

[Joe Republic]

Las Vegas and Reno didn't exist when Nevada became a state.

[LLR]

No "love" for Lansing yet?

[The Arizonan]

My hometown happens to be the capital of Arizona. Phoenix is the largest state capital and the sixth largest city in the United States. It actually has more people than entire states like Alaska and Delaware.

People think of Arizona as a backwater even though it is fairly urbanized and is growing in terms of population. Out of the top fifty cities in population in America, three of them are in the state. Its capital has more people than some states for God's sake.

I remember one time I saw an ad for the Phoenix Comic-con and it had a picture of a toppled saguaro cactus. How about putting a picture of the Phoenix skyline you jerks?!

[TDAS04]

It makes sense that Florida's capital is in the northern part of the state, considering that's where most of the state's tiny population was located at the time.  Florida was pretty much a swampy frontier until much later.

[Nym90]

Travel was far more difficult 200-odd years ago when most state capitals were chosen, so a central location between population centers was a major factor in their selection. Much the same logic applies to why Washington was chosen as the US capital instead of say New York or Philadelphia.

County seats are often centrally located within counties also for the same reason.

It's interesting that there has never been a major effort to try to move the capital of any of the states since establishment, however. I suppose it would be more trouble than it's worth.

[Spark]

Montpelier, VT

[Indy Texas]

Texas' capital was originally Houston, but that was before statehood and it was nowhere close to being the largest city at that time.

[muon2]

Travel was far more difficult 200-odd years ago when most state capitals were chosen, so a central location between population centers was a major factor in their selection. Much the same logic applies to why Washington was chosen as the US capital instead of say New York or Philadelphia.

County seats are often centrally located within counties also for the same reason.

It's interesting that there has never been a major effort to try to move the capital of any of the states since establishment, however. I suppose it would be more trouble than it's worth.

As I described, there was a major successful effort to move the IL state capital. After almost 20 years in Vandalia, Abe Lincoln led a group from Sangamon county to move it to Springfield.

[Zioneer]

Salt Lake City is a pretty logical location for a capital; its where the Mormon pioneers first settled, its centrally located, and its located in one of the few areas of the state where any large amount of people can actually live.

The territorial capital in Fillmore was ridiculous, everyone knew where the real political, economic, and religious center in Utah was.