60 Fun Facts About Hard US State Capitals

Which city was Alabama's capital before Montgomery took over in 1846?

The move reflected the shift of power toward the cotton-growing Black Belt.

Lansing became Michigan's capital in 1847 partly over fears that which city was vulnerable to British attack?

The worry dated back to the War of 1812; Lansing's central location won out.

Where did Florida Territory's first legislative session meet in 1822, before Tallahassee?

Pensacola had been the capital of West Florida; Tallahassee got the job in 1824.

Frankfort, Kentucky takes its name from a river crossing named after which pioneer, killed there in 1780?

'Frank's Ford' was gradually smoothed into Frankfort.

Which town was Illinois' second state capital, from 1819 to 1839?

Springfield won the capital largely through the efforts of Abraham Lincoln and other local lawmakers.

Concord, New Hampshire was incorporated in 1734 under what name?

Sir Benjamin Thompson later took his title, Count Rumford, from it.

In which year was Harrisburg named Pennsylvania's capital?

It has held the title ever since, chosen partly for its strategic location on the Susquehanna.

What name did Missouri's legislature propose for its new capital before settling on Jefferson City?

Thomas Jefferson was still alive at Monticello when the city was named for him.

Olympia was declared capital of the Washington Territory in what year?

It was incorporated as a town in January 1859.

Boston is named after a market town in which English county?

Isaac Johnson named the settlement after his hometown in 1630.

Which town did Great Salt Lake City replace as Utah's territorial capital in 1856?

The word 'Great' was dropped from the city's name in 1868.

Arizona's territorial capital moved to Phoenix in 1889 from which town?

Confederate veteran Jack Swilling's irrigation canals had made the Phoenix site farmable two decades earlier.

Under what name was the site of Austin briefly incorporated in 1839?

The Texas Congress had sent a commission to find a capital to replace Houston.

Before becoming Atlanta, the settlement was renamed in 1842 to honour a governor's daughter. What was that name?

It had begun as Terminus, the end of a state railroad; the capital moved there from Milledgeville in 1868.

Denver was named after James W. Denver, who held what office at the time?

The city was founded in 1858 at the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte during the gold rush.

Which town was Oklahoma's territorial capital before the seat moved to Oklahoma City after statehood?

Oklahoma City had grown to more than 10,000 people within hours of the 1889 Land Run.

Indiana's seat of government moved to Indianapolis in 1825 from which town?

Alexander Ralston, who had helped lay out Washington, D.C., platted the new city on a one-square-mile grid.

Columbia, South Carolina's nickname 'Soda City' comes from what?

The city was established in 1786 as the state's first planned capital, replacing Charleston.

Until 1875, Hartford shared the role of Connecticut's capital with which city?

The two had alternated as dual capitals since 1664.

The Hartford Courant, founded in 1764, holds what distinction?

Hartford also has the oldest continuously operating public art museum, the Wadsworth Atheneum.

Richmond replaced which city as Virginia's capital in 1780?

The move put the capital farther from a possible British attack from the coast.

Why did William Byrd II give Virginia's future capital its English name in 1737?

He commissioned Major William Mayo to lay out the town grid in 1737.

What was Albany called under the Dutch before the English renamed it in 1664?

The English name honoured Prince James, Duke of Albany, later King James II.

Which port town was North Carolina's capital during the American Revolution, before Raleigh was founded?

Raleigh was chosen as the site in 1788 and incorporated in 1792.

California's legislature moved from Vallejo to which town in 1853, before Sacramento?

Sacramento became the permanent capital in 1854 and was the western end of the Pony Express.

What is unusual about the municipal status of Nevada's capital?

It has been Nevada's capital since 1861, when Nevada was still a territory.

What nickname did Cheyenne earn for its rapid growth after 1867?

Territorial Governor John Allen Campbell named it the temporary capital in 1869.

In 1970 the City of Juneau merged with which neighbouring city to form its consolidated borough?

The result is the second-largest municipality in the US by area, bigger than Rhode Island or Delaware.

Which town did Alaskan voters choose in the 1970s as a new capital that was never built?

Willow lies about 70 miles north of Anchorage.

From which town on Maui did Kamehameha III move the Hawaiian Kingdom's capital to Honolulu in 1845?

Honolulu has been the capital ever since, through the kingdom, the territory and the state.

Boise's downtown has a block dedicated to the heritage of which European people?

Boise's own name is said to come from a French guide shouting 'Les bois!' at the sight of the wooded river.

Referendums in 1892 and 1894 confirmed which city as Montana's capital?

Helena had been territorial capital since 1875 and state capital since 1889.

South Dakota's capital was founded in 1880 across the Missouri from which older trading post?

It was picked as capital when South Dakota gained statehood in November 1889.

Bismarck was called Edwinton before 1873, after which man?

The railway renamed it for Otto von Bismarck to attract German settlers and investment.

Which Spanish governor gave Santa Fe its full 'Royal Town of the Holy Faith' name?

It is the oldest state capital and the earliest European settlement west of the Mississippi.

Between 1680 and 1692, who governed New Mexico from Santa Fe's Palace of the Governors?

The Pueblo Revolt had driven the Spanish out for twelve years.

Des Moines became its state's second capital in 1857. Which university town was the first?

The same year the name Fort Des Moines was shortened to Des Moines.

Which city was the capital of the Nebraska Territory before the 1867 Removal Act?

Naming the new capital Lincoln was an attempt to sabotage the move, since many settlers disliked the late president.

Where did the Wisconsin territorial legislature first meet in 1836 before choosing Madison?

James Duane Doty won the vote by offering freezing legislators buffalo robes and cheap lots.

Saint Paul takes its name from a log chapel established in 1841 by which Catholic missionary?

Before that the settlement was known as Pig's Eye, after the tavern of bootlegger 'Pig's Eye' Parrant.

Which of these was NOT an earlier Tennessee state capital before Nashville was made permanent in 1843?

Nashville began as Fort Nashborough in 1779 and is nicknamed the Athens of the South.

Where did the Congress of the Confederation meet when Trenton was the US capital in late 1784?

Trenton became New Jersey's state capital six years later, in 1790.

Annapolis was named in 1694 for which royal, soon to be Queen of England?

Governor Francis Nicholson moved the colonial capital there from St. Mary's City the same year.

Delaware's capital moved to Dover in 1777 from which town?

Dover was safer from British raiders on the Delaware River.

Augusta was named Maine's capital in 1827, beating which larger city?

The legislature kept meeting in Portland until the Bulfinch-designed State House was finished in 1832.

Montpelier is the only state capital without which two chains?

It became Vermont's capital in 1805, with residents donating money for the first state house.

West Virginia's capital moved back and forth for years between Charleston and which city?

Charleston became the permanent capital in 1885 after an 1877 vote.

Ohio's early capital moved from Chillicothe to which town and back before Columbus was chosen?

Columbus, planned for its central location, officially became capital in 1816.

Where was Mississippi's legislature sitting in 1821 when it chose to build a capital at Jackson?

The Jackson site was known as LeFleur's Bluff, after French-Canadian trader Louis LeFleur.

Oregon's capital was moved briefly to which town in 1855 before returning to Salem the same year?

Salem's name is an anglicised form of the Hebrew shalom, meaning peace.

Baton Rouge replaced which city as Louisiana's capital in 1846?

The name translates a native term, Istrouma, possibly from the Choctaw for 'red pole'.

By what Native American name, meaning 'head of the tide', was the trading post at Augusta, Maine known?

Plymouth Colony traders built a post there around 1628.

Which nuclear plant near Harrisburg suffered a partial meltdown on March 28, 1979?

The plant sits in Londonderry Township, south of the city.

Which French explorer named the riverside rock formation that gave Little Rock its name in 1722?

The city was founded in 1821 as capital of the Arkansas Territory after flooding made Arkansas Post unsuitable.

The name of Kansas's capital comes from a Kansa-Osage phrase meaning a good place to dig what?

Topeka was first recorded in 1826 as the Kansa name for the Kansas River; the Free-State town was laid out in 1854.

Roger Williams, founder of Providence in 1636, had been exiled from which colony?

He named the settlement for 'God's merciful Providence', which he credited for revealing the site to him.

Settlers originally named the future Springfield, Illinois after which South Carolina senator?

Abraham Lincoln lived in the city from 1837 until he left for the White House in 1861.

Nebraska's capital was founded in 1856 under what name before being renamed for Abraham Lincoln?

It sat on wild salt marshes and became the state capital in 1869; the Bertram Goodhue capitol building came later.

In which year was the word 'Great' dropped from Great Salt Lake City's name?

The city had replaced Fillmore as Utah's territorial capital in 1856.

Tallahassee's name comes from a Muskogean word usually translated as what?

It was probably a phrase used by Creek migrants from Georgia and Alabama; the city became Florida's territorial capital in 1824.