# State Capital Orgins **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 26, 2000, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716 "2000-11-26T02:32:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2000, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/21 "2000-11-26T20:06:51Z")
The first capital of WV was Wheeling (1863-1870). Then it was moved to Charleston (1870-75) then Wheeling again (1875-85) and finally Charleston again (1885-present). Vermont was a state 14 years before its capital was moved to Montpellier. I haven’t been able to find out what the capital was before that. Iowa City was the capital of Iowa for the first 11 years of statehood (until 1857), and Des Moines thereafter. Nebraska’s territorial capital was Omaha. In 1867, three things happened, but I’m not sure of the exact order: Nebraska was admitted to the Union, Lancaster’s name was changed to Lincoln, and the capital was moved to Lincon/Lancaster. Sitka, Alaska was founded by the Russians as New Archangel and was territorial capital under both Russian and American rule until 1900 when the capital was moved to Juneau. ---
**Author:** ![TNTruth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@TNTruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TNTruth)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2000, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/22 "2000-11-26T22:22:08Z")
\*\*Tennessee Trivia \*\* Kingston was the capital for one day, or eight hours, in 1803. The state legislature came there from Knoxville, and met in the county courthouse for one session. They then packed their bags and went home. This was to fulfill the letter of the treaty they had signed with the Cherokee, which stated that the capital would be moved to the ceded land. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/23 "2000-11-27T03:11:42Z")
With Nebraska I read Omaha was the capital but north of the platte. Most of the people lived south of the platte (river). Therefore it was moved to Lancaster (now Lincoln) ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/24 "2000-11-27T06:32:48Z")
When Wyoming was made a state, most of the important towns existed because they were one days train travel from the previous stopping point, so only town on the rail line were important enough to have a say. There was a fair amount of negotiation, and Cheyenne was given the Capital, Rawlins was given the state prison, and Laramie was given the college. ---
**Author:** ![2nd\_Law](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/f475e1/32.png) [@2nd\_Law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2nd_Law)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/25 "2000-11-27T07:01:11Z")
Actually, Illinois has had three capitals. When made a state in 1818, the first capital was at Kaskaskia, which currently is actually west of the Mississippi due to a change in the river’s course. In 1820, Vandalia was made the state capital. However, because many citizens wanted the capital in a more central location, the state legislature allowed the citizens to vote on the location of the capital, and in 1839 the current capital of Springfield was selected to be the capital city. ---
**Author:** ![LazarusLong42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@LazarusLong42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LazarusLong42)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/26 "2000-11-27T17:01:45Z")
Ohio has had at least three capitals that I know of. Chillicothe and Zanesville were both the capital city before the legislature finally moved to Columbus. Columbus is the only state capital which was built entirely to be the state capital; much like Washington, D.C., the layout (of the original city) was entirely planned, in the shape of a cross IIRC. Before Columbus was built to be the capital, there wasn’t much of a settlement there. Of course, now it’s expanded to far outside its original layout. LL ---
**Author:** ![kpm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c57346/32.png) [@kpm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kpm)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/27 "2000-11-27T18:38:57Z")
I think one reason that Alaska did not move their capitol to Willow is that people went and bought up the land around that area and thought they could make a killing. When the state dropped the plans to move the capitol those folks were stuck with land that was not worth much. BTW Willow is north of Anchorage (which is the area where most of the population in Alaska lives. ) ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/28 "2000-11-27T19:59:07Z")
The Wisconsin Territory (parts of modern day Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, North and South Dakota) had it’s capital in Burlington in modern Iowa. The capital was moved to Belmont in SW WI in 1837. In 1863 James Doty, a territorial judge, bought 1200 acres of land including the Madison isthmus and platted a grid of streets. He convinced the Wisconsin Legislature to move the state capital to Madison that same year, mainly by giving gifts of Madison real estate to legislators. Wisconsin became a state in 1848, so it has had the same capital since statehood. Fun Fact: The Wisconsin state _capitol_ (the building) is very similar in appearance to the U.S. Capitol building, but is 3 feet shorter. The builders didn’t think a state should have a higher dome than the nation’s capitol. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/29 "2000-11-27T20:09:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by wolfman \* > \*\*Cheyenne was given the Capital, Rawlins was given the state prison, and Laramie was given the college. \*\* I’ve been to all three places, and I have to say that sending those poor prisoners to Rawlins constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/30 "2000-11-27T20:21:50Z")
> [@](#): > > When Wyoming was made a state, most of the important towns existed because they were one days train travel from the previous stopping point Since this is GQ I have to question my own statement on this one. The more I think about it, I probably wasn’t one day of travel, but more likely how often they needed to stop and reload fuel and water. I doubt steam trains were that slow. ---
**Author:** ![ElDestructo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@ElDestructo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElDestructo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2000, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/31 "2000-11-27T22:49:39Z")
It should be noted that Memphis was the capital of Tennessee for about a month after the fall of Nashville in the Civil War. On a related note, there was only one shot fired in the defense of Memphis. Somebody took a potshot at a couple of Union soliers who were raisig the stars and stripes over the post office. Has anyone ever cared about this town? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/32 "2000-11-28T08:28:40Z")
I thought it interesting that out west the State Capitals tend NOT to be in the center of the state. California, Oregeon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Wyoming, Nebraska, Alaska, Kansas Montana and Texas You off center a bit in Colorado And Centered in North & South Dakota, Arizona and Oklahoma ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/33 "2000-11-28T16:46:50Z")
The geographical center of California is in Merced County and nobody really would like to have the state capital there unless you wanted to visit Yosemite frequently. However, in the 1850s, Sacramento was a relatively easy city for the majority of the state to get to. ---
**Author:** ![Short](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Short](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Short)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/34 "2000-11-28T21:04:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mooney252 \* > **Washington was taken into the Union in 1889 and Olympia has always been its capital. … Only later did Seattle boom.** Seattle does, however, like to trick tourists. It has a “capitol hill” named by early city officials to try and draw the capitol to Seattle (or so is my recolection). Other citites considered for the capitol of washington: Vancouver, Steilacoom, Port Townsend and Tacoma (see [http://www.ci.olympia.wa.us/information/history.asp](http://www.ci.olympia.wa.us/information/history.asp)) Whatever else you say about it, the capitol is about all Olympia has going for it. Olympia now has a population of only 36,740 people (compared with Seattle’s 540,500 and over 3 million in the greater Seattle area) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/35 "2000-11-29T02:04:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Markxxx \* > I thought it interesting that out west the State Capitals tend NOT to be in the center of the state. In Oregon, the capital is quite close to the population center of the state. This is probably true of most western states, or rather was true at the time the capital was founded. Later population growth may have moved that center (although in Oregon it hasn’t), but the capital wasn’t moved with it. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/36 "2000-11-29T02:15:24Z")
My mom told me bedtime stories about railroad barons and other unsavory parts of California history. She claims that Sacramento pulled all kinds of crazy stunts to be chosen as capital. At one point the committee in charge was visiting various towns under consideration. Sacramento-supporters got ahold of where they were going and booked up all the hotel rooms in advance. When the committee arrived at the candidate city they found the hotels filled up, and determined that the city didn’t have the capacity to be the capital. ---
**Author:** ![raoulortega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@raoulortega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raoulortega)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/37 "2000-11-29T23:11:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Whatever else you say about it, the capitol is about all Olympia has going for it. Olympia now has a population of only 36,740 people (compared with Seattle’s 540,500 and over 3 million in the greater Seattle area) What happened to the brewery? ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/38 "2000-11-30T01:56:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ChiefWahoo \* > \*\*Fun Fact: The Wisconsin state _capitol_ (the building) is very similar in appearance to the U.S. Capitol building, but is 3 feet shorter. The builders didn’t think a state should have a higher dome than the nation’s capitol. \*\* Similarly, the **Texas** state capital building is modelled after the U.S. capital building, but is approximately 3 feet _taller_! Likewise, the San Jacinto Monument in Houston is an obelisk like the Washington Monument, but also slightly taller. Staying on track, the Texas state capital did move, as **cooldude** mentioned, from Washington-on-the-Brazos to Houston to Austin. But, IIRC, there was an attempt to move it from Austin to somewhere else which was stopped by an unruly mob and thus in Austin it stayed. Sorry for the lack of details; my 7th grade knowledge of Texas History is rapidly decaying… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/39 "2000-11-30T03:08:33Z")
Also, for a period of the nation’s history, there was a law/policy (the Northwest Ordinance?) that required that the capitol of any new state be situated within 30 miles of the state’s geographic center. I don’t know exactly which states this covered, but Ohio was one of them. I mean, why else would you want to put a city there? ---
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716/40 "2000-11-30T06:29:04Z")
**bio-brat** said: > [@](#): > > Tha Capitol was moved from Detroit to Lansing in 1847. I assume because Lansing is one of the most centrally located cities in the lower pennisula. You’re probably correct as to why Lansing was chosen, but the reason the capital was moved in the first place had to do with getting it away from the border. Detroit was taken by the British during the War of 1812, and as I understand it the state pols decided being further away from a potentially-hostile foreign power would be a good idea. (Be a real bummer if the Canadians boiled up out of Windsor and captured the legislature…at least to members of the legislature.) As for Pennsylvania, I’ve heard the move had a lot to do with getting away from the Philadelphia press–Harrisburg was the boondocks, and consequently had fewer nosy reporters running around. I don’t know that’s really true…or that anyone official ever admitted it, anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-capital-orgins/42716.md?page=3)