Sometime back in the previous century, I worked on a custom combining crew that harvested wheat in South Dakota. We hauled many truckloads of wheat into that capitol city.
We all learned really quickly that it’s pronounced as one syllable.
It’s pronounced two syllables run into one French-style, which most English speakers who’ve never taken a heavy blow to the left temporal lobe can’t replicate. Closest is the way we pronounce the name “Pierce”.
I can nerd out on this kind of trivia. I was looking at state capitol elevations (specifically the capitol state house) and was surprised by a couple of them. The second highest state capitol is Cheyenne, which is actually over 800’ higher than Denver (the highest is obviously Santa Fe, which also has perhaps the most unusual architecture).
The second lowest capitol is a tie, at 21’, between two states, but the one that suprised me was Sacramento, though it really should not have, as that state has some really low spots (Honolulu is also 21’, one foot lower is the capitol in Dover).
Huh, I would have guessed that Florida would be lowest. Though I suppose that they do benefit from having their capital on the mainland, rather than on the sandbar.
There are 15 states ( + DC & PR ) with lower elevation capitols than Tallahassee, including all 5 with Pacific coastline.
Totally stolen from The Credibility Gap.
Depends where you measure. Parts of Providence are at sea level.
Again, I specified “capitol”.
Ah gotca. The capitol buidling in Providence must be a good 50’ above sea level.
Alaska’s state capitol looks like an ordinary office building.
North Dakota’s looks like a pastry
Growing up in Washington state and knowing what the US Capitol looked like, I grew up honestly thinking EVERY capitol building looked the same. Main entrance. Two wings. Dome over the center. All gray.
California is that style too.
Almost, the dome isn’t gray.
Point of comparison: 19th century civic buildings in the UK could be quite like that. Some were flamboyantly Gothic, but equally grandiose were:
Leeds: Town Hall
Belfast City Hall
Eh, it’s unique in the same way that most US capitols are unique: Neo-classical with a big dome in the middle. The details might vary, but even someone who’s never been to Rhode Island would look at that and say “That looks like a capitol building”.
It’s unique in the sense that it’s obviously not.
If you want to see a photo gallery of all 50 capitol buildings (and who doesn’t?), here’s one site that shows them all, ranked by the author’s preference.
Also, if you’ve ever considered taking a road trip to see all 48 capitol buildings in the Lower 48 (and who hasn’t?), this guy has calculated what he believes to be the most optimal route. It’s only 13,310 miles.