Montpelier VT is the only US state capital without a McDonald’s.
With a population of just over 8,000, Montpelier VT is the US state capital that has the fewest residents. Other small capitals by population include Pierre SD (14,091), Augusta, Maine (18,899), and Frankfort, Kentucky (28,602).
The largest state capital is Phoenix, AZ, with a population of over 1.7 million residents.
The Pearl River Delta in China probably (sounds like it (with pearls and a river)) is the largest city in the world by some calculations, given that the definition of city is tricky.
They used the concept of Morphological Urban Areas (MUAs) rather than official city boundaries and it is great stuff, many people are talking about it.
Ninja’d by @NotEncinoMan, so, modified…
According to my (admittedly not great skills in) searching Google Maps…
In Montpelier VT there is 1 McDonald’s.
In Pierre SD there is 1 McDonald’s.
In Augusta ME there are 2 McDonald’s.
In Frankfort KY there are 2 McDonald’s.
In Phoenix AZ there are 57 McDonald’s.
In China there are over 6,000 McDonald’s (per searching the web not Google Maps)
Comments follow. I guess you can play off of any of this if you want to…
I counted only those with addresses in the city proper and not, e.g., those in surrounding cities. E.g., for Phoenix AZ I did not count any McDonald’s in Glendale AZ. (Again, for China that was a web search)
I recently watched a YouTube about the rising and falling of Subway Sandwich franchises. At one time, maybe around 2005 or 2010, there were more Subway Sandwich franchises in the world than any other eateries. But because Subway Sandwich had essentially what was called a ‘grow at all costs’ strategy, they gave franchises to anyone who wanted one and markets became super saturated, and Subway Sandwiches started competing against themselves. Subway Sandwiches began to fail (no doubt aided by Jared Fogle’s affinity to child pornography). In my city there were 3 Subway Sandwiches nearby, 1 that we didn’t like (poor service quality) and 2 that we did. Recently 2 of these locations were closed. Thankfully the poor one was closed. (Per wiki, as of 2025, Jared Fogle remains incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Englewood CO; as per a news article he could be released in 2029, 14 years after being sentenced in Nov 2015 to a 15 year sentence).
This trivia play got me thinking about McDonald’s. IME I have not encountered McDonald’s locations that seem to compete against each other (not that I’ve been researching that). According to their franchising FAQ here,
➜ McDonald's Franchise FAQ's | McDonald's U.S. Franchising ■ ,
I found these (emphases mine).
“McDonald’s does not develop new restaurant locations with the intent of issuing the franchise to a specific individual. Our development teams select and build the sites, and the new site is franchised separately by the field officers.”
“The site selection process is separate from our franchisee selection process. We make the decision to develop a location because we believe it will be a success. McDonald’s manages all the site evaluation, acquires the property, and constructs the building. After making the decision to develop a site, McDonald’s awards the franchise to the most qualified candidate.”
Essentially, McDonald’s does their research then they buy the property and build one. Then they find someone to buy the franchise. So they carefully select their locations.
Oh, and the training for franchisers is 6-12 months long.
If interested, one can submit an application. Initially all they ask for is name, email, phone number, and city and state.
➜ Start a McDonald's Franchise | McDonald's ■
Just for fun I submitted mine. We’ll see what the next steps are. And we’ll see when they ask me for my $750,000 buy-in. 
Finally, I’m 64 and retired now. When I was 16 my 3rd job was at a McDonald’s (1st was delivering the morning paper when I was 12, 2nd was very briefly as a busboy at a local chain steak house at 16). I ended up working with McDonald’s through high school and into college — for 4 years, including 2 locations in Connecticut, 1 in San Francisco, and 1 near college at UCSB (Santa Barbara). Obviously I liked the job well enough at that age.
The one near UCSB was in Goleta CA and was one of 6 owned by a man named Herb Peterson who invented the Egg McMuffin in 1972 and basically started the whole breakfast market for the fast food industry.
I just read the wiki article and it was at the McDonald’s where I worked in 1980 that the very first Egg McMuffin was sold in 1972!
I’ve met him once or twice, Herb Peterson, but it was only a quick hello.
Lately (truly!), Herb Peterson is a Marine!
“Delta Dawn” was written by Larry Collins and Alex Harvey. It’s been recorded by Bette Midler, Tanya Tucker, and Helen Reddy.
Bette Midler and Barry Manilow would perform together in the gay bathhouses in early 1970s New York City.
Cool!
In play:
Bette Midler, who was born in Honolulu in 1945, has garnered numerous awards in her career, including including four Golden Globe Awards, three Grammy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and a Kennedy Center Honor. Additionally, she has been nominated for two Academy Awards and a British Academy Film Award.
Bette Davis was 73 when Kim Carnes’ version of “Bette Davis Eyes” became a hit. She wrote letters to Carnes, songwriters Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon to thank them for making her “a part of modern times” and said that her grandson now looked up to her. After their Grammy wins, Davis sent them roses and happily accepted the gift of gold and platinum records from Carnes, hanging them on her wall.
At least as of January, I don’t believe so, although there is one in nearby Barre: The Only US State Capital Without A McDonald's Or Starbucks
In play:
David Weiss, a Democrat, is Mayor of Shaker Heights, a leafy, prosperous inner-ring suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. Another David Weiss (apparently no relation) was United States Attorney for the District of Delaware, appointed by President Donald Trump in 2017 and, perhaps surprisingly, retained by President Joe Biden. He left office earlier this year, three days before Trump began his second term.
Walt Weiss was a professional baseball shortstop. Weiss began his career with the Oakland A’s, for which he won the American League Rookie of the Year Awards in 1988; he later played with the Florida Marlins, Colorado Rockies, and Atlanta Braves.
Weiss used the same fielding glove for nearly all of his MLB career; by the end, it was said to have become decrepit and smelly, and a teammate nicknamed Weiss’s glove “the Creature.” During the 1999 World Series, in which Weiss was playing for the Braves, when he fielded a warmup throw from teammate Chipper Jones, the pocket of the glove disintegrated, forcing an emergency reassembly of the glove using fishing line; after that World Series, the glove was permanently retired.
You’re correct. My post was in error there. Thanks for the correction.
In play —
Walt Weiss won a World Series Championship in 1989 with the Oakland A’s in just his 3rd season in the majors. His second World Series Championship wouldn’t come until after he had retired as a player and had gone into coaching. His next World Series Championship came in 2021 with the Atlanta Braves when he was their bench coach.
That’s 32 years between World Series Championship!
The Oakland A’s 2002 season was chronicled by Michael Lewis in his 2003 book, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. Manager Billy Beane employed the theory of “Sabremetrics”, as put forth by baseball historian Bill James. The A’s would go on a 20-game winning streak but failed to advance beyond the first round of the playoffs.
Moneyball is a 2011 biographical sports film, adapted from Michael Lewis’s nonfiction book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. The film starred Brad Pitt as Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, Jonah Hill as Beane’s assistant/sabermetrician Peter Brand (a fictionalized version of Paul DePodesta), and Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the A’s field manager, Art Howe.
Brad Pitt was the deuteragonist in the film Ocean’s Eleven, alongside such distinguished actors as George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Andy Garcia, Matt Damon, and Casey Affleck.
The term “deuteragonist” comes from Ancient Greek drama, and is the secondary main character in a story after the protagonist. It is not considered to be exactly synonymous with “sidekick.”
According to someone named Cecil Adams, “side kick was pickpocket slang for the front pocket in a coat or a pair of pants. Some unknown poet of the underworld must have made the connection between the front pocket–the hardest to pick–and an inseparable companion.”
The world’s oldest, tallest, and largest trees are all located in California.
The world’s oldest tree is a bristlecone pine named Methuselah. Methuselah is over 4,850 years old and located in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in east-central California.
The world’s tallest tree is a coast redwood named Hyperion. Hyperion is over 380 feet tall and located in Redwood National Park in the northwest corner of California, about 440 miles from Methuselah.
The world’s largest tree is a giant sequoia named General Sherman. General Sherman is over 52,000 ft³ and is the world’s largest tree by volume in Sequoia National Park in east-central California, about 50 miles from Methuselah.
The exact locations for Methuselah and Hyperion are protected, to keep the trees safe from damage.
According to famousRedwoods.com the 21st tallest tree in the world is in the Mountain Home Grove in Tulare County, California, about 40 miles east of Visalia. It is located at DD coordinates 36.24509, -118.6819. Its name is Adam (not Adams), or, the Adam Tree.
Methuselah and Adam were both named after characters in the book of Genesis in the Bible.
The General Sherman giant sequoia was named after William T. Sherman, an Ohio native and a top U.S. Army general of the Civil War. Before the war he headed Louisiana State Seminary, a military institute. In 1860, he presciently wrote to another professor there:
“You people of the South don’t know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end. It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization! You people speak so lightly of war; you don’t know what you’re talking about. War is a terrible thing! You mistake, too, the people of the North. They are a peaceable people but an earnest people, and they will fight, too. They are not going to let this country be destroyed without a mighty effort to save it … Besides, where are your men and appliances of war to contend against them? The North can make a steam engine, locomotive, or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical, and determined people on Earth — right at your doors. You are bound to fail. Only in your spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with. At first you will make headway, but as your limited resources begin to fail, shut out from the markets of Europe as you will be, your cause will begin to wane. If your people will but stop and think, they must see in the end that you will surely fail.”
Wow that was powerful. Good trivia — thanks!
In play —
Before the Civil War the Springfield Armory in Springfield MA and the Harpers Ferry Armory in Harpers Ferry VA (now in WV), in that order, were the first and second of only two active federal armories in the United States.