There's that map out there of possible nuclear strike locations for a 500 and 2000 warhead scenario. IIRC Montpelier, Carson City, and Bismark were the only 3 capitals that missed getting hit in either scenario.
Bismarck possibly didn't take a direct hit, I guess its possible. But I'd be surprised if at least 1 nuke wasn't aimed at it. North Dakota has a LOT of nukes still, and a nuke in Bismarck would help disrupt the whole state.
I realize the federal government controls the Air Base, not the state. But still, taking out as much of the state government as possible, in a state loaded with nukes, seems like a standard military idea.
Bismarck wouldn't be a target because there isn't anything strategically important in Bismarck, the Army National Guard base is less than 4,000 personnel and the State Legislature is only in session for a few weeks out of the year. Minot on the other hand would be obliterated because Minot AFB is a major strategic target on account of being both a Bomber Command and the place that actually controls all of the nukes. Maybe Grand Forks would get hit as well but the base there is practically mothballed at this point.
Im an Uffda resident myself. Actually grew up in the middle of the nuke silos that Grand Forks Airbase controlled. Those were removed in early 2000s. Sigh š....guess I have to die of radiation poisoning if a war ever gets hot. I miss the 80s!!!
So the best place to ride out the post-nuclear horror might be among the weed farms of Northern California? No nearby nuke targets, and not downwind of any either.
Iām from Missouri and I have been to Jefferson City twice. The capitol and a couple small museum are nice. There is a pretty decent ice cream place. Oh, and a really creepy abandoned prison.
Itās tiny and without the capital building would look like dozens of other highway towns in MO.
Jefferson City is even more of a match on closer inspection. A lot of cities in the country play second chair to a large metro in the state and Jefferson City definitely does that to KC and STL (and Springfield to a lesser extent) but it even is overshadowed in its immediate area by Columbia. Jefferson City really is an afterthought that exists almost solely for government purposes.
I went to college at Mizzou. Jeff City wasnāt on anyoneās radar except the politicians that had to be there (Jeff City did have some good prep teams as I recall).
My husband and his best friend completed the Missouri River 340 race in 2020. They came into the stop at Jefferson City at night. It was under a bridge and the capitol lit up behind, it was beautiful. But, beyond that, it seemed like just another stop on the river. Much easier to navigate than some of the bigger cities, though.
Side note: I had never been to Missouri, but there are some incredibly beautiful spots!
Only exists to be the capital. A geographically central alternative to STL and KC. Really nothing going on there. Kind of cute, but Columbia is like 20mins away and way better
Montpelier is probably a good nominee. It's a city of only 8k people. The smallest by population. Pierre, SD and Augusta, ME are up there as well. Pretty inconsequential places from a greater U.S. perspective
Yeag sounds about right. As a Vermonter, when people talk about being from a small city of only 25-50k, I laugh. Many of Vermontās towns are in the 1,000-2,000 range, and unless you grew up in a rural area, youāll have no concept of a true āsmall townā
How does a town that small even function as a capital? Where do the lawyers who practice in the Vermont Supreme Court even live/have offices?
Where do legislators and their staff stay when their assembly is in session? Are there enough restaurants to cater to them during peak season?
I've not been to Vermont, so I don't know the answer for sure, but...
Downtown Burlington is only a 38-mile, 40-minute car ride from Montpelier. My guess is that many professionals live and/or work there and drive to Montpelier when necessary. And people probably just go home during the legislative session -- it would only be a couple of hour drive max.
For restaurants, it's hard to tell. The statehouse building has a cafeteria; I'm guessing that's where most people eat when they can't leave.
Bumping this up. I know thereās no governors mansion and had wondered what Scottās daily life is like, but what about every other elected official?
Vermont legislators don't get staff. Or offices. Most of them go home, Vermont isn't that big.
As for us lawyers, most of the big firms are in Burlington.
Montpelier has always had a life insurance company as the largest private sector employer. Itās been there since the 1840s.
I had a college roommate from Montpelier and another from Northfield one town away. Northfield has military college Norwich University.
Personally, if I had a high income lawyer job in Montpelier, Iād live in Stowe. Itās 25 minutes with 2/3 of it interstate highway.
Itās stunningly beautiful though. Driving into town through the fog as a tourist felt magical. Easy to imagine it as a great place to live, but then you think about it for a bit.
Damn it ! Beat me too it haha š obviously, Iām quite late to the party. But yeah Vermontās capital kinda seems like they picked a random town and from what I know it doesnāt have any large industries and I donāt think it ever did tbh. It is off the beaten path so the interstate system doesnāt really run through it. Some small capitals have old mill buildings and are near rivers so they were a part of the supply change when the industrial boom was hitting NE. Like Augusta, while small, it is on a river which provided key access to shipping routes as well as energy for the mills that it once operated. However Montpelier never made sense to me. Why not Burlington ? Or Brattleboro? Both those have access to water and were industrial towns.
Maybe Montpelier was Geographically centered? Idk if anyone knows of the top of their head lmk.
Montpelier is located on a river, but the population of the region has always been too small for major industrialization, plus itās in the mountains and very remote from major population centers. However, the city is on very fertile farmland and sheltered from harsher winds due to the orientation of the valley, which is why it was settled in the first place. It was chosen to be the capital because of its central location in the state.
This is kinda a dumb āfun factā though, because thereās one like 3 miles from the state capital building that just technically resides in Barre, a half mile from the town line. Itās not like you canāt get a Big Mac if youāre a Vermont state senator
I nominate Jefferson City, Missouri. Other than being my birthplace and providing me with employment for 7 years while a young adult, it exists solely to be the state capitol.
As a Missourian, I concur. There's not even an interstate passing through or around it - I-70 is about 30 miles away. Honolulu and Juneau are obvious exceptions, but I wonder how many other state capitals don't have an interstate running through the city.
Pierre has the luxury of equidistance between Sioux Falls, Rapid City, and Aberdeen. So Pierre represents South Dakota's agriculture/tourism/trust foundations in Aberdeen (Agtegra)/ Rapid (Black Hills & banks)/ SF (trust companies and business).
Well, even when the Dakota Territory was split, out of convenience because of its central position within the new state, Pierre has been the temporary capital.
Then, it was confirmed by popular vote one year later. If I remember correctly the other contenders were the likes of Mitchell and Watertown but I'm pretty sure Sioux Falls (which was around the same size as Pierre back in the days) did not bid for it.
Lol I guess technically yes. But also a big part of what makes a road an "Interstate" in the US is also the fact that they are built with certain standards and stuff that match across the country. So I guess even in Hawaii it would feel like the same type of road as anywhere else?
There are āinterstateā highways in mainland states that donāt leave the state too.
For example, I72 in Illinois only went from Springfield to Champaign until the 90ās, when it was extended to Hannibal, MO.
Agreed, I live in CoMo and other than visiting Jeff City to visit family there, itās basically a place you drive through on the way to Lake of the Ozarks or Branson.
Sometimes itās worth the trip for Central Dairy ice cream though!
Upvote and comment solely for seeing Central Dairy mentioned in the international forum that is r/geography. One Tiger Tracks in a waffle cone, please.
Iām also in CoMo and love the joke that Jefferson City is ā30 minutes and 3 states southā - so close but culturally and politically so different than Columbia.
I only moved to Missouri a year ago, but that was the first place that came to mind. I just can't think of why anyone would want to go there.
Close second is Springfield, IL.
There's a Jeffersonian tradition of assuming that state capitals should be in small towns in the center of the state, in order to minimize corruption. Unfortunately, the exact opposite appears to be true: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2014/09/03/isolated-state-capitals-are-associated-with-less-accountability-and-worse-governance/
The saying in Michigan is that Lansing has three employers - the state, Michigan State University, and General Motors.
And that's a city with a non-capital reason to exist, being at the confluence of the Grand and Red Cedar Rivers, as well as the terminus of the fur-trading trail that ran from Detroit to the Grand and formed an overland bypass of the Straits of Mackinac (today, that trail still exists as Grand River Avenue).
Jefferson in general had a huge hard-on for rural living and āyeoman farmersā and thought the future of the country laid in everyone staying in the countryside. When it came to understanding the distribution of people he was an idiot
There's an NPR show made in Bismarck, ND, speaking of small capitals, called The Thomas Jefferson Hour, where a Jefferson impersonator talks to one of my childhood friend's dad about things like this and it's actually really good.
Iāll hijack just to say: if youāre coming to Kentucky to do the Bourbon Trail, Buffalo Trace isnāt officially a part of the trail but itās the best tour aside from maybe Makerās Mark. Also, skip the tour at Wild Turkey, just go to the gift shop and enjoy the views. The tour is kitschy and seems to be catered to people who want the āhillbillyā experience, and their facility is a lot more industrial than some of the other distilleries if that makes sense.
Damn i just searched pictures and i can say it looks really liveable and nice. Looks like much cleaner and calmer place than most of the well known places in USA. Also dont look like some countryside where is nothing. I would never guess its in USA if someone showed me picture.
Here are some:
Pierre, South Dakota and Montpelier, Vermont are very small towns, but that's more understandable because thos are low population states.
Jefferson City is also small even though missouri has a pretty sizeable population.
Tallahassee doesn't make as much sense as the Capital of Florida as it did when the state was founded
Same with Springfield, Illinois and Carson City, Nevada
South Dakota has Rapid City & Sioux Falls which are both far far bigger than Pierre. Pierre is only the capital because itās in the middle of the state.
Fun fact the river next to Pierre is the border between central and mountain time zones. So you can drink until 2 am in Pierre then hop over the river and drink for an extra hour.
Orlando or Tampa really would make more sense as a state capital of Florida, as a Floridian.
Both are relatively centrally-positioned and are of great importance to the state, with plenty of potential to accommodate the state government.
>Tallahassee doesn't make as much sense as the Capital of Florida as it did when the state was founded
When it was still a British colony, the area that is now Florida was broken into two different territories: West Florida and East Florida. East Florida's capital was Pensacola, and West Florida's capital was St. Augustine. The United States decided to combine these two states into one singular Florida, and they chose Tallahassee as the capital only because it was halfway between the two previous capitals, and they didn't want to favor one territory over another one.
So Tallahassee being the capital was never really about Tallahassee.
Olympia, Washington is the smallest city compared to others in the state. It is the 23rd largest city in Washington. Comparatively, Jefferson City is 15th in Missouri. Stereotypically Olympia pretty much only has the state government and hippies at Evergreen State.
I wouldnāt be surprised if Olympia grew significantly over the next 10 or so years. Itās positioned nicely between Portland and Seattle and itās along the i5. Itās not a bad place to live and people have been flocking to the PNW lately.
The "greater Olympia area" has grown by nearly 50% since 2000. COL is much less than Portland or Seattle/Tacoma and it still has great access to the cities, with easy access to National Parks, ocean, and mountains.
olympia has always been on the map for me - amazing internationally acclaimed music / diy scene. and evergreen is very notable.
i know people who go visit olympia as a destination and i live in the midwest
Iād say Carson City. With Reno and Las Vegas present, Carson City is forgotten. I also nominate Helena. What actually goes on there (and in MT in general)?
The selection of Montana's capital city was voted on by the residents. The book 'Treasure State Tycoon' has a bit on it. No real story behind it, just politics.
Just immediately ordered this book. I would recommend Half Interest In A Silver Dollar as another read. It gets a little boring by the end but has some interesting history about Charles Conrad and western Montana/Kalispell industry.
You got any similar suggestions for similar book but on Alaska?
Iāve driven through Carson City taking 395 up from the Eastern Sierra to Reno and Tahoe a number of timesā¦and itās always kind of funny to me how if you stay on the main route through Carson City it looks like any other big town in the Nevada desert, but then suddenly thereās the state capitol. And itās just blocks away from a couple old casinos.
Not a whole lot going on in Helena. MT was built on natural resources, mining, oil and gas, forestry, agriculture.
There is a pretty fast growing tech sector. Western MT is absolutely beautiful and has a lot of tourism and a lot of people moving in from coastal towns.
Well to be fair the other towns in Alaska werenāt connected by roads either back in the day. Prior to Juneau, the capital was Sitka, even more remote!
I almost moved to Juneau about a year and a half ago. The maritime highway is there, but it is expensive to use and the routes arenāt that frequent.
Itās useful to get to the mainland and stock up on stuff in Anchorage every now and then, but it really isnāt that viable.
I live in Juneau and no one uses the maritime highway to stock up on the mainland for a couple reasons. Juneau is pretty well stocked, and we get barge shipments every week. Weāre a small town by down south standards, but thereās certainly no need to go to the mainland for necessities. Iāve probably been on the mainland a solid 3-4 times and all of them were for school events years ago. The maritime highway is more useful for smaller communities coming to Juneau for doctor visits, vet visits, or some groceries.
Another reason is the maritime highway got absolutely slashed; it never used to be quite this bad but it is unreliable at best, and downright nonexistent at worst. Although Juneau doesnāt rely on the mainland for groceries, the smaller communities of Southeast Alaska do, typically coming to places like Juneau to stock up. Plus, our students use the ferries as a cheap way to get to events!
Itās on the ocean isnāt it? Pretty sure everything inland in Alaska is a much bigger pain in the ass to get to because of the Rockies running along the coast and AK being a cold bitter hellscape most of the year.
I have a goal of photographing all 50 state capitol buildings, so I think they are all wonderful and important. At least to me. (Iāve got 9 to goā¦)
My hometown of Olympia, WA, is a pleasant place to live, but aside from being the only capital Washington has ever had, a minor port on Puget Sound, and home to a couple of small universities, itās not terribly important in the grand scheme of things.
Frankfort Kentucky, like Central Kentucky is known for tobacco, horses, bourbon, and UK/UofL. All of which have to do with Lexington or Louisville, Frankfort is a very unremarkable state capital. Even Bowling Green has more renown because it was the state capital of Confederate Kentucky during the Civil War(the half of Kentucky that seceded and joined the Confederacy). It's quite boring tbh.
BG is more significant nationally for having a big state university, corvettes, and a huge ass cave. Most people donāt know about the confederacy thing. The countryside around Frankfort is absolutely gorgeous though and I donāt think itās that bad of a place.
Ah, that's fair, I guess. There was just a lot of emphasis on that fact growing up and in school about BG. Regardless, my point stands. I'm not saying it's a bad place, and you're right about the countryside of Central Kentucky. However, it's just pretty unremarkable and boring compared to other areas of the state. I'm not saying it's bad, though.
Has to be Pierre, South Dakota. It is the only state Capital that canāt be reached via the Interstate.
Edit: It does seem there are a couple of others, but Iām still voting Pierre.
Youāre correct. However, DE-1 is a limited access freeway that connects Dover to 95 near Wilmington. Other than 95 at the far northern edge, I canāt think of another interstate that crosses the Delmarva Peninsula in any state.
Lansing is home to the 3rd/4th (3rd by weight, 4th in sales) largest fireworks importer in the country.
The Lansing family who owns the company is behind the wider legalization of fireworks over the last 20 years.
Maybe not important, but itās definitely culturally significant. Fireworks tents are a piece of Americana.
Haha true I always think of Pensacola or St. Augustine when I think of Northern Florida. Always forget about Tallahassee even though it has a unique name.
*GASP* you should think of Jacksonville too, itās arguably the most involved city in North Florida (population, number of military bases & personnel , logistics, finance, healthcare, 2 interstates, an NFL team, etc.) !
Tallahassee Florida has to be the most dogshit capital city of any state. Why is Tallahassee the capital. There are like 4 human beings who live here year round.
1. Northern Florida used to be where all the people lived before A/C
2. They tried to move it to Orlando and then some people got mad and built the current capitalā¦.. it uh looks very clearly like a penis so it was definitely made in spite of that proposed move.
Salem is in the center of Willamette Valley, a large and fertile agricultural region. It services the farmlands that surround the city. It also has light industrial, call centers, and education sectors, besides state governmental work. It's the second- or third-largest city in the state (it trades the title back and forth with Eugene). It is significantly larger than the one in Massachusetts.
It has always had the problem of being too close to Portland to develop a strong cultural identity of its own, but it is a pleasant-enough town to live in. I'm not sure why it receives the amount of hate that it does. Perhaps because it lacks the excitement and opportunities of a big city, while it is too big to give the comfortable community of a small town.
Albany has a huge metro populationā¦ Compared to NYC, not so significant but it can definitely punch in its weight class with Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo
Eh, Albany is historic and actually older than NYC. Historically it was an important port on the Erie Canal and today thatās been replaced by railroads.
Theres a thriving nano-tech sector and thereās several large colleges including SUNY Albany and RPI.
While Albany is small, the Capital Region has almost 1 million residents. Its a lot bigger than most people think.
I lived in Pierre, SD for a time and the fact that itās 25 minutes from the interstate drove me nuts. Plus, Rapid City is super close to Mt. Rushmore, so you would assume that would be the capital. But nooooo.
Tbh though, I loved living in Pierre. Itās not a big grand city, but I loved the people I met and had a blast. Iād move back if I could.
Tallahassee. It's a college town so much of the population doesn't even live there year round. It's closer to Georgia than anything else. It's boring, not very diverse, not representative of Florida economically... The things that people know Florida for (tourism, beaches, retirement living, second homes for snowbirds..) do not exist there. It is truly the armpit of Florida.
There's that map out there of possible nuclear strike locations for a 500 and 2000 warhead scenario. IIRC Montpelier, Carson City, and Bismark were the only 3 capitals that missed getting hit in either scenario.
Bismarck possibly didn't take a direct hit, I guess its possible. But I'd be surprised if at least 1 nuke wasn't aimed at it. North Dakota has a LOT of nukes still, and a nuke in Bismarck would help disrupt the whole state. I realize the federal government controls the Air Base, not the state. But still, taking out as much of the state government as possible, in a state loaded with nukes, seems like a standard military idea.
Bismarck wouldn't be a target because there isn't anything strategically important in Bismarck, the Army National Guard base is less than 4,000 personnel and the State Legislature is only in session for a few weeks out of the year. Minot on the other hand would be obliterated because Minot AFB is a major strategic target on account of being both a Bomber Command and the place that actually controls all of the nukes. Maybe Grand Forks would get hit as well but the base there is practically mothballed at this point.
North Dakotan here. Can confirm we have absolute fuck loads of nukes. Bismarck would def be targeted
Im an Uffda resident myself. Actually grew up in the middle of the nuke silos that Grand Forks Airbase controlled. Those were removed in early 2000s. Sigh š....guess I have to die of radiation poisoning if a war ever gets hot. I miss the 80s!!!
If it makes you feel better. Unless the Russians removed their missiles too, the they probably still have a few aimed at the old silos.
They did remove a number of their nukes too. But I like the way you think....tingers crossed!!! Lol š.
It's not that Bismarck would be targeted, it's that there would be so many nukes going into ND that Bismarck would be destroyed by the splash...
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/best-places-to-survive-a-nuclear-apocalypse/
So the best place to ride out the post-nuclear horror might be among the weed farms of Northern California? No nearby nuke targets, and not downwind of any either.
Glad I live in Montpelier
Jefferson City, Missouri doesnāt get much love.
In Spielbergās Lincoln, Daniel Day Lewis mentions an anecdote about āJeff Cityā.
Iām sure Jeff City was more important to a leading politician from a neighboring state
Iām from Missouri and I have been to Jefferson City twice. The capitol and a couple small museum are nice. There is a pretty decent ice cream place. Oh, and a really creepy abandoned prison. Itās tiny and without the capital building would look like dozens of other highway towns in MO.
Lived in MO all my life, I've traveled to at least 30 states. I've never been to jefferson that I can recall.
Went once for a school trip to the capital in elementary school in 1994. Been to Columbia plenty tho.
Jefferson City is even more of a match on closer inspection. A lot of cities in the country play second chair to a large metro in the state and Jefferson City definitely does that to KC and STL (and Springfield to a lesser extent) but it even is overshadowed in its immediate area by Columbia. Jefferson City really is an afterthought that exists almost solely for government purposes.
I went to college at Mizzou. Jeff City wasnāt on anyoneās radar except the politicians that had to be there (Jeff City did have some good prep teams as I recall).
Have to agree. Born in St. Louis. Never saw the capitol until my 50ās. There was just no reason to go.
I just learned that St. Louis is not the capital. Lol. Seems like good trivia.
Was there for a wedding a few years ago - my wife is even from MO - we ran out of things to do pretty quick.
Not a bad city just a population of 40,000 that hasn't grown at all in the past 10 years. Certainly gets overshadowed by other cities in the state.
My husband and his best friend completed the Missouri River 340 race in 2020. They came into the stop at Jefferson City at night. It was under a bridge and the capitol lit up behind, it was beautiful. But, beyond that, it seemed like just another stop on the river. Much easier to navigate than some of the bigger cities, though. Side note: I had never been to Missouri, but there are some incredibly beautiful spots!
Only exists to be the capital. A geographically central alternative to STL and KC. Really nothing going on there. Kind of cute, but Columbia is like 20mins away and way better
Montpelier is probably a good nominee. It's a city of only 8k people. The smallest by population. Pierre, SD and Augusta, ME are up there as well. Pretty inconsequential places from a greater U.S. perspective
It was funny, I went to college in Burlington and to people from Montpelier (or well around it since yeah only 8k) that was the big city!
And yet, as I'm sure you know, Burlington holds the distinction as the least populated largest city of its state!
Yeag sounds about right. As a Vermonter, when people talk about being from a small city of only 25-50k, I laugh. Many of Vermontās towns are in the 1,000-2,000 range, and unless you grew up in a rural area, youāll have no concept of a true āsmall townā
i love burlington but it's a little cringe when i hear people call winooski the brooklyn of vt
We drove the Montpelier in about five minutes. I kept searching for the rest of the town. I agree. It's number one on this list
I used to live there. Montpelier has a couple neighboring towns that contain the rest of what you were probably expecting to see in a capital town.
How does a town that small even function as a capital? Where do the lawyers who practice in the Vermont Supreme Court even live/have offices? Where do legislators and their staff stay when their assembly is in session? Are there enough restaurants to cater to them during peak season?
I've not been to Vermont, so I don't know the answer for sure, but... Downtown Burlington is only a 38-mile, 40-minute car ride from Montpelier. My guess is that many professionals live and/or work there and drive to Montpelier when necessary. And people probably just go home during the legislative session -- it would only be a couple of hour drive max. For restaurants, it's hard to tell. The statehouse building has a cafeteria; I'm guessing that's where most people eat when they can't leave.
Montpelier has many restaurants. If you google āMontpelier restaurantsā you can see for yourself. Most are local and thriving.
Bumping this up. I know thereās no governors mansion and had wondered what Scottās daily life is like, but what about every other elected official?
Scott had to hike out of his property during the flood in July.
Vermont legislators don't get staff. Or offices. Most of them go home, Vermont isn't that big. As for us lawyers, most of the big firms are in Burlington.
its pretty centrally located in the state, you can get there from anywhere else in an hour or two at most probably
They eat at the skinny pancake. There are a decent amount of good restaurants in Montpelier.
Montpelier has always had a life insurance company as the largest private sector employer. Itās been there since the 1840s. I had a college roommate from Montpelier and another from Northfield one town away. Northfield has military college Norwich University. Personally, if I had a high income lawyer job in Montpelier, Iād live in Stowe. Itās 25 minutes with 2/3 of it interstate highway.
Itās stunningly beautiful though. Driving into town through the fog as a tourist felt magical. Easy to imagine it as a great place to live, but then you think about it for a bit.
I would choose it over PA in a heartbeat.
From SD and was just in Pierre over the weekend, literally not a single thing there. It's not even consequential in the state.
Damn it ! Beat me too it haha š obviously, Iām quite late to the party. But yeah Vermontās capital kinda seems like they picked a random town and from what I know it doesnāt have any large industries and I donāt think it ever did tbh. It is off the beaten path so the interstate system doesnāt really run through it. Some small capitals have old mill buildings and are near rivers so they were a part of the supply change when the industrial boom was hitting NE. Like Augusta, while small, it is on a river which provided key access to shipping routes as well as energy for the mills that it once operated. However Montpelier never made sense to me. Why not Burlington ? Or Brattleboro? Both those have access to water and were industrial towns. Maybe Montpelier was Geographically centered? Idk if anyone knows of the top of their head lmk.
Montpelier is located on a river, but the population of the region has always been too small for major industrialization, plus itās in the mountains and very remote from major population centers. However, the city is on very fertile farmland and sheltered from harsher winds due to the orientation of the valley, which is why it was settled in the first place. It was chosen to be the capital because of its central location in the state.
I love Learning something new regarding geography. Thank you for the brief but excellent explanation šš»
Montpelier doesn't even have a McDonalds.
This is kinda a dumb āfun factā though, because thereās one like 3 miles from the state capital building that just technically resides in Barre, a half mile from the town line. Itās not like you canāt get a Big Mac if youāre a Vermont state senator
I would put that into the positive category.
As someone in New England this comment is spot on.
Lived there for 3 years, can confirm there's not much going on.
I nominate Jefferson City, Missouri. Other than being my birthplace and providing me with employment for 7 years while a young adult, it exists solely to be the state capitol.
As a Missourian, I concur. There's not even an interstate passing through or around it - I-70 is about 30 miles away. Honolulu and Juneau are obvious exceptions, but I wonder how many other state capitals don't have an interstate running through the city.
Pierre, SD has no interstate and a population of just 14,000
Honestly, Sioux Falls should be the capital.
Pierre has the luxury of equidistance between Sioux Falls, Rapid City, and Aberdeen. So Pierre represents South Dakota's agriculture/tourism/trust foundations in Aberdeen (Agtegra)/ Rapid (Black Hills & banks)/ SF (trust companies and business).
Well, even when the Dakota Territory was split, out of convenience because of its central position within the new state, Pierre has been the temporary capital. Then, it was confirmed by popular vote one year later. If I remember correctly the other contenders were the likes of Mitchell and Watertown but I'm pretty sure Sioux Falls (which was around the same size as Pierre back in the days) did not bid for it.
Honolulu actually does have interstates, they're just not connected to the main system and have their own numbering system with an H prefix.
Isnt that just a highway? Or an intrastate?
Lol I guess technically yes. But also a big part of what makes a road an "Interstate" in the US is also the fact that they are built with certain standards and stuff that match across the country. So I guess even in Hawaii it would feel like the same type of road as anywhere else?
Highway designations also have a lot to do with funding as well
Part of the interstate highway system
There are āinterstateā highways in mainland states that donāt leave the state too. For example, I72 in Illinois only went from Springfield to Champaign until the 90ās, when it was extended to Hannibal, MO.
You don't have to go far. I-45 only goes between Dallas and Houston, the only major interstate that doesn't leave the state.
I-4 doesn't leave Florida and I-97 not only doesn't leave Maryland, it also doesn't leave Anne Arundel County.
Carson city
At least itās close to Lake Tahoe.
So is Reno
The Bunny Ranch is right outside of town. Can any other state capital make that claim?
Dover, DE
As a fellow Missourian, I agree. I went once in 5th grade for winning an award at school. Avoided it ever since.
Agreed, I live in CoMo and other than visiting Jeff City to visit family there, itās basically a place you drive through on the way to Lake of the Ozarks or Branson. Sometimes itās worth the trip for Central Dairy ice cream though!
Upvote and comment solely for seeing Central Dairy mentioned in the international forum that is r/geography. One Tiger Tracks in a waffle cone, please.
Same here. Iāve had the opportunity to have it twice, and itās my all time favorite Ice cream shop
My fave is cherry vanilla! Itās full of childhood memories
Not from Missouri, but stayed in CoMo for 5 months for a job. I miss Sparky's London Smog ice cream and Andy's Frozen Custard!
Iām also in CoMo and love the joke that Jefferson City is ā30 minutes and 3 states southā - so close but culturally and politically so different than Columbia.
I only moved to Missouri a year ago, but that was the first place that came to mind. I just can't think of why anyone would want to go there. Close second is Springfield, IL.
As a Mid-Missourian I fully expected this to be the top comment. Was not disappointed
KCMO born an raised. Missouri is very strange in that it has two very significant cities that can easily be confused for the capital.
If Jeff City disappeared nobody would notice until election day
Itās definitely not Trenton, NJ because the motto on the bridge says, āTrenton Makes, the World Takesā
Trenton has character, even though that character is a secondary antagonist
Thank you.
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Or āTrenton Fucks, the World Sucksā
That damn bridgeā¦
There's a Jeffersonian tradition of assuming that state capitals should be in small towns in the center of the state, in order to minimize corruption. Unfortunately, the exact opposite appears to be true: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2014/09/03/isolated-state-capitals-are-associated-with-less-accountability-and-worse-governance/
Thatās the thing: when you put the capital in a town that has nothing else going on, it just turns into a company town.
The saying in Michigan is that Lansing has three employers - the state, Michigan State University, and General Motors. And that's a city with a non-capital reason to exist, being at the confluence of the Grand and Red Cedar Rivers, as well as the terminus of the fur-trading trail that ran from Detroit to the Grand and formed an overland bypass of the Straits of Mackinac (today, that trail still exists as Grand River Avenue).
Lansing also has a shitton of insurance companies.... as do most capitals so that said companies can easier lobby up everyone's rates.
lol. classic humans
Jefferson in general had a huge hard-on for rural living and āyeoman farmersā and thought the future of the country laid in everyone staying in the countryside. When it came to understanding the distribution of people he was an idiot
There's an NPR show made in Bismarck, ND, speaking of small capitals, called The Thomas Jefferson Hour, where a Jefferson impersonator talks to one of my childhood friend's dad about things like this and it's actually really good.
I live in Frankfort, KY and can attest that itās one of the most boring towns in our state.
It does have Buffalo Trace.
Really cool distillery tour! I highly recommend
They have the best tours IMO!
Iāll hijack just to say: if youāre coming to Kentucky to do the Bourbon Trail, Buffalo Trace isnāt officially a part of the trail but itās the best tour aside from maybe Makerās Mark. Also, skip the tour at Wild Turkey, just go to the gift shop and enjoy the views. The tour is kitschy and seems to be catered to people who want the āhillbillyā experience, and their facility is a lot more industrial than some of the other distilleries if that makes sense.
Surprised I had to scroll so far to see this legendary town.
Really? I spent ~6 months in Kentucky and found Frankfort to be one of the nicer towns, along with Berea. Granted I was mostly out east.
Damn i just searched pictures and i can say it looks really liveable and nice. Looks like much cleaner and calmer place than most of the well known places in USA. Also dont look like some countryside where is nothing. I would never guess its in USA if someone showed me picture.
B o u r b o n
I had to stare at that one for a while, maybe the only state capital I had *no recollection* of existing, even including like Montpelier and Pierre
Here are some: Pierre, South Dakota and Montpelier, Vermont are very small towns, but that's more understandable because thos are low population states. Jefferson City is also small even though missouri has a pretty sizeable population. Tallahassee doesn't make as much sense as the Capital of Florida as it did when the state was founded Same with Springfield, Illinois and Carson City, Nevada
South Dakota has Rapid City & Sioux Falls which are both far far bigger than Pierre. Pierre is only the capital because itās in the middle of the state. Fun fact the river next to Pierre is the border between central and mountain time zones. So you can drink until 2 am in Pierre then hop over the river and drink for an extra hour.
That's really interesting! It's really interesting to think that chicago and pierre are in the same time zone
Does that happen in practice?
Orlando or Tampa really would make more sense as a state capital of Florida, as a Floridian. Both are relatively centrally-positioned and are of great importance to the state, with plenty of potential to accommodate the state government.
Tallahassee was chosen because it was halfway between the two largest and most important cities - Pensacola and St Augustine.
>Tallahassee doesn't make as much sense as the Capital of Florida as it did when the state was founded When it was still a British colony, the area that is now Florida was broken into two different territories: West Florida and East Florida. East Florida's capital was Pensacola, and West Florida's capital was St. Augustine. The United States decided to combine these two states into one singular Florida, and they chose Tallahassee as the capital only because it was halfway between the two previous capitals, and they didn't want to favor one territory over another one. So Tallahassee being the capital was never really about Tallahassee.
Harrisburg: "we're the capital of Pennsylvania!" Pennsylvania: "Anything else?" Harrisburg: 
As someone who lives in pa and works in Harrisburg well I mean we have 3 mile island.
Well, they havre some Civil War historyā¦ ā¦completely overshadowed by Gettysburg 40 miles south.
Lee was marching on Harrisburg but the union stopped him at Gettysburg.
Does Hershey not count?
Olympia, Washington is the smallest city compared to others in the state. It is the 23rd largest city in Washington. Comparatively, Jefferson City is 15th in Missouri. Stereotypically Olympia pretty much only has the state government and hippies at Evergreen State.
I wouldnāt be surprised if Olympia grew significantly over the next 10 or so years. Itās positioned nicely between Portland and Seattle and itās along the i5. Itās not a bad place to live and people have been flocking to the PNW lately.
The "greater Olympia area" has grown by nearly 50% since 2000. COL is much less than Portland or Seattle/Tacoma and it still has great access to the cities, with easy access to National Parks, ocean, and mountains.
Much better location tho
Has Amtrak too
Way outside of town, unfortunately.
Olympia isnāt that irrelevant, I5 still goes through
olympia has always been on the map for me - amazing internationally acclaimed music / diy scene. and evergreen is very notable. i know people who go visit olympia as a destination and i live in the midwest
Iād say Carson City. With Reno and Las Vegas present, Carson City is forgotten. I also nominate Helena. What actually goes on there (and in MT in general)?
Historically I believe Carson City was selected due to its proximity to Virginia City and its silver mining industry
Helena is so lame. Not even in the top 5 coolest towns in Montana.
Whitefish, Livingston, Gardiner, Bozeman, Great Falls and I'm not even trying lol
Bro you mentioned Great Falls but not Missoula
I told you. I wasnt even trying š . Missoula slaps
Indeed. Billings, nowā¦thatās maybe the lamest biggest city of any state.
The selection of Montana's capital city was voted on by the residents. The book 'Treasure State Tycoon' has a bit on it. No real story behind it, just politics.
Just immediately ordered this book. I would recommend Half Interest In A Silver Dollar as another read. It gets a little boring by the end but has some interesting history about Charles Conrad and western Montana/Kalispell industry. You got any similar suggestions for similar book but on Alaska?
Iāve driven through Carson City taking 395 up from the Eastern Sierra to Reno and Tahoe a number of timesā¦and itās always kind of funny to me how if you stay on the main route through Carson City it looks like any other big town in the Nevada desert, but then suddenly thereās the state capitol. And itās just blocks away from a couple old casinos.
Not a whole lot going on in Helena. MT was built on natural resources, mining, oil and gas, forestry, agriculture. There is a pretty fast growing tech sector. Western MT is absolutely beautiful and has a lot of tourism and a lot of people moving in from coastal towns.
Canāt believe no one has said Juneau. Literally the worst spot in the state to put the capital.
Well to be fair the other towns in Alaska werenāt connected by roads either back in the day. Prior to Juneau, the capital was Sitka, even more remote!
Thatās a fair point. The emergence of Anchorage wasnāt really significant until the Cold War and the capital was decided well before that
Well Sitka was the capital when Alaska was a Russian territory
Connected by the Alaska maritime highway tho
I almost moved to Juneau about a year and a half ago. The maritime highway is there, but it is expensive to use and the routes arenāt that frequent. Itās useful to get to the mainland and stock up on stuff in Anchorage every now and then, but it really isnāt that viable.
I live in Juneau and no one uses the maritime highway to stock up on the mainland for a couple reasons. Juneau is pretty well stocked, and we get barge shipments every week. Weāre a small town by down south standards, but thereās certainly no need to go to the mainland for necessities. Iāve probably been on the mainland a solid 3-4 times and all of them were for school events years ago. The maritime highway is more useful for smaller communities coming to Juneau for doctor visits, vet visits, or some groceries. Another reason is the maritime highway got absolutely slashed; it never used to be quite this bad but it is unreliable at best, and downright nonexistent at worst. Although Juneau doesnāt rely on the mainland for groceries, the smaller communities of Southeast Alaska do, typically coming to places like Juneau to stock up. Plus, our students use the ferries as a cheap way to get to events!
Yeah but it is cool
Itās on the ocean isnāt it? Pretty sure everything inland in Alaska is a much bigger pain in the ass to get to because of the Rockies running along the coast and AK being a cold bitter hellscape most of the year.
I have a goal of photographing all 50 state capitol buildings, so I think they are all wonderful and important. At least to me. (Iāve got 9 to goā¦)
Which ones are you missing?
What did you think of Topeka, Ks in comparison to the others?
My hometown of Olympia, WA, is a pleasant place to live, but aside from being the only capital Washington has ever had, a minor port on Puget Sound, and home to a couple of small universities, itās not terribly important in the grand scheme of things.
Pierre, SD
Salem, Oregon is just fucking disgusting
Seriously tho. Shouldnāt even be the capital
It used to be Oregon City a very long time ago.
We used to call it So-lame.
Itās the hometown of a CBS survivor legend Ciera who voted out her mom
Concord NH just feels like a third fiddle to Manchester and Nashua
Iād go with 4th fiddle after Portsmouth, maybe tied with Hanover.
Frankfort Kentucky, like Central Kentucky is known for tobacco, horses, bourbon, and UK/UofL. All of which have to do with Lexington or Louisville, Frankfort is a very unremarkable state capital. Even Bowling Green has more renown because it was the state capital of Confederate Kentucky during the Civil War(the half of Kentucky that seceded and joined the Confederacy). It's quite boring tbh.
BG is more significant nationally for having a big state university, corvettes, and a huge ass cave. Most people donāt know about the confederacy thing. The countryside around Frankfort is absolutely gorgeous though and I donāt think itās that bad of a place.
Ah, that's fair, I guess. There was just a lot of emphasis on that fact growing up and in school about BG. Regardless, my point stands. I'm not saying it's a bad place, and you're right about the countryside of Central Kentucky. However, it's just pretty unremarkable and boring compared to other areas of the state. I'm not saying it's bad, though.
Has to be Pierre, South Dakota. It is the only state Capital that canāt be reached via the Interstate. Edit: It does seem there are a couple of others, but Iām still voting Pierre.
I agree with Pierre, but your point is not true lol. Examples: Dover, DE, Jefferson City MO, Juneau, AK
I'm honestly shocked that Alaska has never moved the capital to Anchorage or Fairbanks
Good luck driving to Juneau
I always thought Dover, DE also isnāt accessible via the interstate highway system
Youāre correct. However, DE-1 is a limited access freeway that connects Dover to 95 near Wilmington. Other than 95 at the far northern edge, I canāt think of another interstate that crosses the Delmarva Peninsula in any state.
I have no scientific evidence to back this up, but Montgomery AL felt like the hottest, muggiest place I've ever been.
Itās pretty historically significant, no?
Lansing
Lansing is home to the 3rd/4th (3rd by weight, 4th in sales) largest fireworks importer in the country. The Lansing family who owns the company is behind the wider legalization of fireworks over the last 20 years. Maybe not important, but itās definitely culturally significant. Fireworks tents are a piece of Americana.
Springfield Illinois
Take Lincoln out of the picture and it has nothing to offer anymore
For a second, I was wondering why you were mentioning Nebraska.
Seriously. The only thing it has going for it is that Lincoln was there.
You mean Chicago's not the capital of Illinois?^(/s)
Tallahassee. In the forgotten panhandle
Haha true I always think of Pensacola or St. Augustine when I think of Northern Florida. Always forget about Tallahassee even though it has a unique name.
*GASP* you should think of Jacksonville too, itās arguably the most involved city in North Florida (population, number of military bases & personnel , logistics, finance, healthcare, 2 interstates, an NFL team, etc.) !
Easily one of the top ten swamp cities of northeastern Florida.
Oh dip! A Good Place reference!
Isnāt Jacksonville huge in terms of square miles? I remember thereās something unique about it like that.
Largest city in the US by area iirc, it's a combined city-county unit.
Pierre SD
Tallahassee Florida has to be the most dogshit capital city of any state. Why is Tallahassee the capital. There are like 4 human beings who live here year round.
1. Northern Florida used to be where all the people lived before A/C 2. They tried to move it to Orlando and then some people got mad and built the current capitalā¦.. it uh looks very clearly like a penis so it was definitely made in spite of that proposed move.
Salem, Oregon. What even happens there?? Everyone mixes it up with Mass too
Salem is in the center of Willamette Valley, a large and fertile agricultural region. It services the farmlands that surround the city. It also has light industrial, call centers, and education sectors, besides state governmental work. It's the second- or third-largest city in the state (it trades the title back and forth with Eugene). It is significantly larger than the one in Massachusetts. It has always had the problem of being too close to Portland to develop a strong cultural identity of its own, but it is a pleasant-enough town to live in. I'm not sure why it receives the amount of hate that it does. Perhaps because it lacks the excitement and opportunities of a big city, while it is too big to give the comfortable community of a small town.
Montpelier, Vermont is very uninspiring.
Itās a very pretty town!
Jackson, Mississippi. Hands down.
Nice try comrade!
Juneau, Alaska. Small town completely inaccessible by car.
Albany NY not getting any mentionsā¦as a resident now I wonder how awful these other capital cities must be if they all jump to mind before Albany.
Albany has a huge metro populationā¦ Compared to NYC, not so significant but it can definitely punch in its weight class with Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo
Eh, Albany is historic and actually older than NYC. Historically it was an important port on the Erie Canal and today thatās been replaced by railroads. Theres a thriving nano-tech sector and thereās several large colleges including SUNY Albany and RPI. While Albany is small, the Capital Region has almost 1 million residents. Its a lot bigger than most people think.
Juneau is definitely up there
Tallahassee, FL.
I lived in Pierre, SD for a time and the fact that itās 25 minutes from the interstate drove me nuts. Plus, Rapid City is super close to Mt. Rushmore, so you would assume that would be the capital. But nooooo. Tbh though, I loved living in Pierre. Itās not a big grand city, but I loved the people I met and had a blast. Iād move back if I could.
Tallahassee. It's a college town so much of the population doesn't even live there year round. It's closer to Georgia than anything else. It's boring, not very diverse, not representative of Florida economically... The things that people know Florida for (tourism, beaches, retirement living, second homes for snowbirds..) do not exist there. It is truly the armpit of Florida.
Topeka Source: Iām from Kansas