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I think state capitals are usually not in the largest city because 100 years ago, they were probably trying to develop the interior of states. For example, Detroit used to be the capital of Michigan, but it was moved to Lansing back in the 1820s (I think) to develop more of the land and to keep the area from becoming overcrowded.
Marshall wanted to be Michigan's first non-Detroit capital, but lost out. Marshall has been losing ever since then.
Chillicothe wanted to be the capital of Ohio, back in the days when people actually cared about the Ohio River Valley (it's closer to the Ohio River than Columbus, which is nearly in the middle of the lands between the Ohio River and the Lake which got the Mistake ).
Take for example the State of Florida's capitol is Tallahassee which is not even close to being the largest city in Florida in size and population.Its not even centrally located at that.
Ah how people forget how small Florida and the other southern states were till air conditioning came in in the late 50s.
Actually the two leading cities of Florida were Jacksonville and Pensacola. Tallahassee was chosen as it was about 1/2 way between them.
Look at the University of South Florida in TAMPA? It was thought the southen part of FL was useless and no one would ever live there. WHY? Too hot, of course that was before a/c.
There was a bit of a momentum to move the capital to Orlando in the 60s but it never came about.
Now with computers and airplanes there is no need to move state capitals anymore. It's too costly. The only plausable hope of moving a state capital is in Alaska, and while the voters approved moving the capital from Juneau to Willow they refused to vote the funding for the move.
Most state capitals tended to be in the center so all citizens of the states could get there. Of course there are exceptions like Sacromento and Carson City but those were based on the fact at the time of admission the population centers were up there. Las Vegas indeed only had slightly over 50,000 in 1960. Who knew the population center in Nevada would shift. Now Carson City is seen as leverage to keep LV from completely dominating Nevada.
However Jefferson City, MO is the only state capital that is also not one of the states 10 largest cities, so by in large state capitals are representative
You all have missed one main reason, which is that traditionally, very big cities tend to be either on rivers, or on coastlines.
And rivers also form a great many State borders.
Therefore, in earlier times when travel was very slow and laborious, it was felt very important to locate new capital sites the middle of a state, which was often away from coastlines or from the biggest rivers.
Examples: Frankfort KY (an excellent example); Harrisburg PA (another excellent example); Tallahassee FL; Pierre SD; Bismarck ND; Milledgeville GA (former capital); Concord, NH; Montpelier, VT; Salem, OR; Lincoln, NE; Okla City, OK; Madison, WI; Lansing, MI; Topeka, KS; Helena, MT; Austin, TX.
I think it will vary from state-to-state for many different reasons.
For some states it is about proximity to the population. For some it is for political reasons within the population. Also, sometimes it is more expensive to run a state government in the largest city. Sometimes a capital can be used to encourage job growth in a city that could benefit from the growth. Sometimes it is historical.
In Georgia the capital is in the largest city, but that isn't the only reason it ended up there.
The original capital was in Georgia's oldest city, Savannah. The capital moved several times early on. As indians were cleared by settlers the state grew west and north west. Remember the state boundaries weren't set in stone a long time ago. There was no Alabama. There was no Tennessee, however there was a South Carolina. Due to the angle of the coast there was a potential for a power struggle between S. Carolina and Georgia for the land that is now in North Georgia. Georgia moved it's influence northward, which guaranteed the state more room to expand.
Chicago isn't the capital of Illinois because it's practically in Indiana and not too far from Wisconsin either. Springfield, the Illinois capital, is pretty centered in the state though.
Chicago is actually quite a bigger than the dot in this image and you really can't tell just how close Northwest Indiana actually is to the South Side of Chicago.. It's still good enough to show what I'm talking about. Chicago, Illinois borders Calumet City, Illinois which borders Hammond, Indiana.
It really wouldn't make much sense for Chicago to the Illinois capital when there are a lot of towns in Indiana that identify more with Chicago than majority of the towns in Illinois. But then again, maybe "Chicagoland" should be its own state and it would include Northwest Indiana but not central, southern or western Illinois. And Chicago could be the capital of Chicagoland.
In certain cases the capitol was located in the middle of the state making it easier to travel to by horse. In the case of MO & IL another reason the capitol was not put in STL or CHI is because they wanted to curb the influence of the big city political bosses.
Both Chicago and Saint Louis have suburbs located in a neighboring state..
Take for example the State of Florida's capitol is Tallahassee which is not even close to being the largest city in Florida in size and population.Its not even centrally located at that.
I think it's a good idea. Think of the traffic that goes with government. I'm sure many a politician whined, "I'm not taking my horse and buggy through that mess. I'll never get to my meetings on time."...then there are the bridge tolls...
Take for example the State of Florida's capitol is Tallahassee which is not even close to being the largest city in Florida in size and population.Its not even centrally located at that.
Because state capitols were established before cars phones Internet TV and all that good stuff. They needed to be easy accessable and back then most of FLs population was in North FL and Tallahassee was the most convienent area.
If they ever decided to update the capitols (I doubt they ever will), then Im sure the Capitol would move somewhere like Orlando since now that is the most centrally located and easiest to access by everyone in the state. And the US Capitol would probably move somewhere in Kansas. But like I said I Doubt that would ever happen.
Dover, Delaware was another example I forgot to mention.
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