How come some states capital's aren't in the main population/cultural center of the state? (fit in, living in)

[CubsGiantsIndiansfan2008]

Here's my list I think of states like this, and if anyone would add the 2 cents on why this is or to critique my list, that would be great.



States where the capital IS the most important city/metro area in the state

Massachusetts
Rhode Island
West Virginia
Georgia
Mississippi
Arkansas
Indiana
Minnesota
Colorado
Wyoming
Utah
Arizona
Hawaii
Idaho
Iowa

States where the capital IS NOT the most important city/metro area in the state

Montana
Nevada
Alaska
New Mexico
North Dakota
South Dakota
Nebraska
Kansas
Missouri
Wisconsin
Louisiana
Alabama
Florida
Illinois
Michigan
Kentucky
Maryland
Pennsylvania
Delaware
New Jersey
New York
Vermont
New Hampshire
Maine

Iffy states that don't fit into the above two lists

Connecticut
Ohio
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennesse
Oklahoma
Texas
California

[LovinDecatur]

What I had often heard was that TPTB in some states were loath to put the capital in the larger cities as they felt it would have an adverse effect on the representatives...a smaller town was more 'neutral ground', as it were.
When Atlanta was made the capital of GA, it was not the state's largest town...Savannah was, and there were other cities at the time that were larger as well. I believe the choice was made in this case to promote upstate development and unify frontier GA with the rest of the state.

[18Montclair]

I like Sacramento, but there is no iffyness about Sacramento being far less the cultural mecca that LA and SF are. As far as population, Metro Sac is 3 times smaller than The Bay Area and about 9 times smaller than Metro LA.

[JMT]

In the case of Florida, Tallahassee was chosen because at the time it was half way between the state's two largest population centers, Pensacola and Jacksonville. Ironically, as Florida has become overwhelmingly Yankee (especially South Florida) Tallahassee remains a very Southern city.

[theSUBlime]

California and Texas should be in the 2nd list as well.

[CubsGiantsIndiansfan2008]

Originally Posted by theSUBlime

California and Texas should be in the 2nd list as well.

Well I meant the fact that although there are about 3 or 4 bigger cities in thouse states, both Sacramento and Austin are major cities.

[juppiter]

I'm from Albany, New York... we're neither the first, second, third, or fourth most populous city in NYS.... but I believe that we are the capital because it was one of the first settlements in the state, and it is located in the middle of the state, neither NYC culture nor WNY culture, but sort of a melange of the two.

[Irishtom29]

Springfield Illinois was chosen because of central location. Also because of some slick political dealing. At the time it wasn't apparent that Chicago would become so large.

Frankfort Kentucky was chosen because it wasn't Lexington and it wasn't Louisville but was central to them---the legislature didn't want the capital to be either of the two largest towns.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by CubsGiantsIndiansfan2008

Well I meant the fact that although there are about 3 or 4 bigger cities in thouse states, both Sacramento and Austin are major cities.

Yep.
California has L.A., San Diego, San Jose, and San Fran that's bigger than its state capital, so that's 4. (Oakland may be bigger, but I don't know for sure)
And here in Texas, we have Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas that's bigger than its state capital, so that's 3. (With Fort Worth catching up).

Yeah, you were right.
And I don't know about Sacramento, but I'll say this about Austin.... It may not be the population center of Texas, but it's arguable that it's the cultural center.
That's the beauty of living in a state with more than 4 major cities. You don't have to go to one to get everything you want.

[SharpHawkeye]

In many, if not most, cases it's simply a function of time and chance whether the capitol city becomes the biggest and most important. Cities constantly change, growing or shrinking--rising in importance or falling, etc. Geography and demographics are also major factors--the desire to have the capitol in a location near the center of either population or geography. This was especially important during the time most of these capitols were established and travel took place by horse and wagon.

One issue I have with your list is that it's really hard to fit capitols into a "most important city/not most important/iffy" dichotomy. There's a huge difference between states like Nebraska and Louisiana; where the capitol cities, though not the largest or most significant, are still important and major cities in the state--and states like Missouri and Pennsylvania where the capitol city is barely a bump in the road compared to the much larger cities in the state.