America’s state capitals serve as administrative and political centers, making important decisions that directly impact citizens. Some of these places are also the state’s most populous city, but often capital cities were chosen to represent their state for more obscure – and sometimes petty – reasons.
Click through the gallery for extraordinary vintage images of each state’s capital city...
Charming Montgomery was made Alabama's state capital in 1846 and sits near the point where the Alabama River is formed by the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers. The river has always played an important role in the city’s history. Native Americans had villages here. The French built a fort of the spot in 1717. And after the Civil War ended it helped the city become an important center for cotton, livestock, yellow pine, and hardwood. Here we see bales of cotton being loaded onto a river steamer at Montgomery around 1890.
Set on a sheltered coastline and surrounded by mountains and wilderness, Juneau has always been the most scenic capital in the USA. The area was originally inhabited by Tlingit Indias, who fished the salmon-rich waters here before the settlers came in 1880. When gold was discovered by Joe Juneau and Richard Harris, everything changed and the small settlement boomed (this photo was taken in 1887). Juneau was named the territorial capital in 1900, playing host to the first session of the territorial legislature in 1913. The Alaskan oil boom in the 1970s and early 1980s saw the city grow exponentially again.
Timber was still a scarce commodity when Phoenix became a city in 1881 so civic leaders followed the lead of the Hohokam, the original inhabitants of the area, and started using the wood-like ribs of the abundant saguaro cactuses as building materials. Pictured here, a year after Phoenix became the territorial capital in 1889, workers from a local cactus planing mill pose beside stacks of dried saguaros that are about to be fashioned into planks and beams. The city would become the state capital in 1912.
Things move fast in Little Rock. On October 18 1820, barely 10 months after the first permanent settlement had been established at this well-known river crossing, Little Rock was declared the new capital of Arkansas. The expansion of the railways in the 1880s saw Little Rock become an important transport hub. This was particularly true for cotton, which was picked and processed in fields that surrounded the town. Taken in 1888, this image shines a light on that particular aspect of the city's history.
When Swiss pioneer John Sutter was granted land in the Sacramento Valley in 1839, he had a very different vision for the area. He called it Nueva Helvetia, New Switzerland, and hoped to create an orderly agricultural community populated mainly by Swiss immigrants. Matters were taken out of his hands on January 24 1848 when gold was discovered on his property. Hordes of prospectors descended on his land and the rambunctious town of Sacramento was born. Here we see a photo of the city taken in 1870, focusing on the imposing Free Masons Hall.
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Sitting at the western edge of the Great Plains, just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, Denver has always been a place where settlers rested and restocked before heading west over the mountains. This photo was taken around 1863, the same year the fledgling city was devastated by fire and a year before a flash flood swept away many of its buildings including the city hall. In 1881, Denver was voted the state capital. By 1890, its population had increased from under 5,000 in 1870 to over 100,000.
After sharing the honor of being the capital with New Haven since 1701, Hartford became the sole capital of Connecticut in 1875. At that time the city was best known for two things. Author Mark Twain had moved there with his family and was enjoying the most productive years of his career. And the Pope Manufacturing Company, famous across the country for its bicycles, including these penny farthings pictured here being ridden by Connecticut Bicycle Club in a parade in Hartford in 1885.
Named after Dover in England, the Delaware town of Dover was first laid out in 1717 and designated the capital of Delaware in 1777. In 1787 Delaware was the first state to ratify the US Constitution, thus becoming ‘The First State,’ a fact still proudly proclaimed on Delaware license plates. Here we see the city’s famous Hotel Richardson, opened in 1882 and the venue for the state governor’s inaugural balls.
When Florida became an American territory in 1821 it had two capitals, St Augustine and Pensacola. Bickering between the two saw a compromise made, with the capital moving to Tallahassee which is roughly midway between the two. Tallahassee was still a rough frontier town then, home to less-than-salubrious establishments like Brown’s Inn (pictured here around 1850). Its ‘fighting spirit’ served the capital well during the American Civil War. Tallahassee was the only capital of a Confederate state east of the Mississippi River not captured by Union forces.
Sitting at the southern extremity of the Appalachian Mountains, Atlanta has always been a gateway through which most overlanders had to pass through as they traveled between the southern Atlantic Seaboard and the west. First, they traveled by wagon trains which are seen pictured here on Whitehall Street around 1864. Then by the Western and Atlantic Railroad. The city suffered great damage during the American Civil War, but as it recovered it was seen to epitomize the spirit of the 'New South' and was nominated as the state capital in 1868.
Honolulu has been the capital of Hawaii ever since King Kamehameha III declared it a city and made it the seat of his kingdom on August 31 1850. It is here you will find Iolani Palace, the Victorian-inspired confection that served as his residence and also the capital building when Hawaii was annexed by the US in 1898 for strategic reasons. Honolulu has always been the most laidback of US capitals, backed by lush tropical mountains which can be seen in this languid shot from around 1890.
Boise describes itself as a city you’d want to have a beer with, and this welcoming attitude has always been the center of Idaho’s capital’s appeal. Its beautiful tree-lined river prompted French Canadian trappers to give it its name (boise is the French word for ‘wooded’) and provided much-need relief for travelers following the Oregon Trail across the desolate Snake River plain. This photo of Main Street was taken just two years after Boise was declared the state capital in 1864.
Located pretty much in the middle of Illinois, Springfield had a population of less than 3,000 people when it was made the state capital in 1837. The choice was largely influenced by Abraham Lincoln who had just moved to Springfield from New Salem in Indiana and had quickly established community ties. 'Springfield is my home,' he once wrote, 'And [here], more than elsewhere, are my life-long friends.' Pictured we see Lincoln's house in Springfield draped in black after his assassination in 1865.
Indianapolis was founded in 1821 with the intention of it becoming the state capital, a mantle it officially took on in 1825. Built on a level plain in central Indiana, it is a planned city like Washington DC with streets laid out on a grid that radiate out from Monument Circle at the city center. It was also home to this incarnation of the Indianapolis Hoosiers, a baseball team that played in the National League between 1887 and 1889 under strong-willed club boss John T Brush.
No one is really sure how Des Moine, seen here around 1870, got its name. Some argue that the French misheard the Algonquian name for the river, Moingona. Others posit that it derives from the French word 'de moyen' meaning middle, because the settlement was midway between the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Some claim it refers to the ‘Moines de la Trappe’, Trappist monks who once lived at the mouth of the Des Moines River. What we do know for sure is that it was declared the state capital in 1857.
Topeka is another capital with a name of uncertain etymology. It could either mean ‘smoky hill’ in the local Indigenous language or ‘a good place to dig for potatoes.’ Regardless, Topeka was founded in 1854 by a group of antislavery colonists. Their beliefs were reflected in the town’s fight against the expansion of slavery into the West and in its opposition to segregation in the 1950s, most notably in the case 'Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'. Here we see the main street in 1865, just four years after Topeka became state capital in 1861.
The story of Kentucky’s capital, Frankfort, is entwined with that of the mighty Kentucky River. The city’s name is a corruption of 'Frank’s Ford.' It’s named after frontiersman Stephen Frank who was killed in a skirmish with local Indians trying to cross here in 1780. Prosperity came here when the river was tamed by a series of dams that allowed packet boat steamers to ply the river in the late 19th century. These puffing behemoths mesmerized the small riverside communities, as seen in this photo taken near the Frankfort landing around 1900.
After initially capturing Baton Rouge in August 1862 and then withdrawing, Union troops recaptured the Louisiana capital in December of the same year and held it for the remainder of the war. This photo taken in 1863 shows one of the city’s ‘Contraband Camps,’ the first step to freedom for enslaved people escaping Confederate territories to Union-controlled ones. They were classified as the confiscated property of the enemy and hence the ‘contraband of war.’ As their new ‘owners,’ the federal government promptly emancipated them.
When Maine separated from Massachusetts and became a state in 1820, a number of cities began jostling to become the state capital. Portland was initially named the capital, but on the understanding that it was only temporary. Eventually, Augusta won out. On January 4 1832, the Maine Legislature held its first session in the new State Capitol overlooking Kennebec River. Not far, as it turns out, from the scene of this horrific train crash in 1883.
Known as the ‘Athens of America’, Annapolis has always been a city apart. While the majority of American cities are laid out on a grid pattern, Annapolis’ Royal Governor, Sir Francis Nicholson, created a more ‘Baroque’ plan modeled on the great capitals of Europe. It was more circular, radiating streets creating focal points and emphasizing important buildings like the imposing Naval Academy down by the harbor (seen here around 1870).
Pictured here, sometime around 1898, is the Boston landmark known as Faneuil Hall. Faneuil Hall has been a marketplace and a meeting hall since 1742 and is often referred to as the ‘Cradle of Liberty.’ It was America's first town meeting, held in 1743, and has been the site of stirring speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis and other revolutionary leaders. It is now part of Boston National Historical Park and a popular stop on the Freedom Trail.
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When the Michigan state capital was moved from Detroit to Lansing in 1847, the site chosen was largely still wilderness with a sawmill and a log cabin and that’s about it. It was simply called ‘Michigan’ but a year later assumed the name of the nearest township, Lansing. Lumber was the biggest industry in the area, but the nascent automobile industry that Michigan is famous for was evident too. Oldsmobile could be seen testing its 1-cylinder Curved Dash on a hill in Lansing, Michigan in the early 1900s.
St. Paul in southeast Minnesota took its name when a Roman Catholic missionary called Lucien Galtier built a log chapel dedicated to the apostle Paul in a settlement that has previously been known as Pig’s Eye Landing. It became the capital of the newly formed Minnesota Territory in 1849 and was made the state capital when Minnesota was admitted to the Union in 1858. This photo was taken a year before, in 1857, from the roof of the courthouse. It shows a town beginning to grow and bustle with industry, including George Galley's chair factory (the dark building on the right).
Sitting beside the Pearl River, Jackson was an unremarkable trading town until the Treaty of Doak’s Stand on October 18 1820 which opened the territory up to unchecked white settlement. Back then the settlement was known as LeFleur’s Bluff, after the French-Canadian trader, Louis LeFleur, who settled there in 1792. But it changed its name to Jackson, in honor of America’s seventh president, Andrew Jackson, when it became the state capital in 1822. Here we see State Street just after electric streetcars were introduced to replace mule-drawn ones in 1899.
In Missouri, you'll find another capital named after an American President. Jefferson City honors the country’s third president and Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson. It was chosen as the Missouri state capital in 1821 and work immediately began on a grand Capitol building. The building pictured here around 1870 is actually the second Capitol building after the first one was destroyed by fire in 1837. It was a fate this building would ultimately suffer too when it was struck by lightning in 1911. The third Capitol built on the spot was completed in 1917 and still stands to this day.
Helena was founded as a mining camp during the Montana gold rush in 1864 after gold was discovered in Last Chance Gulch. Last Chance Gulch became the town’s Main Street, seen here in 1870, just five years before Helena became capital of the territory in 1875. Gold brought incredible wealth to the town and by the late 1800s more millionaires lived in Helena, per capita, than anywhere in the US. Indeed, the town’s Montana Club, only open to men who were millionaires, boasted 140 members.
Previously known as Lancaster, Lincoln in Nebraska is the only city in the world named after Abraham Lincoln before he became president. The name change came from a local legislator who opposed moving the state capital from Omaha. He began referring to Lancaster as ‘Lincoln’ in an attempt to persuade those who supported the Confederacy in the American Civil War to vote against the change of location. As we can see from this postcard of the city’s courthouse in 1887, locals ended up quite proud of the association.
When Nevada became a state in 1864, Carson City became its capital having already served as the territorial capital since 1861. This fine establishment was built between the two events in 1862 and is the second oldest hotel in Nevada. It's also one of the oldest commercial buildings in Carson City. Originally known as the St Charles, it changed its name to Briggs' House when it was bought by Gilbert and Dorcas Briggs in 1895. During their ownership it became a popular stagecoach stop, offering weary travelers somewhere to rest and to eat as well.
After a bitter tug-of-war between New Hampshire and Massachusetts that went all the way to England’s Privy Council, Concord was declared part of New Hampshire in 1762 and in 1808 became the state capital. The construction of the Boston, Concord and Montreal railway in 1846 saw the city boom and contributed greatly to the economic development of central and northern New Hampshire. As we can see from this photo taken in the late 1800s, things didn’t always go smoothly. This locomotive had overshot the massive turntable used to rotate trains in Concord for their return journeys to Boston and Montreal and beyond.
This important industrial city at the head of the Delaware River became the capital of New Jersey in 1837. It was here that George Washington secured his first battlefield victory, leading 2,400 Continental soldiers across the frozen river on Christmas night in 1776 to defeat three Hessian regiments garrisoned in Trenton. It is regarded as a turning point in the American War of Independence and marked by the Trenton Battle Monument, seen here around 1850.
This bleak photo of three Navajo people taken in 1895 is a reminder that, despite becoming the territorial capital of New Mexico in 1851, Santa Fe was essentially a trading center for ranchers, farmers and the local Indigenous people. The Santa Fe trail brought with it brisk wagon-train commerce, but it wasn't until the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory for atomic research was built nearby in the 1940s that the city began to grow into the vibrant commercial and residential center it is today.
New York State's capital city has been making history for more than 400 years after a group of Walloon families settled here in 1624. The city’s strategic location on the Hudson River made it a leading colonial city and in 1797 it was designated as the state capital. The year 1885 saw another moment in history when the funeral procession of Ulysses S Grant passed through the city on August 8. This photo shows the massive crowds that lined State Street to pay their respects to the 18th President of the United States and one of its most formidable military generals.
The site that would become Raleigh was chosen in 1788 after North Carolina followed the lead of other original states in moving their capitals away from the coast. The American Revolution had taught them that cities on the seaboard were vulnerable to attack, so a tract of forest 130 miles (209km) from the coast was ideal. Here we see an ox cart loaded with wood from that forest on the main street of Raleigh around 1875.
Here we see a group of people wistfully awaiting the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway in Bismarck in 1877. The town’s name had been changed from Edwinton to Bismarck in 1873 after the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck in a bid to attract German investment in the railway. That investment never came, but gold did. In 1883, the capital of Dakota Territory was moved from Yankton to Bismarck. It remained the capital of North Dakota when the territory was divided and admitted to the Union in 1889.
Columbus sits in the middle of Ohio’s central plains and is another of the United States’ planned capitals. It was named in honor of Christopher Columbus and opened for government business in 1816. The opening of a feeder branch of the Ohio and Erie Canal in 1831 saw the city grow significantly. In 1863, the city got its own horse-drawn streetcar system. This photo, taken in 1897, shows the electric-style streetcars that were first introduced in 1890.
A year before this photo was taken, Oklahoma City was a vast empty space in Indian Territory. But when President Benjamin Harrison declared the ‘Unassigned Lands’ of Oklahoma open for settlement on April 22 1889, a huge rush for land was triggered with an estimated 50,000 people lined up to grab land. Here we see the beginnings of Oklahoma City – a water tank, a hotel, a post office and store, stage stables and tents of infantry guarding lumber. By 1910, it was Oklahoma’s state capital.
It’s a case of third time lucky for the Oregon capital and its capitol buildings. The first territorial capitol, built in a Classical Revival style, was destroyed by fire under suspicious circumstances in 1855 after barely a month of use. Government officials met in various rented spaces across town until a new classical-styled building was completed in 1876. It's pictured here around the turn of the century with its distinctive dome, added in 1893. On April 25 1935, it was engulfed in flames too. The present-day capitol, regarded as an Art Deco masterpiece, was completed in 1938.
Harrisburg was founded as a trading post on the Susquehanna River around 1718 by Englishman John Harris, before eventually being named the state capital of Pennsylvania in 1812 because it was easily reached by horse and carriage from most parts of the state. The city famously repelled Confederate forces not once, but twice during the American Civil War. It was an important training camp and supply depot during the conflict. Here we see the first capitol building gleaming at the end of a very muddy State Street in 1878. In 1897, it was destroyed by fire.
The capital of tiny Rhode Island has always punched above its weight. During the American Revolution, it had its very own 'Tea Party' where tea was burned in protest at excessive taxation. And on May 4 1776, it was where Rhode Island proclaimed its very own Declaration of Independence; a good two months before the country’s one. The city’s baseball team, the Providence Grays, achieved remarkable success too. Here we see them posing at the Messer Street Ground in 1879 with the Boston Red Sox, the team they beat to win the National League title in only their second season.
The choice of Columbia as the capital of South Carolina in 1786 was something of a compromise. Situated in the center of the state, it favored neither the small farmers of the Up Country, nor the plantation owners of the Low Country along the coast. As an important transportation center for Confederate troops, the city suffered greatly during the American Civil War. Here we see a view of Columbia from the ruins of the Capitol after the city was captured by Union troops in 1865.
Almost in the dead center of South Dakota, Pierre was founded in 1880 as the western terminus of the Chicago and North Western Railway and made temporary state capital in 1889 when South Dakota became a state. Surrounded by prosperous farming and cattle country, it quickly grew into a prosperous trading center and was named the permanent capital in 1904. This photo of local children at one of Pierre’s rural cabin schools was taken about that time.
Here we see Nashville’s magnificent Greek Revival Capitol building, completed in 1859 and the one of the oldest working state capitols in the USA today. It was designed by architect William Strickland who supervised its construction but died before it was completed. This photo was taken in 1864, the same year as the Battle of Nashville which was fought on the outskirts of the city between December 15 and December 16. The battle represented the end of large-scale fighting west of the coastal states in the American Civil War.
Austin has been both a national capital and a state one. From 1839 to 1846 it served as the capital of the Republic of Texas. And on February 19 1846, it became the state capital shortly after Texas joined the Union. The city flourished as a trading center for ranchers and farmers who also flocked to the city for its ‘amusements’. Here we see a crowd gathered on Congress Avenue in 1867 to watch a tightrope walker scamper along a rope between the historic old Avenue Hotel and Congress.
Salt Lake City is not just the state capital of Utah. It is also the world headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. No surprises that one of the first and most impressive structures built in the city was its domed tabernacle. Conceived by Mormon church leader Brigham Young, the striking building featured a curved ceiling and a seating capacity of more than 12,000 people. In this photo taken in 1871 it looks not unlike a modern sports stadium, transported back to the 19th century.
Nestled in the heart of the verdant Green Mountains and perched beside the picture-perfect Winooski River, Vermont’s state capital Montpelier has always been something of a charmer. It is the smallest state capital in the USA and its capitol building, made from Vermont granite and topped by a golden dome, is one of the oldest and best preserved of the nation's state capitols. Here we see it in all its glory in 1860, just one year after it was built.
Looking at this photo taken of Richmond in 1860, it is easy to see why William Byrd of Westover felt compelled to name the settlement after Richmond upon Thames in England. The resemblance between the two is striking, with the Mayo footbridge stretching across the James River bearing an uncanny likeness to the bridges over the Thames back in England. Capital of Virginia since 1779, the Virginian Richmond has had a more calamitous history having been pillaged by the British during the American Revolution and burned to the ground by Union forces during the Civil War.
Welcome to the muddy streets of Olympia, sometime around 1899. Sitting at the southern end of Puget Sound, the capital of Washington state has always been the wettest of the state capitals. It rains here for 168 days a year with the city receiving nearly 50 inches (127cm) of rain annually. Chosen as the territorial capital in 1853, it remains an important port and home to thriving lumber, oyster, dairy, and brewing industries. The Olympic Mountains, after which the city takes its name, form a stunning backdrop too.
Sitting at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha rivers, Charleston was an important stop on the migration route to the Ohio River valley and in the early days saw the likes of Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton, and Ann Bailey pass through as they headed west. The arrival of steamboats in 1824 saw the city boom and by 1877 it had become the capital of the newly formed state of West Virginia. It quickly became a cultural center too. Here we see a steamboat rammed with revelers bound for the circus in Charleston in 1889.
Sitting on a narrow piece of land between lakes Mendota and Monona, life in the Wisconsin capital of Madison has always centered around water. It was founded in 1836; the same year Wisconsin became a territory and was named the capital 12 years later when Wisconsin became a state in 1848. Here we see spectators watching a boat race on Lake Monona in 1870.
Founded in 1867 and made the state capital of Wyoming just two years later, Cheyenne was an outfitting point for the nearby Black Hills goldfields and, with the arrival of the railroad, a shipping point for cattle from Texas. Populated by gunmen, gamblers, and other undesirables, Cheyenne quickly developed a reputation as a rough and tumble frontier town. It's a reputation undercut somewhat by this vista of a suburban white picket fence photographed in 1876.
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