How are US states capitols selected?

Answer 1

There will be fifty answers to this question as each state's decision making process was unique:

# Alabama - Montgomery - The county where Montgomery lies, Montgomery County, was formed in 1816 and named for Major Lemuel Montgomery who had fallen in the Creek War Battle of Horseshoe Bend, and the first group of settlers came that same year. The first settlers established Alabama Town south of the current downtown area. The county courts were moved to Alabama Town in June of 1818 from Ft. Jackson. Andrew Dexter founded New Philadelphia on the eastern bank of the Alabama River directly across from Alabama Town. Dexter set aside a plot of land on Goat Hill overlooking New Philadelphia as the site of the future state capital. Alabama Town and New Philadelphia merged on 3 December 1819 and the new city incorporated under the name Montgomery, in memory of Revolutionary War General Richard Montgomery who fell in battle attempting to capture Quebec City, Canada. In 1822 due to growing economic and transportation interests, Montgomery became the county seat. Because of the growing economy of the area and its location, the state legislature decided to move the state capital from Tuscaloosa on 28 January 1846. # Alaska - Juneau- First settled as a fishing village, the area around Juneau became to focus of gold fever and later production in August 1880. by October of that year, a 160 acre site for the town of Juneau was staked out. Juneau remained the center of gold production until it the turn of the century when economic hardship and natural disaster shut down two of the three mills; the third followed in 1944. In 1906, however, the seat of government was moved from Sitka to Juneau.

# Arizona - Phoenix - The first settlers in the Phoenix area were the Hohokam tribe of Native Americans who lived at Pueblo Grande for 700 to 1000 years in the early part of the millennium. It is not known what happened to their culture or civilization, but it is theorized they succumbed to an extended drought. In 1867 Jack Swilling of Wickenburg surveyed and settled the Salt River Valley, establishing a canal building company, the Swiling Irrigation Canal Company, and by the summer of 1868 the new settlement was harvesting crops. The area became known as Swiling Mill and was located about four miles east of present day Phoenix. In October of 1870, a town meeting was held to discuss the plotting and incorporation of a town. fifty dollars was raised to purchase 320 acres of what is now the business district of downtown Phoenix. One of the settlers Darrell Duppa suggested the town be named Phoenix for the firey bird of Egyptian mythology to signify the rebirth of the area from the original ancient settlers. A federal patent was issued by President Grant on 10 April 1874 to Judge Alsap for the site of present day Phoenix. Phoenix was incorporated as a city by order of Governor John Fremont on 25 February 1881, and John Alsap was elected its first mayor by a majority of one hundred twenty-seven of two hundred twenty-nine votes. With Arizona's admission into statehood on 14 February 1912, Phoenix became the new state's capital.

# Arkansas - Little Rock - # California - Sacramento -The first white settlers in Sacramento Valley incorporated the city of Sacramento in 1849. the state of California was admitted into statehood on 9 September 1850, and the state legislature established Sacramento as the state's capital in 1854. The 1879 Constitutional Convention established the city as the permanent capital.

# Colorado - Denver - # Connecticut - Hartford - # Delaware - Dover - # Florida - Tallahassee - # Georgia - Atlanta - # Hawaii - Honolulu - # Idaho- Boise - # Illinois - Springfield - # Indiana - Indianapolis - # Iowa - Des Moines - # Kansas - Topeka - # Kentucky - Frankfort - # Louisiana - Baton Rouge - # Maine - Augusta - # Maryland - Annapolis - # Massachusetts - Boston - # Michigan - Lansing - The capital city of the state of Michigan was born out of a land scene cooked up by two brothers from Lansing, New York. In 1835 the nefarious two surveyed and plotted out the land just south of where the present capital building stands. Returning to New York, they sold off the plots to local Lansing, NY residents. When the new property owners arrived, they found their land under flood waters from the Grand River. About 20 of them stayed to settle the area. The state's constitution mandated in 1847 that the capital be moved from Detroit to protect it from British invasion. After much debate over where the site would be located, the legislature finally settled on the geographic east/west center of Michigan and planted the capital in what had been named Biddle Town. the legislature renamed the area Lansing for one of the delegates to the Continental Congress, John Lansing.

# Minnesota - Saint Paul - # Mississippi - Jackson - # Missouri - Jefferson City - # Montana - Helena - # Nebraska - Lincoln- # Nevada - Carson City - # New Hampshire - Concord - # New Jersey - Trenton - # New Mexico - Santa Fe - # New York - Albany - # North Carolina - Raleigh - # North Dakota - Bismark - # Ohio - Columbus - # Oklahoma - Oklahoma City - # Oregon - Salem - # Pennsylvania - Harrisburg - # Rhode Island - Providence - # South Carolina - Columbia - # South Dakota - Pierre - # Tennessee - Nashville - # Texas - Austin - # Utah - Salt Lake City - # Vermont - Montpelier - # Virginia - Richmond - # Washington - Olympia - # West Virginia - Charleston - # Wisconsin - Madison - # Wyoming - Cheyenne -