Best And Worst Located State Capitals

[badrunner]

Originally Posted by Centropolis

pinterest.com

the nebraska state capital left the biggest impression on me having stumbled upon it years ago in lincoln, although the illinois dome is noticeably tall for being a classic shape. lincoln, nebraska in general was the most pleasantly surprising state capital since seeing madison for the first time.

I welcome any government building that's not in neo-classical style.

[muertecaza]

Yeah, love Arizona but our capitol building has to be in the bottom 10 in the USA. Just stumpy and uninspiring.

Also, on the original subject of the thread, have to agree Phoenix is objectively a good location--central, and has some of the best water resources in the state. But I can't help but wonder what might have been if Prescott, AZ had stayed the capitol (it was the territorial capitol twice, in the 1860s, and then again in the 1870-80s). Not sure if the area could have supported Phoenix's population, but I sure wouldn't mind if our main population center was in the mountains and pine trees.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by edale

I've always hated Ohio's capitol building. It's nice enough on the inside, but looks so plain on the outside. It looks like they ran out of money for a dome, so they just stopped.

Agreed. Capitol Square in Columbus feels very underwhelming in general.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

Agreed. Capitol Square in Columbus feels very underwhelming in general.

Which is interesting because OH was the third largest state when it was built. Then you have Texas which built its capitol which is monstrous when it only had a million or so people. Same for California.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by JManc

Which is interesting because OH was the third largest state when it was built. Then you have Texas which built its capitol which is monstrous when it only had a million or so people. Same for California.

Construction of California's Capitol was started in 1860, when the state had only 379,994 people. It was completed in 1874--the state had only 864,694 people in the 1880 Census.


wikipedia

The Texas State Capitol was completed in 1888. Texas had 2,235,527 people in the 1890 Census. I really love the color of the Texas Capitol:


wikipedia

[JManc]

Yeah, I love the TX capitol which has just the right proportions and massing. I haven't been in a while but for a 'big state' capitol, they still let you wander around with little to no restrictions. As for California, they must have anticipated bigger things and were flush with all that gold rush cash.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lio45

Ottawa would be an extremely bizarrely located capital for the RoC should Quebec achieve its independence

If Gatineau were the capital* of an independent Quebec, we could even have a Kinshasa-Brazzaville thing going on.




*which would NEVER happen of course

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by JManc

Vermont's is even smaller. I've been to the HI capitol and while bland, it works because a domed or some other neoclassical building wouldn't fit the urban and historical setting there. Plus the old palace is across the street.

I'm a huge a state capitol nerd and have been to about 30 or so of them.

When I was a kid travelling with my parents I used to pester them to stop by provincial and state legislatures anywhere we went.

I was a also a geek for those mini flags with a black plastic pole that fit into a round plastic base. They used to sell them in souvenir shops.

They were always easy to find for Canadian provinces, but not always for US states.

[xzmattzx]

Originally Posted by Boisebro

fun fact: 25 states have moved their state capital at least once.

in Idaho, Lewiston was the original territorial capital before it was controversially moved to Boise.

I wonder how many former capitol buildings are extant? Here in Delaware, the fomer capitol building in New Castle, our original capital, continued as the county courthouse for another 100 years; our first capitol building in Dover still is there, too.

Centropolis posted a picture of the old Missouri capitol building in St. Charles.

On the other hand, the former Maine capitol building in Portland has long been demolished.

[SIGSEGV]

I think Iowa City might have an old capitol building?

[Atlas]

Utah's territorial capital city was Fillmore for a time, which was chosen for it's centrality and probably in an attempt to de-emphasize Salt Lake City and Mormons. That was a short-lived idea though and even now it's a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. Here's the actual Utah State Capitol in SLC:

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Acajack

If Gatineau were the capital* of an independent Quebec, we could even have a Kinshasa-Brazzaville thing going on.




*which would NEVER happen of course

Just noticed Wikipedia says "the two cities are the world's second-closest pair of capital cities", which of course raises the question, where is the world's closest pair of capital cities?

Rome and Vatican City...? What else?

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by lio45

Just noticed Wikipedia says "the two cities are the world's second-closest pair of capital cities", which of course raises the question, where is the world's closest pair of capital cities?

Rome and Vatican City...? What else?

Yeah, it's gotta be those two.

Ramallah and Jersusalem are also quite close but it's probably hard to simultaneously claim both are legitimate capitals .

Bratislava and Vienna are surprisingly close, but much farther away than Kinshasa and Brazzaville.

Tiraspol and Chisinau are also quite close but nobody recognizes Transnistria.

[ue]

Canadian provincial capitals generally make sense. In most provinces (and all territories) they're the largest cities, and where they aren't they're the second largest (BC, AB, SK). I think New Brunswick is the only one that differs from this, as Fredericton is the 3rd largest city. But they're never in random towns that have nothing else going on (eg Carson City) and they generally don't have a weird geographic position (eg Tallahassee or Juneau). I know someone mentioned Victoria being a bit weird, but it is still the 2nd largest city in BC and fairly close to the main population centre (the Lower Mainland). Victoria was also an important historic port and fort (and why the 49th Parallel doesn't slice through Vancouver Island). I'm generally cool with capitals not being in the largest city, but they should still be in a significant population centre, which all of the Canadian capitals are.

I quite like Quebec's Parliament

Wikimedia Commons

and BC's Legislature

Wikimedia Commons

[SFBruin]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

this brings up a good question though: do most citizens of any given state ever really NEED to visit their state capital?

That's fair.

I grew up in California, and have only ever visited Sacramento once, other than as a stopping point on drives to the snow.

I think that the location of a state capital might matter more for business leaders / lobbyists, but even then, with zoom / videoconferencing, it might not matter that much.

The one state that I do think could maybe benefit from moving its state capital (besides Alaska and possibly Florida -- though I am starting to take back my opinion on the latter after hearing about it) is Nevada, given that the vast majority of economic activity in the state occurs in the southern portion, and the drive from the southern portion to Carson City is 7 hrs. Would be curious to hear people's thoughts on that.

[Double L]

Austin is in both an efficient and beautiful location. Efficient because it on the Lower Colorado River and is centrally located in Texas. Beautiful, because it is on the Lower Colorado and in the Hill Country.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Double L

Austin is in both an efficient and beautiful location. Efficient because it on the Lower Colorado River and is centrally located in Texas. Beautiful, because it is on the Lower Colorado and in the Hill Country.

It's not centrally located if you're in El Paso, the RGV or the Panhandle.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

Bratislava and Vienna are surprisingly close,

That's interesting. I drove to Vienna from Germany a couple of years ago, and I don't remember any of the control signs mentioning Bratislava, but Budapest was on just about every sign. I didn't realize Bratislava is closer than Budapest.

[MolsonExport]

Bratislava is about an hour away by boat, I think, from Vienna. I took a day trip from the latter to the former.

[sopas ej]

IMO, the best located state capital is Honolulu. Gorgeous setting. Prettiest state capital I've ever been to. I wish my sister and her family still lived there.


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