From railroad hubs and river towns to hard-fought votes and alleged bribes, America’s state capitals took wildly different paths to power.
Today, in 17 states, the capital is also the most populous city. Phoenix, the nation’s most populous state capital, has more than 1.6 million residents, while Montpelier, Vermont, has fewer than 8,000, according to the latest Census estimates.
But population was often far from the deciding factor when designating a state capital. Many were selected hundreds of years ago, when some of today’s cities were little more than stretches of undeveloped land.