How’d They Get Their Names?
Want to know which state capital’s name means “a good place to dig wild potatoes?” Or which cities in the United States were almost called Pig’s Eye, Pumpkinville, and Algebra? We’ve traced the strange and fascinating histories behind each state capital’s naming process. Read on to find out how all 50 state capitals got their names.
MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA
Founded in 1819, Montgomery is named for General Richard Montgomery, a Revolutionary War officer killed in the attack on Quebec. Though Montgomery passed away nearly 45 years before Alabama’s capital was established, he was thrust back in the news in 1819 when his home state of New York successfully convinced Quebec to return his remains. It’s unclear why a Southern settlement decided to name their city after a New York war hero, though the fact that several of the settlement’s original founders hailed from New England may have played some role in the decision-making.Originally called Newtowne, Hartford was settled in 1636 by friends Thomas Hooker and Reverend Samuel Stone. Born in Hertford, England in 1602, Stone was a Puritan minister who traveled to America in 1633 in search of religious freedom. Together, Stone and Hooker led a Puritan congregation from Boston to Newtowne, which they re-named Hartford after Stone’s birthplace.
DOVER, DELAWARE
Dover was founded in 1683 by William Penn, who named the city after a port town in England’s county of Kent. He gave the county in which Delaware’s capital resides the same name.
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