EVER WONDER WHY TALLAHASSEE IS FLORIDA'S CAPITAL?

IT GOES BACK TO WHEN FLORIDA BECAME

AN AMERICAN TERRITORY IN 1821.

THE UNITED STATES ACQUIRED WHAT HAD BEEN

TWO COLONIES, EAST AND WEST FLORIDA,

WITH CAPITALS IN ST. AUGUSTINE AND PENSACOLA.

THE TERRITORIAL LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL PLANNED TO ALTERNATE ITS ANNUAL MEETING BETWEEN THE TWO TOWNS. FLORIDA, THOUGH, WAS A WILDERNESS, WITH FEW ROADS, AND TRAVEL BY LAND OR SEA WAS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT - SO DIFFICULT, THAT ONE EAST FLORIDA LEGISLATOR WAS LOST AT SEA IN 1822 WHILE TRYING TO SAIL TO PENSACOLA FOR THE FIRST LEGISLATIVE SESSION.

GETTING TO ST. AUGUSTINE THE NEXT YEAR WAS NOT TRAGIC, BUT LITTLE BETTER. TO REMEDY THE SITUATION, GOVERNOR WILLIAM POPE DUVAL COMMISSIONED JOHN LEE WILLIAMS, FROM PENSACOLA, AND WILLIAM SIMMONS, FROM ST. AUGUSTINE, TO SEARCH FOR A CENTRAL LOCATION.

THEY MET AT ST. MARKS IN OCTOBER 1823 TO EXPLORE THE REGION FOR A SUITABLE SITE. THEY CHOSE AN AREA HALFWAY BETWEEN THE OLD CAPITALS, THE SITE OF A FORMER INDIAN VILLAGE NAMED TALLAHASSEE.

THE NEW TOWN OF TALLAHASSEE WAS ESTABLISHED

AS FLORIDA'S CAPITAL IN 1824, AND SO IT REMAINS TODAY.