State Capital Origins ~ Part Two

The second edition is here.  As it turns out, I have a little more time on my hands now, my wife works in the afternoon on three days, so I come home to an empty house (apart from the two dogs). I have the place to myself for a few hours and so I can research, and write my blogs uninterrupted. Well, I say uninterrupted, but the dogs need their food, and a short walk, plus I make myself a meal, and then go to collect my wife from work, but I do get a good couple of hours to concentrate on my blog writing (or is it blogging, or both?). Anyway, enough about my exciting life, lets chat about this episode of the blog.

We start in Columbus, Ohio and criss-cross the United States until we arrive in Jackson, Mississippi.

Although not a gaudy, modern attraction, Shrum Mound deserves a mention in this blog. The mound was created at least 2,000 years ago by native American peoples. It is a burial mound that has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1970. The name comes from the owners of the land the burial mound is on, although it is now owned by the Ohio History Connection. It is located in Campbell Park on McKinley Avenue in Columbus.

Columbus is similar to the last entry in the previous blog, Columbia (South Carolina), in that it is named after the Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus. Who'd have guessed huh!

COLUMBUS = NAMED AFTER CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

Getting to this attraction takes a somewhat circuitous route, you must first sneak behind a café, then cross a parking lot and enter a small alleyway. The mural is painted on an apartment block lift shaft. It was created in 2022 by local artists Manny Ramirez, Cecilia Ulibarri, and Christian Ramirez who form a non-profit group called Positive Street Art. The Donkey Kong mural is a favourite of the local community and can be found behind 5, South State St in Concord.

The word concord means harmony, especially between two parties. (The famous Concorde aircraft was so named because it was a joint venture between the UK and France). The city of Concord was named for a similar reason. It was first called Rumford, but way back in 1765, Governor Benning Wentworth changed the name to Concord following the successful resolution of a boundary dispute with the neighbouring city of Bow. The name was chosen to signify the close harmony between the towns.

CONCORD = HARMONY

On a lawn outside the Denver Public Library sits a piece of art that was originally created for an elementary school in New York City. The school district wanted the artist, Donald Lipski, to remove the horse, he refused stating that "the horse represents a toy left behind by a toddler". The sculpture was then put into storage, but temporarily displayed in Central Park. Whilst there it was purchased as a gift for the City of Denver. It has since become, according to a poll, Denver's favourite artwork and has featured on a regional street atlas and the Denver phone book.

Denver is nicknamed the "Mile High City", and there is an inscription on the steps of city hall marking the actual point that is a mile above sea level. The city was founded at the time of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush in 1858 in what was then part of the Kansas Territory. It was settled by prospectors that named it Denver in an effort to find favour with the governor of Kansas, James W. Denver. Unfortunately for the prospectors, James had already resigned.

DENVER = NAMED AFTER JAMES W. DENVER

Just a short walk from the Downtown Hilton Hotel in Des Moines is a restaurant with a difference. It's called the Zombie Burger and Drink Lab, and from it's name you can deduce that it is Zombie themed. From movie posters to "life" sized Zombie mannikins this restaurant takes the undead to the next level. Food and drink menus as well as the staff join in with the theme. So, for a meal with a difference head to East Grand Avenue in downtown Des Moines.

Des Moines was incorporated in 1851 as Fort Des Moines, named after the Des Moines River. Six years later the "Fort" part of the name was dropped. The river's name was translated from it's French name of Riviere des Moines which means "River of the Monks" and is thought to refer to a group of French Trappist monks that resided in present day Illinois.

DES MOINES = OF THE MONKS

Alongside US Route 13 in Dover, (Route 13 runs from North Carolina to Pennsylvania) there is the Dover Motor Speedway, nicknamed "The Monster Mile" since its opening in 1969 as a motor and horse racing track, although not both at the same time luckily. Miles the Monster has been a mascot of the circuit since 2000, although the statue was only built in 2008 as part of a multi-million dollar renovation. The statue stands on a plinth that honours every past winner at Dover Motor Speedway.

The city takes it's name from the town in Kent, United Kingdom with, obviously, the same name, Dover. You know, the one with the white cliffs. Anyway, the original Dover gets its name from Brythonic word for "waters", similarly dwfr in Middle Welsh, Douvres in French and Dofr in Modern Welsh.

DOVER = NAMED AFTER DOVER UK (MEANING WATERS)

Located behind the State Capitol building is a 100ton concrete bowl holding around 10,000 flowers and a clock. The long hand is twenty feet long and the short hand, fifteen. It was built following a trip by the governor and a garden club to Edinburgh, Scotland where a similar floral clock can be seen. Although, it became the governors Achilles Heel when elections in 1963 commenced. His opponent, Happy Chandler (yeah, that's his name) stated that the clock was a typical waste of taxpayers money, calling it "The Weed Clock" and saying that "They don't say it's half past two in Frankfort anymore. They say it's two petunias past the jimson weed." Despite this the clock still stands and coins from the pool below help fund horticultural courses.

Frankfort doesn't take its name from Frankfurt, Germany. In fact there is no connection to that city, nor to a fort of any kind. The name likely comes from an event in the 18th century when Native Americans attacked a group of European colonists. One of them, a pioneer called Stephen Frank was killed whilst crossing the Kentucky River. The crossing became known as Frank's Ford, which over the years morphed into Frankfort.

FRANKFORT = DERIVED FROM FRANK'S FORD

In the middle of the Dauphin Narrows of the Susquehanna River is an old pier from the Marysville railroad bridge which was demolished after several years of disuse in 1903. In the July of 1986, a eighteen foot high replica of the Statue of Liberty appeared overnight. Built of wood and Venetian blinds it was a prank to commemorate the centennial of the proper statue in New York. Surprisingly, despite the construction materials used, the statue stood for six years until it was destroyed during a storm. However, the locals had grown to love the replica and created a fund to replace it. There now sits a twenty-five foot statue made of metal. It wasn't until 2011, that a local lawyer came forward to admit to placing the original statue.

Harrisburg was first settled by the English trader, John Harris Sr. in 1719 and received grants to 800 acres of land fourteen years later. In 1785, his son, John Harris Jr, laid out plans to build the town calling it Harrisburg.

HARRISBURG = NAMED AFTER JOHN HARRIS

In 2005, as part of the revitalisation of the riverfront area of Hartford, a total of sixteen statues were commissioned to be placed along side the Connecticut River. One of them was a statue of Jack, the first ever presidentially pardoned turkey. Apparently given to the White House during Abraham Lincoln's tenure, as a gift after the introduction of the Thanksgiving holiday. Destined for Christmas dinner, Jack was befriended by Lincoln's son, Tad, who trained it to follow him around. As Christmas approached, Tad pleaded with his father to spare the bird from it's inevitable fate at the hands of the White House chef. Abraham Lincoln wrote out a presidential pardon, saving the turkeys life, and creating a Christmas tradition that continues to this day.

Hartford is one of the oldest cities in the United States, it was founded in 1635 by English Puritan pastors, Thomas Hooker and Samuel Stone. Stone named it after his home town or Hertford in the United Kingdom. Why he changed the spelling is anyone's guess, but probably due to lack of education in those days. Anyway, Hertford or even Hartford, derives from the Old English name for a stag deer, hart. The ford bit means a water crossing. So therefore, Hartford means....

HARTFORD = NAMED AFTER HERTFORD, UK (WHICH MEANS DEER CROSSING)

On a hill overlooking Helena is a wooden fire tower. Built in the 1870's after a large fire destroyed many of Helena's original wooden buildings it is known as the "Guardian of the Gulch" and is one of only five similar towers still standing in the whole of the United States. Over the years, the weather has taken its toll on the tower which is now unstable. There were suggestions that the tower should be demolished and a newer, historically accurate one built in it's place. However local opposition rallied round to keep the original structure.

Helena, Montana (Thats Helena, Montana NOT Hannah, Montana. Does that town exist? ) was originally called Last Chance Gulch during the Gold Rush days, but when the population grew the name was thought to be unsuitable. The name Tomah was suggested but then rejected as were Pumpkinville and Squashtown! (The meeting to decide the name was held on the day before Halloween). A Scotsman, John Summerville, proposed Helena. There is some argument over the origin however, theories include, named after Helena in either Minnesota or Arkansas, named after St.Helena, the island of Napoleon's exile, or even the name of a miners sweetheart.

HELENA = NAMED AFTER HELENA (Somewhere or someone, I wish they had gone with Pumpkinville myself)

The wonderfully named "Stairs of Doom" is one of the nicknames of the Koko Crater Trail that rises above Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu, it is also known as "Nature's Stairmaster". Although it is categorised as a trail, it is in fact, an old railway line. During World War II, the US built lookout posts on Koko Crater and built a tramway to keep personnel supplied and to ease the burden of staff having to walk up the steep hills. The base at the top was eventually closed and the railway converted to a trail. The 1,048 rickety stairs climb over 1,100 feet in less than a mile, apparently the climb is worth it for the views of the whole island.

The name of Honolulu derives from the Hawaiian language and translates as "sheltered harbour" or "calm port". Honolulu has a few nicknames including, "Crossroads of the Pacific" and "The Big Pineapple".

HONOLULU = SHELTERED HARBOUR

Standing in front of Indianapolis' impressive State House is a sycamore tree, that isn't just an ordinary sycamore tree. This tree is one of only around fifty (from a batch of 500) that have survived after being planted as a seed, after going to the Moon and back. They were transported by Astronauts aboard the Apollo 14 mission. It was planted on the 9th of April in 1976, and continues to be monitored by scientists, although there appears to be no difference between it and a normal terrestial tree of the same species.

I'm willing to bet that most of you will have figured out the etymology of Indianapolis already, if you haven't, then here it is. Indianapolis is made up of two parts, Indiana and polis. Indiana is just named after the state, which incidentally means "Land of the Indians" and polis is the Greek word for "city". The name was coined by Jeremiah Sullivan, Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court from 1837 until 1846. Other names considered were Concord, Suwarrow, and Tecumseh. Tecumseh was a Shawnee tribal chief.

INDIANAPOLIS = CITY OF INDIANA

In a part of Jackson known as "Little Harlem" is a bar and restaurant that has been trading non-stop since 1939. A Mexican immigrant called Juan "Big John" Mora, arrived in Jackson in the 1930's and began selling tamales from a cart. He eventually took on a store and named it "The Big Apple", not after New York, but after his favourite dance. (I've never heard of it either). After selling tamales, hot dogs, and burgers, he noticed local butchers throwing out pigs ears. He collected them, slow cooked, them and created the "Pigs Ear Sandwich", a dish that is still served today. The inn also has a history of providing a safe haven for civil rights activists for many years.

Jackson was originally called LeFleur's Bluff after a French Canadian trader called Louis LeFleur. He was the first settler in the area and set up trade routes to what are now neighbouring states. When the Mississippi General Assembly were looking in central Mississippi for a suitable site for the new state capital, LeFleur's Bluff had everything needed. The new name of Jackson was to commemorate General Andrew Jackson's victory in the 1815 Battle of New Orleans.

JACKSON = NAMED AFTER ANDREW JACKSON

Finally finished the second episode of this blog series, ooh, we're halfway there, to quote Bon Jovi, still got 25 state capitals to go though, but the end is in sight, albeit a long way away.

In the next one we shall start in Missouri, Jefferson City to be precise and road trip all over until we end up in Pierre, South Dakota.

I'm running out of things to say in these bits, both the introduction and the summary, I may have mentioned this before, I think, it seems familiar somehow, ah well, whatever! I may decide to skip them when I make another series, but it wouldn't seem right somehow, what do you think? Do you enjoy my inane ramblings on basically nothing? I guess it gives y'all a somewhat narrow view of my life in general, I know I sometimes share little snippets of information about my daily life. For instance, I'm currently writing this at 230 on a Saturday afternoon, my wife is at work till 5, and the dogs, Eddie and Poppy, are both asleep on the sofa. I will be at work tomorrow from about 3am until around 3pm, 12 hours of driving between a factory and a transport yard less than a mile apart, just loading and moving trailers around. Boring but well paid!

Anyway, I think that's enough drivel for now, so until the next time.... So long, and thanks for all the fish...