Can you name the US states by their original capital city?

created by jhoule

Enter a state in the box below
Correctly named states will show up below
Click any empty Original Capital or State to answer for that location
The only states included in this quiz are those whose capital city has changed since officially gaining statehood. However, some of the capitals predate their respective state's statehood.
Quiz was compiled from various sources including official city websites.
Also try: US Capitals East to West

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Original Capital	State	Years as Capital
Philadelphia
New Haven		1701-1873 (co-capital w/ Hartford, CT)
Windsor		1777-1805
Charleston
Exeter
Wheeling
Detroit		1805-1847
Natchez
Kaskaskia		1809-1820
San Jose		1850-1852
Corydon		1813-1825
Iowa City		1841-1857
Guthrie		1907-1910

Original Capital	State	Years as Capital
Huntsville		1819-1820
New Orleans		1722-1830; 1831-1849; 1865-1880
New Castle		1732-1777
Portland		1820-1827
Chillicothe
Williamsburg		1698-1780
Perth Amboy & Burlington
Saint Charles		1821-1826
Newport
Knoxville
Kingston
New Bern
Savannah

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There are 81 comments for this game.
(Warning: comments may contain spoilers)

US States by Original Capital City Quiz

by jhoule

Created Jan 12, 2011 in Geography
Featured Jan 17, 2011
Game Plays 118,228

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Archived comments: show them

	smreidy113:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 04:13 GMT		67 points
	I'm wondering how 3% of people didn't get Iowa from Iowa city.

	Aroll510:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 04:27 GMT		9 points
	3% of people didnt get Iowa from Iowa city? That scares me...

	NY_MOB:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 04:49 GMT		22 points
	Cool, I got Kaskaskia because I just learned about it from a show called "How the states got their shapes" on the History Channel last night.

	gwukelic:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 04:49 GMT		26 points
	Did anyone else try Oregon for Portland? By the way, I'm really shocked Iowa city used to be the capital of Iowa. lol

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	BamaRainbow:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 05:31 GMT		8 points
	@Nordeck52: Unless the clue was changed since you posted, I'm not really seeing what your concern is. Williamsburg, as listed, was the capital from 1698 to 1780, which covers the EIGHTEENTH Century. Jamestown, as capital in the SEVENTEENTH, would've been the capital in the 1600s.

	iceman1731:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 06:03 GMT		20 points
	To the 3.7% that missed Iowa City, this site isn't for you.

	BobMillahhh:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 08:46 GMT		5 points
	woooooooooh, i had summer camp in chillicothe... also where ohio got its official seal from.

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	aidanolsen14:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 13:46 GMT		17 points
	Out of instinct I immediately filled in 'place' when I saw 'St. Charles.'

	Bogeiman:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 15:19 GMT		-1 points
	good quiz. never heard of corydon though

	gellchom:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 16:15 GMT		12 points
	Great idea for a quiz. Educational and fun. Thanks. Don't ridicule people who didn't get "Iowa" -- maybe the phone rang (or the boss came by!) before they got to that question and they abandoned the quiz, or maybe they don't know much about the US and don't know that there is a state called Iowa. Jefferson City, Salt Lake City, and Carson City are state capitals, but they aren't the capitals of the states of Jefferson, Salt Lake, and Carson. (Please don't ask me what are.)

	ncbeth:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 16:30 GMT		9 points
	@gellchom....I completely agree with your reason as to why some people didn't get Iowa.....phone ringing, etc type things happen to me all the time. If someone never gets interrupted playing a game they must ignore a lot of things!

	itsacon:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 16:37 GMT		-4 points
	Technically, Richmond has always been the state capital of Virginia. It became the capital in 1780, and Virginia didn't become a state until 1788.

	barnztormre:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 16:43 GMT		8 points
	This was the kind of quiz that makes a bum feel like a king, and a king feel like some nutty, cuckoo, super-king.

	lybraunsch07:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 16:49 GMT		3 points
	Belmont was the original capital of the Wisconsin

	Nordeck52:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 17:17 GMT		2 points
	@BamaRainbow I know what centuries I'm talking about. Almost majored in history. I also didn't notice that it specifies in the quiz description that it means capitals when they became a state and not during the colonial period, so that's my mistake.

	boyzfootball4:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 18:30 GMT		3 points
	Houston was the capital of Texas for a temporary amount of time, I'm pretty sure though that was when Texas was a republic I don't know if you would want to incorporate that

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	pennyfarthing2:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 19:32 GMT		12 points
	thats an arrogant thing to say - even a mere Brit can get 75% - we take the quiz out of interest and in the case of this one to learn something!

	singin185:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 19:58 GMT		3 points
	itsacon makes an excellent point. Virginia's original capital was Jamestown, then it was moved to Williamsburg. If, for the purpose of this quiz, you must answer the capital city when said state achieved statehood (as the quiz specifies), then for Virginia it would be Richmond. Either Jamestown, because it was the original capital, or Richmond, because it was the capital when Virginia achieved statehood. There's no arguable reason to have Williamsburg.

	AlexKrycek:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 21:51 GMT		7 points
	The original capital building in Iowa City (known as "The Old Capital Building; original huh) is located in the middle of the University of Iowa campus. It's a working museum & meeting location run by the university. When Iowa was admitted to the US, the capital was moved to Des Moines because it's more or less in the center of the state. FYI Iowa City is on I-80 about 20 miles south of Cedar Rapids. Go Hawkeyes.

	pirate6711:	Jan 17th, 2011 at 22:45 GMT		3 points
	Excellent quiz!

	GeoExpert:	Jan 18th, 2011 at 00:32 GMT		3 points
	I also got Kaskaskia because of the program on the History Channel yesterday. I believe it is the only city on here in which it's present day location is in a different state than it was the capital of.