Tallahassee, Florida

**Tallahassee** is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2020 Tallahassee has a population of 196,169 people.

The name comes from the Apalachee Native American words: _talwa_ meaning town, and _ahassee_ meaning old.

Tallahassee was created as the capital of Florida during the territory's second legislative session. It was chosen as the midpoint between St. Augustine and Pensacola, which had been the capitals of the Spanish and British colonies of East Florida and West Florida, respectively. (At that time, very few people lived in the swamps of South Florida.) The first session of Florida's Legislative Council–as a territory of the United States–met on July 22, 1822 at Pensacola and members from St. Augustine traveled fifty-nine days by water to attend. The second session was in St. Augustine and required western delegates to travel perilously around the peninsula on a twenty-eight day trek. During this session, it was decided that future meetings should be held at a half-way point to reduce the distance. Two appointed commissioners selected Tallahassee, at that point an abandoned Apalachee settlement, as a halfway point. In 1824, the third legislative session met there in a crude log capitol. Also in 1824, Marquis de Lafayette, French hero of the American Revolution, returned for a grand tour of the United States.  The US Congress voted to give him $200,000 (the same amount he had given the colonies in 1778), US citizenship, and the Lafayette Land Grant,  of land that today includes large portions of Tallahassee. In 1845, a Greek revival masonry structure was erected as the Capitol building in time for statehood.

In 1977, a 23-story high-rise Capitol building designed by architect Edward Durell Stone was completed. It is now the third-tallest state capitol building in the United States. In 1978, the old capitol was scheduled for demolition, but the State Of Florida decided to keep the Old Capitol as a museum and point of interest.

The city is the location of two important universities, Florida State University and Florida A&M University.

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Tallahassee
- **official name**: City of Tallahassee
- **settlement type**: List of capitals in the United States, State capital city
- **image flag**: Flag of Tallahassee, Florida (2020–present).svg
- **flag size**: 160px
- **flag alt**: City of Tallahassee Flag, updated 2020
- **image seal**: Seal of Tallahassee, Florida.png
- **motto**: "Florida's Capital City"
- **image map**: Leon County Florida Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Tallahassee Highlighted.svg
- **map caption**: Location within Leon County, Florida, Leon County and the state of Florida
- **pushpin label**: Tallahassee
- **pushpin map**: USA Florida#USA
- **pushpin map caption**: Location within Florida##Location within the United States
- **pushpin relief**: yes
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision type1**: U.S. State, State
- **subdivision type2**: County (United States), County
- **subdivision name2**: Leon County, Florida, Leon
- **established title**: Established
- **government type**: Council–manager government, Council–Manager
- **leader party**: Democratic Party (United States), D
- **unit pref**: Imperial
- **total type**: Total
- **area total sq mi**: 104.74
- **area land sq mi**: 101.85
- **area water sq mi**: 2.89
- **elevation ft**: 203
- **population total**: 196169
- **population as of**: 2020 United States Census, 2020
- **population density sq mi**: 1926.00
- **population rank**: List of United States cities by population, 127th, U.S.
- **population urban**: 252,934 (List of United States urban areas, US: 162nd)
- **population density urban sq mi**: 2,016.1
- **population metro**: 385145 (List of Metropolitan Statistical Areas, US: 140th)
- **timezone1**: Eastern Time Zone, Eastern (EST)
- **utc offset**: −5
- **timezone1 dst**: Eastern Time Zone, EDT
- **utc offset dst**: −4
- **postal code type**: ZIP code(s)
- **postal code**: 32300–32399
- **area code**: Area code 850, 850
- **blank name**: Federal Information Processing Standards, FIPS code
- **blank info**: 12-70600
- **blank1 name**: Geographic Names Information System, GNIS feature ID
- **blank1 info**: 308416
- **area total km2**: 271.27
- **area land km2**: 263.80
- **area water km2**: 7.47
- **population density km2**: 743.64