TALLAHASSEE

city, capital of Florida, U.S., seat (1824) of Leon County, in the northern part of the state. In 1539 Hernando de Soto discovered an Indian village in the area. Seven Franciscan missions were established, with their headquarters at Ft. San Luis (1633), which was destroyed by Gov. James Moore of South Carolina during Queen Anne's War (170213) to punish the Spanish for inciting Indian attacks against English settlers. In 1821, when Florida became an American territory, it had two capitals, St. Augustine and Pensacola. As a central location between the two, Tallahassee (derived from a Creek Indian word meaning old town) became the capital in 1824. The porticoed capitol building, begun in 1839, acquired its dome in 1902 and its south wing in 1947; it now forms the frontage to a new skyscraper capitol (completed 1977). During the Civil War Tallahassee was far removed from the significant battle areas, although there was an engagement (March 6, 1865) at Natural Bridge, 9 mi (14 km) south (now a state historic site) to repulse a Union march on the city, which was the only capital of a Confederate state east of the Mississippi not captured by Union forces. Tallahassee is a key wholesaling and distribution point for the surrounding lumbering, cotton, and cattle-raising region. It is the seat of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (1887), Florida State University (1851), and Tallahassee Community College (1965). Prince Achille Murat, nephew of Napoleon I, and his wife, Catherine Willis, great-grandniece of George Washington, were early residents. Inc. 1825. Pop. (1990) city, 124,773; Tallahassee MSA, 233,598.