Tallahassee, Florida

Tallahassee is both the capital of Florida and the county seat of Leon County. Often referred to as "the other Florida," the city is more akin to the American South than the tropical climate of southern Florida. Situated in the northern part of the state, Tallahassee experiences four different seasons and is surrounded by hilly terrain. The area is also known for the variety of wildlife in the surrounding forests, which makes it popular for hunting and fishing.

Landscape

Tallahassee is located in the central region of Florida's northern panhandle. It is about equidistant between Jacksonville to the east and Pensacola to the west. The Gulf of Mexico is just twenty miles south, and Georgia is fourteen miles north.

Unlike most of Florida, Tallahassee has a hilly landscape that gives way to flat terrain in the southern part of the city. The highest elevation in the city proper is above two hundred feet. The region's natural resources include limestone, which is used to make concrete, and an abundance of local trees, such as oaks, pines, and magnolias, which add to the beauty of the city, sometimes creating a canopy effect over roadways.

Like other areas of the Gulf States—the southern states of the United States that border the Gulf of Mexico—Tallahassee has a moist, mild climate with a subtropical summer common to Florida; unlike most of the state, however, the capital and other panhandle cities experience four distinct seasons. The rainiest months are June, July, and August, with an average of 115 rainy days per year. The city experiences an annual total of 63.5 inches of rain on average.

Temperatures most often fall below freezing between December and February, on average doing so approximately thirty days per year. January's average low is 40 degrees Fahrenheit, while July's average high is 91 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature rises above 90 degrees Fahrenheit an average of eighty-seven days per year.

Climate change is significantly impacting Tallahassee along with the rest of Florida. The hottest July on record was in 2023. Higher air and water temperatures cause stronger hurricanes, which are a major threat to Florida.

People

According to the US Census Bureau, Tallahassee had an estimated population of 201,731 in 2022. During this year, the population was 49.5 percent White and 35.5 percent Black or African American. Hispanic people and Latinos made up 7.4 percent of the population; Asians, 4.2 percent. As of 2022, 11 percent of people over five years of age spoke a language other than English at home.

While Florida has a higher-than-average percentage of people over the age of sixty-five, the number in Tallahassee was only at 11.2 percent in 2022. This was below the state average of 21.6. Between 2018 and 2022, the median household income was estimated at $52,899 (in 2022 dollars), below the state average of $67,917. An estimated 24.3 percent of the population lived below the poverty line between 2018 and 2022, well above the state figure of 12.7 percent.

As the state capital, Tallahassee plays host to a number of festivals that highlight Florida's unique culture and heritage, including Springtime Tallahassee, considered one of the largest events in the Southeast, and the Tallahassee Museum Swamp Stomp Music Festival. Events that celebrate Tallahassee's diversity include the annual Florida African Dance Festival, sponsored by the African Caribbean Dance Theatre, and the Tallahassee Latin Dance Festival, introduced in 2013.

Economy

Tallahassee serves as a trade and distribution location for the region's livestock, agriculture, and lumbering industries. Some important products manufactured in the city include electronic equipment, metal products, and printing and publishing. As the state capital and county seat, Tallahassee has many government workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in February 2021, around one-13 percent of jobs were in the local, state, or federal government.

Education contributes to the local economy. The city is home to several educational institutions, most notably Florida State University, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, and Tallahassee Community College, as well as several branches of other colleges. Educational services represent one of the other leading sectors in terms of employment. Other larger industries in February 2022 included trade, transportation, and utilities as well as professional and business services, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Tallahassee has made strides to diversify its economy over the years. Emerging industries include manufacturing and high technology. However, the state of Florida and the city itself, as well as Leon County Schools and the leading universities of Florida State and Florida A&M, continue to be the largest employers in Tallahassee.

Landmarks

The twenty-eight miles between Tallahassee and Thomasville, Georgia, contain the largest concentration of early plantations in the United States. One of the most notable, now a part of the Goodwood Museum and Gardens, was first constructed during the 1830s. The house is considered one of the finest examples of original plantation homes built in the area. Sixteen acres feature thirteen other buildings, a reflecting pool, and a roller rink, as well as live oaks, gardens, and lawns. Home to several wealthy families, the property was established as a museum and public park in 1990.

Other museums include the Tallahassee Museum and the Riley House, which hosts the John G. Riley Center/Museum of African American History and Culture. The Riley House was the home of a former slave who became Leon County's first black school principal. Built in 1890, it now serves as a museum featuring exhibits on the heritage and history of African Americans. The Tallahassee Museum includes a zoo featuring native animals and more than thirty thousand artifacts. Other features include the Fleischmann Natural Science Building and the re-created nineteenth-century Big Bend Farm.

Mission San Luis de Apalachee, also known as San Luis de Talimali, is the state's only reconstructed Spanish mission from the 1600s. Once the capital of western missions in Spanish Florida, the site offers re-created period buildings, including the residence of the Spanish deputy governor, the Apalachee council house, and the Franciscan church and friary. Also present are archaeological digs and living history exhibits.

Tallahassee is also the site of the Museum of Florida History. Since 1977, when the museum opened, it has focused on the state's past and present cultures and heritage. Exhibits include a rebuilt steamboat, cargo from Spanish ships, and a mastodon skeleton.

The state's Vietnam Veterans Memorial, dedicated in 1985, is across the street from the Old Capitol. The names of 1,942 dead and 83 missing men are engraved on two granite columns. An American flag is suspended between the two columns.

History

The Apalachee and Creek peoples were the first to inhabit the area. "Tallahassee" is a Creek word that means "old town." American Indian settlements flourished in the region from 500 to 1528 CE. A largely agricultural culture, they farmed, traded, and created pottery.

The first Europeans to enter the region were the Spanish, under Pánfilo de Narváez in 1528. During the winter of 1539–40, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his men camped in the region, celebrating Christmas about a mile from the site of the present capitol building. It is considered the first celebration of Christmas in North America.

Later, Franciscans established seven missions from Saint Augustine to Tallahassee. During Queen Anne's War (1702–13), combined British and Creek forces destroyed Fort San Luis, which had served as mission headquarters. The Apalachee left the area around this time.

The Creek had migrated into the region from Alabama and Georgia. Blending with the remaining tribes, they became the ancestors of the Seminole. In 1763, Spain ceded Florida to England in exchange for Cuba. Florida was a British possession for two decades until Spain regained the region.

In 1818, Andrew Jackson invaded Florida, driving the Seminole from the area surrounding Tallahassee. The following year, Spain ceded Florida to the United States, leading to the creation of the Florida Territory in 1822. Jackson became the first territorial governor, a post he held in Tallahassee for only three months. At that time, Florida had two capitals, Saint Augustine and Pensacola. Two years later, Tallahassee was chosen for the new capital because of its central location between the two. The city also did not have the problems of yellow fever that seaport towns experienced.

Florida became the twenty-seventh state in 1845, only to secede from the Union in 1861. Florida regained its statehood in 1868 after writing a new constitution granting voting rights to African American men.

Students from Florida A & M University sparked a boycott of Tallahassee's city bus system in 1956, following the success of the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott. Reverend C. K. Steele, who led the six-month boycott, was one of the founders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He remained an active member of the city until his death in 1980. Members of the Ku Klux Klan, which had a strong presence in north Florida since the World War I era, burned a cross at a rally in Tallahassee the year of the boycott.

The Jewish population had been part of the city since at least 1837. They also took an active part in the struggles for antidiscrimination laws and civil rights during the 1950s and 1960s.

In the late 1970s, the city constructed a new capitol, a twenty-two-story building with a view of the Gulf of Mexico. The Old Capitol, begun in 1826 and now serving as the Museum of Florida History, is in the shadow of this newer structure.

By the beginning of 1979, the city had expanded from a quarter of a mile to 26.15 miles, much of it by annexing the surrounding area. Many of the annexations of the 1980s were done via double referendum, which voters in both Tallahassee and the area to be annexed were required to approve. The city added another 75 square miles by 2004, for a total of more than 100 square miles.

In 1997, citizens of the capital chose to discontinue its current system of choosing the mayor, in which the position would rotate yearly between the various city commissioners. They began holding direct elections instead, choosing Scott Maddox to be the city's first directly elected mayor since 1919.

In 2016, a hurricane made landfall in Florida for the first time in over a decade, releasing strong winds that damaged houses and other property in Tallahassee and surrounding areas. It was reported that 80 percent of the city lost power in the storm. Two years later, Hurricane Michael also impacted Tallahassee, causing an even greater extent of power outages; however, the damage was considered less devastating than had been predicted for the especially powerful storm.

Bibliography

Allman, T. D. Finding Florida: The True History of the Sunshine State. New York: Atlantic, 2013. Print.

"Apalachee before European Contact." Mission San Luis. Friends of Mission San Luis, n.d. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.

"Life & Legacy of John G. Riley." John G. Riley House & Museum. John G. Riley Center/Museum, n.d. Web. 16 Sept. 2015.

Perry, Mitch. "Youth Activists Come to Tallahassee Calling for 'Immediate Bold Action'." Florida Phoenix, 24 Jan. 2024, floridaphoenix.com/2024/01/24/youth-climate-activists-come-to-tallahassee-calling-for-immediate-and-bold-action/. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024.

Rabby, Glenda Alice. The Pain and the Promise: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Tallahassee, Florida. Athens: U of Georgia P, 1999. Print.

"Southeast Information Office: Tallahassee." US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Dept. of Labor, www.bls.gov/regions/southeast/fl‗tallahassee‗msa.htm. Accessed 29 Apr. 2019.

"Tallahasse, Florida." Quick Facts, US Census Bureau, 1 July 2023, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/tallahasseecityflorida/PST045222. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024.

Tallahassee Genealogical Society, comp. Leon County, Florida Heritage Book. Tallahassee: Southern Yellow Pine, 2012. Print.