Tallahassee is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2022, the population was 201,731, making it the eighth-most populous city in the state of Florida. The population of the Tallahassee metropolitan area was 385,145 as of 2018. Tallahassee is the largest city in the Florida Big Bend and Florida Panhandle region, and the main center for trade and agriculture in the Florida Big Bend and Southwest Georgia regions.
Leon County is a county in the Panhandle of the U.S. state of Florida. It was named after the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León. As of the 2020 census, the population was 292,198.
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a public historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida. Founded in 1887, It is the third largest historically black university in the United States by enrollment and the only public historically black university in Florida. It is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, as well as one of the state's land grant universities, and is accredited to award baccalaureate, master's and doctoral degrees by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
Carrie Mae Pittman Meek was the United States Representative for Florida's 17th congressional district, from 1993 to 2003. Having been elected in the September 1992 primary with no general election opponent, she was the first African American since the Reconstruction era elected to represent Florida in the United States Congress, where she advocated for the poor and for members of minority groups. An educator, legislator, stateswoman and a member of the Democratic Party, she served from 1979 to 1982 in the Florida House of Representatives, from 1982 to 1992 in the Florida Senate, and from 1993 to 2003, as a congresswoman in the United States House of Representatives. She was the founder of the Carrie Meek Foundation.
The history of Tallahassee, Florida, much like the history of Leon County, dates back to the settlement of the Americas. Beginning in the 16th century, the region was colonized by Europeans, becoming part of Spanish Florida. In 1819, the Adams–Onís Treaty ceded Spanish Florida, including modern-day Tallahassee, to the United States. Tallahassee became a city and the state capital of Florida in 1821; the American takeover led to the settlements' rapid expansion as growing numbers of cotton plantations began to spring up nearby, increasing Tallahassees' population significantly.
The Union Bank of Tallahassee, Florida was established around 1830 and the bank building constructed for it in 1841. It is Florida's oldest surviving bank building. It is located at Apalachee Parkway and Calhoun Street and is now a museum and archive and research center for African American history. On February 24, 1971, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
The David S. Walker Library was a private subscription library in Tallahassee, Florida. It was organized as the University Library in 1883. It is now a historic library building named for Governor David S. Walker, the eighth governor of Florida, who served from 1865 through 1868. It is located 209 East Park Avenue. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The library building is one of 65 Leon County properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The John Gilmore Riley House is a historic home in Tallahassee, Florida. It is located at 419 East Jefferson Street. On August 1, 1978, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. It is now known as the John G. Riley Center/Museum of African American History and Culture.
The Columns is a historic home in Tallahassee, Florida. It was built around 1830. It is located at 100 North Duval Street. On May 21, 1975, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Innovation Park is the location of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, the Applied Superconductivity Center, Danfoss Turbocor and related advanced research facilities. The Leon County Research and Development Authority's Innovation Park is located near the campuses of Florida State University, Florida A&M University and Tallahassee Community College in Tallahassee, Florida.
The history of Florida State University dates to the 19th century and is deeply intertwined with the history of education in the state of Florida and in the city of Tallahassee. Florida State University, known colloquially as Florida State and FSU, is one of the oldest and largest of the institutions in the State University System of Florida. It traces its origins to the West Florida Seminary, one of two state-funded seminaries the Florida Legislature voted to establish in 1851.
The FAMU-FSU College of Engineering is the joint college of engineering of Florida A&M University and Florida State University. The College of Engineering was established as a joint program serving two universities in Tallahassee, Florida: The Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, which received recognition from the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in 2010 for ranking number one as the institution of origin for African Americans earning Doctorates in Natural Science and Engineering; and, Florida State University which has gained worldwide recognition for its extensive graduate and research programs. The college is located less than three miles from either university.
William Augustus Edwards, also known as William A. Edwards was an Atlanta-based American architect renowned for the educational buildings, courthouses and other public and private buildings that he designed in Florida, Georgia and his native South Carolina. More than 25 of his works have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Lincoln High School, also known as Lincoln Academy, was a high school for African Americans in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is commonly referred to as "Historic Lincoln High School" or "Old Lincoln". There is no connection with Leon County's current Lincoln High School other than name.
Patricia Stephens Due was one of the leading African-American civil rights activists in the United States, especially in her home state of Florida. Along with her sister Priscilla and others trained in nonviolent protest by CORE, Due spent 49 days in one of the nation's first jail-ins, refusing to pay a fine for sitting in a Woolworth's "White only" lunch counter in Tallahassee, Florida in 1960. Her eyes were damaged by tear gas used by police on students marching to protest such arrests, and she wore dark glasses for the rest of her life. She served in many leadership roles in CORE and the NAACP, fighting against segregated stores, buses, theaters, schools, restaurants, and hotels, protesting unjust laws, and leading one of the most dangerous voter registration efforts in the country in northern Florida in the 1960s.
The Taylor House is a historic home in Tallahassee, Florida. The home was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on April 6, 2015. The Taylor House Museum, located at 442 West Georgia Street, was also added to the Tallahassee-Leon County Register of Historic Places on October 26, 2011. On July 27, 2012, the Florida Department of State designated the home a Florida Heritage Site.
The LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library is a system of public libraries in Leon County, Florida.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.
Florida Agriculture & Mechanical Hospital (1911-1971) was the first institution in Florida providing medical care to African Americans, who, during the segregation period, were not permitted to receive care at whites-only hospitals. There was no other such institution within 150 miles (240 km) of Tallahassee. In 1940, "less than a dozen" counties in Florida had hospital facilities for Negroes.
