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Tallahassee
City of Tallahassee
Top, Left to Right: Tallahassee Skyline, Florida Capitol Buildings, Unconquered statue of Osceola and Renegade at FSU, FAMU's Marching 100, Old St. Augustine Canopy Road, and Cascades Park
Top, Left to Right: Tallahassee Skyline, Florida Capitol Buildings, Unconquered statue of Osceola and Renegade at FSU, FAMU's Marching 100, Old St. Augustine Canopy Road, and Cascades Park
Flag of Tallahassee
Flag
Official seal of Tallahassee
Seal
Motto(s): 
"Florida's Capital City"
Location within Leon County and the state of Florida
Location within Leon County and the state of Florida
Tallahassee is located in Florida
Tallahassee
Tallahassee
Location in Florida
Tallahassee is located in the United States
Tallahassee
Tallahassee
Location in the United States
Tallahassee is located in North America
Tallahassee
Tallahassee
Location in North America
Country  United States
State  Florida
County Leon
Established 1824
Government
 • Type Council–Manager
Area
 • Total 104.74 sq mi (271.27 km2)
 • Land 101.85 sq mi (263.80 km2)
 • Water 2.89 sq mi (7.47 km2)
Elevation
203 ft (62 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total 196,169
 • Rank 127th, U.S.
 • Density 1,926.00/sq mi (743.64/km2)
 • Urban
240,223 (153rd)
 • Metro
385,145 (140th)
Time zone UTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST) UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP code(s)
32300–32399
Area code(s) 850
FIPS code 12-70600
GNIS feature ID 308416

Tallahassee ( TAL-ə-HASS-ee) 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 2020, the population was 196,169, making it the 8th-largest city in the U.S state of Florida, and the 126th-largest city in the United States. 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.

With a student population exceeding 70,000, Tallahassee is a college town, home to Florida State University, ranked the nation's 18-best public university by U.S. News & World Report; Florida A&M University, the fifth-largest historically black university by enrollment; and Tallahassee Community College, a large state college that serves mainly as a feeder school to Florida State and Florida A&M.

As the capital, Tallahassee is the site of the Florida State Capitol, Supreme Court of Florida, Florida Governor's Mansion, and nearly 30 state agency headquarters. The city is also known for its large number of law firms, lobbying organizations, trade associations and professional associations, including the Florida Bar and the Florida Chamber of Commerce. It is a recognized regional center for scientific research, and home to the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. In 2015, Tallahassee was awarded the All-American City Award by the National Civic League for the second time.

History

Mission San Luis
The Mission San Luis de Apalachee as it may have appeared in the 17th century

During the 17th century several Spanish missions were established in the territory of the Apalachee to procure food and labor for the settlement at St. Augustine. The largest, Mission San Luis de Apalachee, has been partially reconstructed by the state of Florida. The name "Tallahassee" is a Muskogean Indian word often translated as "old fields" or "old town", and it likely stems from the Creek (later called Seminole) Indians who migrated from Georgia and Alabama to this region in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. They found large areas of cleared land previously occupied by the Apalachee tribe. Earlier, the Mississippian Indians built mounds near Lake Jackson around AD 1200, which survive today in the Lake Jackson Archaeological State Park.

The expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez encountered the Apalachees, although it did not reach the site of Tallahassee. Hernando de Soto and his expedition occupied the Apalachee town of Anhaica in what is now Tallahassee in the winter of 1538–1539. Based on archaeological excavations this site is now known to be located about 0.5 miles (800 m) east of the present Florida State Capitol. The DeSoto encampment is believed to be the first place Christmas was celebrated in the continental United States.

During the First Seminole War, General Andrew Jackson fought two separate skirmishes in and around Tallahassee. The first battle took place on November 12, 1817. Chief Neamathla, of the village of Fowltown, just west of present day Tallahassee had refused Jackson's orders to relocate. Jackson responded by entering the village, burning it to the ground, and driving off its occupants. The Indians later retaliated, by killing 50 soldiers and civilians. Jackson reentered Florida in March 1818. According to Jackson's adjutant, Colonel Robert Butler, they "advanced on the Indian village called Tallahasse (sic) [where] two of the enemy were made prisoner."

State capital

Cascadespark
A hand-colored photograph of Cascades Park in 1912

Tallahassee became the capital of Florida during the second legislative session. It was chosen as it was roughly equidistant from St. Augustine and Pensacola, which had been the capitals of the Spanish territories of East Florida and West 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 halfway point. 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 building.

From 1821 through 1845 the rough-hewn frontier capital gradually grew into a town during Florida's territorial period. The Marquis de Lafayette, French hero of the American Revolution, returned for a tour of the United States in 1824. The U.S. Congress voted to give him $200,000 (the same amount he had given the colonies in 1778), US citizenship, and the Lafayette Land Grant, 36 square miles (93 km2) 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. Now known as the "old Capitol", it stands in front of the high-rise Capitol building that was built in the 1970s.

Tallahassee was in the heart of Florida's Cotton Belt—Leon County led the state in cotton production—and was the center of the slave trade in Florida. During the American Civil War, Tallahassee was the only Confederate state capital east of the Mississippi not captured by Union forces, and the only one not burned. A small engagement, the Battle of Natural Bridge, was fought south of the city on March 6, 1865, just a month before the war ended.

Natural bridge
A reenactment of the 1865 Battle of Natural Bridge

During the 19th century the institutions that would eventually evolve into what is now Florida State University were established in Tallahassee, firmly cementing its foundations as a university town. These included the Tallahassee Female Academy (founded 1843) and the Florida Institute (founded 1854). In 1851 the Florida legislature decreed two seminaries to be built on either side of the Suwannee River, East Florida Seminary and West Florida Seminary. In 1855 West Florida Seminary was transferred to the Florida Institute building (which had been established as an inducement for the state to place the seminary in Tallahassee). In 1858 the seminary absorbed the Tallahassee Female Academy and became coeducational. Its main building was located near the northwest corner of South Copeland and West Jefferson streets, approximately where FSU's Westcott Building is today.

HistoricTallahassee
Tallahassee in 1885

In 1887 the Normal College for Colored Students, ancestor of today's FAMU, opened its doors. The legislature decided that Tallahassee was the best location In Florida for a college serving negro students. Four years later its name was changed to State Normal and Industrial College for Colored Students.

After the Civil War much of Florida's industry moved to the south and east, a trend that continues today. The end of slavery hindered the cotton and tobacco trade, and the state's major industries shifted to citrus, lumber, naval stores, cattle ranching and tourism. The post-Civil War period was also when many former plantations in the Tallahassee area were purchased by wealthy northerners for use as winter hunting preserves. This included the hunting preserve of Henry L. Beadel, who bequeathed his land for the study of the effects of fire on wildlife habitat. Today the preserve is known as the Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy, nationally recognized for its research into fire ecology and the use of prescribed burning.

1900–present

Until World War II, Tallahassee remained a small southern town with virtually the entire population living within 1 mile (1.6 km) of the Capitol. The main economic drivers were the colleges and state government, where politicians met to discuss spending money on grand public improvement projects to accommodate growth in places such as Miami and Tampa Bay, hundreds of miles away from the capital. By the 1960s there was a movement to transfer the capital to Orlando, closer to the growing population centers of the state. That motion was defeated and the 1970s saw a long-term commitment by the state to the capital city with construction of the new capitol complex and preservation of the old Florida State Capitol building.

In 1970, the Census Bureau reported city's population as 74.0% white and 25.4% black.

In 1977 a 22-story high-rise Capitol building designed by architect Edward Durell Stone was completed, which is now the third-tallest state capitol building in the United States. In 1978 the old capitol, directly in front of the new capitol, was scheduled for demolition, but state officials decided to keep the Old Capitol as a museum.

Tallahassee was the center of world attention for six weeks during the 2000 United States Presidential election recount, which involved numerous rulings by the Florida Secretary of State and the Florida Supreme Court.

Geography

Tallahassee Florida
A January 2011 photo of Tallahassee taken from the International Space Station (ISS)

Tallahassee has an area of 98.2 square miles (254.3 km2), of which 95.7 square miles (247.9 km2) is land and 2.5 square miles (6.5 km2) (2.59%) is water.

Tallahassee's terrain is hilly by Florida standards, being located at the southern end of the Red Hills Region, just above the Cody Scarp. The elevation varies from near sea level to just over 200 feet (61 m), with the state capitol on one of the highest hills in the city. The city includes two large lake basins, Lake Jackson and Lake Lafayette, and borders the northern end of the Apalachicola National Forest.

The flora and fauna are similar to those found in the mid-south and low country regions of South Carolina and Georgia. The palm trees are the more cold-hardy varieties like the state tree, the Sabal palmetto. Pines, magnolias, hickories, and a variety of oaks are the dominant trees. The Southern Live Oak is perhaps the most emblematic of the city.

Climate

AutumnColors
Unlike most of Florida, Tallahassee experiences all four seasons. Shown are the autumn leaves along the sidewalks of Monroe Street in Downtown Tallahassee.

Tallahassee has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), with long summers and short, mild winters, as well as drier springs and autumns. Summers here are hotter than in the Florida peninsula and it is one of the few cities in the state to occasionally record temperatures above 100 °F or 37.8 °C, averaging 2.4 days annually. The record high of 105 °F (41 °C) was set on June 15, 2011.

Summer is characterized by brief intense showers and thunderstorms that form along the afternoon sea breeze from the Gulf of Mexico. The daily mean temperature in July, the hottest month, is 82.0 °F (27.8 °C). Conversely, the city is markedly cooler in the winter, with a January daily average temperature of 51.2 °F (10.7 °C). In addition, as Tallahassee straddles the boundary between USDA Hardiness Zones 8B and 9A, the coldest temperature of the season is typically around 20 °F or −6.7 °C. During the Great Blizzard of 1899 the city reached −2 °F (−18.9 °C), the only recorded sub-zero Fahrenheit reading in Florida and actually colder than the record low in Ketchikan, Alaska and Tromso, Norway.

Snow and ice are rare in Tallahassee. Nonetheless, over the last 100 years, the city has recorded some accumulating snowfalls; the heaviest was 2.8 inches (0.07 m) on February 13, 1958. A White Christmas occurred in 1989, and during the March 13–14, 1993 eastern U.S. “superstorm”, there were high winds and traces of snow. Historically, the city usually records at least flurries every three to four years, but on average, measurable amounts of snow 1.0 inch (2.5 cm) occur only once every 17 years. The last measurable snowfall took place December 22–23, 1989. The natural snow line (regular yearly snowfalls) ends 200 miles (320 km) to the north at Macon, Georgia, but the city averages 32 nights where the temperature falls below freezing, and, on average, the first freeze occurs on November 20, the last on March 22.

Although several hurricanes have brushed Tallahassee with their outer rain and wind bands, in recent years only Hurricane Kate, in 1985, has struck Tallahassee directly. The Big Bend area of North Florida sees several tornadoes each year during the season, but they are generally weak, cause little structural damage, and rarely hit the city directly. The most recent tornado to hit Tallahassee occurred on April 19, 2015. The tornado was classified as an EF1, and created a path as wide as 350 yards for almost 5 miles near Maclay Gardens. Damage included numerous downed tree limbs and a car crushed by a falling tree. During extremely heavy rains, some low-lying parts of Tallahassee may flood, notably the Franklin Boulevard area adjacent to the downtown and the Killearn Lakes subdivision (which is not within the city limits proper) on the north side.

Climate data for Tallahassee, Florida (Tallahassee Regional Airport), 1981–2010 normals, extremes 1892–present
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °F (°C) 83
(28)
89
(32)
91
(33)
95
(35)
102
(39)
105
(41)
104
(40)
103
(39)
102
(39)
95
(35)
89
(32)
84
(29)
105
(41)
Average high °F (°C) 63.5
(17.5)
67.5
(19.7)
73.8
(23.2)
79.9
(26.6)
87.0
(30.6)
91.0
(32.8)
92.1
(33.4)
91.5
(33.1)
88.4
(31.3)
81.4
(27.4)
73.0
(22.8)
65.3
(18.5)
79.6
(26.4)
Daily mean °F (°C) 51.2
(10.7)
54.7
(12.6)
60.4
(15.8)
66.1
(18.9)
74.3
(23.5)
80.2
(26.8)
82.0
(27.8)
81.8
(27.7)
78.2
(25.7)
69.4
(20.8)
60.2
(15.7)
53.2
(11.8)
67.6
(19.8)
Average low °F (°C) 39.0
(3.9)
41.9
(5.5)
47.1
(8.4)
52.3
(11.3)
61.6
(16.4)
69.5
(20.8)
72.0
(22.2)
72.1
(22.3)
68.1
(20.1)
57.3
(14.1)
47.5
(8.6)
41.1
(5.1)
55.8
(13.2)
Record low °F (°C) 6
(−14)
−2
(−19)
20
(−7)
29
(−2)
34
(1)
46
(8)
57
(14)
57
(14)
40
(4)
29
(−2)
13
(−11)
10
(−12)
−2
(−19)
Average rainfall inches (mm) 4.34
(110)
4.84
(123)
5.92
(150)
3.06
(78)
3.47
(88)
7.73
(196)
7.28
(185)
7.34
(186)
4.68
(119)
3.23
(82)
3.49
(89)
3.90
(99)
59.28
(1,505)
Average rainy days (≥ 0.01 inch) 8.9 8.4 7.9 6.1 7.1 13.6 15.9 14.4 8.5 5.7 6.6 8.1 111.2
Source: NOAA

Nearby cities and suburbs

Tallahasseeskyline
Downtown Tallahassee at night

Neighborhoods

Tallahassee has many neighborhoods inside the city limits. Some of the most known and defined include All Saints, Apalachee Ridge, Betton Hills,Callen, Frenchtown (the oldest historically black neighborhood in the state), Killearn Estates, Killearn Lakes Plantation, Lafayette Park, Levy Park, Los Robles, Midtown, Holly Hills, Jake Gaither/University Park, Indian Head Acres, Myers Park, Smokey Hollow, SouthWood, Seminole Manor and Woodland Drives.

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop.
1840 1,616
1860 1,932
1870 2,023 4.7%
1880 2,494 23.3%
1890 2,934 17.6%
1900 2,981 1.6%
1910 5,018 68.3%
1920 5,637 12.3%
1930 10,700 89.8%
1940 16,240 51.8%
1950 27,237 67.7%
1960 48,174 76.9%
1970 72,624 50.8%
1980 81,548 12.3%
1990 124,773 53.0%
2000 150,624 20.7%
2010 181,376 20.4%
2020 196,169 8.2%
U.S. Decennial Census
Tallahassee Demographics
2010 Census Tallahassee Leon County Florida
Total population 181,376 297,432 21,733,312
Population, percent change, 2000 to 2010 +12.8% +8% +15%
Population density 1,809.3/sq mi 413.1/sq mi 350.6/sq mi
White or Caucasian (including White Hispanic) 56.2% 63.0% 75.0%
(Non-Hispanic White or Caucasian) 51.1% 59.3% 57.9%
Black or African-American 35.0% 30.3% 16.0%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 6.7% 5.6% 22.5%
Asian 4.6% 2.9% 2.4%
Native American or Native Alaskan 0.2% 0.3% 0.4%
Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian 0.0% 0.1% 0.1%
Two or more races (Multiracial) 2.9% 2.2% 2.5%
Some Other Race 1.3% 1.5% 3.6%

As of the 2010 census, the population of Tallahassee was 181,376. There were 75,949 households, 16.7% of which had children under 18 living in them. 27.7% were married couples living together(based on 2010 data), 14.4% had a female householder with no husband, and 53.7% were non-families. 34.1% of all households were made up of individuals living alone and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.33. Children under the age of 5 were 4.9% of the population, persons under 18 were 16.7% and persons 65 years or older were 10.3%. The median age was 26 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.7 males.

56.2% of the population was White, 35.0% Black, 4.6% Asian, 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.0% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, 1.3% some other race, and 2.9% two or more races. 6.3% were Hispanic or Latino of any race, and 51.1% were non-Hispanic White. For 2009–2013, the estimated median household income was $39,524, and the per capita income was $23,778.

The percentage of persons below the poverty level was estimated at 30.2%.

Educationally, the population of Leon County is the most highly educated population in Florida with 54.4% of the residents over the age of 25 with a Bachelor's, Master's, professional or doctorate degree. The Florida average is 37.4% and the national average is 33.4%.

Languages

As of 2000, 92.0% of residents spoke English as their first language, while 4.1% spoke Spanish, 0.6% spoke French, and 0.6% spoke German as their mother tongue. In total, 8.0% of the total population spoke languages other than English.

City accolades

  • 1988: Money Magazine's Southeast's three top medium size cities in which to live.
  • 1992: Awarded Tree City USA by National Arbor Day Foundation
  • 1999: Awarded All-America City Award by the National Civic League
  • 2003: Awarded Tree Line USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation.
  • 2006: Awarded "Best In America" Parks and Recreation by the National Recreation and Park Association.
  • 2007: Recognized by Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine as one of the "Top Ten College Towns for Grownups" (ranking second, behind Chapel Hill, North Carolina)
  • 2007: Ranked second in the "medium sized city" class on Epodunk's list of college towns.
  • 2015: Awarded All-America City Award by the National Civic League

Urban planning and expansion

The first plan for the Capitol Center was the 1947 Taylor Plan, which consolidated several government buildings in one downtown area. In 1974, the Capitol Center Planning Commission for the City of Tallahassee, Florida responded to growth of its urban center with a conceptual plan for the expansion of its Capitol Center. Hisham Ashkouri, working for The Architects' Collaborative, led the urban planning and design effort. Estimating growth and related development for approximately the next 25 years, the program projected the need for 2.3 million square feet (214,000 m2) of new government facilities in the city core, with 3,500 dwelling units, 100 acres (40 ha) of new public open space, retail and private office space, and other ancillary spaces. Community participation was an integral part of the design review, welcoming Tallahassee residents to provide input as well as citizens' groups and government agencies, resulting in the creation of six separate Design Alternatives. The best elements of these various designs were combined to develop the final conceptual design, which was then incorporated into the existing Capitol area and adjacent areas.

Tallest buildings

Rank Name Street Address Height feet Height meters Floors Year
1 Florida State Capitol 400 South Monroe Street, 345 101 25 1977
2 Turlington Building 325 West Gaines Street, 318 97 19 1990
3 Plaza Tower 300 South Duval Street 276 84 24 2008
4 Highpoint Center 100 South Adams St 239 70 15 1990
5 Doubletree Hotel 101 South Adams St, 220 67 16 1972

Sprawl and Compact Growth

The Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department implements policies aimed at promoting compact growth and development, including the establishment and maintenance of an Urban Service Area. The intent of the Urban Service Area is to "have Tallahassee and Leon County grow in a responsible manner, with infrastructure provided economically and efficiently, and surrounding forest and agricultural lands protected from unwarranted and premature conversion to urban land use." The result of compact growth policies has been a significant overall reduction in the Sprawl Index for Tallahassee between 2000-2010. CityLab reported on this finding, stating that "Tallahassee laps the field, at least as far as the Sprawl Index is concerned."

Places of interest

MaclayGardens
Maclay Gardens Reflection Pool

Festivals and events

07-03-10 HorseTrials23
Cross-country riding competition at Red Hills Horse Trial

Transportation

TLHregional
Tallahassee International Airport seen here as Tallahassee Regional Airport
StarMetro Gillig BRT 29
A StarMetro vehicle
I10tallahassee
Interstate 10 at Capital Circle Northeast

Aviation

  • Tallahassee International Airport (KTLH)

Defunct airports

  • Dale Mabry Field (closed 1961)
  • Tallahassee Commercial Airport (closed 2011)

Mass transit

  • StarMetro provides bus service throughout the city.

Intercity bus

  • Greyhound and Megabus based in downtown Tallahassee.

Railroads

  • Freight service is provided by the Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad, which acquired most of the CSX main line from Pensacola to Jacksonville on June 1, 2019. FG&A also purchased the CSX branch from Tallahassee to Attapulgus, Georgia, connecting with the CSX Montgomery-Savannah main line at Bainbridge, Georgia. FG&A's headquarters office is in Tallahassee.

Defunct railroads and passenger trains

  • Tallahassee Railroad, completed in 1837, now the state-owned Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail from Tallahassee southward to St. Marks, about 20 miles.
  • Carrabelle, Tallahassee and Georgia Railroad, founded in 1891, merged into the Georgia Florida and Alabama Railway in 1906. The Tallahassee-Carrabelle segment was abandoned in 1948. In 2009, a 2.4-mile segment of the abandoned railroad was opened as the Tallahassee-Georgia Florida and Alabama (GF&A) Trail in the Apalachicola National Forest.
  • The streamlined Gulf Wind coach and Pullman passenger train, operated jointly by the L&N and Seaboard railroads, served Tallahassee from 1949 to 1971, when the newly formed Amtrak cancelled the train.
  • Amtrak's Sunset Limited served Tallahassee from April 1993 until service east of New Orleans was suspended in August 2005, following Hurricane Katrina, which caused extensive damage to CSX lines from Louisiana to Florida. The service has never been reinstated, and as of mid-2019 had a "next to zero chance" of being revived by Amtrak. In 2021, Amtrak announced plans restore service as early as 2022 along part of the route from New Orleans to Alabama, but not into Florida. The Tallahassee and Pensacola metropolitan areas are the largest in the state without passenger rail service.

Major highways

  • I-10.svg Interstate 10 runs east and west across the north side of the city. Tallahassee is served by five exits including: Exit 192 (U.S. 90), Exit 196 (Capital Circle NW), Exit 199 (U.S. 27/Monroe St.), Exit 203 (U.S. 319/Thomasville Road and Capital Circle NE), and Exit 209 (U.S. 90/Mahan Dr.)
  • US 27.svg U.S. Route 27 enters the city from the northwest before turning south and entering downtown. This portion of U.S. 27 is known locally as Monroe Street. In front of the historic state capitol building, U.S. 27 turns east and follows Apalachee Parkway out of the city.
  • US 90.svg U.S. Route 90 runs east and west through Tallahassee. It is known locally as Tennessee Street west of Magnolia Drive and Mahan Drive east of Magnolia.
  • US 319.svg U.S. Route 319 runs north and south along the east side of the city using Thomasville Road, Capital Circle NE, Capital Circle SE, and Crawfordville Road.
  • Florida 20.svg State Road 20
  • Florida 61.svg State Road 61
  • Florida 363.svg State Road 363
  • Orchard Pond Parkway, the first privately-built toll road in Florida.

Notable people

This is a list of notable people from Tallahassee, in alphabetical order by last name:

Namesakes

  • CSS Tallahassee, 1864 Confederate cruiser
  • USS Tallahassee (BM-9), 1908 United States Navy monitor, originally named USS Florida
  • USS Tallahassee (CL-61), 1941 United States Navy light cruiser, converted to the aircraft carrier USS Princeton
  • USS Tallahassee (CL-116), 1944 United States Navy light cruiser
  • Tallahassee, main character in the movie Zombieland
  • Tallahassee, album recorded by The Mountain Goats
  • Tallahassee Community School, Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia, named after CSS Tallahassee
  • Tallahassee Tight, early-20th century blues singer
  • T-Pain, musician, originally "Tallahassee Pain"
  • "Tallahassee Lassie", Freddy Cannon song

Sister cities

Tallahassee has 7 sister cities as follows:

Tallahassee photo gallery

A panoramic view of Downtown Tallahassee

Economy

DowntownClock
The old clock at the corner of Park Avenue and Monroe Street in Downtown Tallahassee

Companies based in Tallahassee include: Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the Municipal Code Corporation, the State Board of Administration of Florida (SBA), the Mainline Information Systems, and United Solutions Company.

Top employers

According to Tallahassee's 2015 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:

# Employer # of Employees # of Employees in 2006
1 State of Florida 19,442 25,204
2 Florida State University 14,378 8,784
3 Leon County School Board 5,383 4,403
4 Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare 4,583 2,850
5 City of Tallahassee 2,811 3,327
6 Publix 2,200 2,000
7 Tallahassee Community College 1,518 1,090
8 Florida A&M University 1,767 2,681
9 Leon County 1,712 1,522
10 Capital Regional Medical Center 1,051 n/a

Sports

Doak Campbell416
FSU's Doak Campbell Stadium

Florida State Seminoles

Tallahassee is home to one of the most competitive collegiate athletics programs in the nation, the Florida State Seminoles of Florida State University. The Seminoles compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The university funds 20 varsity teams, consisting of 9 male and 11 female. They have collectively won 19 team national championships, and over 100 team conference championships, as well as numerous individual national and conference titles. The program has placed in the top-10 final standings of the Director's Cup four times since 2008–2009, including No. 4 for the 2009–2010 season and No. 4 for the 2011–2012 season. In 2016–2017, the program generated the thirteenth-most revenue in collegiate athletics with $144,514,413 of total revenue.

College football game weekends bring in a significant amount of tourism to Leon County. FSU home games had a total attendance of 575,478 people with an average of 82,211 attendees per game in 2014. During football season, out-of-town attendees brought $48.8 million in direct spending during the six home games. In 2016, Florida State football home games resulted in $95.5 million of economic impact on Leon County.

Teams Division Conference Venue Capacity
Florida State Seminoles football D-1 (FBS) ACC Doak Campbell Stadium 79,560
Florida State Seminoles men's basketball D-I ACC Donald L. Tucker Center 12,500
Florida State Seminoles women's basketball D-I ACC Donald L. Tucker Center 12,500
Florida State Seminoles baseball D-I ACC Dick Howser Stadium 6,700
Florida State Seminoles softball D-I ACC JoAnne Graf Field 1,000
Florida State Seminoles women's soccer D-1 ACC Seminole Soccer Complex 2,000
Florida A&M Rattlers D-1 MEAC Bragg Memorial Stadium 25,500
Florida A&M Rattlers men's basketball D-I MEAC Teaching Arena 8,470

Other

Club Sport League Years Active Venue
Tallahassee Tiger Sharks Ice hockey ECHL 1994–2001 Donald L. Tucker Center
Tallahassee Scorpions Indoor soccer EISL 1997–1998 Donald L. Tucker Center
Tallahassee Thunder American Football Arena Football 2000–2002 Donald L. Tucker Center
Tallahassee Titans American Football AIFL 2006 Donald L. Tucker Center
Tallahassee Tigers Basketball ABA 2007 Donald L. Tucker Center
Tallahassee SC Soccer NPSL 2018– Gene Cox Stadium

Tallahassee is home to Tallahassee SC, a soccer club that was founded in 2018 and plays in the National Premier Soccer League.

Some former sports clubs in Tallahassee include the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks, Tallahassee Scorpions, Tallahassee Thunder, Tallahassee Titans, and the Tallahassee Tigers.

Education

Primary and secondary

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Leon High School
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Lower School students at Maclay School celebrating Grandparents Day in 2008

Tallahassee anchors the Leon County School District. As of the 2009 school year Leon County Schools had an estimated 32,796 students, 2209 teachers and 2100 administrative and support personnel. The superintendent of schools is Rocky Hanna. Leon County public school enrollment continues to grow steadily (up approximately 1% per year since the 1990–91 school year). The dropout rate for grades 9–12 improved to 2.2% in the 2007–2008 school year, the third time in the past four years the dropout rate has been below 3%.

To gauge performance the State of Florida rates all public schools according to student achievement on the state-sponsored Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). Seventy-nine percent of Leon County Public Schools received an A or B grade in the 2008–2009 school year. The overall district grade assigned to the Leon County Schools is "A". Students in the Leon County School District continued to score favorably in comparison to Florida and national averages in the SAT and ACT student assessment tests. The Leon County School District has consistently scored at or above the average for districts statewide in total ACT and SAT mean composite scores.

  • Lawton Chiles High School
  • Amos P. Godby High School
  • Leon High School
  • Lincoln High School
  • Lively Technical Center
  • James S. Rickards High School
  • SAIL High School
  • Florida State University School ("Florida High") (K–12)
  • Florida A&M University Developmental Research School (K–12)
  • Governor's Charter Academy (GCA) (K–8) – Established in August 2012.
  • School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) (K–8) – Established in 1999
  • Tallahassee School of Math and Science (TSMS) (K–8) – It was previously known as Stars Middle School and only served middle school. In 2014 it received a new charter, adopted its current name, and expanded to elementary grades.
  • Atlantis Academy (K–12) – Established in 1976.
  • Community Christian School (K-12)
  • John Paul II Catholic High School
  • Maclay School (PK3–12)
  • North Florida Christian High School
  • Cornerstone Learning Community (PK3–8)
  • Trinity Catholic School (PK–3,K–8).
  • Holy Comforter Episcopal School (PK3–8)
  • Woodland Hall Academy (K–12) – CLOSED
  • The Magnolia School, K–8

Higher education

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The Westcott Plaza at Florida State University

Florida State University

Florida State University (commonly referred to as Florida State or FSU) is an American public space-grant and sea-grant research university. Florida State is on a 1,391.54-acre (5.631 km2) campus in the state capital of Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the state of Florida.

The university is classified as a Research University with Very High Research by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The university comprises 16 separate colleges and more than 110 centers, facilities, labs and institutes that offer more than 360 programs of study, including professional school programs. The university has an annual budget of over $1.7 billion. Florida State is home to Florida's only National Laboratory – the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and is the birthplace of the commercially viable anti-cancer drug Taxol. Florida State University also operates The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the State Art Museum of Florida and one of the nation's largest museum/university complexes.

The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Florida State University is home to nationally ranked programs in many academic areas, including law, business, engineering, medicine, social policy, film, music, theater, dance, visual art, political science, psychology, social work, and the sciences. Florida State University leads Florida in four of eight areas of external funding for the STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

For 2019, U.S. News & World Report ranked Florida State as the 26th best public university in the United States and 70th among top national universities.

Florida Governor Rick Scott and the state legislature designated Florida State University as one of two "preeminent" state universities in the spring of 2013 among the twelve universities of the State University System of Florida.

FSU's intercollegiate sports teams, commonly known by their Florida State Seminoles nickname, compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The Florida State Seminoles athletics program are favorites of passionate students, fans and alumni across the United States, especially when led by the Marching Chiefs of the Florida State University College of Music. In their 113-year history, Florida State's varsity sports teams have won 20 national athletic championships and Seminole athletes have won 78 individual NCAA national championships.

Florida A&M University

FloridaAM
Florida A&M University's Lee Hall Auditorium

Founded on October 3, 1887, Florida A&M University (commonly referred to as FAMU) is a public, historically black university and land-grant university that is part of the State University System of Florida and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. FAMU's main campus comprises 156 buildings spread over 422 acres (1.7 km2) on top of the highest geographic hill of Tallahassee. The university also has several satellite campuses, including a site in Orlando where its College of Law is located and sites in Miami, Jacksonville and Tampa for its pharmacy program. Florida A&M University offers 54 bachelor's degrees and 29 master's degrees. The university has 12 schools and colleges and one institute.

FAMU has 11 doctoral programs which include 10 PhD programs: chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, biomedical engineering, physics, pharmaceutical sciences, educational leadership, and environmental sciences. Top undergraduate programs are architecture, journalism, computer information sciences, and psychology. FAMU's top graduate programs include pharmaceutical sciences along with public health, physical therapy, engineering, physics, master's of applied social sciences (especially history and public administration), business and sociology.

Tallahassee Community College

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The Hinson Administration Building at Tallahassee Community College

Tallahassee Community College (TCC) is a member of the Florida College System. Tallahassee Community College is accredited by the Florida Department of Education and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Its primary campus is on a 270-acre (1.092 km2) campus in Tallahassee. The institution was founded in 1966 by the Florida Legislature.

TCC offers Bachelor's of Science, Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, and Associate of Applied Sciences degrees. In 2013, Tallahassee Community College was listed 1st in the nation in graduating students with A.A. degrees. TCC is also the No. 1 transfer school in the nation to Florida State University and Florida A&M University. As of Fall 2015, TCC reported 38,017 students.

In partnership with Florida State University, and Florida A&M University Tallahassee Community College offers the TCC2FSU, and TCC2FAMU program. This program provides guaranteed admission into Florida State University and Florida A&M University for TCC Associate in Arts degree graduates.

List of other colleges

  • Barry University School of Adult and Continuing Education – Tallahassee Campus
  • Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
  • Flagler College – Tallahassee Campus
  • Keiser University – Tallahassee Campus
  • Lewis M. Lively Area Vocational-Technical School
  • Saint Leo University – Tallahassee Campus

Images for kids

See also

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