This is a continuation of the blog from yesterday in which I referenced a link to a map with names of towns in the United States that changed over time. I posted the before and after name of fourteen of the 56 names on the map. Today's posting picks up from where I left off.
Fort Dallas (Miami, FL)
Fort Dallas was built in 1836 and functioned to 1842 when the Second Seminole War ended. The fort was named after US Naval Commodore Alexander Dallas who commanded the US Naval forces in the West Indies at that time. The fort was abandoned following the Civil War and the land was acquired by William J. English for a village that he called Miami.The Seminole Indians affected the settlement of this area throughout the 19th century. At the end of the 19th century more people were settling along the Miami River.
Cowford (Jacksonville, FL)
Cowford was founded in 1791 at a narrow point in the St Johns River where cows could be forded across the river. The Florida Territory was sold to the United States in 1821 and the name Jacksonville appears to have been adopted by 1822 in honor of Andrew Jackson, the military governor.
Angola (Tampa, FL)
Angola was a village built in 1812 by slaves who escaped from the United States. In 1821, the United States purchased Florida from Spain. Shortly after the purchase, the United States launched a raid on Angola and destroyed the village. In 1824, Fort Brooke was erected at the mouth of the Hillsborough River on Tampa Bay. The area was sparsely populated until about 1842 when the Seminoles were force out of the area. In 1849, the village of Tampa was incorporated.
Cleaveland (Cleveland, OH)
General Moses Cleaveland, a director of the Connecticut Land Company, was sent in 1796 to survey the company’s holdings in the Northwest Territory. His surveyors selected the name of their leader for the site on which they planned to build at city. The Village of Cleaveland was incorporated on December 23, 1814. One story is the name of the city was changed in 1831 by the publisher of the Cleveland Advertiser because “Cleaveland Advertiser” would not fit on the paper’s masthead. Another account is the name was misspelled on a surveyor’s map. The man for whom the city was named went back to Connecticut after the surveying trip and never returned to Cleveland.
Franklinton (Columbus, OH)
In 1787, Lucas Sullivant, a surveyor in the Virginia Military District, laid out a town on the west bank of the Scioto River. He named the town Franklinton after Benjamin Franklin who he greatly admired. Columbus was incorporated in 1816 and was selected as the new state’s capital over Franklinton, Dublin, Worthington and Delaware, nearby towns. In 1870, Franklinton was annexed to Columbus.
Losantiville (Cincinnati, OH)
Israel Ludlow, Matthias Denman and Robert Patterson purchased 800 acres along the Ohio River at the mouth of the Licking River. In January 1789, Ludlow platted a town. The three of them devised a name for the town that was a contrivance of their description of it; “a city that was situated across from the mouth of the Licking River.” They named the town Losantiville, where L comes from Licking, os is Latin for mouth, anti is Latin for opposite and ville is French for city. In 1790, the governor of the Northwest Territory established Hamilton County and made Losantiville its seat. The governor, Gen. St. Clair, disliked the city’s name and changed it to Cincinnati in acknowledgement of the Society of Cincinnati of which he was a member.
Corn Island (Louisville, KY)
Corn Island was an island in the Ohio River at the Falls of the Ohio on which George Rogers Clark, in 1778, helped the civilians establish a settlement. In 1779, the settlers began to cross the river and initiated a settlement on the banks of the Ohio River. In April they called it Louisville in honor to King Louis XVI whose soldiers aided the colonists in the American Revolution.
Fort Nashborough (Nashville, TN)
The area around Nashville was known by the early French settlers as French Lick. In December of 1779, James Robertson and John Donelson arrived and clear land on the Cumberland River. They built a fort that they named Fort Nashborough in honor of Revolutionary War General, Francis Nash. By April 1780, 60 families or so arrived to permanently settle near the fort. This region was part of the State of North Carolina. In 1784, the community was incorporated and renamed Nashville.
Fall Creek (Indianapolis, IN)
Prior to 1820, the Fall Creek Settlement was inhabited by fur traders. The state capital initially was at Corydon, Indiana, but iIn 1820, the Indiana legislature decided to move the state capital to a location in the middle of the state. The Fall Creek Settlement near the White River was chosen as the site for the new state capital. In 1825, the capital was moved from Corydon to Fall Creek and a new city was built, Indianapolis.
Elyton (Birmingham, AL)
Jefferson County was established on December 13, 1819 with Carrollsville as its county seat. In 1821, Elyton was founded as Ely’s Town in honor of William Ely of Connecticut who negotiated a land grant. The site of the new town had been known prior to the land grant as Frog Level. The town was made the county seat that same year. Birmingham was founded in 1871 with the annexation of three towns and named for the English city in Warwickshire. It became the county seat in 1873. Birmingham annexed Elyton in 1910.
Fort Louis (Mobile, AL)
In 1702, the French established a settlement on the Mobile River. It was the seat of government for New France or Louisiane. The fort was abandoned due to floods and rebuilt on higher ground and renamed Fort Condé. This region was the subject of dispute between the French and English for decades. The Treaty of Paris (1763) gave the English control. The British called the fort, Fort Charlotte in honor of George III's wife. A British map of 1781 shows a town or city called Mobile. During the American Revolution, Spain retook Spanish Florida and served as an ally to France. At the close of the war, England ceded the territory to the United States in the Treaty of Paris (1783). The Treaty of Madrid (1795) finally ceded the disputed land to the United States with the exception of a small part in which Mobile was situated. This region did not become a part of the United States when it was captured in 1813 during the War of 1812.
Parkerville (Jackson, MS)
The area in which Jackson is situated was, in 1792, known as Parkerville. However, Louis LeFleur settled in the area and it was then called as LeFleur’s Bluff. In 1821, The Mississippi legislature authorized the area to become the capital of the state. The capital was named in honor of General Andrew Jackson’s victory at the Battle of New Orleans.
La Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans, LA)
The city was founded in 1718 by the French and was named in honor of Philip II, Duke of Orléans. In 1722, it was made the capital of French Louisiana. Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States in April 1803. The name of the city was definite article, La, was dropped and the name Americanized to New Orleans.
Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit (Detroit, MI)
In 1698 Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac traveled from French North America to France to persuade the Comte de Ponchartrain of the value of establishing a settlement and fort on the Detroit River. Cadillac was successful and began the construction of the fort in 1701. The fort was named in honor of Count Ponchartrain. In 1760, the British took control of the fort and shortened the name to Fort Detroit.
San Antonio Coming Up. To be Continued...
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