US Cities That Changed Names

Truth or Consequences was a show.The game show ran long. It aired on radio and TV from the 1940s through the 1980s.Ralph Edwards, the show's original host, asked staff to find a new way to celebrate the show's tenth anniversary. A suggestion came up: find an American town or city willing to change its name to Truth or Consequences.The town needed to change its name to Truth or Consequences.The show then broadcast its anniversary from that location.

Several cities applied. Hot Springs, NM, a small resort town, submitted the winning application.The town was originally called Palomas Hot Springs.In 1882, the area got its name from mineral hot springs thought to have healing powers. People quickly shortened it to Hot Springs.

Tourism drove the economy. By 1950, the Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce sought to separate the town from other places named Hot Springs in the United States. The New Mexico State Tourist Bureau told them the game show needed a town to rename Truth or Consequences. They immediately accepted the idea. A special election occurred on March 31, 1950. Voters passed the name change with 1,294 votes to 295.

Edwards and his crew flew into town. On April 1, 1950, the game show aired its 10th-anniversary broadcast from the new Truth or Consequences, NM. Much publicity followed. Some thought the name change was a joke since the broadcast happened on April Fools' Day.

Edwards built a real connection with the New Mexico town. Before he died in 2005, he visited Truth or Consequences almost yearly for its annual Fiesta, often bringing other celebrities. The town honored the host by naming April 1 "Ralph Edwards Day."

After the Mexican-American War ended in 1848, Mexico gave up its northern land to the United States. This land, which became Phoenix, AZ, became part of the New Mexico Territory. All residents of that area became U.S. citizens.

In 1863, the Arizona Territory formed.The Arizona Territory formed.The Arizona Territory formed from the western part of the New Mexico Territory.Four years later,Civil War veteran Jack Swilling lived in the mining town of Wickenburg. He saw the Salt River Valley land as good for farming if it had water. He started the Swilling Irrigation Canal Company, beginning canal digging. By 1868, a small settlement called Swilling's Mill, named after its founder, stood in the valley.

The settlement name changed several times early on: Swilling's Mill became Helling Mill, then Mill City. Swilling, a Confederate soldier, wanted Stonewall after Stonewall Jackson. Other residents suggested Salina, but neither stuck. David Duppa suggested Phoenix because the site sat on ruins left by Indigenous tribes.

The Yavapai County Board of Supervisors formed an election precinct in Phoenix on May 4, 1868. They selected an official townsite in October 1870. The town officially incorporated in 1881.

For hundreds of years, Indigenous people called the land that became Atlanta, GA, the Creek. The Creek people ceded their land to the US government in 1821.The Creek people ceded their land to the US government.White settlers moved into the area the following year.

Early settlers called the area Canebreak or Canebrake. In 1837, Col. Abbott Hall Brisbane, chief engineer of the Western and Atlantic (W&A) Railroad, named the settlement Terminus because the site marked the railroad's end point. Terminus never became the official name; from 1837 to 1842, it was also Deanville and Thrasherville. Other names suggested included Lumpkin, after former Gov. Wilson Lumpkin, president of the W&A Railroad, and Mitchell, after Samuel Mitchell, who provided the land.

On December 23, 1842, the town was Atlanta.formally incorporated as Marthasville.Marthasville was named for Lumpkin's daughter, Martha Atalanta. A few years later, people suggested renaming it to honor Lumpkin's daughter and the railroad.The name change suggested honored Lumpkin's daughter and the railroad.The railroad established Marthasville as a transportation hub in the Southern United States. Therefore, on December 29, 1847, Marthasville became the city of Atlanta.

Cincinnati, OH, earned nicknames like “Little Paris,” “Athens of the West,” and “Queen City of the West” throughout its history. It got the last name in the early 19th century when it served as the capital of the Northwest Territories and the largest inland port in America.

The settlement received the less pleasing name Losantiville because it sat opposite the Licking River's mouth. The name combines the first letter of the river's name, "os," meaning "mouth" in Greek; "anti," meaning "opposite" in Latin; and "ville," meaning "town" in French.

One legend says Gen. Arthur St. Clair, the first governor of the Northwest Territories, wasnot happy with this name.He visited the settlement in 1790. As soon as he stepped off the boat, he allegedly exclaimed:

Call it Cincinnati! That name is awful.

Cincinnati's name comes from the Society of Cincinnati, a group of American Revolution officers. These men were civilian soldiers eager to return to civilian life after the war. They named themselves after Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus, a fifth-century BCE Roman soldier. Cincinnatus turned down dictatorship after saving Rome from tyranny, choosing instead to farm.

Settler Titus Bronson arrived in southwest Michigan in June 1829. In March 1831, he recorded the first land plot for the village of Bronson with the county's Register of Deeds office. Other settlers disliked Bronson's views: he opposed alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and dancing. In March 1836, the town changed its name from Bronson to Kalamazoo, causing Bronson to leave.

Conflicting stories exist about Kalamazoo's meaning. An atlas from 1823 identifies the river on the modern city's eastern edge as “Kikalemazo.” This is the first known mention of a word similar to Kalamazoo.The most accepted story explains the name's origin.The story involves Fleet Foot, a member of the indigenous Potawatomi people. Legend says he won his bride by running from the settlement to the river and back before the water in a pot boiled away.

This legend gives rise to translations of Kalamazoo: “boiling pot,” “where the water boils in the pot,” “boiling water,” and “place where the water boils.”

Kalamazoo has other meanings: "mirage," "reflecting river," and "stones seen in the water from which reflection looks like otters." A legend says "smothered" comes from a Native American nearly killed in a forest fire.

Until 1848, Spain controlled San Francisco. Then Mexico took control. First Spanish explorers reached San Francisco Bay.The first Spanish explorers arrived in San Francisco Bay in 1769.William Richardson, an Englishman, set up his operation at Yerba Buena Cove in 1835. He sought to link Bay Area ranchers with ships docking in the bay. This land became part of Las Californias Province of New Spain. In 1821, Spain gave control of Alta California, including the area later called San Francisco, to Mexico.In 1821, Mexico took control of Alta California, including land later known as San Francisco.Englishman William Richardson, who sought to link Bay Area ranchers with ships docking in the bay, started his operation at Yerba Buena Cove in 1835. Yerba Buena translates to “good herb,” a plant common in the area. This settlement became known as Yerba Buena and soon became the largest settlement in the Bay Area.

The Mexican-American War started in 1846. In July that year, U.S. soldiers claimed Yerba Buena by raising an American flag in the town square. The settlement changed its name from Yerba Buena to San Francisco for money reasons, not for military causes. In January 1847, after a nearby village tried to call itself Francisca to link to the San Francisco Bay and become the region's capital, the mayor of Yerba BuenaIt issued an ordinance stating:

WHEREAS, the local name for Yerba Buena, applied to San Francisco, remains unknown beyond the district; and it has been used from the name of the cove where the town sits: Therefore, to stop mix-ups and errors in public papers, and so the town gains the name on the public map; IT IS HEREBY ORDAINED, that SAN FRANCISCO shall be used in all official communications and public documents or records about the town.

After San Francisco moved, the rival village settled for the name Benicia. The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo made California a U.S. territory; in 1850, the Union admitted it as a state.

The Seminole Wars, three wars in Florida between the U.S. Army and the Seminole people, ran from 1816 to 1858. During the second Seminole War (1835 to 1842), the U.S. Army built Fort Gatlin to guard settlers against the Seminoles.

By 1840, a small settlement grew near the fort, a few miles south of present-day Orlando, FL. The family that founded it named the place Jernigan. The community grew north, and in 1856, it changed its name from Jernigan to Orlando. When it formed in 1875, Orlando had 85 residents.

There areSeveral stories explain how the town got its new name.. Two stories involve Judge James Speer, who helped name Orlando the county seat. One story claims Speer named the town after a man who worked for him. Another suggests Speer got the idea from Orlando, a character in Shakespeare's playAs You Like It.

A third idea is that the town took its name from a man. This man was traveling to Tampa with oxen but died and was buried in the area. People saw his grave and said, “There lies Orlando.”

The final theory says the town took its name from Orlando Reeves, a soldier killed during the Seminole Wars.

In 1824, U.S. President James Monroe invited Gilbert du Motier, known as the Marquis de Lafayette, to visit the United States. Du Motier was a hero in both the U.S. and his home country, France. During the American Revolution, he commanded Revolutionary troops in several battles, including the siege of Yorktown. In France, he played an important role in the French Revolution.

Vermilionville, a small Louisiana settlement near a river, started in 1824. Jean Mouton founded the settlement.The settlement began as St. Jean du Vermilionville.The name changed fast. When Marquis de Lafayette visited America that year, he stopped in every state. He stopped in Vermilionville when he was scheduled for Louisiana.

The parish where Vermilionville sat took the name Lafayette, after the general. Vermilionville residents wanted a name change after the general visited, but they could not because there was already a town named Lafayette.A town named Lafayette already existed in Louisiana.A rule stopped Vermilionville from changing its name because a state could not have two places with the same name. So, Vermilionville kept its original name.

The original Lafayette, LA, sits where the Garden District of New Orleans is now. After New Orleans became incorporated in 1852, the area became a neighborhood, allowing Vermilionville to change its name to Lafayette.

The town officially changed its name in 1884. This happened 32 years later, 60 years after Marquis de Lafayette visited Louisiana.

Annapolis, called “the Athens of America,” sits on Chesapeake Bay. Maryland calls it the capital and home to the US Naval Academy. Puritan settlers arrived in 1649, building their first community on the northern shore of the Severn River; they called it Providence.

Later, the settlers moved to the southern shore of the Severn River. The settlement they built there was first called Town at Proctor's, then Town at the Severn. In 1694, it changed its name toAnne Arundel's Towne.It changed its name after Lord Baltimore's late wife.

That same year, Sir Francis Nicholson, the third royal governor of Maryland, moved the colony's capital from St. Mary's City to Anne Arundel's Towne, then renamed the settlement Annapolis.Annapolis got its name after Princess Anne, the heir to the English crown.Princess Anne became queen in 1702. In 1708, she issued a charter making Annapolis a city.

Native Americans first inhabited the land where St. Paul, MN, sits. In the 1600s, Mdewankton Dakota of the Sioux tribe came there after fleeing their home near Mille Lacs Lake to escape the Ojibwe. They named their new home Imnizaskadan, or “little white rock.” In 1805, Army officer Zebulon Pike negotiated the transfer of 100,000 acres of Imnizaskadan from the Dakota; this land became Fort Snelling. In 1837, the US government negotiated treaties with the Dakota, giving the government control of the rest of Imnizaskadan.

Fort Snelling opened in 1819. This move aimed to set up American control over the fur trading business. In 1838, Pierre “Pig's Eye” Parrant, a fur trader who became a bootlegger, filed the first land claim as a white person. He named his settlement.Pig's Eye Landing.”

Father Lucien Galtier, the first Roman Catholic priest in Minnesota, did not approve of the name. After building St. Paul's Chapel on the bluffs above the landing, he changed the settlement's name to St. Paul, naming it after the church.

Matt Goff, a librarian and archivist, doubted the history about Parrant and whether St. Paul was ever named “Pig's Eye Landing.”A 2021 article.Goff states that while historical evidence shows Parrant claimed land in 1838, St. Paul did not start until 1840. This happened after Parrant set up a settlement about three miles south of the area that became downtown St. Paul. This settlement became Pig's Eye.

The story of St. Paul being known as Pig's Eye seems like fiction. However, historical fact remains: Minnesota Territory formed in 1849, and St. Paul became its capital.

In 1996, Washington Irving's 1820 story, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” inspired North Tarrytown residents to rename the village Sleepy Hollow. That year, General Motors shut down its Hudson River plant, which caused...about 4,000 jobs to be lostLocals changed the town's name.The villagers voted to change the village's name.to Sleepy Hollow to attract tourists.

The village officially became North Tarrytown in 1883. Although the short story, which features Ichabod Crane meeting a headless horseman, is fiction, the story sets its action near the village, and the author is buried in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

Roanoke, VA, is nicknamed the “Capital of the Blue Ridge” and sits in the Roanoke Valley, which contains salt marshes -or salt licks.The first village in the valley formed in 1834 and was named Big Lick after the salt marshes. Roanoke County formed in 1838, and Big Lick had only about 50 people then.

The railroad reached the Roanoke Valley in 1852 but missed Big Lick. The settlement moved along the railroad tracks, and the original settlement became Old Lick. In 1874, the settlement by the tracks became the Town of Big Lick, though it kept that name for only a few more years.

Big Lick became Roanoke in 1881, named after the county it was in. The name Roanoke came from the Native American term “Rawrenock,” which described the shell beads Indigenous people wore in the area. Roanoke quickly became a meeting point for the Norfolk and Western Railway, and in 1884, a charter officially created the city of Roanoke.

Pittsburgh, PA, sits where the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River join, forming the Ohio River. In February 1754, Indian trader William Trent and British soldiers arrived. They started building Fort Prince George. Two months later, 500 French troops, led by Commandant Pierre de Contreoeur, forced the British to surrender the fort. The French then built a bigger fort on that spot.They named the fort Fort Duquesne.They named it after the Marquis de Duquesne, who held the title of governor general of New France.

In August 1758, the French commander at Fort Duquesne found British forces planning an attack. An unwise attack killed over 200 British troops. In November, General John Forbes took over the ruins of Fort Duquesne, which the French had burned.

Forbes wrote to William Pitt, England's prime minister, about the city's name change. The letter, dated November 27, 1758, told Pitt the camp had been renamed for him. Forbes spelled the city's name Pittsbourgh.

The city received a charter on March 16, 1816. The original document used Pittsburgh, but a printing mistake made the official copies spell it Pittsburg. In 1891, the United States Board on Geographic Names adopted 13 rules for standardizing place names. One rule stated that any place name ending in -burgh must drop the final “h.”The board decided that names ending in -burgh must drop the final "h."Pittsburgh officially became Pittsburg.

The board claimed the city lacked the final "h" on the 1816 city charter copies. The board failed to grasp this spelling resulted from a printing mistake.

The University of Pittsburgh refused to follow the board's ruling.The Pittsburgh Gazette.The Pittsburgh Stock Exchange also refused. After twenty years of public pressure, the board changed its mind on July 11, 1911, restoring the city name to Pittsburgh.

The settlement that became Detroit, MI, began on July 24, 1701, established by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac.Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, a French military officer and trader.In 1698, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac went back to France seeking permission to set up a French post along "le detroit," the strait connecting Lake Erie and Lake Huron.

The settlement started as Fort Pontchartrain du détroit, named after French marine minister Jérôme Phélypeaux Comte de Pontchartrain. The strait sat there. In 1707, Cadillac started giving land grants for farming, but Cadillac lost favor. He left the area when he became governor of Louisiana in 1710, lessening Pontchartrain's interest in the settlement.

Detroit stayed a French settlement until 1760. The British took over after the French and Indian War. The settlement renamed itself Fort Detroit in 1751. The British later shortened the name to Detroit. The British named this small city the capital of the Michigan Territory in 1805. The city of Detroit wasDetroit was incorporated.the Michigan territorial governor in 1806.

Abenaki Indigenous people called the Pennacock originally lived around what became Concord, NH. In 1659, European settlers arrived and named their settlement Penacock.Concord was incorporated after the Abenaki word pannukog., meaning “crooked place” or “bend in the river.”

The Massachusetts Bay Colony issued the first land grant for Penacook Plantation in 1725. In 1733, the Massachusetts Bay Colony incorporated the town as Rumford. Residents did not want to be governed like places in Massachusetts; instead, in 1741, Rumford was set not in Massachusetts, but in the Province of New Hampshire. This discovery started a lawsuit that finished in 1762.

The town changed its name again, from Rumford to Concord, in 1765. Concord means “agreement or harmony between people or groups.” Inhabitants allegedly chose it to show they wouldConcord keeps a good relationship with its Massachusetts neighbors..

In 1808, New Hampshire chose Concord as its capital.

In 1673, fur trader Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette traveled from the Great Lakes to modern-day Arkansas using the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers, then returned to Lake Michigan via the Illinois and Chicago rivers. During their expedition, theyJoliet paddled up the Des Plaines River and camped on a huge mound.Jolliet.They called it Mont Joliet.

Settlers did not arrive in the area for another 160 years. In 1834, a new town formed called Juliet afterShe was the daughter of one of the settlement's founders.The General Assembly incorporated Juliet as a town in 1837, but they repealed this charter two years later.

In 1845, the General Assembly decided to rename the town JolietIt honors the explorer.who camped at the site about 170 years earlier; the town was incorporated again as a town in 1852.

William Blaxton, an Episcopalian minister, lived in what became Boston, MA, first. Indigenous people called the area Shawmut, named after the peninsula. Some colonists called it Trimountaine, seeing three hills.William Blaxton was the only resident.Blaxton lived in the Shawmut settlement for years. Then, he invited Puritans from Charlestown, MA, to move across the Back Bay to Shawmut in 1630 because Charlestown lacked good water sources.

After agreeing to the move, the colonists decided to change the name of their new home.They changed the name from Shawmut to Boston.Colonists moved from Shawmut to Boston, Lincolnshire, England. Many colonists lived there first before moving to America. Isaac Johnson suggested the name change, which happened on September 16 or 17, 1630. Johnson, alongside Gov. John Winthrop, was considered one of the most important early colonists.

Johnson did not stay in Boston long.He died on September 30, 1630.Blaxton soon moved to start a new settlement on the Rhode Island border. He named this settlement Blackstone after himself.

The history of Albuquerque, NM, spans thousands of years. Pueblo Indigenous people inhabited the area at least as far back as 2000 BC.The history of Albuquerque, NM, dates back thousands of years; the area was inhabited by the Pueblo Indigenous people at least as far back as 2000 BC..

Spanish explorers first reached what is now Albuquerque in 1540. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado came looking for the mythical Seven Cities of Cibola. More Spanish immigrants built trading posts. King Philip of Spain gave colonists permission to build a new city at the foot of the mountains on the Rio Grande River in 1706. Joseph Sanchez, head of the University of New Mexico Spanish Colonial Research Center, explained this to newmexiconewsport.com.Joseph Sanchez, head of the University of New Mexico Spanish Colonial Research Center, explained this to newmexiconewsport.com.:

Initially, the name was Villa de San Francisco Javier de Alburquerque, honoring Francisco Fernandez de la Cuervo, the Duke of Alburquerque. The name shifted to honor King Philip the Fifth, becoming San Felipe de Rey Alburquerque.

People do not know exactly when or why the first "r" was dropped and the city name became simply Albuquerque.

On April 17, 1889, the New Jersey Legislature incorporated part of Union Township as Boiling Springs Township.Boiling Springs Township was named for a spring located within its borders.The name was short-lived. On March 28, 1894, Boiling Springs Township became the Borough of East Rutherford after a referendum passed the day prior. This was one of 26 boroughs created in Bergen County, NJ that year, a phenomenon called "Boroughitis."

The name was short-lived. On March 28, 1894, Boiling Springs Township became the Borough of East Rutherford due to a referendum passed the day before. This was one of 26 boroughs created in Bergen County, NJ that year, a phenomenon referred to as "Boroughitis."

Modern-day East Rutherford is known as home to the NFL's New York Jets and New York Giants.East Rutherford should not be confused with Rutherford, NJ.Rutherford, NJ, is a neighboring borough in Bergen County.

Eugene, Oregon, home to the University of Oregon, sits at the head of the Willamette Valley. For centuries, the Chifin band of Indigenous people lived there.Kalapuyan.Diseases like smallpox and malaria wiped out that population during the 19th century.

In July 1846, Eugene Skinner became the first white settler to file a land claim. He built his cabin on the butte near the river, which became Skinner's Butte. More settlers arrived. In 1862, the settlement became Eugene City, named after the first settler. Frequent floods hit the valley, giving Eugene City the...unofficial nickname.Skinner's Mudhole.

The name changed in 1864 to the City of Eugene. They shortened it to Eugene in 1889.

Austin, Texas's capital and home to the University of Texas main branch, started as a...tiny frontier settlement with less than six families.They called it Waterloo. Jacob Harrell settled there first in 1835, building a log stockade on the site of the current Congress Avenue Bridge.

A couple of years later, Mirabeau B. Lamar, future Texas president, visited Harrell's stockade. He contacted the commission seeking a new Texas capital site. After the visit, the commission told the Texas Congress Waterloo was a good spot.The settlement's name changed from Waterloo to Austin.The name honored Stephen F. Austin, 'the father of Texas,' who led early colonization in the area.

In 1839, Judge Edwin Waller, who became Austin's first mayor, resurveyed the settlement. He drew up a street plan basically the same as the present-day capital's.The street plan is basically the same.In October that year, the Republic of Texas government moved from Houston to Austin. After the United States annexed Texas in 1845, two elections secured Austin as the capital.

Manchester-by-the-Sea sits about 30 miles from Boston, MA, in the North Shore. Indigenous Agawam people first lived there. Epidemics killed most natives by 1619. About ten years later, English colonists moved in. The area became the town of Manchester in 1645.

In 1989, nearly 350 years later, the town officially renamed itself Manchester-by-the-Sea from Manchester to...Avoid confusion.with the four other towns in New England named Manchester. The name change passed with just 33 votes.

Cleveland, OH and Cleveland, Yorkshire, England have been"sister" citiessince 1977. The former city did not take its name from the latter. The names also do not share the same origin. The Cleveland in England gets its name from the Cleveland Hills; its name means 'cliff-land.'

Cleveland, Ohio, began as Cleaveland, honoring founder Moses Cleaveland. The Connecticut Land Company built the first settlement in the Connecticut Western Reserve there.Cleveland headed the land survey.This first survey finished in 1796. It covered more than 200 lots where the city would stand.

January 6, 1931, marked an event for Cleveland.The Cleveland Advertiser published this information. the paper dropped the "a" from the city's name.The paper said the letter was extra. The spelling change stuck. Cleveland has been known as "Cleveland" since then.