Atlas Trail
Nine Large American Cities Beyond the State Capitals, from Albuquerque to Anchorage
Nine large American cities that are not state capitals, taken in the order they were founded, from a Spanish colonial villa of 1706 to Anchorage in 1914. Each stop gives the city's founding date and one fact about what it is known for today.
Stop 1 of 9.
Cities
Albuquerque was founded in 1706 as La Villa de Alburquerque and named in honor of the Duke of Albuquerque. It is now the most populous city in New Mexico, with 564,559 residents at the 2020 census.
Stop 2 of 9.
Cities
Tucson was founded in 1775 and sits in the Sonoran Desert. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, with 542,629 residents at the 2020 census, and the county seat of Pima County.
Stop 3 of 9.
Cities
San Jose was founded on November 29, 1777, as the Pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe, the first city founded in the Californias. It is now the most populous city in the San Francisco Bay Area, with an estimated 989,814 residents in 2025.
Stop 4 of 9.
Cities
Wichita was established in 1868 and is now the most populous city in Kansas and the seat of Sedgwick County. It has long been nicknamed the Air Capital of the World for its general-aviation aircraft manufacturing.
Stop 5 of 9.
Cities
Colorado Springs was founded in 1871 by General William Jackson Palmer. At the 2020 census it had 478,961 residents, a rise of 15.02 percent since 2010, and it is the most populous city in El Paso County.
Stop 6 of 9.
Cities
Bakersfield was founded in 1873 and is the county seat of Kern County, near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley. Its 2020 population of 403,455 made it the 47th-most populous city in the United States.
Stop 7 of 9.
Cities
Arlington was founded in 1876 and had 394,266 residents in 2020, making it the second-largest city in Tarrant County after Fort Worth. It is the third-largest city in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.
Stop 8 of 9.
Cities
The 1906 date for Virginia Beach is when the modern city was established; the English colonists who settled Jamestown had first landed earlier at nearby Cape Henry. It lies on the Atlantic coast at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, and its 459,470 residents make it the most populous city in Virginia.
Stop 9 of 9.
Cities
Anchorage was founded in 1914 and is the most populous city in Alaska. Its 291,247 residents at the 2020 census are nearly 40 percent of the state, and its area of about 5,042 square kilometers is among the largest of any American city.
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