 The lead contenders were Wetumpka (then straddling old Autauga and Coosa Counties) and the newer city of Montgomery (in Montgomery County), a few miles south.Neither city had a majority of support; representatives from north Alabama, enraged that the capital was being moved from Tuscaloosa, were indifferent to either site.Just before the vote, Montgomery lured an expensive French chef to the new hotel that had been built to house the state's representatives if Montgomery were selected.