My Town...

[Miss Z]

The town where I have lived all my life is Leyland:

1. The town was recorded in the Doomsday book and is thought to mean 'settlement on flat ground'.
2. It is the base for British Leyland Trucks, which during the mid-twentieth century was the fifth largest heavy goods vehicles producer in the world (or there-abouts, lol).
3. One of the churches, St Andrews (which, incidentally, is where I catch my school bus) is over 800 years old.
4. The Leyland brass band has on numerous occasions been the champion band of Britain.

I was born a few miles north of Leyland in a larger city called Preston:

1. It is the UK's newest city, being granted this status in 2002.
2. The site where Preston now stands was recorded as a Roman base, as the area is next to the large river Ribble which served as a passage for boats to bring military supplies to the foot soldiers.
3. The origins of the name are disputed, but it could be from 'Priest's Town', as for many centuries the Preston population was defiantly Catholic.
4. The Preston docks are the biggest man-made port in the UK.

It's really interesting reading about other people's towns.

[RICHARD]

I Live in Pacoima-Ca

-If you watch an infomercial, chances are you send a check or money order
here for your product!
-Ritchie Valens and Leo DiCaprio were born here.
-Pacoima means "running water" in an Natvie Indian dialect.
-The Los Angels County Fire Department has their fire operations base located here-A great thing for me because I love airplanes and helicopters.
-Pacoima is part of the valley where the Northridge earthquale hit.
-It's been the location of many many movies, Christine, Any Which Way but Loose -Tim Mcgraw and the guy from Friends filmed flicks here.
-Home of 'The Pink Motel', a pink painted motel, landmark and movie set!!

[Cincy'sMom]

I had actaully posted Birth town, where I grew up and current hometown, but then I reread directions, and deleted two...

So, I grew up in Findlay, Ohio...
-The dog park! (at least it is famous on PT)
-Flag City USA
-Ben Rothlisberger
-Marathon Oil
-Cooper Tire
-Ray Harroun (winner of the 1st Indy 500)
-Tell Taylor (song writer, "Down by the Old Mill Stream" was written about the Blanchard River in Findlay
-And one I just learned...Findlay was the city where Touch Tone phone service first debuted.



And now I live in Toledo, Ohio
-Jeep
-Glass industry: Owens-Corning, Owens-Illinois, Libbey Glass
-Tony Packo's
-Toledo Mud Hens
-Last two made famous by Toledian Jamie Farr, in his role as Klinger on MASH.
-Katie Holmes
-Terry Cook (Driver in the NASCAR Truck series)

[kitten645]

Manhattan, NY

Need I list? LOL

Claudia

[RICHARD]

Manhattan, NY

Need I list? LOL

Claudia

We know, but what do YOU find interesting about it?

This is more a 'civic pride' / little known facts thread.

----------

I was watching TV and the program mentioned the state of Ohio-

The narrator said that it was known for the men associated with aerospace and fliight.

Orville and Wilbur Wright came from Ohio, as did John Glenn and Neal Armstrong! So It got me wondering about where people are from and what they are proud about!

[*LabLoverKEB*]

Bowling Green, Ohio

-Scott Hamilton
-Bowling Green State Univeristy
-National Tractor Pulling Championships
-Home to the 1st Utility sized wind farm

My mother went to BGSU! Sorry just thought I would let you know! lol

[Freedom]

The first part has to do with the town you were born in-name

Methuen, Massachusetts, USA.

-- ONLY one in this country; named after a British Lord. We had the then current Lord Methuen come visit during the Bicentennial Celebrations in 1976, which was 275 years for us!

-- home of Edward Searles, city benefactor. Interesting story, with him marrying a woman 22 years his senior, the widow of one of the five great railroad magnates (Hopkins). He was accused of marrying his wife for money, then killing her, although there were never any charges brought. She left him enormous real estate holdings and $21 million!

-- Home of Searlo Organ Hall, built by Edward Searles (see above). Built to house "The Great Organ," a pipe organ, built for the Boston Music Hall. It is still used today with many wonderful organists from around the world coming in to celebrate and play it in concerts. I do go back now and then to hear it!

-- home to Tenney Castle aka Grey Court Castle, and to Searles Castle

-- when I grew up there, it was The Town of Methuen. After I moved away, because of population growth, they became a city and changed to city government. And became: The City Known as The Town of Methuen! Kept that name officially for several years, before renaming to City of Methuen.

-- growing up, my friends and I often went to the cheapest entertainment in town (it was free): the town meetings! The antics were unbelievable to us, as these were grownups! One would get the water pitcher, walk over and dump it on the person speaking, if he disagreed with what was being said. Another one pulled the chair out from behind a speaker who then completed her talk, went to sit and landed on the floor. Papers were shredded, water was splashed from glasses, it was amazing! But hey, it introduced us to local government.

[Cinder & Smoke]

... the cheapest entertainment in town (it was free): the town meetings!

The antics were unbelievable to us, as these were grownups!
One would get the water pitcher, walk over and dump it on the person speaking,
if he disagreed with what was being said.

Another one pulled the chair out from behind a speaker who then completed her talk,
went to sit and landed on the floor.

Papers were shredded, water was splashed from glasses, it was amazing!

Not much has changed in National Politics, eh?

[mugsy]

I'm boring...I've lived the same place all 46 3/4 years of my life!

Fort Wayne, IN

1. TV was invented here (or at least the inventor lived here...cool house too)
2. We are at the confluence of the St Joe, St Marys, and Maumee River...only place east of the Mississippi where the rivers don't run to the Mississippi or a tributary there of. The Maumee (formed by the St Joe and St Marys) flows northeast to Lake Erie
3. Named for the original fort (built at the confluence) which was named for "Mad" Anthony Wayne the "hero" (for the whites at least) of the Battle of Fallen Timbers (fought by Amy's current home in Toledo)
4. The Three Rivers Festival (hard to believe THAT is a tourist attraction,but, I'm told it is)
5. Home town of Little Turtle and Chief Richardsville and Dick York (Darin #1 in Bewitched) and the character Frank Burns in M*A*S*H and Shelly Long and Carole Lombard...
6. Pawster Park (dog park)
7. Largest county (in area) in the state of Indiana (the county is 2/3 the size of the state of Rhode Island)
8. 2nd largest city in the state
9. Professional baseball started here
10. Zollner Pistons (later moved to Detroit)
11. on the top 10 targets for nuclear attacks because of all the classified government work done here...ITT, Ratheon, etc...
12. we have the 2nd largest shopping mall in the Midwest (which I avoid like the plague)
13. Coney Island Hot Dog Stand (in the same place since 1913)
14. A Tony Hawk designed skateboard park
15. The River Greenway (walking and biking path along the 3 rivers all though town)
16. Tony Dungy suggesting the Bears and Colts play the Super Bowl here

Ok, I'm done. I also don't follow directions very well...I had more than 4!

[Fuzzybuns]

My husband (David) and I both grew up in the same town we live in now. We met in
2nd grade and both graduated in '87. I married, had my son and divorced while David went to college. We got back together (we dated all through school, lol), married and had our daughter. Three years ago, we moved back here because we wanted our daughter to go to middleschool and highschool here.

Allen is a "wed-n-bed" community. It used to be run by the Baptist church and they even ran Wal-Mart out of town when the store wanted to go 24 hours. The Baptists also set the "No Play Sunday" rule...we weren't "allowed" to publicly play arcade games or shoot pool...that has since changed.

Allen, Texas
pop: 77,465 (2007), judging by the new students at my daughter's middleschool at the beginning of last school year, we're growing by leaps and bounds! Something like 32,000 in 7 years...

The Allen Eagle Escadrille (highschool marching band) is the largest in the world at over 650 members consisting of the band, drill team, and color guard. If you watched the 2006 Tournament of Roses Parade, we were the band that took forever to go by, lol.

First successful Texas train robbery on February 22, 1878 by Sam Bass and gang.

Some past and present residents:
Burton Gilliam, actor
Matt Barr, actor
Carly Patterson, gymnast, 2004 Olympic All-Around Champion and musician
Tony Dorsett, Dallas Cowboys player
Julie McCullough, Playboy Playmate
Alex Reyes, Texas Tech University punter, Minnesota Vikings punter
Amanda Dunbar, 2006 inductee into Texas Women's Hall of Fame[4]
Kathleen Baskin-Ball, clergy, nationally known preacher

There's also several artists and authors living amongst us.

Allen's first recorded tornado occurred on April 10, 2008-Not bad for being in Tornado Alley!

It's more info than you asked for but I love my hometown!

[Suki Wingy]

-Last two made famous by Toledian Jamie Farr, in his role as Klinger on MASH.

Is it sad that when I read you now live in Toledo, the first thing I thought about was Klinger? I wasn't even alive when the show was on TV!

I thought I might add the town I am soon moving to
Ames, IA
-Iowa State University (famous for agriculture)
-Home of the National Animal Disease Center where all American Mad Cow Disease samples are tested
well, that's about it! Oh, and it's free of BSL for now.
I just looked it up, and here are some awesome people associated with Ames!
-George Washington Carver was an alumnus and a professor at ISU
-David M. Dobson, creator of Snood (video game), grew up in Ames (I used to play that game A LOT! "Dave's got kids, they sure are neat, please register so they can eat!" hah )
-Ministry of Magic, an electronica/pop wizard rock band that was formed in Ames I love them, they are actually one of my favorite bands. I knew they lived in Iowa, but I wasn't sure where. Now I can go see them.

[Andie]

New Madrid Missouri

1. Earthquakes
2. Mississippi River
3. Earthquakes
4. Civil War Battle of Island Number Ten
5. Earthquakes
6. Farmland
7. Have I mentioned earthquakes?
8. ME!!

[jennielynn1970]

I was born in Lehighton, PA.

-Birthplace of: Joe Semanoff - College football player (BYU Cougars). **I have no idea who this person is, never heard of him

-For many years the Lehigh Valley Railroad was the town's largest employer, with several thousand residents working in the railroad's repair facilities or operating the railroad

-The community was named for the Lehigh River

-This was the site of the first Gnadenhutten Massacre on 24 November 1755, during the French and Indian Wars when missionaries and native converts were slain by native allies of the French.

-One of the largest events every August in Lehighton is the "Bike Night" featuring 28,000 plus motorcycles.



Not exactly the cultural hub of the state, lol.

[jennielynn1970]

Where I live NOW... Allentown, PA

- Does anyone not think of the Billy Joel song? Strangely enough, he sang more about Bethlehem's facts (next town over) than he did of Allentown

-Allentown holds historical significance as the location where the Liberty Bell (then known as the Pennsylvania State House bell) was successfully hidden from the British during the American Revolutionary War.

-During the Revolutionary War, the city was a munitions center for the Continental Army.

-YOCCO'S HOTDOGS - The name Yocco's was derived from the name "Iacocca," after the family who owns the establishment (the founder was Lee Iacocca's father, Nicola Iacocca). However, because the Pennsylvania Dutch could not pronounce Iacocca (an Italian name) and said Yocco instead, the name was changed to reflect their pronunciation.

- Michaela Conlin (from BONES) was born here, and Lauren Weisberger, who wrote "The Devil Wears Prada", grew up here.

[RedHedd]

Well I was born in San Francisco and still live here. We're famous for a lot of things:

Golden Gate Bridge
Coit Tower
Fisherman's Wharf
Golden Gate Park
Cable Cars
Ocean Beach
The Cliff House
Bill Graham!, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead
Restaurants!
Our hills
Our Chinatown
Did I mention the food?
Parking - oh wait, we don't have that