What is your hometown's claim to fame?

[Road Scholar]

We have the oldest known living Dogwood tree. Pretty big huh? I think not. Another town close by claims to have the worlds biggest frying pan. Wow!

[bif]

1. "Grosse Pointe Blank" took place here

But they only filmed a couple establishing shots here.

[Road Scholar]

3. That's pretty cool.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

2. "The Station Agent" was filmed here.

We also have assorted stuff in Weird NJ.

[Road Scholar]

7. We have some film locations close by in Wilmington also.

But I think they claim to have the most repubs per square mile. I don't believe I'd have told that

[Kire]

4. M&M/Mars candy is made here.

Snickers, Skittles, Kudos, Milky Way, M&M's and a bunch of other candies.

It's very hard to get a job there.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

12. Some days Hackettstown smells like chocolate.

[Kire]

14. I can smell it through my window.

I live about a quarter mile away.

[Ohio Joe]

23. oh cool

My mom lives only about three miles from the M&M plant out there.

[Initech]

103. My dad once met the CEO of Mars Corp.

Said he's the biggest fucking cheapskate on the planet.

[malta blue]

5. Potato chips were invented in 1853

and have been clogging arteries ever since

[bif]

6. Here's what the high school looks like

The one they used in the movie looked nothing at all like it.

[Road Scholar]

15. They switched on ya huh. Thats Hollywood for you. Nice lookin'

school. thanks for sharing.

[bif]

17. Actually, the H.S. didn't want them to shoot it.

It would have ruined their conservative image I guess. It is a classic though.

[Wcross]

8. Home of "Strollin Jim" (Tennessee walking horse)

I live near Wartrace, Tennessee. They have a "historical marker" about strollin Jim being trained and kept here. Wartrace is the birthplace of the Tennessee walking horse.


http://www.wartracechamber.org /

[MissMillie]

9. Clara Barton

that's it

[jobycom]

10. Hurricanes keep wiping it out. Oh yeah, and Jimmy Buffet and Barq's

[Bunny]

11. The Johnstown Flood.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Flood

<snip>
The Johnstown Flood disaster (or Great Flood of 1889 as it became known locally) occurred on May 31, 1889. It was the result of several days of extremely heavy rainfall, made worse by the failure of the South Fork Dam situated 14 miles (23 km) upstream of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, which unleashed a torrent of 20 million gallons (~76 000 000 L) of additional water. The flood killed over 2,200 people and produced US$17 million of damage. It was the first major disaster relief effort handled by the new American Red Cross, led by Clara Barton. Support for victims came from all over the United States and 18 foreign countries.
<snip>

[NewWaveChick1981]

13. The town where I live now is the "Furniture Capital of the World."

The International Home Furnishings Market is held here twice a year, and people from all over the world attend (and get drunk and obnoxious, and visit hookers, etc. )

[Road Scholar]

19. Sounds like a fun town. LOL

[NewWaveChick1981]

39. It's really boring except when the furniture market comes to town....

[HPULiberal]

60. Is this High Point, NC?

I live here most of the year since I am a college student here. Of course, Las Vegas now I think is making that claim as "Furniture Capital" as well. Not too boring too me, given that I grew up in Sumter, SC, a city of 40,000 an hour away from the closest city with more that. Sumter's claim to fame is a major Air Force base and a city park that is the only place in the world with every species of swan.

[NewWaveChick1981]

123. Yes, it is!

Welcome to DU, HPULiberal! Las Vegas is trying to push High Point out of the furniture market business, but I guess we'll just have to see about that. The unfortunate thing is that the furniture manufacturing base is still here, but it has dwindled so much because of overseas imports that this area might not be able to sustain the market indefinitely. It's still here, though, so there is hope.

[dad]

127. --

I remember going to the furniture mart to pick out some items. We ordered them and then had to wait a long time for them to be shipped here from CHINA. No lie!

[NewWaveChick1981]

129. Oooh, that sucks!

Sorry about that.

[RetroLounge]

75. Hookers in NC? Say it isn't so!

RL

[NewWaveChick1981]

124. I'm afraid it's true, RL...

Sorry to burst your bubble...

[Tikki]

16. "Nuclear reactor......

...boom, boom, boom , boom..."




The Tikkis

[Kerrytravelers]

99. You live in Springfield? Mr. Burns is ,,,evil...

[Road Scholar]

18. Wow y'all, these are really good! nt

[jus_the_facts]

20. Coca-Cola first bottled here west of the Mississippi river...birthplace of Delta Airlines.....

http://www.bmuseum.org/cocacola.htm

Joe Biedenharn had long sold soda fountain drinks -carbonated water flavored with a variety of syrups. Until one of those fortunate destiny-changing events that sometimes occur in human lives occurred in his life in 1891, he had given no thought to entering the business that would ultimately become a major component of his enterprises and launch a world-famous industry, the bottling and retailing of Coca-Cola.

In the summer of 1894, Joe Biedenharn put Coca-Cola into bottles, becoming the first person to bottle the popular beverage.

The Joe Biedenharn Coca-Cola companies have grown to represent the ninth-largest Coca-Cola bottling operation in the United States.

The Biedenharn Home, The Bible Museum, and the ELsong Garden and Conservatory, located in Monroe, Louisiana
---------------------------------------------------------

http://www.ci.monroe.la.us/attractions.php

There are many points of interest that draw visitors to the area.

Monroe is the birthplace of Delta Airlines and the first place west of the Mississippi to bottle Coca-Cola. The oldest human dwelling site in North America, Poverty Point, is located near Monroe.

Step back into history with displays on Delta Airlines, Selman Field, General Chennault, Flying Tigers, and rare war memorabilia. A museum dedicated to preserving the history of aviation in the Northeast Louisiana area.

[Hosnon]

21. Masters Golf Tournament. nt

[av8rdave]

22. Lucille Ball, Natalie Merchant and Roger Tory Peterson

are all from my hometown.

[murielm99]

24. We have

a barber who can't cut hair, a deaf piano teacher, a senile Avon lady, and an honest used car salesman.

I can't say that we are known for those, but everyone in town knows about them.

Small town characters. Ya gotta love 'em.

[Kali]

95. Oh yeah? We have a one-armed barber.

I resemble one of those small town characters.

[huskerlaw]

25. Katie Couric is broadcasting from here tonight!

Otherwise, we ain't got shit.

[GOPisEvil]

73. Yeah, that's a real one-horse town you live in.

[huskerlaw]

94. I'm tellin' ya...

my little town didn't know wut hit it today.

CBS news came to town from da big city out east and brought deez fancy camera things 'n lights 'n somethin' called crews.

Den, somehows, the lady wit da microphone got trapped into dis box that e'one kept callin' da teevee. I sure do hope she got out ok. Dat box wuz mighty small.

[RebelOne]

26. Born in Philadelphia, grew up in Miami, Fla.

and now live in the Atlanta area. All three cities have plenty of claims to fame.

[LaraMN]

27. World's only Frank Lloyd Wright designed gas station.

It's a small northern Minnesota town. Whaddya want?

[July]

144. I think Buffalo's going to build one that FLW designed.

I believe there was a plan to build one when the Pierce-Arrow plant was active, but it never got built, and now they're going to build one at the plant-turned-museum. I'll have to check it out. What does the gas station look like -- is it very different from what we're used to?

[JackBeck]

28. Mine was voted "Best Place to Live" by Money Magazine in 2005.

http://money.cnn.com/popups/2005/specials/bplive/frames...

It was also founded by Quakers over 300 years ago and is to this day a "dry" town. No bars or liquor stores.

[Shakespeare]

29. Well, I was born in Roswell, NM.

'Nuff said.

[leftofthedial]

66. are you shittin' me?

me too.

[Shakespeare]

114. Cool! Another Roswellian!

[leftofthedial]

117. a great place to be from

[Road Scholar]

165. "Nuff said is right

[Shakespeare]

194. ??

Not quite sure what you mean by that.

[KamaAina]

30. It is the most isolated urban center on Earth.

Our nearest* urban neighbor is San Francisco, 2400 miles away. At 3900 miles, Tokyo is closer than NYC (500 mi.)!

Edit: More mundane claims to fame include being the birthplace of Pacific Rim regional cuisine, having the only royal palace on (present-day) U.S. soil, having the first interscholastic baseball team (at Punahou School, in 1854), having an airport runway that doubles as an emergency landing site for the space shuttle (that isolation thing, again), and of course, Don Ho.

[KamaAina]

179. So far, all I see for my original hometown is "world's largest trash can"

post #68; Baltimore. "We're gonna play that trashball every day!"

C'mon, guys. H.L. Mencken. Barry Levinson AND John Waters (!). "Star-Spangled Banner" written at Fort McHenry. Street peddlers once known as "A-rabs" (pronounced like Bush** would). Cal Ripken Jr. breaking Gehrig's consecutive game streak. The first shopping center (the second is on Maui!).

New civic slogan: "Baltimore. More than just a trash can."

[sarge43]

31. Madonna was born there - big whoop n/t

[El Fuego]

32. Putting bush in office in 2000.

WPB, FL - Home of the Butterfly Ballot.

[terrya]

33. Decatur, Illinois used to be "The Soybean Capital of the World"

I don't know what they are now.

[Wcross]

34. I've heard the town has quite an "aroma". n/t

[Radical Activist]

158. You're from Decatur?

I'm sorry.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

35. Crabs.

Earthquakes, sourdough bread (never ever to be used as a bowl for chowder), cable cars, Tony Bennett, our large gay/lesbian population, the Golden Gate Bridge... I could go on and on and on....

I so very much my town.

[u4ic]

36. This:

Mississauga train derailment of 1979

The Mississauga train derailment of 1979 occurred on November 10, 1979, when a 106-car Canadian Pacific freight train carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals from Windsor, Ontario was derailed near the intersection of Mavis Road and Dundas Street in Mississauga, Ontario. As a result of the derailment, 250,000 people were evacuated in what was then the largest peacetime evacuation in North America up until the New Orleans evacuation of 2005. Fortunately and remarkably, there were no deaths resulting from the spill.

Explosion and evacuation

At 11:53 p.m., at the Mavis Road crossing, the damaged undercarriage left the track, causing most of the rest of the train to derail. The impact caused several tanker cars filled with propane to burst into flames.

The derailment also ruptured several other tankers, spilling styrene, toluene, propane, caustic soda, and chlorine onto the tracks and into the air. A huge explosion resulted, sending a fireball 1,500 m into the sky which could be seen from 100 km away. As the flames were erupting, a train worker managed to close a brake valve on the undamaged 32nd car, allowing the engineer to drive the front part of the train eastward along the tracks and out of danger.

After further explosions, firefighters concentrated on cooling cars, allowing the fire to burn itself out, but a ruptured chlorine tank became a cause for concern. With the possibility of a deadly cloud of chlorine gas spreading through suburban Mississauga, over 200,000 people were evacuated. The evacuation was overseen by the mayor of Mississauga, Hazel McCallion, along with the Peel Regional Police and other governmental authorities. McCallion sprained her ankle early in the crisis, but continued to hobble to press conferences and updates.

Aftermath

Within a few days (?? One day!) Mississauga was practically a ghost town, until the contamination had been cleared, the danger neutralized and residents were allowed to return to their homes. The city was finally reopened in the evening of November 16. The chlorine tank was emptied on November 19.

At the time, it was the largest peacetime evacuation in North American history, and is currently the second largest after the evacuation of New Orleans, Louisiana after the impact of Hurricane Katrina.

Due to the speed and efficiency with which it was conducted, many cities later studied and modeled their own emergency plans after Mississauga's. For years afterwards, the name "Mississauga" was for many Canadians associated with this major rail disaster.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississauga_train_derailme...




And, yes, I was one of the evacuees.

[Road Scholar]

44. Woweee! Now that was serious bigtime. I remember that.

[tjwmason]

37. My village produced some floor-tiles which are in Windsor Castle

they were made a few hundred years ago.

[Omphaloskepsis]

38. Nike, Ken Kesey, and Animal House..

that is about it.. and we have fantastic pot!

[LynneSin]

40. World's Longest Stone Arch Bridge - The Rockville Bridge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockville_Bridge

[mwdem]

41. Birthplace of Edward R. Murrow and O. Henry...

site of sit-ins in 1960 at Woolworths' lunch counter, lasted 6 months. My elementary school librarian, Miss Murrow, was Edward's sister.

[Lex]

92. Hey to Greensboro NC

from Durham NC.

As to the lunch counter, I made a specific visit to Greensboro to see the Woolworth's lunch counter in person before it was dismantled.

[mwdem]

145. I still have family there, but haven't lived there for awhile.

I have a pic of one of the anniversaries of the sit-in, with the students in 1960, and the same men years later. I can't remember if it was from 1990, or when. backatcha!

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

167. Yes I live in Greensboro too!

and don't forget about Joey Cheek.

[mwdem]

174. Hi, CP!

I did forget about Joey, glad you reminded me. I'm in Texas now, but get back at least once a year to visit family.

[siouxsiecreamcheese]

42. "Birth of a Nation" was filmed there

How proud we are

[fizzgig]

43. money magazine named us

best place to live this year

it's home to tom sutherland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sutherland (this isn't the best article but it was the best i could find quickly). i've talked to tom on a few occasions and he's a wonderfully sweet man.

byron "whizzer" white was born and raised here (i didn't know he had this connection to roe v. wade)

[Kerrytravelers]

45. (former) hometown of Cindy Sheehan.

We also had the Nut Tree, a place that catered the Queen of England when she visited San Francisco years ago. We have a prison that, at one time, housed Charles Manson (my friend's dad was in charge of Manson.) Prior to his death, we had the lead animator of Disney's Snow White that lived here.

And, of course, me!

[hopein08]

46. The only statue of George Washington in a British uniform...

along with Tom Ridge (lucky me), Ann B. Davis (Alice from "The Brady Bunch"), the flagship Niagara (from the War of 1812).

[PVnRT]

47. The original Coke bottle was designed here

n/t

[youthere]

48. They have a nacho-cheese machine at the Fast-Stop.

[Kali]

96. ...

[madinmaryland]

49. All of the footballs used in the NFL are made in my hometown.

The Wilson Football factory. I took a tour of the factory when I was a kid, and it was really neat how they assembled the footballs.

[smtpgirl]

50. The restaurant scene in Blair Witch Project was filmed here

[toadzilla]

69. the blair witch house is in my town

about 15 minutes from my house, its not in burkittsville.

[smtpgirl]

182. The restaurant that the Blair Witch scenes were filmed

at a Restaurant that was called Staub's, the restaurant closed down about 4 years ago.

It was located at Rt 28 & Rt 109 in Beallsville,MD

[Truebrit71sbruv]

51. The village I was born in is apparently...

... the longest in England/UK/Europe (depending on who you talk to in the village) and the nearest town to my home village is the resting place of Pocahontas. The poor bloody lass left the freedom of her existence, crossing the Atlantic to end up dying in a dive of a town called Gravesend in Kent.

Sometimes, just sometimes, love just really ISN'T worth it...

[Pendrench]

52. Catonsville Nine (Vietnam War Protest)

My dad tells me that this is a true story: He used to be a letter carrier, and one day while he was on his route, he was approached by a gentleman who was looking for the draft board (and since my dad was a letter carrier, he assumed that my dad would probably know where it was located). As it was, the board had moved from Irvington, MD to Catonsville, MD, so my dad gave him directions to the new location. The man thanked him and left.

Later, he was watching the news and he saw that the person who asked him directions was one of the Catonsville Nine (who went to the draft board to burn the draft files).

My dad's brush with history.

Tim

[schmuls]

53. not my hometown (Racine, Wisconsin), but my current city, Milwaukee

Wisconsin can claim Jeffrey Dahmer, the cannibal, Lawrencia Bembenke, the innocent "Playboy bunny cop" who supposedly murdered her husband's ex-wife, and deaths and illness due to cryptosporidium!

[RetroLounge]

77. Hey, A Local!

Don't forget Frank Zeidler, our socialist mayor, Schlitz, Pabst, Miller, and Sprecher, Summerfest...

and Milwaukee Tools

RL

[xmas74]

207. A wave to you!

I no longer live there but I'm originally from Kenosha, as are a couple of other posters I've run into on the boards!

[Initech]

54. Mine is the home town of Richard "Tricky Dick" Nixon

Yup, the very beginning of the Bush Family Evil Empire started right here in my home town of Yorba Linda, CA!

[SKKY]

55. The Louisville Slugger baseball bat...

...oh yea, and once a year we have this kooky little horse race that a lot of people like to go to. But other than that, not much.

[Samurai_Writer]

56. The first place gold was discovered in Colorado

Gold Hill, Colorado

It hasn't changed much from those days, except there are less people there now. It is also mistakenly referred to sometimes as a ghost town. Look it up in Wikipedia, they have a great article about it.

[Oeditpus Rex]

57. 'Birthplace of the American Biker'

The 1947 "incident" on which "The Wild One" was based happened here. To commemorate it, we have the Independence Rally every 4th of July weekend.

In the '20s and thereabouts, it was the self-proclaimed "hay capital of the world." Thus is the high school's mascot the Haybaler.

[Jamastiene]

58. Jama sobs and wipes a tear from her eye...

Almost and admits that Bucky Covington is what we most currently are known for.

Before him, there was the chicken plant fire where the racists assed owners had locked the doors claiming black people were stealing the chickens. I forget how many died exactly, something like 100 or so. It was horrible. It got Jessie Jackson's attention thankfully, so there was a lawsuit. The greedy bastards that owned the place still got by with it if you ask me, unfortunately. Technically, it was Hamlet, but this whole county is one big shitripper of a hellhole.

*Jama hangs head and wanders off wishing for something good to happen.*

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

169. I remember when that happened.

That was so awful.

[QMPMom]

59. Sports...

Don Mattingly or Bob Griese - take your pick. That is in the city where I was born.

In the town where I grew up - James T. Wooten, former ABC Correspondent. Was in my Mom's class in school and comes back to hometown for reunions. I think he lives in London, England though.

[supernova]

61. The City of Medicine

The Black Wall Street

[MorningGlow]

62. Nuthin' here, but

Just up the road is a town where Jello was invented.

Whee!

[Kat45]

63. Perkins School for the Blind, where Helen Keller went.

[Trailrider1951]

64. Columbus, Ohio...it's a good place to be from

Far from.

[leftofthedial]

65. me

pretty much

actually, alien visitation (nearly the same difference, I guess)

[Road Scholar]

72. Ain't nuttin' wrong with you, my friend. You are as good as any. nt

[photogirl12]

67. Halfmoon, NY "Solartown USA"

We have the first town hall that was solar (pretty sure it was heated solar, don't think it was solar powered).

[toadzilla]

68. world's largest trash can

yay Baltimore!

[cleveramerican]

70. " Birthplace of the Revolution"

Concord ,Massachusetts

where on April 19, 1775 farmers turned minute men stood their ground against British Regulars, turned them back around and chased them all the way back to Boston, and The American Revolution was ON!

lots of writers too Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott.


So much history here it never fails to make me proud of this town.

[martymar64]

71. The city that killed JFK

Some fame . . .

[Redstone]

74. Katherine Hepburn. The old bitch. But they liked here here anyway.

Why, I'll never understand. But they did.

Redstone

[demdiva]

76. I grew up in Normal, Illinois

... insert hick joke here ....

oh and on edit. ...

home of the original Steak and Shake and State Farm Insurance

[ChoralScholar]

78. Atkins Pickles (now Peter Piper Pickles)

were manufactured here, along with all Kraft, IGA, Best Choice, Price Saver and ShurFine pickles.

[TheMightyFavog]

79. Birthplace of Peter Weller

And the woman who played Mimi on Drew Carey.

Also we are the home of the world's largest radio trivia contest!

[mzteris]

80. The Bollweevil Monument

The monument, located in downtown Enterprise, is the only memorial in the world which glorifies a pest - the Mexican Boll Weevil.

The statue was built to honor the insect, whose arrival in the early 1900s resulted in an agricultural revolution that forever changed the face the region.

The Boll Weevil Monument was dedicated on December 11, 1919.

Click here for the full story.



(OK - not my "hometown", but I went to gradeschool there. . .)

[StellaBlue]

81. Several

Palm-d'Or-winning 1983 Wim Wenders flick.

First mass-marketed lynching in the United States in 1893 (10,000 people turned up, according to reports).

Retirement home to Frank James.

Until they built that one in Las Vegas, home to the second-tallest Eiffel Tower in the world.

Hometown of Raymond Berry, Gene Stallings, Eddie Robinson, Sam Bell Maxey, Duane Allen of the Oak Ridge Boys, John Chisum, John Jumper (Air Force Chief of Staff), and Vanilla Ice (who is my ex-cousin-in-law); hometown of Lance Armstrong's grandfather, Tanya Tucker's ex-husband, and Timmy from Lassie's grandmother.

Major fire that destroyed most of the center of town in 1916; and major, F4 tornado on April 2, 1982.

National junior college (NJCAA) basketball champions, 2006; and internationally famous/recognized jewelry school.

First city-owned and -operated abbatoir in the United States.

"Home From the Hill" filming location.

Elvis played the Boys' Club in 1956.

Camp Maxey, German POW camp during World War II.

First bi-racial club in Texas (women's anti-lynching association).

"Best Small Town in Texas" in 1998 by Kevin Heubusch in his book The New Rating Guide to Life in America's Small Cities.

[ok_cpu]

82. I was born in the shadow of the Professional Football Hall of Fame

My home now is known for Paul Brown, Lillian Gish (and her sister), and uber soap-star David Canary.

[Lex]

83. The largest lemur sanctuary in the WORLD is here

in Durham, NC.

http://lemur.duke.edu/mission.php

[StellaBlue]

84. Lemurs are awesome!!!

I love lemurs!!!

[Road Scholar]

88. They truely ARE awesome. eom

[Xipe Totec]

85. Destroyed by flood in 1749, and rebuilt.

One of the oldest settlements along the Rio Grande.

[alittlelark]

86. It's where Bugs Bunny should have taken a left turn...

Albuquerque.

[onecent]

87. Jesse James buried right in the middle of town. n/t

[XemaSab]

89. Home of the Black Panthers, among other things

n/t

[Sapphocrat]

90. Bigotville, USA

No, I'm serious. Right along with Kanab, Utah. The T-shirts alone made the national news:

http://www.lavenderliberal.com/blog/2006/2006-02-26.php

[Lex]

91. Hey, In_Transit, here's the Dogwood Tree in question.

It's in a cemetary and has a plaque and everything!

[StellaBlue]

93. and they say there will never again be a dogwood tree big enough to make a cross...

tsk, tsk

(I always wondered about that story - I mean, I figure they don't actually HAVE dogwoods in Palestine, and what's more, since they are mostly smallish trees, would NOT have been the first choice to crucify someone on, anyway! Not strong enough! Bah!)

[Road Scholar]

119. Thanks Lex. I was wrong, it's the largest, not oldest. Looks

like someone I know posing near it.

[General Zod]

97. Birthplace of Confederate General......

....Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson. And hometown of former Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance.

[Nicole]

98. Home of the first parking meters & shopping carts

and the OKC bombing.

[TheBaldyMan]

100. The Cocteau Twins hail from there.

apart from that I can't think of much.

[dajoki]

101. Coal mining & HS Football...

Winningist team in PA and fifth in nation. Mt. Carmel, PA.

[Emops]

102. The Wright Brothers

Suck on it, Kitty Hawk.

[Ptah]

104. The hit movie C.C. and Company was filmed here!

C.C. Ryder (Joe Namath) is thrust into the world of hog-riding when
he joins hell-bound biker gang "The Heads". Shortly after his induction,
he averts the gang rape of Ann McCalley (Ann-Margaret), a fashion
reporter sent to cover a motor sports event. Ann and C.C. are on
their way to falling madly in love, much to the chagrin of "Heads" leader,
Moon (William Smith). Mayhem and an adrenaline-pumping, high-stakes
race across the desert ensue.

[Castilleja]

105. Whataburger and the Lawsuit!

LOL But it's home.

[MrScorpio]

106. I'm from Detroit

It's pretty obvious

[judaspriestess]

107. The Alamo

[hfojvt]

108. the world's largest pheasant

and it is next to the world's longest non-navigatable river and it had a Humphrey drugstore owned by Hubert's dad and it was the home of the first woman ever elected to the US Senate (Gladys Pyle, who went to my church) and it was the hometown of Cheryl Ladd and Olympic marathoner Rodney DeHaven.
Almost forgot - it's where the SD State Fair happens too.

[Road Scholar]

150. I was there last fall. It ts truely an awesome place.

[China_cat]

109. Night of the Living Dead was made there.

[ContraBass Black]

110. A Civil War Battle, Lorena Bobbit, and a DC Sniper shooting.

Joy.

[sakabatou]

111. El Palo Alto and home of Hewlitt Packard

[Aristus]

112. The Western Washington State Fair.

DO THE PUYALLUP!

[Bossy Monkey]

113. Secession and Hootie & the Blowfish

My god, isn't that enough?!

[MoseyWalker]

115. the railroad left

and no one wants to live here anymore.

that's a good thing.

[evlbstrd]

116. Barbecue.

Buck O'Niell and the Monarchs. Charlie Parker. The Lamar Hunt Trophy (which we have won only once). Joe Turner. Count Basie. Ginger Rogers. The only WWI monument in the country. The original shopping center. Robert Altman, although the movie he made here about here sucked. Burt Bacharach. Wallace Beery (great actor!). Jean Harlow. Casey Stengel. Boulevard Beer.

[Road Scholar]

125. Are we talkin' vinager base or tomato base? lol eom

[evlbstrd]

126. I won't get into that fight!

For me, if you need sauce, the bbq is no good.

[Road Scholar]

137. Just lotsa peppers.

[evlbstrd]

139. Which transcends regional styles.

And ya gotta have pit beans.

[Road Scholar]

146. Eggzakley!!

[njdemocrat106]

118. Mine was just named "Safest City" in 2005 by Morgan Quitno Press

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/30/nyregion/30crime.html

Other than that, my hometown features the ice rink seen in "Chasing Amy".

[sazemisery]

120. Merle Haggard said he was proud to be..

an "Okie from Muskogee" during the '70's. He grew up in Checotah but I guess that he could find much to rhyme with that!

[gr8dane_daddy]

121. Small west Texas town of Crane...

it's rumored that the Mexican Emperor Maximillian stashed millions in gold south of town in Castle Gap.

[MissHoneychurch]

122. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

[1gobluedem]

128. The University of Michigan

And its #2 nationally ranked football team.

Iggy Pop
Tom Hayden
Ken Burns
Bob Seger
Hash Bash

and Zingerman's Deli just to name a few wonderful things about my wonderful hometown, Ann Arbor, MI.

[Phillycat]

130. Oh, just the birthplace of democracy...

Nothing big.

[Road Scholar]

136. That bell appears to be cracked.

Duhhhh. Gotcha. I always wanted to visit there.

[Phillycat]

138. Come on over!

Plenty of liberals here!

[cobalt1999]

131. It's purposely misnamed.

Originally it was called Camp Walton based on the fact that there was a Confederate camp in the current location to guard the bay and eastern access to Pensacola.

Now it is called Fort Walton, even though there never was a "fort" there. The city determined that there was a cannon a the campsite, so they "upgraded" the town from Camp Walton to Fort Walton.

So, don't come to Fort Walton Beach and go looking for the "fort".

[nini]

132. The first Wienerschnitzel

Lots of pro football players.

[NoSheep]

133. Race riots and curfews in the 60's.

[bertha katzenengel]

134. Huntington Beach, CA: Surf City USA n/t

[AllegroRondo]

135. Green Bay, Wisconsin

I know the city is famous for something, I just cant recall what it could be.

[Maine-ah]

140. "Lobster Capital of the World"

[Pacifist Patriot]

141. Jim Morrison, Doug Flutie and a point on the Bermuda Triangle

[bridgit]

142. well, we have lots of trees & a river...two rivers...

http://www.deltaking.com

[Road Scholar]

147. Wow bridgit. We ain't zakly talkin'no little stream here. Awesome.

[Auggie]

143. First Mormon Temple -- BFD

[sinkingfeeling]

148. The Clintons' first house.

[dysfunctional press]

149. Streetsweepers(not the gun) and watches from Elgin IL.

[swag]

151. I thought Long Beach, WA had the world's biggest frying pan.

Is that where you're from?

Winlock, WA has the big egg. Too bad they painted an American flag (WTF?) on it after 9/11. That's real respectful.

My home town's claim to fame is the unfriendliest people on the planet.

[Road Scholar]

152. Rose Hill NC is closeby. They say they have the world's largest

frying pan to promote they big fish fry they have every year. Anyway they claim it. LOL Maybe Rose Hill and Long Beach can share that title.

[swag]

153. The one in Long Beach, WA has a big hole in it now.

Next to the Frying Pan is the world's largest wooden oyster.

And across the Street in Marsh's Museum is Jake the Alligator Man who launched a thousand Weekly World News covers.

[Road Scholar]

154. What happened to the pan?

[swag]

155. It just kind of rusted. They didn't season their skillet well enough.

[rustydog]

156. William O. Douglas

Pretty cool

[Road Scholar]

157. Very cool!

[jmowreader]

159. The world's highest navigable waterway

The Shadowy St. Joe River, which meets the St. Maries River at St. Maries, Idaho, is the world's highest navigable river. They build log decks in Avery, which is about 40 miles upriver, and tow them to St. Maries with tugboats.

[Road Scholar]

160. Wow, do they still use it for logging?

[jmowreader]

162. About seven months out of the year...

It's out of use from November until March because the river freezes and the forest is closed to logging.

In spring, summer and early fall, the river is in heavy use by loggers. It's pretty slick how they put the logs into the river: at various places along the Joe Road are these big log ramps. You drive your logging truck up next to the ramp, connect a cable to the retaining pins on your trailer's log arms, undo your chains, hook the cable to this big concrete post with an eyebolt sticking out of it, and pull forward a few inches. The pins pull out, the log arms drop and your load rolls right into the river. Taking them down the river saves a LOT of fuel over driving them.

A lot of guys do drive their loads out of the forest, though. I know the two biggest haulers--Jack Buell and Henry Sindt--drive logs to St. Maries. There's a spread between what Potlatch pays and what the tugboat captains pay for logs, and the big haulers figure that by playing the fuel hedge markets, they can come out a little ahead by driving logs down. Big operators will also work multiple sales, for multiple timber companies; if you float logs they will always end up at Potlatch. Diamond International and Plum Creek Timber, for example, have their mills built nowhere near water.

[Bunny]

161. Kick

[LuLu550]

163. Home of Jerry Seinfeld and Ron Kovic

Massapequa, NY.

On Lawn Guyland.

[Road Scholar]

164. I still watch Jerry's reruns even though I have

almost memorized every skit. They're great.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

166. It's still here.

Yup. Just looked out the window.

OK ok our airbase is where the last 3 Presidents have landed when campaigning or speaking in the area.

Willow Grove, Pa

SAH-lute!!

[Road Scholar]

168. LOL Good one! nt

[yellowdogintexas]

170. The first Rural Free Delivery in Kentucky was in my actual home

town, which now only has a part time postoffice. sigh.

However, 8 miles away is the birthplace of Robert Penn Warren.

also, 20 miles away is the birthplace of Jefferson Davis

and 14 miles to the north is a bank which was robbed by Jesse James, and the bullet holes are still in the masonry (it is now a museum, after having served many long years as the Public Library....I have fond memories of roaming the shelves as a child, it was everything a library should be.. tall tall ceilings and book cases, smell of old books, an white haired little old lady librarian, sufficiently spooky, and a TON of Nancy Drew Books!!!)

[Road Scholar]

171. It sounds like a nice place to live.

[yellowdogintexas]

172. It is, but it is vewwy vewwy quiet there. My home town may

have 200 residents.
My whole county may have 11000 residents.

But my sister still lives there, and it is still home.

[Road Scholar]

173. I think homes in small towns are more comfortable. We live in

a small town too.

[Tyler Durden]

175. Frederick Freiske the impressionist painter lived here.

Just up the street and on the next block from me.

Unfortunately, also the boyhood home of Thomas Dewey.

[Conan_The_Barbarian]

176. Hometown of LL Bean

that's right... FREEPORT

[Road Scholar]

178. We went there a couple of years ago. Some of the nicest people in the

country.

[JitterbugPerfume]

177. It is a good place to be "from"

That is why decent, intelligent people left long ago

A more nosey , fundy , drug ridden place , you will never see.

[Drum]

180. Our bridge:

The Wheeling Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the East channel of the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia. It was the largest suspension bridge in the world from 1849 until the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge was opened in 1851. It was built by Charles Ellet Jr.,

In 1854, a strong windstorm collapsed the deck of the bridge, forcing Ellet to rebuild it. Although it has been rebuilt numerous times since then (once by Ellett's partner William McComas, and later by William Hildenbrand), the bridge remains in active service.

The bridge spans a distance of 1,010 feet (308 m) across the Ohio River so as to allow boats to pass underneath it. It remains the oldest vehicular suspension bridge in the USA that is still in use. The bridge is listed as a National Historic Landmark and a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
---Wikipedia

Fun fact:
In 1847, Charles Ellet, Jr. was selected over John Roebling to build a bridge linking Wheeling to Ohio. That same year, Ellet also won the bid to build the Niagara Suspension Bridge. Ironically, Ellet was fired from the latter project and Roebling was hired to complete it.

[Road Scholar]

181. Very cool! Since I'm a consulting Engineer and a General

Contractor and have built several bridges, your bridge is especially cool to me. Thanks for sharing.

[rhiannon55]

183. Basketball (the modern version, at least) was invented here

in Lawrence, Kansas by a guy named Naismith. Also, Quantrill's Raid happened here, which some people say started the Civil War.

[Road Scholar]

187. Very true. It was perfected in Chapel Hill NC though. LOL

[querelle]

184. I Was Born In Paris, France

Need I say more?

Q

[Road Scholar]

189. Nay, 'nuf said.

[Critters2]

185. "Hog Capital of the World"

Embarassing but true. Great parade, though.

[Road Scholar]

188. LOL. Are we talkin' Midwestern Hawgs or Southern Hawgs? LOL

[Critters2]

193. Midwestern hogs

though I doubt the place still deserves the title. It's in Illinois, and there are a lot more hogs (at least the 4-legged kind) in Iowa now. But that don't keep 'em from throwin' a helluva party every Labor Day!

[Road Scholar]

195. Contract Hog farming has gotten really big here in NC. The

contractors are spreading out all over the world. I think it's taking a toll on the environment though.

[Critters2]

196. NC is the negative example Iowa environmentalists cite all the time

"We don't want Iowa to become another North Carolina". They show pics of hogs floating in rivers after a hurricane there--not sure which one.

I think Iowa has more confinements, and thus more hogs, than NC now. It really is an unsavory business.

[Road Scholar]

197. I agree. Just a couple of contractors here making Billions.

Really screwing up the water here.

[Critters2]

200. The hog and chicken confinements in Iowa are why I stopped eating meat

I saw what they were doing to the environment, local economies, workers, and, of course, animals. Not to mention the corrupting influence of Big Hog on state politics.

I just don't need bacon that badly.

[Road Scholar]

201. Good for you!

[noonwitch]

186. Motown, the auto industry, music, murder capital, etc.

Of course, Detroit is my grown-up hometown.

I grew up in Grand Rapids, which is "furniture city". Because there are a lot of people of dutch descent, there is some really good chocolate there, too.

[Road Scholar]

192. Cool. MoTown especialy. Grew up on that. LOL

[redqueen]

190. The TV show, the football team, or their cheerleaders.

Gotta be one of those.

[Road Scholar]

191. Dallas!!

[billyskank]

198. I live there!!

[Road Scholar]

199. You do?????

[billyskank]

202. I think so

[Road Scholar]

203. No way!

[ronnykmarshall]

204. Home of the late and great Buck Owens.

And also Merle Haggard.

[japple]

205. Little Richard, Otis Redding, the Allman Brothers,

poet Sidney Lanier all came out of Macon, Georgia.

[Eagle_Eye]

206. The seventh largest town of its size