What is one random at least semi interesting fact you know about your hometown?
Asked by
ucme (
50047
)
August 18th, 2010
There’s got to be one hasn’t there? Well let’s hear it then, i’m all ears….bit like Dumbo ;¬}
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42 Answers
Carpets used to be made there, but not any more and the factory is now derelict.
My hometown is the birthplace of Dale Earnhardt Sr. I grew up not far from him and my brother still lives close to his mother.
Proud to be raised in Kannapolis,NC
Arnold Palmer is from there!
The Craigslist killer grew up here. He went to my high school.
We’re something of a mecca for MMA training.
Route 66 crosses itself in the middle of downtown, because the route was changed in 1936 or so.
Doogie Howser went to high school here.
This would be Albuquerque.
The deceased members of our Royals are buried in our church.
Vermeer was born here.
Delftware is manufactured in…, yes, Delft.
George Washingtons grandmother is buried there.
Chris Brown is from my town – I used to go to daycare with him.
the being from my town part was once a good thing, I guess, but not so much anymore.
It’s the birthplace of Woodrow Wilson (28th US President) and home town of The Statler Brothers (country music vocal group).
I’ve heard that the 45th parallel runs through my town…I think…
It was a shipbuilding town….yawn
Portland used to be known as the “Forbidden City” because of its sketchy Port Town past. It was completely notorious. People were kidnapped and sold to captains of ships (and other things) who were forced into labor for no pay. The city has a series of underground tunnels and trapdoors which were generally used on drunken men. It’s one of the most interesting things about this city and barely anyone knows anything about it.
For more info, see this site: http://www.shanghaitunnels.info/
My hometown was attacked by a Japanese sub during World War 2.
link
My hometown, Alexandria, VA, was established in 1749, but had been a fishing camp for Native Americans since at least 8000 B.C.
This place was apparently a ghost town about ten years ago, when there were no jobs left and the only people who didn’t leave to look for work elsewhere were folks on Welfare. So you’d walk downtown and half the stores were boarded over and all.
It picked up again though, and it’s doing pretty good as of now. Wasn’t here back then though.
Clark Gable lived there briefly in 1926. Country singer Kathy Matea graduated from the same high school, the same year as I did. The town was named Nitro, after being developed as an amunition plant during WWI.
Radar from MASH grew up real close.
The San Mateo-Hayward Bridge is the longest bridge in the San Francisco Bay Area and the 25th-longest bridge in the world. When the BIG EARTHQUAKE comes, I will be driving across that bridge as it collapses and falls into the bay.
@DrasticDreamer said about Portland: ”The city has a series of underground tunnels and trapdoors which were generally used on drunken men.”
I suspect many of the tunnels and trapdoors are still in operation, designed to dump their victims into Powell’s City of Books, and they never get out voluntarily.
My town is the vice capital of Connecticut. There is the legal limit of liquor stores here and, last I heard, people were trying to get the legislation changed to allow more liquor stores. We also have more adult shops than any other town in Connecticut. :)
Our town was a question on Jeopardy…the answer was….“This midwestern town is the pickle capital of the world”!
Chiang Kai-shek once owned lake front property there.
Separation Day is held each year (in New Castle) on the second Saturday in June to celebrate Delaware’s “separation” from England and Pennsylvania and the formation of the State of Delaware. It’s a whole day of food and celebration that starts with a parade and ends with fireworks every year.
When I was in primary school, I went to City Hall and held a conversation with a lovely elderly woman who was in charge of the historical archives. She told me that it hadn’t snowed in our town since the early 1920s. Considering we are in Southern California, I was astonished at the thought of the streets being covered in snow. Also, where my house is used to be an orange grove.
Those not interested so much in little historical facts… um, they filmed a scene from Halloween H20: 20 Years Later here.
Marquette Heights is home to Spook Hollow, one of central Illinois’ longest running annual haunted attractions. Started in 1979 as a one night walk through the woods, Spook Hollow now spans four days with both indoor and outdoor attractions.
We’ve also been a Tree City USA for 16 years now.
That’s all I’ve got. :/
Oh and then there’s this little village (It’s kinda the town that time forgot, as my mom says) that’s technically part of my town. Richard Widmark (whoever he is) apparently was born there, when it was a real town. There’s a plaque dedicated to him. It’s apparently a park, but all it is is a plaque and trees. Not even a parking space or a picnic table. Ultimate “educational stay-cation” that a teenager would whine about on Facebook. No, I’ve never been subjected that myself.
“Edward Scissorhands” was filmed just around the corner. Some of the houses are still painted all those funky colours.
We’re still the Lightning Capital of the World, and also have the Guinness World Record for the most days of sunshine in a year. (figure that out).
My town, Alexandria, VA is the same as @marinelife. Awesome!
Although I don’t live in a definite town or city (I live in between). I live more south than Alexandria and I live 2 minutes from Mount Vernon Plantation and live on what used to be George Washington’s land. I also live about 10 mins. from Gunston Hall, George Mason’s home.
Montreal, the Paris of North America, is situated on an extinct volcano.
We have the oldest wooden covered bridge in North America.
Cheers folks, that was…....semi interesting to say the least ;¬}
My town is riddled with underground tunnels which were used as air raid shelters during WW2, it’s famous for it’s (now disappeared) hat industry, and the River Mersey begins here, where its two tributaries meet.
Woww. I love how I got skipped with the love.
xD
I’m not complaining, I just thought it was funny.
It is peculiar, yes.
Maybe it Chris Brown’s fault.
Here, have some.
@rebbel when I visited the Netherlands I stayed in Delft. It’s such a lovely town.
Also it was invaded by the US navy during the American war of independence.
The whole town was moved from the river to a hilltop after a major fire destroyed most of the buildings.
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