What's Your Town's Claim to Fame?

In 1960 the Perry Como TV show and Kraft Foods company sponsored a contest awarding a Little League ballpark to the town that sold the most Kraft Caramels.

My hometown, which had a population of maybe 4,000 at the time, sold over 50,000 bags of caramels and won the park (Caramel Park, of course). I think Cedar Falls, IA (forgive me if that's not the correct name, I doing this from memory), a decent-sized small city (60,000 people?) was second with something like 40,000 bags.

The ballpark is still there and no one who was alive then has any teeth left (kidding).
 
Birthplace of Judy Garland. Yes, we have a "yellow brick road" downtown. And a Judy Garland museum and annual festival. Hey, here's a claim to fame -- we're the location from where a pair of the original "ruby slippers" was stolen a few years ago! Anybody know where they're at, now?!!
 
Frank Baum, who wrote the Wizard of Oz, got the Dortohy character from a child buried here. We are also the home of State Farm and BeerNuts. College avenue is one of maybe only 2 streets in the world that has a college at each end.
 
my hometown (Watkinsville GA) was slated in 1790 or so to be the home of the University of Georgia, until someone remembered there was a tavern in town, that no doubt served liquor and allowed women of ill repute a place to rest....
SOOOOO, UGA was moved 8 miles up the road to Athens....and of course, somehow all these college kids got their hands on some liquor anyway....
Interesting fact, we still have the tavern (Eagle Tavern) and now our county does not serve liquor...Athens has UGA and you can't throw a dead cat downtown without hittin' 3 or 4 bars......

Times have changed....
 
My old hometown of Gary, Indiana used to have the highest per capita murder rate in the US. I don't know who claims that desirable title now.
 
Well, I'm from Chicago so it would have to be a claim to infamy.

However, I went to college in Fulton, Missouri:

Only town to ever secede from the Union and declare itself a kingdom - Fulton was pro-Confederacy, but was afraid to "officially" secede for fear of attracting unwanted attention. Instead, they declared themselves a "kingdom", naming a county official (I forget which one) as "king". They even had a flag with crowns on it. Unfortunately for them, the German immigrants in Hermann, the winery town north of them, didn't see the humor in the matter. They donned their blue uniforms, goosestepped down to Fulton and reinducted the town back into the Union. Thereafter, Fulton had a German speaking army of occupation until the end of the Civil War.

Setting of the true story which inspired the book and film, "King's Row" - A doctor's daughter fell in love with a poor kid of whom the doctor did not approve. To short circuit the romance, after the boy was in an accident, the doctor unnecessarily amputated his legs. Cut to Ronald Reagan crying, "Where's the rest of me???!!!" Due to the influence of the doctor's family, neither the book nor the film were available in Fulton until 1980.

Location where Winston Churchill gave his "iron curtain" speech - Truman was looking around for a place to host Churchill. Someone said, "I know this nice little college in Fulton..."

Location of an original Christopher Wren church - An original Christopher Wren church was, at the behest of Lord Mountbatten, brought over in pieces from Britain. It was reassembled to be the Westminster College chapel. In the basement is a memorial and museum to Winston Churchill.
 
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one of the earliest colonial settelments (1607) a huge amount of civil war history...one time home to dupont gunpowder plant and one time known as the chemical capital of the south
 
I live in the only town named Kinmundy in the nation. I work in Salem, birthplace of William Jennings Bryan, The GI bill of rights and Miracle Whip.
 
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First successful use of "hot blast" process in the manufacture of iron in the United States, 1830's.

Also early success using anthricite coal in the same process.

The colonial Iron furnace was said to have supplied General Washington's troops with cannon shot while he was at Morristown and Jockey Hollow.

Benidict Arnold's wife, Peggy Shippen, resided in the town for a while.

The Scranton family prospered for a time in our iron industry and then moved some operations to Slocum Hollow, Pa. ( later named Scranton after the family ).

Civil War General Robert McAllister went to war from town.

Thomas Edison's quarry operations are located within the town.

Not a bad list for a little wide spot in the road in NW NJ named Oxford.

LTC
 
Raleigh, NC, where Barney goes to party. He always takes a corner room at the YMCA downtown. It's the state capitol and there are five accredited, degree granting institutions of higher learning inside the city limits.

Russ
 
I currently reside in Jacksonville, Tx which used to be the largest tomato shipping town in the USA.

I grew up in Monroe-W.Monroe, La, gas pipeline capital of the country. At one time there was a sign proclaiming that more gas lines came through there than anyplace in the world.
 
Floyd and Patrick County Virginia....
Floydfest (multi genre music festival), The Crooked Road (bluegrass music trail), Floyd Country Store (bluegrass music on Friday Night Jamboree), The Blue Ridge Parkway - Mabry Mill and Buffalo Mountain.
 
Gay bars, transexuals, cross-dressing, bondage, alcoholism, drug abuse, and hyper inflated egos coupled with an extreme sense of entitlement.
 
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My current residence - Aiken, SC - horse country and home of the largest municipal park in the USA, Hitchcock Woods (and full of riding trails).

My adopted hometown - Granville, OH - the first entire village in the National Register of Historic Places, and arguably the prettiest small town in Ohio. (I believe that it was John Malkovich who said that being a Midwesterner is a terminal condition)

My original hometown - Nashville, TN - in addition to all the stuff you already know, at one time it had more churches per capita and millionaires per capita than anywhere else in the country (which may or may not be correlated). It also has 13 degree-granting colleges and universities - the "Athens of the South".


Buck
 
The little town near me has to be the winner.
 

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Louisville, Kentucky...

  • Home of Hillerich and Bradsby - The Louisville Slugger baseball bat.
  • Churchill Downs and The Kentucky Derby
  • The Kentucky Oaks (for fillies)
  • Farmington - Home of Joshua Speed
  • Springfield - Home of Zachary Taylor
  • University of Louisville - Go Cards!
  • Louisville Male High School - Oldest high school west of Alleghany Mts.

And last, but not least - me! :D :D :D :D
 
Olympia Washington

Rain and more rain. The news reports partly cloudy with mist turning to sprinkles, changing to light rain showers with possible hail storms with intermittent stoppage before it starts to really dump. Average rainy days a year 162. Average rain fall per year 50.75 inches.
 
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