# How small a town did you grow up in? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 19, 2015, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-small-a-town-did-you-grow-up-in/731778 "2015-09-19T15:58:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Tinkertoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f19dbf/32.png) [@Tinkertoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinkertoy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-small-a-town-did-you-grow-up-in/731778/101 "2015-10-13T12:11:54Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Was there a GREEN light? If it was anything like the small town I was bussed to school in the answer would be no. Just one stop light that flashed red going one way and yellow the other way. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-small-a-town-did-you-grow-up-in/731778/102 "2015-10-13T14:26:52Z")
> [@Tinkertoy](#): > > If it was anything like the small town I was bussed to school in the answer would be no. Just one stop light that flashed red going one way and yellow the other way. Oh. ---
**Author:** ![TheSpeculationElucidation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@TheSpeculationElucidation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSpeculationElucidation)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-small-a-town-did-you-grow-up-in/731778/103 "2015-10-13T14:32:39Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > My home town was so small that… There was nothing down main street other than a post office, a laundromat, and a liquor store (where people could also buy milk and a few other necessities). Population just a little over 1,000 and spread out. The family moved to where we’re currently at when the silver mine shut down. I love it there. Everything moves slowly. Kids spend their time riding horses, exploring the mountains, or inner tubing down the creek. It’s pretty small here too. Main source of revenue is the lumber mill (which recently shut down…). The population has grown the past few years, but everyone in town pretty much still knows each other. Most of the local businesses are either bars or locally owned restaurants. There’s a Walmart and some chain fast-food here though. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-small-a-town-did-you-grow-up-in/731778/104 "2015-10-13T16:18:15Z")
Silver mine? You didn’t perchance see a Westerner with an Indian companion there from time to time, did you? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-small-a-town-did-you-grow-up-in/731778/105 "2015-10-13T16:59:55Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > This reminds me of a good friend from college. He insisted he was from a “suburb” of Chicago. It was a town with less than 2,000 but they got the Chicago TV stations and were covered by their weather radar so he was convinced that counted as a “suburb.” > > I just checked and it is 87 miles away according to Google Maps. > > I in no means am saying **Pai325** wasn’t in an actual suburb… just reminded me of another small town “suburb” of Chicago I had heard of. We were about twenty-five miles away, but it could have been a different world. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-small-a-town-did-you-grow-up-in/731778/106 "2015-10-13T20:55:44Z")
When the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour became popular, there was a write-up on it in \*People \* Magazine. According to the story Cher’s home town, El Centro, CA, is an “exurb.” Someone wrote in and asked, “Just what urb is El Centro an exurb of? Mexicali? Calexico? Brawley?” The editors answered “San Diego,” though they admitted it’s 85 miles away! ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-small-a-town-did-you-grow-up-in/731778/107 "2015-10-14T00:29:58Z")
Another Vermonter here. I lived in two different small town The smallest one had about 200 and one store. No stoplights, no gas station. And only party line telephones available I had to travel about 5 miles to go to a Junior High. We moved away after 8th grade, otherwise I would have had to travel about 20 miles to go to the closest high school (I had a choice of three High schools). Its been 40 years since I moved away, don’t think much has changed. (except for the Party Line Telephones 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![Jackassfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jackassfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackassfan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-small-a-town-did-you-grow-up-in/731778/108 "2015-10-15T03:26:02Z")
Hi all, I grew up and still live in the town of Greenhithe,Auckland,New Zealand with a population of 8,421 people as of the 2013 census. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-small-a-town-did-you-grow-up-in/731778/109 "2015-10-20T03:07:20Z")
I grew up in Gander, Newfoundland during the Fifties. Lots of airplanes (it was the main refueling stop for the trans-Atlantic flights) but only about 5,000 people. It’s now about 11,000. According to fellow Gander boy [Buddy Wasisname](http://buddywasisname.com/), > [@](#): > > Now you thinks Gander is right small,eh, but we got, we got the Airport Boulevard. Now we got that name from the French didn’t we eh? There it is old man, lordy jumpins must be a mile and a half long, or two miles or something, three miles long. Eh – Boulevard. Almost four lanes, two coming two going, almost all the way. If you keeps your wheels up on the sidewalk, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-small-a-town-did-you-grow-up-in/731778/110 "2015-10-20T03:25:06Z")
I was born and lived until age 8 in the largest city in the world (Tokyo). I had to take a bus, a subway, and a train each way to get to school. So I guess I don’t win. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-small-a-town-did-you-grow-up-in/731778.md?page=5)