# Most interesting thing about your hometown **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 6, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719 "2010-11-06T18:25:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/81 "2010-11-10T07:18:15Z")
> [@moldrites](#): > > Harvey Ball created the Smiley face in my hometown. Hmm. I’d have to say that the most interesting thing about the city is the completely inappropriately suggestive statue that looks like a naked boy sodomizing a turtle. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/82 "2010-11-10T07:32:22Z")
> [@Waterman](#): > > The town that I currently live in was purchased, lock, stock and barrel by the United States Government in 1942 and remained the property of the US until 1958 when the land (and structures) were sold to private ownership. Neither the original owners nor their descendants were given any priority in buying the property back. So this is [Richland, Washington](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richland,_Washington), a town annexed as part of the Manhattan Project? ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/83 "2010-11-10T09:53:21Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Some of you, especially UK, NZ, or AU folks, may have been [Plunket Babies](http://www.plunket.org.nz/), or were looked after by [Karitane Nurses](http://www.blissfulbabies.co.nz/nurse.html#nurse). Well, [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karitane) is where I grew up, and it’s where Sir Truby King started the Plunket movement. > > Also of minor note, Gwyneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig filmed part of [a movie they were in](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_%282003_film%29) there. What I consider to be my home town was the official landing point and first settlement of the British for the South Island. It was also settled some time after the North Island and was but a day or so from being French. My house also used to overlook the site of one of Te Rauparaha’s famous battles ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/84 "2010-11-10T10:05:56Z")
My current hometown is [Corowa,](http://www.murrayriver.com.au/corowa/) which is hailed as the town where the Federation of Australia first came to pass. I reckon it was because of the sibling rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne, and Corowa being sorta half-way between, well, we got the glory…ever so briefly. 😛 The only reminder nowadays is a Museum and a whole lot of streets named after the political process. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/85 "2010-11-10T10:28:04Z")
William Holden was born here. Also, Mayfest was permanently canceled recently because of drunken fighting. Classy. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/86 "2010-11-10T15:26:27Z")
My hometown boasts an underground city used by half a million people a day and is the cultural capital of Canada. It is also the second largest French speaking city in the world and has the largest inland port in the world. Our hockey team has won the Stanley Cup a record 24 times and was one of the original six teams to form the NHL. Aside from notables such as Leonard Cohen, William Shatner and Guy LaFleur, Sid and Marty Krofft are also from Montreal. But then we also have to claim Celine Dion. On a side note, I was born on the last day of the 1976 Summer Olympics. My mother’s hospital room overlooked the Olympic Village. When I was young, my grandparents would regularly take me to visit Brother Andre’s heart, which I didn’t quite realize how morbid it was until I was much older… ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/87 "2010-11-10T16:32:38Z")
My hometown was the home of Mattie Ross in _True Grit_, John Daly, the golfer, and James Lee Witt (Clinton’s FEMA Director). ---
**Author:** ![Notchimine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bcef8e/32.png) [@Notchimine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Notchimine)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/88 "2010-11-10T17:28:57Z")
In May 1910 the first all-American monoplane was designed, built, and successfully flown in my home town by brothers Arthur and Albert Heinrich. ---
**Author:** ![carimwc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ac8455/32.png) [@carimwc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carimwc)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/89 "2010-11-10T20:04:35Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Wrentham, Massachusetts is the former home of Helen Keller and Horace Mann. It also used to be a lake resort town for wealthy Bostonians and was a leading manufacturer of straw hats during the industrial revolution. It’s also one of the oldest towns in America, having been incorporated in 1673. Actually, Horace Mann is from Franklin, MA, my hometown. (Spencer Pond to be exact.) Parts of Wrentham used to be in Franklin, and the Helen Keller/Annie Sullivan house was once part of Franklin but is now just over the border in Wrentham. Franklin is also home to the first public library, started by a donation from Benjamin Franklin. The town asked for a bell but good ol’ Ben gave them books instead. We used to be home to the oldest, continuously running, one-room schoolhouse in the nation, the Red Brick School, but it closed a few years ago due to budget cuts. I went to kindergarten there. ---
**Author:** ![Saratoga\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Saratoga\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saratoga_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/90 "2010-11-10T23:01:46Z")
My hometown was the film location for the movie _Invasion of the Body Snatchers_ (1956). Last time I visited seemed like there were still a lot of pod people around… ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/91 "2010-11-10T23:12:04Z")
“The hills are alive…” ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/92 "2010-11-10T23:57:29Z")
The first [all-electronic digital computer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atanasoff-Berry_Computer) was invented here in 1939. A secret [laboratory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ames_process) here refined 1,100 tons of uranium for the Manhattan Project. [Gasohol](http://www.ameshistoricalsociety.org/exhibits/tribune/08/wf_0847.htm) was first sold here in 1932. We were a stop on the [Great New York-Paris Road Race](http://www.ameshistoricalsociety.org/exhibits/tribune/08/wf_0812.htm) of 1908. The woman who [taught Amelia Earhart to fly](http://www.ameshistoricalsociety.org/exhibits/tribune/07/wf_0751.htm) was from here, and reconditioned her own plane in her backyard on Wilson Ave. [Peter Schickele](http://pdqbach.com/), composer and interpreter of P.D.Q. Bach, was born here. In 1975 we built the US’ first municipal [resource recovery](http://www.cityofames.org/worksweb/resourcerecovery/default.htm) plant. ---
**Author:** ![Waterman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Waterman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waterman)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/93 "2010-11-11T20:30:49Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > So this is [Richland, Washington](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richland,_Washington), a town annexed as part of the Manhattan Project? That’s the one. A coworker, whose family was displaced by the government buyout, remembers that the government essentially made Richland perhaps the first gated community by erecting fencing and guard stations to control access in and out of the City. The government did allow private enterprises to operate stores, etc within the City limits, but residents were all workers at Handford. Housing structures in the City were designated by letters (such as “A”, “B”, etc houses) and many of them are still in use within the original City boundary. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/94 "2010-11-11T21:49:10Z")
> [@Minnie\_Luna](#): > > But then we also have to claim Celine Dion. Forget it – she was born in Charlemagne, which isn’t even on the island. > [@](#): > > When I was young, my grandparents would regularly take me to visit Brother Andre’s heart, which I didn’t quite realize how morbid it was until I was much older… o/~ Just like Frère André, I know my heart will always stay Here in Montreal… o/~ ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/95 "2010-11-11T22:04:17Z")
Final defeat of Charles II by Oliver Cromwell before abolition of the English Monarchy. Worcester Sauce. (Pronounced “Wooster”) ---
**Author:** ![Intolt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ec9cab/32.png) [@Intolt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intolt)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/96 "2010-11-11T23:41:03Z")
[Centralia Massacre](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia_Massacre_(Washington)) ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/97 "2010-11-11T23:48:27Z")
> [@Shade](#): > > Final defeat of Charles II by Oliver Cromwell before abolition of the English Monarchy. > > Worcester Sauce. > > (Pronounced “Wooster”) Your hometown and my hometown are sister cities. Actually, I think yours is more like a parent than a sister since it’s waaaaay older than my Worcester. Worcester Sauce - yum. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/98 "2010-11-12T00:04:45Z")
My true hometown is also the hometown of [Geert Wilders](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geert_Wilders). :(:rolleyes::mad: My current town fares much better: - World’s oldest anatomical theatre; - Galileo Galileo lived here and taught at the university. ---
**Author:** ![Chopper9760](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/99 "2010-11-12T00:19:50Z")
We had operational whorehouses until 1992. They were illegal but locally accepted until a couple of FBI raids finally drove them out. When my parents were growing up, 70’s/80’s, the bordellos sponsored kids’ sports teams and one madame actually bought the Sheriff’s Office a new police cruiser. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719/100 "2010-11-12T19:11:55Z")
It’s called The City of Hays in order to 1) differentiate it from the county in which it is incorporated (Hays County, Texas) and 2) differentiate it from a defunct unincorporated community well removed from it spatially (but still within Hays County) knows as Hays City. I suppose they might have more easily named it something different, but the residents of the Country Estates subdivision from which it was created in the 70’s were long on ambition but short on imagination. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-thing-about-your-hometown/559719.md?page=6)