I don’t just mean famous people in or from your area. I mean the people with legacies, living or dead- the ones who end up getting (or at least deserving) streets and buildings named after them, and things like that. Or perhaps political dynasties… you probably get the idea.
Here are some for Dayton, Ohio (I’m sure I’m forgetting some):
Wright: As in “Wright Brothers.” Their name is all over the place. Patterson: A family in Dayton since its early settlement, but most notable is John H. Patterson, who founded (kinda) the National Cash Register Comany, today just known as NCR. NCR has been a Big Deal™ in Dayton for a long time. He also helped with rebuilding after the 1913 flood here, and some other things. Some streets and probably other things are named after him. Along with the Wright brothers, another Patterson’s name is in Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Kettering: Charles F. (inventor of the self-starting ignition, among some other accomplishments) and his daugher-in-law Virginia (a local philanthropist). Dayton’s largest suburb is named after Charles; its tallest building is name after Virginia (I think). Dunbar: Poet Paul Lawrence… his legacy is probably a bit less visible than the others, but it’s there.
Oh, and probably all those people have schools named for them.
Councillor and Industrialist Graves, A university building, art gallery and park
The Duke of Norfolk/Earl of Arundel (either the same person or generations of fathers and sons) used to own swathes of Sheffield, another park and several roads.
Firth, steel magnate, university buildings, a park.
Btw Sheffield is known for its numerous parks, most of them land donated by councillor Graves.
Charles P. Steinmetz (a pioneer in electrical engineering) – Steinmetz Homes (housing), Steinmetz Middle School
Thomas A. Edison (his only contribution was setting up the General Electric Company here)
Lawrence (Indian who helped settlers after the Schenectady Massacre in the French and Indian War) – the only Schenectadian to have a statue in the city.
Pat Riley (our one major sports figure – NBA coach)
Joseph Yates (governor of New York, originally from Schenectady) – Yates Street, Yates Village (housing)
Eliphilet Nott (president of Union College) – two streets (Nott Street and Nott Terrace) and a building on campus
John Sayles (filmmaker) – a creative arts magnet school was recently named after him.
There is a section of my town where all the streets are named after the players on the New York Giants football team from some year in (I think) the '60s. Frank Gifford would probably be surprised to know there’s a nondescript suburban street with his name on it. I bet most people who live there now have no idea where the names came from.
Crusty old British Governors from the colonial era, and
Explorers from the same era
So take Governor Darling for example. In Sydney, we have Darling Harbour, a suburb called Darlinghurst, another one called Darling Point, another called Darlington, and there are several Darling Streets. Governor Lachlan Macquarie also features largely with his surname on everything from a university to several suburbs to one of the city’s main streets, and his given name on a major river and a few other things.
Explorers / sailors like Bass, Flinders, Hume etc feature highly with streets, universities, and natural features named after them. However, Australians being what we are tend not to name things after the living (we’d not want 'em to get a big head!).
Also the considerably better Walter Cronkite (born in MO, but raised in Houston).
I can’t think of anything named after either of them.
Also Jesse H. Jones. All-round rich guy who headed FDR’s RFC and Commerce Dept., and spearheaded the building of the Houston Ship Channel. He’s probably the person most responsible for Houston being a major city.
And, William P. Hobby. He was a publisher (Houston Post, now defunct) and governor of Texas. Might have more stuff named after him than Jones, if that’s possible.
The most recognizable names would be John Wesley (founder of Methodism) and Frances “No drinky for you!” Willard. Also noteworthy is Orrington Lunt. One of the major streets in this town is not Lunt, but Orrington, perhaps because someone realized that Lunt just sounds bad. Northwestern, on the other hand, does have a Lunt math building. Someday I expect to walk by and see that some poor math student has gone nuts and made the name into an obscenity with a chisel.
Songwriter Dennis Morgan grew up here. He wrote “Smoky Mountain Rain” (Ronnie Milsap), “I Knew You Were Waiting” (Aretha Franklin and George Michael), “My Heart Can’t Tell You No” (Rod Stewart) and many other top-10 hits (mostly country). He was recently inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Association International hall of fame. Not too bad for a town of 2,300 people.
There is a Morgan St. here, but I’m not 100% positive it was named after him.
Here in Springfield, Illinois, everything is named after Abraham Lincoln. Which causes a bit of confusion occasionally, as when tourists and newcomers confuse the Lincoln Library (which has for years been the name of Springfield’s public library) and the newly opened Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. (Not to mention that the town of Lincoln, Illinois, not too far away, has its own public library).
Coming in a distant second as a Famous Springfieldian is the poet Vachel Lindsay.
I live just outside Washington DC in a town called Centreville. In this area, everything is named Sully. There’s Sully Road, Sully District, Sully’s restaurant, the famous Sully Plantation, lots of streets with Sully in them (Sullyfield Circle, Sully Park Drive). I can’t seem to find who this Sully person is for the life of me. It seems to have originated with the naming of the plantation but I can’t find the origin for the name.
Rupp: Adolph, of course. Former UK basketball coach (deceased.) Rupp Arena is named for him.
Young: William T. Owned the Planters peanut company for a while. Donated the money for the William T. Young Library on campus. Also had a street named in his honor downtown (I think E. Vine is “W.T. Young Way” or something.) Think there’s also a building or two on Transylvania University’s campus named for him.
Outside of that, the big names in town are just former UK players who still live here (or at least do business here, like Jamal Mashburn and Nazr Mohammed.)
There are several in San Diego, but the one that comes to mind is Scripps. You can’t throw a brick around here without hitting a Scripps something-or-other.
Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, writer/director for Designing Women, Evening Shade and, er, Emeril!. Yeah, Emeril Lagasse’s sitcom.
Scott Innes: Current voice of Scooby-Doo, Shaggy and, er, Scrappy.
Local Bigwigs:
Joe and Slug Hefner: Father-son owners of Hefner’s Fine Furniture, amongst other things. No relation to Hugh Hefner. Slug has a drag boat that gets raced during the annual drag boat races on Lake Wappapello.
Steve Wisdom: Owner of Showe-Time Video, a local video chain. I remember when The Wizard came out and excitement over Super Mario Bros. 3 was at a fever pitch. Steve actually imported some copies of SMB3, put them in converter carts, and put them out for rental. This is the only time I’ve seen imports for rent. Unfortunately, the last time I was in PBMO, Showe-Time was replaced by Video Replay. Seems like the old man’s retired.