# What's the coolest historical thing about your hometown or where you live now?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-historical-thing-about-your-hometown-or-where-you-live-now/123438>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 11, 2002, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-historical-thing-about-your-hometown-or-where-you-live-now/123438 "2002-08-11T22:44:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-historical-thing-about-your-hometown-or-where-you-live-now/123438/101 "2002-08-19T16:12:49Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Duckster \*  
> \*\*
> 
> Get out much, **jk1245**? 🙂
> 
> Madison, Wisconsin -
> 
> - Named after James Madison, Fourth President of the US. At the time the major downtown streets are named after all 39 signers of the Constitution. No other location in the world can make this claim.
> 
> - Study home to John Muir, considered the founder of the world-wide conservation movement. Muir credits the University of Wisconsin, and a particular professor for his inspiration.
> 
> - Lake Mendota, the most researched lake in the world.
> 
> - Home of the Forest Products Laboratory, the only lab of its kind in the world.
> 
> - Aldo Leopold, one of the founders of the Wilderness Society, taught at UW-Madison.
> 
> - Vitamin D discovered in Madison.
> 
> There are others but they escape me for the moment.
> 
> Oh, yeah. The 32nd anniversary of the Sterling Hall Bombing is August 24. \*\*

Oh, those. Well I assumed everyone just _knew_ all that.

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**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-historical-thing-about-your-hometown-or-where-you-live-now/123438/102 "2002-08-19T17:03:48Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by techchick68 \*\*\*In addition, Charles Shultz lived here in C Springs for a while. \*\*

Charles Schults grew up near where I live now. My dad used to get his hair cut by Charles dad, the barber shop is about a mile from my house, and many of the bridges that Charlie threw the candy off of were modeled after ones near my house.

Ma Barker and Dillenger, at al. hid from the law a few miles away from where I grew up. A crabby old lady lives there now.

The guy who invented post-its lived down the street from me.

Saint Paul narrowly escaped the city name “pig’s eye”

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**Author:** ![racekarl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6bbea6/32.png) [@racekarl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racekarl)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-historical-thing-about-your-hometown-or-where-you-live-now/123438/103 "2002-08-19T22:31:30Z")

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Kinsey, you should get out more often!

First you flub the Wallace thing, but that’s sort of obscure… 😉

But I can’t believe you claimed Baltimore has the USS Constituion and no one called you on it! 😕

The USS Constitution is safely moored in Charlestown, MA (aka Boston), where it has been for quite some time.

[http://www.ussconstitution.navy.mil/](http://www.ussconstitution.navy.mil/)

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**Author:** ![racekarl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6bbea6/32.png) [@racekarl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racekarl)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coolest-historical-thing-about-your-hometown-or-where-you-live-now/123438/104 "2002-08-19T22:38:52Z")

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Arlington, MA was originally named Menotomy

It was the site of the fiercest fighting during the Battle of Lexington and Concord. (At a place called “The foot of the rocks” or something like that). Paul Revere had ridden through town the night before along the same road.

It was renamed Arlington after the national cemetary to honor the dead of the Civil war (circa. 1867 I think)

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