The (Fill in Here) City

Posted February 2nd, 2011 at 3:36 pm (UTC-4)
2 comments

After today I will, I think, have the “nickname thing” out of my system. I’ve told you about various state nicknames, such as “The Buckeye State” (Ohio) and “The Volunteer State” (Tennessee). And about the exuberant, often animal-related nicknames that colleges and universities have attached to their sports teams, such as “Wolverines” (University of Michigan) and “Banana Slugs” (University of California, Santa Cruz).

You’d never guess in a million years that this is a billiken. (St. Louis University)

You’d never guess in a million years that this is a billiken. (St. Louis University)

An interesting one that I overlooked is “Billikens,” the nickname of the teams from St. Louis University. I kind of thought that a “billiken” might be a takeoff on pelican ─ a bird with a prominent, low-hanging bill. Turns out, a billiken was an early 20th-Century collectible statue or charm doll, sometimes turned into a penny bank, that looked like a cross between a chubby baby and a “laughing Buddha” figurine.  Exactly how this became SLU’s mascot is too tortuous a story for now.

Having already devoted an entire posting to “America’s Icebox” ─ which the city of International Falls, Minnesota, proudly calls itself ─ I want to polish off my nickname splurge with a listing of unusual nicknames and slogans given to other U.S. towns and cities ─ including a few unflattering ones most certainly created without the communities’ blessing.

Also called the “Crescent City” for a big bend where the Mississippi River flows through town, N’awlins, as I like to call it, is the “Big Easy,” too, for sure.  (Carol M. Highsmith)

Also called the “Crescent City” for a big bend where the Mississippi River flows through town, N’awlins, as I like to call it, is the “Big Easy,” too, for sure. (Carol M. Highsmith)

Some civic nicknames are legendary. New York is “The Big Apple,” a term first applied to the city by horseracing enthusiasts and jazz musicians. Las Vegas, Nevada, is “Sin City,” whether it likes it or not. (These days, it does. Other times it likes to think of itself as family-friendly.)  New Orleans ─ and I can attest to this after five easygoing years there ─ is “The Big Easy.” Other familiar and apt ones: Pittsburgh: “The Steel City”; Detroit: “The Motor City”; Chicago: “The Windy City”; and Honolulu: “The Big Pineapple!”

Here are lots more that may tickle your fancy. I made up categories for them:

 Something to be Proud Of, All Right

• “Clam Town” ─ Cordova, Alaska

• “Crossroads of Rhode Island” ─ Warwick, Rhode Island

• “Geographic Center of Connecticut” ─ Berlin, Connecticut

• “Hanging Basket Capital of the World” ─ Anchorage, Alaska

• “Hubcap Capital of the World” ─ Pearsonville, California

 

 Well Isn’t That Special, Too!

• “Brick Capital of the World” ─ Malvern, Arkansas

• “The Carpet Capital of the World” ─ Dalton, Georgia

• “The City of Bright Tomorrows” ─ Eustis, Florida

• “City of Youth and Ambition” ─ Fallbrook, California

• “City With a Future” (and it’s a good thing) ─ Lansing, Kansas

• “The Golden Heart City” ─ Fairbanks, Alaska

• “Home of the Catfish Stomp” ─ Elgin, South Carolina

•“Hummingbird Capital of the United States” ─ Sierra Vista, Arizona

• “A Moral Seaside Resort” (assuredly NOT an “Amoral” one) ─ Ocean City, New Jersey 

• “Underwear Capital of the World” ─ Knoxville, Tennessee

• “Prune Capital of the World” ─ Yuba City, California

I can see why the garlic ice cream would be free at Gilroy, California’s, annual Garlic Festival.  Would YOU pay for a scoop? (besighyawn, Flickr Creative Commons)

I can see why the garlic ice cream would be free at Gilroy, California’s, annual Garlic Festival. Would YOU pay for a scoop? (besighyawn, Flickr Creative Commons)

The “Golden State” is also home to many other fruit-and-veggie “world capitals,” including Lima Bean (Oxnard), Horseradish** (Tulelake), Artichoke (Castroville), Almond (Chico), Olive (Corning), Garlic (Gilroy), Carrot (Holtville), Cherry (Linden), Tokay Grape (Lodi), Flower Seed (Lompoc), Blackberry (McCloud), and Strawberry (Watsonville). **Collinsville, Illinois, also calls itself the “Horseradish Capital of the World.”  Someone with a cast-iron stomach should pick a winner.

Doubt You Have Any Competitors

“America’s Canary City” ─ Aspen, Colorado

• “Barbecued Mutton Capital of the World” ─ Owensboro, Kentucky

• “The City Built Inside a Meteor Crater” ─ Middlesboro, Kentucky

• “Christmas Pickle Capital of the World” ─ Berrien Springs, Michigan

• “Covered Dish Capital of the World” ─ Windom, Kansas 

• “Crutch Capital of the World” ─ Rumney, New Hampshire

• “Dandelion Capital of the World” ─ Vineland, New Jersey

• “The Dog-mushing Center of the World” ─ Knik, Alaska

• “Earmuff Capital of the World” ─ Farmington, Maine

 • “Ferret Capital of the World” ─ Meeteetse, Wyoming

 • “Flourescent Mineral Capital of the World” ─ Franklin, New Jersey

• “Hothouse Rhubarb Capital of the World” ─ Utica, Michigan

• “Mule Packer Capital of the World” ─ Bishop, California

• “The Onion-Fried Burger Capital of the World” ─ El Reno, Oklahoma

• “The Speckled Perch Capital of the World” ─ Okeechobee, Florida

• “The Whip City” ─ Westfield, Massachusetts

• “The Wild Hog Capital of Georgia” ─ Abbeville, Georgia

 

 Gotta Hand it to You; These are Catchy

New Tombstone looks an awful like the Old Tombstone.  (J. Stephen Conn, Flickr Creative Commons)

New Tombstone looks an awful like the Old Tombstone. (J. Stephen Conn, Flickr Creative Commons)

 • “A²” ─ Ann Arbor, Michigan

 • “The Aliens Aren’t the Only Reason to Visit” ─ Roswell, New Mexico

• “Best Little City by a Dam Site” ─ Marseilles, Illinois

• “Czech Us Out” ─ Jennings, Kansas (It’s a town settled by Czechoslovakian farmers in 1888.)

• “The Big Friendly” ─ Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

• “Everything’s Better in Metter!” ─ Metter, Georgia

• “The Garden of Eaton” ─ Eaton, Colorado

• “Good People Surrounded by Badlands” ─ Glendive, Montana

• “Hard-Hittin’ New Britain” ─ New Britain, Connecticut

• “The Napa Valley of Beer”─ Fort Collins, Colorado

• “Rare. Well Done” ─ Omaha, Nebraska

• “The Town Too Tough to Die” ─ Tombstone, Arizona

• “Where History Never Gets Old” ─ Fredericksburg, Virginia

• “Where the ‘Odds’ are With You” ─ Peculiar, Missouri

• “Where Your Ship Comes In” ─ Gulfport, Mississippi

 

Not Exactly Grabbers

• “The Athens of Florida” ─ DeLand, Florida

• “The Beer Tent Capital of the World” ─ Muskegon, Michigan

• “Catfish Capital of the North” ─ Drayton, North Dakota

• “Cherry Pit-Spitting Capital of the World” ─ Eau Claire, Michigan

• “City of Paved Streets” ─ Winnemucca, Nevada

• “The City of Churches” ─ Jonesboro, Arkansas

• “Corn Cob Pipe Capital of the World” ─ Washington, Missouri

• “Cow Chip Capital of the World” ─ Beaver, Oklahoma

• “Cows, Colleges, and Contentment” ─ Northfield, Minnesota

• “Fog Capital of California” ─ Pacifica, California

• “Frog Capital of the World” ─ Rayne, Louisiana

• “Home of the White Squirrels” ─ Olney, Illinois. (Not to be outdone, Marysville, Kansas, calls itself the “Black Squirrel Capital.”)

• “Horse-Pulling Capital of the Upper Peninsula” ─ Champion, Michigan

• “Orthopedic Capital of the World” ─ Warsaw, Indiana

• “Queen City of the Gas Belt”  ─ Marion, Indiana

• “Toothpick Capital of the World” ─ Strong, Maine

• “Whiskeytown” ─ Peoria, Illinois

 

Weak Takeoffs on Your Name

This famous, arching sign goes WAY back to 1949, when it rose atop the old Golden State Highway during the heyday of  automobile travel.  (jonesey, Wikipedia Commons)

This famous, arching sign goes WAY back to 1949, when it rose atop the old Golden State Highway during the heyday of automobile travel. (jonesey, Wikipedia Commons)

• “Bako” ─ Bakersfield, California (It gets hot there.)

• “The Big Gun” ─ Canon, Georgia  (For one thing, the “cannon” that shoots projectiles is spelled with two Ns.)

• “The Boat” ─ Steamboat Springs, Colorado

• “Brush!” ─ Brush, Colorado

• “Poky” ─ Pocatello, Idaho

• “Sacratomato” ─ Sacramento, California (It grows lots o’ tomaters)

• “SLO” ─ San Luis Obispo, California

• “The Staff” ─ Flagstaff, Arizona

 

You Mean You’re Really Both?

• “Rice and Duck Capital of the World” ─ Stuttgart, Arkansas

 

Don’t Exactly Trip Off the Tongue

• “Gateway to Legends, Lakes, Leisure, and Lost Treasure” ─ Apache Junction, Arizona

• “The Little Town That International Harvester, Coal Miners, and Their Families Built” ─ Benham, Kentucky

• “Water, Wealth, Contentment, Health” ─ Modesto, California

• “Where The People are Warm Even When the Weather Isn’t” ─ Andover, Kansas

 

Others Call Us This, and We Hate It

“Bozone” ─ Bozeman, Montana
 

• “Chemicalville” ─ Charleston, West Virginia

• “The City in a Coma” ─ Concord, New Hampshire

• “The City That Means Well” ─ Dover, Delaware

• “Harm City” (a derogatory spin on its preferred “Charm City”) ─ Baltimore, Maryland

• “Hartford of the West” ─ Lincoln, Nebraska (Don’t know which this insults more: Hartford or Lincoln.)

• “Indianoplace” or “Naptown” ─ Indianapolis, Indiana

• “Mayberry of the Midwest” ─ Clay City, Indiana (Mayberry was a fictional North Carolina “hick town,” full of rubes and dimwits, in a long-running TV series.)

When I lived there, Cleveland called itself “The Greatest Location in the Nation.”  Then the Cuyahoga River, filled with industrial runoff, caught fire, and the city became the butt of many jokes.  (Carol M. Highsmith)

When I lived there, Cleveland called itself “The Greatest Location in the Nation.” Then the Cuyahoga River, filled with industrial runoff, caught fire, and the city became the butt of many jokes. (Carol M. Highsmith)

 • “The Mistake By the Lake” ─ My hometown of Cleveland, Ohio (You don’t suppose this is referring to ME!?)

 • “The Protestant Vatican” ─ Nashville, Tennessee

• “Speed Trap City” ─ Romulus, Michigan

• “Used Car Lot Capital of the World” ─ Joplin, Missouri

 • “Yonk-a-tonk” ─ Yonkers, New York

 

There’s a Redundancy Here Somewhere

• “The West’s Most Western Town” ─ Scottsdale, Arizona

. . . and finally:

 These Will Need Some ’Splaining

• “America’s Most Vertical City” ─ Jerome, Arizona  (Once known as “the wickedest town in the West when it was a copper-mining boomtown, Jerome is a Halloween pilgrimage site today because of its large ghost town and supposedly haunted hotel. Why vertical? It sits high atop steep Cleopatra Hill and boasts of “50-mile views” in all directions.)

You can almost taste these homemade Boston baked beans.  Like this cook, I think the bacon or pork is the secret, delectable ingredient.  (peppergrasss, Flickr Creative Commons)

You can almost taste these homemade Boston baked beans. Like this cook, I think the bacon or pork is the secret, delectable ingredient. (peppergrasss, Flickr Creative Commons)

• “Beantown” ─ Boston, Massachusetts  (Boston used to import molasses from the Caribbean, make whiskey out of it, and ship it to West Africa, where the whiskey was used to buy slaves as part of the infamous “Triangle Trade.”  Some of the leftover molasses was mixed with legumes and pork to create the famous “Boston baked beans.”)

• “The Big Scrapple” ─ Philadelphia, Pennsylvania   (Another play on the “Big Apple.”  Scrapple is a processed meat product made from butchers’ leftovers and lots of spices.)

• “Cataract City” ─ Niagara Falls, New York  (This is not a town of old people suffering from clouding of the eyes. “Cataract” also means a high waterfall.)

• “The Big Guava” ─ Tampa, Florida  (Like Manhattan, Kansas’s, adoption of “The Little Apple,” this is yet another imitator of New York’s “Big Apple.” A guava is a small, yellow, tropical fruit. Tampa even throws a “Guavaween” celebration in lieu of Halloween.)

• “City of Spindles” ─ Lowell, Massachusetts  (Lowell was a mill town where workers ─ mostly young “Lowell Girls” ─ spun cloth on looms and spindles.)

• “The City That Saved Itself” ─ Fort Wayne, Indiana  (The name resulted from the heroic work of volunteers who piled sandbags along the Maumee River and saved the town from likely destruction during a flood in 1982.)

• “Dogtown” ─ Santa Monica, California  (Lifted from the names of two movies about the skateboarding culture there.)

A dog trot was an early and crude attempt at a sort of air conditioning, allowing a breeze to blow between two separated parts of a house. (State of Louisiana)

A dog trot was an early and crude attempt at a sort of air conditioning, allowing a breeze to blow between two separated parts of a house. (State of Louisiana)

• “Dog Trot Capital of the World” ─ Dubach, Louisiana  (A “dog trot” is a long passageway between two houses or cabins. Dubach has a famous example.)

• “Home of the Ding Dong Daddy” ─ Dumas, Texas   (Taken from the title of a novelty song written by bandleader Phil Baxter, who spent a few weeks in the tiny town in the Texas Panhandle.)

• “Home of the Frozen Dead Guy” ─ Nederland, Colorado. In 1989, a Norwegian citizen who believed in cryonics brought the frozen corpse of his grandfather to this town. The body not only remains in Nederland, still frozen, but there’s even an annual “Frozen Dead Guy Days” festival each March.

• “Home of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker” ─ Brinkley, Arkansas (This needs explaining because nobody has actually seen an ivory-billed woodpecker since 1944. But recordings deep in the woods may have picked up the distinctive calls of one of late.)

• “Home of Mike the Headless Chicken” ─ Fruita, Colorado  (You’ve heard of “running around like a chicken with its head cut off.”  Well, Miracle Mike the chicken lived for 18 months in the mid-1940s after losing all of his head ─ except one ear and most of his brain stem ─ to a farmer’s axe. His miraculous survival was authenticated by the University of Utah.)

• “Home of the World’s Largest Cheeto” ─ Algona, Iowa  (This is a huge, but misshapen, blob that a sailor found inside a bag of Cheetos snack food in Honolulu, Hawaii. Somehow it found its way to this little Iowa town, where it rests on a purple cushion, under glass, in a restaurant that is now closed. So the mega-Cheeto’s future is uncertain.)

• “Kaolin Capital of the World” ─ Sandersville, Georgia  (Kaolin is a soft, white clay used in making porcelain, cosmetics, and other products.)

• “The Leap Year Capital of the World” ─ Anthony, Texas-New Mexico  (This town that straddles the border of the two states has recorded an inordinate number of births on February 29th, which comes along only once every four years. Part of the fun is that one of these folks who celebrates, say, an 18th birthday is really 72 years old.)

• “Living With a Mystery” ─ Villisca, Iowa  (This refers to the axe murders of six people in 1912. You’d think the town would be over it by now.)

You think of Arizona as a low, cactus-filled desert.  But Flagstaff sits high the pines in Northern Arizona, not far from the Grand Canyon.  (UserMike2bb, Wikipedia Commons)

You think of Arizona as a low, cactus-filled desert. But Flagstaff sits high the pines in Northern Arizona, not far from the Grand Canyon. (UserMike2bb, Wikipedia Commons)

• “The Mile-and-a-Quarter-High City” ─ Flagstaff, Arizona (Trying to outshine the more famous “Mile-High City” of Denver, Colorado.)

• “Named for the Turn of a Card” ─ Show Low, Arizona  (Two men decided that the new settlement amid Arizona’s ponderosa pines wasn’t big enough for both of them. They agreed to draw from a deck of cards. “If you show low, you win,” one said. The other drew a deuce, or 2, of clubs, the lowest card in the deck, and, presumably kept his home in the settlement while the first player lit out for other parts.)

• “The Next America” ─ Columbia, Maryland  (Columbia is a carefully laid-out “planned city” made up of 10 self-contained villages.)

• “Spamtown, USA” ─ Austin, Minnesota   (This is not because of unwanted Internet traffic. It’s named for Spam, a low-cost, but surprisingly popular, canned-meat product.)

• “The Town Too Beautiful to Burn” ─ Port Gibson, Mississippi  (According to legend, after Union commander Ulysses S. Grant’s forces captured this Mississippi River port town in the American Civil War of the 1860s, he spared it for the reason cited in the slogan.)

There are lots more clever (and lame) city nicknames, and it’s hard to pick a favorite. I’m partial to the one from Talent, Oregon. It reads: “Our Name Speaks for Itself.”

But the very best, to me, is the one in Madisonville, Kentucky, a town that takes civic pride to the max. It simply calls itself “The Best Town on Earth.”

Madisonville, as seen near the Hopkins County Courthouse, looks pleasant enough. (Bedford, Wikipedia Commons)

Madisonville, as seen near the Hopkins County Courthouse, looks pleasant enough. (Bedford, Wikipedia Commons)

Ted's Wild Words

These are a few words from this posting that you may not know. Each time, I'll tell you a little about them and also place them into a cumulative archive of "Ted's Wild Words" in the right-hand column of the home page. Just click on it there, and if there's another word that you'd like me to explain, just ask!

Covered dish. A name sometimes given to homemade, often fattening, casserole recipes that people bring to church picnics and “pot luck” dinners.

Cow chips. Cattle droppings. Also often called “cow pies” or “cow patties.”

Cryonics. A belief that the ultra-low-temperature freezing of human or animal corpses could preserve them so that future medical advances might enable their revival and healing. Not to be confused with cryogenics, which is the study of phenomena that occur at very low temperatures.

Rube. A simpleton from the country.

2 responses to “The (Fill in Here) City”

  1. I regard something really special in this site.

  2. Ron Theel says:

    I live in Lansing, Kansas and got a laugh seeing out ‘motto’ in your article. I’ve always hated that stupid motto. When I was in High School it was full of shotgun holes, so I take it that it’s a common sentiment.

    I found this article by Googling my address because “The City with a Future” now says I don’t live on the road that I’ve lived on for 37 years. It was always ‘Ralph Drive’ (named after the farmer whose land this was, and the uncle of the subdivision developer). They recently changed the signs to “Ralphs Drive” say the street signs say “Ralph’s Drive” (when they don’t even read that way now). Someone had problems arguing with a vendor on Amazon.com when trying to send me a gift, trying to send it to “Ralph Bunch Drive” in a whole different town and zip code.

    I’ve been told it’s been confirmed that it has always been and the street signs have always read “Ralph’s Drive”. Only 19 household on this damn street, half of them the orginal owners who say it is Ralph and the other half must be totally confused.

    Isn’t living in small towns where the guys in charge are little fishes in little ponds thinking they are big fishes in a big pond. All they need to do is pick up a stinking phone book.

    City with a future my butt,. Can’t even get the past right,

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Ted Landphair

About

This is a far-ranging exploration of American life by a veteran Voice of America “Americana” reporter and essayist.

Ted writes about the thousands of places he has visited and written about as a broadcaster and book author. Ted Landphair’s America often showcases the work of his wife and traveling companion, renowned American photographer Carol M. Highsmith.

Ted welcomes feedback, questions, and ideas. View Ted’s profile. Watch a video about Ted and Carol by VOA’s Nico Colombant.

Photos by Carol M. Highsmith

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