Post 5 interesting facts about your home town!

[Sureshot]

Shamelessly stolen from another forum I read, let's see some interesting stuff about the place you live (or lived in my case). I did my 'home' town, (Royal) Leamington Spa, England:

1. The (alleged) centre point of England is located in Leamington Spa. There's a an oak tree planted at the location, with an accompanying plaque. Some people think it's actually elsewhere though.
2. Patrick Stewart (Jean Luc Picard, Professor X, etc.) used to live here.
3. Queen Victoria gave the town the 'Royal' prefix when she visited during her reign.
4. Every so often (not exactly sure when, I don't keep up with bowls funnily enough) Leamington plays host to the Womens' World Bowls Championship! (yes, Leamington is this damn exciting).
5. The first ever place where Lawn Tennis was played was at the Manor House Hotel in Leamington Spa.

That was bloody difficult...

[Arrrhalomynn]

Elburg got city rights in 1233

In the 16th century Willem van Oranje, our leader in the war against Spain, stayed in Elburg for some time and ate so much (Together with his people), that the city had to borrow money from a nearby city to pay for it all.

Some time in the 18th century the tip of the church tower burned down. There was a collection to get money to have it rebuilt, but nobody really cared, so they never rebuilt it.

Most of the wall and 3 of the 4 gates were broken down, so the stones could be used to built a harbour.

All the streets in the old town are straight, exept 1. That one has a little bend in it. this is supposedly because they drew out the city plan in the sand, and there was a stone there, so they had to draw around it.

Nothing really happened here

[TraderJake]

Cincinnati
1) Founded in 1778 as Losantiville, meaning opposite of the Licking River, making it the first true major American City.
2) 53 Distinct Wards (Neighborhoods) in a county with 37 other municipalities and  12 townships
3) Home of the World's first Professional Baseball Team, the Cincinnati Reds
4) Home to 10 Fortune 500 companies, including Kroger Co. (21), Proctor and Gamble (26), and Federated Department Stores (133)
5) Home to strictly Cincinnati foods, LaRosa's Pizza, Skyline Chili, Montgomery Inn, and Greater's Ice Cream

and the Bonus since I am a civil engineering major focusing in Transportation --

I-275 is the longest beltway in the US (84.8 miles) and is the only beltway to travel through three states.

[Hydrobond]

Cincinnati:

1) We have a subway, but we aren't allowed to use it.
2) We have professional sports teams, but they aren't allowed to be any good.
3) We have a downtown, but that is only open 8AM-5PM M-F. Closed holidays.
4) We had a stock exchange, but some guy bought it and moved it to Chicago.
5) We have officially been Newport, KY's bitch since 2001.

and the Bonus since I am a computer engineering major--

We have no opportunities for computer engineers. :-(

I can't wait to hear from the Detroit people. ;-)

[Antimind]

Pittsburgh, PA

(if my memory serves me) there are 11 bridges in the downtown area alone, over 70 within the city limits (and 4 in my neighborhood not counting train bridges).

One of the largest if not the largest inland port in the country.

Heinz products are made in the North Side at the plant. It smells so horribly of ketchup over there that it makes me want to vomit. You can get mini pickle and ketchup bottle pins for free by calling or writing.

People only drink Iron City beer cause it's cheap (like a special at the bar). It's prolly the worst beer on the face of the planet.

We are not responsible for Christina Aguilera or Amber Brkich. Christina is from Wexford and Amber from Beaver. Blame the suburbs!

[Zimbacca]

These are the most interesting things I could come up with, in about an hour and a half of thinking... They're not in any order.

Battle Ground

14,000 people live here, but almost every business is on the same street.

It's about 28 miles north of Portland Oregon

The drummer from Powerman 5000 graduated from Battle Ground High School

We have the oldest street light in the county. (changed because this is more interesting)

A guy from my high school fucked a sheep (no joke).

[Izret101]

Springfield, Mass
Town 1636 City 1852 (First Springfield in the US)

1) Home to the Springfield Armory. We made the rifles that won the American Revolution. (Springfield Technical Communtiy College was built around it)

2) Basketball was invented here and the Basketball Hall of Fame is located here. (The new hall of fame is a giant basketball)

3) Theodore Giesel aka Dr. Suess was born here and lived downtown.

4) Smith & Wesson was founded here and its headquarters is still located here.

5) Indian Motorcycles was founded here in 1901. (The manufacturing building is now low income apartments if i am not mistaken)

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

Well I had to put something. Here's more than five cincinnati celebrities:

(Unfortunately) The Clooney clan lives right across the river.

Ulysses S. Grant - was born somewhere around here.

Neil armstrong - was a professor at the University of Cincinnati.

Sarah Jessica Parker - grew up in Cincinnati.

Roy Rogers - the singing cowboy himself, was born in Cincinnati.

Steven Spielberg - was born in Cincinnati.

Jerry Springer - was first our news anchor and then our Mayor before he went on to uh....host a popular tv show. Now he's back and won't get off the radio.

Carmen Electra - went to High School with one of my best friends brothers.

Benjamin Harrison - was also born somewhere around here.

William Howard Taft - was born in Cincinnati.

Anthony Munoz - Well not sure about the rest of the world but we sure see him a lot.

Pete Rose - was born in cincinnati (let him into the hall of fame you commie bastards)

[Speedy_NES]

Well, I've moved around quite a bit, so I don't exactly have a hometown...but I've spent most of the last 4 years in Maastricht, the Netherlands, so I'll post some facts about this city:

1.  The Maastricht Treaty was signed here; pretty self-explanatory  origin of the Euro currency
2.  The oldest pub in the Netherlands is located in the center of Maastricht:  De Vogelstruis (99% sure about this ).  It has also won the award for best pub in the Netherlands on numerous occasions.  
3.  Borders both Germany & Belgium; it's extremely common to have foreigners ask you where the nearest "coffee shop" is located  It also attracts a lot of foreigners thanks to the University of Maastricht and its highly rated Business/Economics division.
4.  Maastricht is one of the #1 Carnaval places...a festival that takes place once a year...a few days of mayhem where everyone dresses up as crazy as they can and get drunk (this includes little kids & elderly people )  
5.  This is where the government decided to put the lowest scum of the Netherlands...on the outskirts of Maastricht...a trailerpark/camp called Vinkeslag.  The government stormed the camp not too long ago with a bunch of tanks after Vinkeslag decided to be naughty again.  Lots of illegal weed plants were discovered (duh!).  You'll commonly encounter them trying (and sometimes succeeding ) to steal your vehicles and start fights.

That's the 5 facts that came to mind first....it's a pretty boring town, and I gotta admit I've seen it all in the last 4 years so it's about time I get outta here (once I finish my study)

-Speedy

[Sauza12]

Detroit:

1) The Northland shopping center (actually located in Southfield, but anyone who lives here knows the difference between Detroit and Southfield is name alone) was the first shopping center hub, or mall, in the country.  It was opened in 1954.

2) In 1805, the entire city of Detroit was destroyed by a fire.

3) The Detroit metro area has the largest concentration of arabic people outside of the Middle East.

4)  Detroit was Michigan's state capital from 1805-1847.  This includes 1812-1813 when the city was surrendered to British forces during the war of 1812.

5)  Race riots erupted in Detroit in 1967 killing 43 and causing nearly $150 million in damage.

[Lord Nepenthean]

Cincinnati, OH

1.  As TraderJake said, Cincinnati was founded as Losantaville.  Few people who live here actually know this.  It was soon renamed "Cincinnati" because the governor of the Northwest Territory thought "Losantaville" was too sissy.
2.  In the 1800's, Cincinnati became known as "Porkopolis" because it slaughtered, gutted, and processed more pigs than any other city in the country.
3.  Snuffy's (of Sesame Street fame) grandmother supposedly lives in Cincinnati.
4.  Cincinnati has been plagued by several large floods in its past, but due to a somewhat unlikely topography, things could have been a lot worse.  Much of the town lies on hills that are near the Ohio River.  These were formed at the end of the last ice age when glaciers melted and eroded the areas below.  Floods in 1884 and 1937 in particular left much of the city destroyed, but without the hills, things would have been much worse.
5.  Cincinnati is home to several amusement parks.  King's Island is the most popular and largest, but others include the fabled (around here anyway) Coney Island, and the now-defunct Americana.
6.  Home of CincyClassic gaming expo, which is still in limbo unfortunately.
7.  Though Cincinnati did make use of railroads for a long time, the city was primarily a river town.  As such, a large network of canals and locks was built and used for commerce and industry here.  Steamboats were also a big part of Cincinnati's history.

[TraderJake]

Since the Flood of ' is 37 so interesting, and so vividly painted in the memories of many older Cincinnatians (my grandmother remembers rowing a boat into the city to get to work, talk about dedication), here are some impressive photos of the onslaught of the Ohio.







All photos borrowed from http://www.enquirer.com/flood_of_97/history4.html
Go to that site for photo captions.

[den68]

Detroit

1- Detroit was the birthplace of Vernors -1861

2- Henry Ford tests his first car, the Quadricycle. The first auto is driven in Detroit by Charles B. King - 1896

3- Charles Lindbergh was born on February 4, 1902 in his grandfather's house at 1120 W. Forest Ave, Detroit. In 1927 he made the first nonstop solo flight from New York to Paris in a tiny silver monoplane called Spirit of St. Louis, now hanging in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. - 1902

4- Better Made potato chips began in 1931, and are still made in Detroit

5- Alice Cooper, Born February 4, 1948 as Vincent Damon Furnier. In the 70's he was known as "master of shock rock, " using a guillotine and electric chair as stage props and a live snake as part of his wardrobe. His first hit single to hit the top 40 was "Eighteen, " in 1971

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

Oh yeah I almost forgot, the famous rock and roll star Peter Frampton, who lives in Indian Hill  (a suberb of porkopolis) goes to my dentist and has been to my house twice. (My dads a sculptor so I get to meet all kinds of interesting people)