Your town - what started there that is known nationwide?

[6a]

Columbus:

- Kindergarten

Watertown, WI seems to disagree.

Seems to be widely called the first one, but long before that was a kindergarten in Columbus.

At any rate, the first middle/junior high school was definitely here.

[Bruce]

Everett, WA: Home of the Boeing Everett Factory, the world's largest building in the world by volume and birthplace of every 747, 767, and 777, and most 787s.

[agentsteel53]

and here I thought the first kindergarten would have been in Germany.

[us175]

Jacksonville, TX:
There is that 'east terminus of a certain US highway' thing I guess  , but also country singers Lee Ann Womack (I was a grade ahead of her in school) and Neal McCoy, actress Margo Martindale (The Millers, Justified, Lonesome Dove), the careers of Broadway performer Tommy Tune and actress Sandy Duncan began at the now-late Lon Morris College there, also the first successful union voters at a Walmart were there (which led to chain-wide use of pre-cut/pre-wrapped meat from distribution centers which meant no more use for meatcutters in that (and every) Walmart)

Oops, forgot:
-- Josh McCown, Chicago Bears quarterback
-- Luke McCown, New Orleans Saints backup quarterback

[Urban Prairie Schooner]

My home town, New Orleans, is of course a world renowned cultural destination: birthplace of jazz, Creole cuisine, the French Quarter, the Superdome, Perley-Thomas streetcars, the crescent bend in the Mississippi River, ad nauseum.

My current residence, Baton Rouge, is home to LSU and companies including Raising Cane's, Lamar Advertising, Albemarle, and formerly Shaw Group. Also, the nation's second largest petroleum refinery is located here.

[Alps]

Where I grew up and would identify as my "hometown": Montclair, NJ - nothing notable there, but just one town over in West Orange, Thomas Edison came up with just about all of the inventions credited to him.

[briantroutman]

Chapel Hill NC: Michael Jordan, Dean Smith and UNC Basketball

You would make a list for Chapel Hill and omit Ben Folds?!

[ctsignguy]

My former hometown and current home town are famous for a first.....

the very first official NFL game was played in Dayton at Triangle Park ....featuring the hometown Triangles defeating the Columbus Panhandles 14-0 in October of 1920.

[apeman33]

Hometown (as in childhood home): Nothing that I can think of on its own. However, Garden City is referenced in the book "In Cold Blood" since it's 6 miles east of Holcomb, where the Clutter murders took place, and as the county seat, where the murderers were tried.

Former residence (still work there): Fort Scott is the boyhood home of Gordon Parks and was where Adam LaRoche (Washington Nationals first baseman) attended high school. The LaRoche family moved back in the late 90s. His mother is from here.

Current residence: Outside of the Pitt State football team (and you have to be well versed in Division II football to know about them), I can't think of much Pittsburg is known for nationwide. Brian Williams, now the main anchor for NBC Nightly News, worked his first professional gig at KOAM. And if you're a baseball fan, Bill Russell, former Dodgers shortstop was born here.

[Laura]

Parts of the Disney movie "Tuck Everlasting" were filmed right outside of my hometown of Jarrettsville, MD at Kilgore Falls and the King and Queen Seat in Rocks State Park (the zip code is the same; that counts, right? lol)

[Desert Man]

My town Indio, CA has the Riverside county fair and National Date Festival, a rare county fair in the middle of winter when the weather is really good. The fair starts this Friday (Valentine's Day) and don't forget to take a date (LOL). Indio is globally known as a main growing area for dates in the western hemisphere and you can find a few date groves in the Coachella Valley. We also have the Coachella Music Fest, an annual music and arts festival with huge attendance and the BNP Paribas Open tennis match every March in nearby Indian Wells.

Oh wait, the topic title (What started here): In 1915, a local physician Dr. June McCarroll suggested to the California state government on the importance of road divider lines. She suggested a yellow line in the middle of roads to divide traffic and her idea stuck ever since. Read more on the article I came upon on Wikipedia (with credible sources): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_McCarroll

[formulanone]

...Triangles defeating the Columbus Panhandles 14-0 in October of 1920.

They have a fight
triangle wins
triangle man.

[jp the roadgeek]

My town, Southington, CT, is known for developing the first cement to harden underwater, the first carriage bolt cutting machine, and the break-neck rat trap.  Also well known for the apple fritter and the Apple Harvest Festival  It's also home to half of America's oldest amusement parks, Lake Compounce, and ESPN has expanded over the border from Bristol.  Among famous natives: Baseball players Rob Dibble, Chris Denorfia and Carl Pavano, Lisa Robin Kelly.  Several ESPN personalities also call the town home.

[pianocello]

Oh, hey, I forgot. The first-ever chiropractic adjustment happened in Davenport. There's a historical marker on 2nd Street west of Main commemorating it.

[spooky]

Hometown: North Kingstown, RI - birthplace of Gilbert Stuart, who painted a very well known portrait that you may have a replica of in your pocket as we speak.

Current residence: Braintree, MA - birthplace of former Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, and statesman John Hancock. The City of Quincy takes credit for them, but was not yet established at the time of their births. Braintree was also the site of the murders that led to the trial and eventual execution of anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti in the early 20th century.

[6a]

Oh wait, the topic title (What started here): In 1915, a local physician Dr. June McCarroll suggested to the California state government on the importance of road divider lines. She suggested a yellow line in the middle of roads to divide traffic and her idea stuck ever since. Read more on the article I came upon on Wikipedia (with credible sources): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_McCarroll

That's really interesting. I have heard the white line on the shoulder comes from a particular curve on Noe-Bixby Rd here. People were running off the curve, someone came up with the idea to mark the shoulder and presto. I've not seen anything to prove that, though.

[Brandon]

Oh wait, the topic title (What started here): In 1915, a local physician Dr. June McCarroll suggested to the California state government on the importance of road divider lines. She suggested a yellow line in the middle of roads to divide traffic and her idea stuck ever since. Read more on the article I came upon on Wikipedia (with credible sources): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_McCarroll

But she was not the first.  Edward N. Hines of the Wayne County Road Commission, Michigan was the first.  he first had them painted in 1911 on River Road, downriver in Trenton.  Kenneth Ingalls Sawyer also predated her with a line down the middle of M-15 (later US-41/M-28, now County Road 492) in 1917 in Marquette County, Michigan.  Ms. McCarroll did not paint hers until late 1917.

[cpzilliacus]

(unfortunately) Oral Roberts University.

Is the Oral Roberts Tower of Power (a/k/a the Prayer Tower) still there?

[cpzilliacus]

My hometown is Silver Spring, Maryland.  Like most pre- and post-World War II sprawl in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., it is unincorporated (and part of eastern Montgomery County). Were it incorporated, it would be one of the largest municipalities in the state. 

The one thing that Silver Spring is justifiably famous for is Rachel Carson.  No, she wasn't born in Silver Spring (she was from Pennsylvania), but she did write the book Silent Spring at her home in the Colesville section of Silver Spring (now a National Historic Landmark).

[rawmustard]

Battle Creek, MI, is known as Cereal City because that is where breakfast cereal was invented and both Kellogg and Post were founded. Many of Kellogg's advertisements before the 1970s (either print or TV/audio) prominently featured the city's name.

My hometown of Kalamazoo was where Upjohn (now largely a part of Pfizer), A.M. Todd (one of the largest flavoring producers), Gibson Guitar, and Checker Motors were founded. Lately it has become a craft beer haven (although that could be said for much of the state), as Bell's (the state's largest craft brewer) got its start there while several breweries have opened in the last few years.

[Pete from Boston]

Well, I suppose by definition the "Hollywood" film industry had to start in California, but the industry itself did not have its start there. Many of the earliest American film studios began on the East Coast, particularly Westchester County, NY.

Where I grew up, the story was that the industry got big in Fort Lee, NJ, before heading west.  In the papers there there is a yearly (or so) story about someone bulldozing a garage or something that belonged to Universal Studios in order to put up a bank or CVS.

[bing101]

Los Gatos, CA, where I grew up:
-FMC Technologies started out as the Bean Spray Pump Company in 1883.
-Netflix.

South San Francisco, CA my former Hometown started Genentech and jump started the modern Biotech Industry.

[bing101]

Cupertino, CA Apple inc
Mountain View, CA Google inc
San Francisco, CA Twitter, Levis, Bank Of America, (PLOS Biology Peer Review Journal)

Here are Companies that started in my area.

[SidS1045]

I think the only thing Stoneham MA is famous for is figure-skater Nancy Kerrigan, although I understand that decades ago Stoneham had more gas stations per mile than any other town in the US.

[triplemultiplex]

This place:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2251


Had a summer job that involved cutting the grass around all those statues.