Fun Facts About Your County

[hotdogPi]

- parts of the original Huron County were broken off and became part of other countries in the early 1800's: Danbury Township became part of Ottawa County, Ruggles Township became part of Ashland County, and 9 townships (including one called Groton) were broken off to form Erie County.

Micronations!



One state needs to have a county called Rental County. Think of what would happen to the license plates.

[Scott5114]

One state needs to have a county called Rental County. Think of what would happen to the license plates.

Ah, yes, the beautiful Rental County, named after the illustrious State Dairy Commissioner Anthony K. Rental, whose tenure was marked by the–

–I'm sorry, I'm getting a report that the Alanland thread is still locked. Shoot. Darn.

[CoreySamson]

Has what might possibly be the highest signed clearance in America, at 23 ft, 9 in:
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.124172,-95.4304301,3a,15y,4.51h,91.8t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sO0MCnHjnhTkVrKbYZ1tLEw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Sorry I'm late but--is that a county road shield in Texas?!

Yup. The shields were only installed on CR 220 when this overpass was built around 8 years ago. I've yet to find other county pentagons in my county unrelated to CR 220, so I'm thinking it was a contractor error. Guess that's another unique thing about my county.

Hurricane season reminded me of another fun fact about my county: In 1979, Tropical Storm Claudette dropped 42 inches of rain in 24 hours on Alvin, still the most precipitation recorded in 24 hours in the contiguous United States.

[CtrlAltDel]

Cook County, Illinois, has a greater population than the 97 smallest counties of the state combined. The remaining 4 counties in the state each share a border with Cook.

[DandyDan]

Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
1. Named for the Battle of Cerro Gordo in the Mexican American War
2. Meredith Willson was born in Mason City and The Music Man is based off of the people he knew growing up here.
3. Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens had their last concert in Clear Lake at the Surf Ballroom before the plane they were in crashed and killed them north of town.
4. Iowa Highway 122 is the only highway in Iowa that ends at the edge of town while leaving town.
5. The first paved highway in Iowa was between Mason City and Clear Lake.

[Takumi]

One state needs to have a county called Rental County. Think of what would happen to the license plates.

You know if that happened it would be a state that didn't have county names on license plates.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Since I don't have a county to write about, and I have a hard time to think what would be a county-equivalent in my country, I'm doing a random one.

San Bernardino County, California:
- Largest county in the Lower 48, and thus largest county to be officially called a "County" (half of Alaska's county-equivalent divisions are larger). It is larger than 9 states.
- The only county split into three different NWS County Warning Areas: The parts included in Joshua Tree NP are in NWS Phoenix, the Southwestern corner in NWS San Diego and the rest in NWS Las Vegas.

[I-55]

Allen County is the largest in the state of Indiana by land area. It has one of the lowest costs of living in the country, and the top two leading employers are medical groups (with GM at a distant 3rd). It makes sense why there has been an explosion in population and in retirement communities.

Fort Wayne is home to the Fort Wayne TinCaps (Midwest League), Komets (ECHL), and Mad Ants (NBA G-League).

Universities include Purdue-Fort Wayne (formerly IPFW)(D-I men's basketball), St Francis, and Indiana Tech. There is also presence of Ivy Tech Community College.

The Fort Wayne DMA is not considered as a home market for any NFL teams (thanks to our position between/near Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, as well as having strong fanbases of Pittsburgh, New York, St Louis, and other cities' teams) and thus I have never experienced any blackout restrictions (for any sports).

[kkt]

My home county is named after Robert E. Lee, and thus probably will end up being renamed at some point in the future, given the current politically correct climate.

Funny, my home county was originally named after William Rufus DeVane King, and renamed for three reasons:

- career in politics didn't include anything that's still significant today.  (Was Vice President for six weeks before dying of natural causes)
- was never anywhere near what later became my county, or state for that matter
- slaveholder

No prize for guessing who the county is named after now...

[hotdogPi]

- was never anywhere near what later became my county, or state for that matter

Neither did George Washington.

[kkt]

- was never anywhere near what later became my county, or state for that matter

Neither did George Washington.

No, but Washington's career in politics was pretty significant, so he's batting 333.

[Desert Man]

Since I don't have a county to write about, and I have a hard time to think what would be a county-equivalent in my country, I'm doing a random one.

San Bernardino County, California:
- Largest county in the Lower 48, and thus largest county to be officially called a "County" (half of Alaska's county-equivalent divisions are larger). It is larger than 9 states.
- The only county split into three different NWS County Warning Areas: The parts included in Joshua Tree NP are in NWS Phoenix, the Southwestern corner in NWS San Diego and the rest in NWS Las Vegas.

Nearby Riverside County, CA is 7,208 square miles (18,670 square kms) which is equally large like the state of Massachusetts with a similar rectangular shape. We are the 10th most populous county in the US with 2,189,641 in the 2010 census, while it has been one of the fastest-growing in the last 50 years. Coachella has a NOAA/NWS radio station in English and Spanish to cover Riverside (the city with its namesaske also has it's own by San Diego), San Bernardino (covered by San Diego-Riverside and Coachella) and Imperial counties' weather conditions (San Diego's covers the area as well).

[KCRoadFan]

My county (Jackson County, MO) has two county seats - Kansas City and Independence.

In addition, KC, where I live, also extends into Platte and Clay Counties, as well as a small section in Cass County.

[mapman]

Santa Clara County, CA:

1. Home to the largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area (San Jose)
2. Home to one of the most odiferous festivals in the county - Gilroy Garlic Festival
3. Prior to earning the nickname "Silicon Valley", most of the county was filled with fruit orchards, such as apples, pears, apricots and cherries.  Fruit orchards date back to the late 1800s.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

St. Louis County, MN

-second largest county east of the Mississippi (Aroostook)
-some of the largest open pit mines in the world
-some of the largest remaining pristine wilderness in the United States, the BWCA

[Dirt Roads]

Moved from the Hometown/City thread:

The Putnam County Fair in West Virginia many years held the "International Crawdad Race".  Somebody always flew in several large crawdads from Louisiana every year, which were quite slow in comparison to the "mountain crick" varieties.  When I was growing up, the fair was held at the "new" Hurricane High School (constructed in the early 1970s).  They missed a few years, and the moved to the County Park over in Eleanor. 

I must have been anticipating this thread because a few months ago I checked their website and couldn't find anything about the crawdad races in recent years. 

Fun fact:  Putnam County may be the only place for this one.  Locals always called the famous Southern dish "Green Fried Tomatoes" instead of fried green tomatoes, because it was opposite what locals served for breakfast "Red Fried Tomatoes".  "Red Fried Tomatoes" were usually topped with redeye gravy (which will make dadgum near everthing taste mighty fine).  As Teays Valley has become a melting pot, I'm pretty sure that there are no restaurants left serving them.  Since Tudor's Biscuit World was partially acquired by the Craigo family, I'm surprised this tasty treat didn't show up on the menu there.

This is the third time in recent weeks that one of my posts ended up in a thread with a similar name.  The first time, I caught it before sending.  Second, I caught it right after sending.  Next time, I'll get an all expense paid trip to my favorite assisted living complex.

[Desert Man]

Riverside county CA has an official county seat (Riverside in the western half) and an "unofficial" one (Indio in the middle of the county), 70 miles or a hour (without traffic) apart. A few counties in the US are like that, when they find it convenient. Indio is the largest city in the Coachella Valley (twice the population of the more famous Palm Springs), it has a freeway, 3 historic US now CA state routes and a railroad cross through the town, and the county fairgrounds with a winter fair in Feb (the Riverside County Fair and National Date Festival). In San Bernardino county, you have Victorville and in L.A. County you have Pomona with similarities, except Pomona is on the LA-San Bernardino county line, the "middle" of Southern California. 

[dvferyance]

Waukesha County WI
Population around 400,000
3rd largest county in Wisconsin
Richard Sears founder of Sears spent his last days here
Home of NFL stars Joe Thomas and JJ Watt
Fmr Olympic stars Paul and Morgan Hamm are also from here

[dvferyance]

Dane, WI

- Only county in the state with three 2di Interstates but no 3dis
- Has five US routes, I believe more than any other county in WI
- Second most freeway miles of any county in WI, just behind Milwaukee
- Max VPD of 110,000 (on the Beltline), second highest in the state

Other non-road facts . . .
- Has 16 Culver's locations, more than any other county in the world
- Both the second largest county in the state (after Marathon) and the second most populous county in the state (after Milwaukee)
- Fully or partially contains 5 of the 60 largest lakes in the state (Mendota, a tiny bit of Koshkonong, Monona, Kegonsa, Waubesa)

Wrong on the first one. Waukesha County also has three 2 digit interstates 41,43 and 94 and no 3 digits. And that isn't even the only other one. Neighboring Columbia County also has 39,90 and 94 with no 3 digits. And neighboring Rock County has 39,43 and 90 with no 3 digits.

[hotdogPi]

Waukesha County WI
Population around 400,000
3rd largest county in Wisconsin
Richard Sears founder of Sears spent his last days here
Home of NFL stars Joe Thomas and JJ Watt
Fmr Olympic stars Paul and Morgan Hamm are also from here

Until this year, it was strongly Republican, even more than the rural areas. Most suburbs of blue cities aren't that red. (It's not redder than rural Wisconsin anymore, but it's still redder than you would expect a generic suburban county to be.)

[J3ebrules]

Camden County, NJ

Road related: First traffic circle (specifically for auto traffic; yes, I know other roundabouts predate the Airport Circle).

Other fun facts: Birthplace of Campbell's Soup.

First drive-in, although it wasn't called that yet. They called it the Park In. Oddly, that particular one didn't last very long (shut down after 3 years).

First relatively complete dinosaur fossil was found in Haddonfield - Hadrosaurus. Our state dinosaur.

Tons of stuff named Haddon - is named after a woman, Elizabeth Haddon. While it's not unheard of for towns and such to be named after female settlers, it is fairly uncommon. The Wikipedia article on Haddonfield argues with itself and attributes the name to both Elizabeth and separately to her father John, except that John Haddon NEVER CAME TO AMERICA. Also; Elizabeth later married a John (weird, but I guess there weren't a ton of British men's first names then) and kept her surname.

Lastly, Jersey loves its shopping malls, and the Cherry Hill Mall is held to be the first of its kind east of the Mississippi. It's generally accepted that when Delaware Township had to change its name in the 60's that Cherry Hill was a shoe-in choice thanks to the mall. Or it would have been Deltown. One of the choices was Deltown. Not many cherries in Cherry Hill anymore - and it's rather flat - but it's a pretty name!

There you have it, Camden County! Don't make me go into my birthplace, Hudson County. With Hoboken history alone, I'd be typing all night!

[Ned Weasel]

Lastly, Jersey loves its shopping malls, and the Cherry Hill Mall is held to be the first of its kind east of the Mississippi. It's generally accepted that when Delaware Township had to change its name in the 60's that Cherry Hill was a shoe-in choice thanks to the mall. Or it would have been Deltown. One of the choices was Deltown. Not many cherries in Cherry Hill anymore - and it's rather flat - but it's a pretty name!

I visited Cherry Hill Mall in 2007, before they started overhauling it.  It's a Victor Gruen mall, so the history is very noteworthy.  Nearby Moorestown Mall seemed to be doing at least as well, if not better, however.  I hope Cherry Hill Mall is still doing well, although it's a very bad time for malls in general.

[Roadgeekteen]

Norfolk County MA: has two exclaves, Brookline and Cohasset.

[J3ebrules]

Lastly, Jersey loves its shopping malls, and the Cherry Hill Mall is held to be the first of its kind east of the Mississippi. It's generally accepted that when Delaware Township had to change its name in the 60's that Cherry Hill was a shoe-in choice thanks to the mall. Or it would have been Deltown. One of the choices was Deltown. Not many cherries in Cherry Hill anymore - and it's rather flat - but it's a pretty name!

I visited Cherry Hill Mall in 2007, before they started overhauling it.  It's a Victor Gruen mall, so the history is very noteworthy.  Nearby Moorestown Mall seemed to be doing at least as well, if not better, however.  I hope Cherry Hill Mall is still doing well, although it's a very bad time for malls in general.

Ooh, no, Moorestown Mall is NOT doing well. It's been dying for as long as I've lived in the area - about 6 years or so. They put some high-end stores in to save it, but with Sears leaving, and high vacancy rates - and now COVID? It's not looking good. Cherry Hill will hang in, though, I do believe. You should see them both around Christmastime. Parking at CH is downright impossible, whereas before Sears closed, I recall getting front-row parking by them to run in and buy some gifts last year (or maybe it was 2018).

[jeffandnicole]

Lastly, Jersey loves its shopping malls, and the Cherry Hill Mall is held to be the first of its kind east of the Mississippi. It's generally accepted that when Delaware Township had to change its name in the 60's that Cherry Hill was a shoe-in choice thanks to the mall. Or it would have been Deltown. One of the choices was Deltown. Not many cherries in Cherry Hill anymore - and it's rather flat - but it's a pretty name!

I visited Cherry Hill Mall in 2007, before they started overhauling it.  It's a Victor Gruen mall, so the history is very noteworthy.  Nearby Moorestown Mall seemed to be doing at least as well, if not better, however.  I hope Cherry Hill Mall is still doing well, although it's a very bad time for malls in general.

Ooh, no, Moorestown Mall is NOT doing well. It's been dying for as long as I've lived in the area - about 6 years or so. They put some high-end stores in to save it, but with Sears leaving, and high vacancy rates - and now COVID? It's not looking good. Cherry Hill will hang in, though, I do believe. You should see them both around Christmastime. Parking at CH is downright impossible, whereas before Sears closed, I recall getting front-row parking by them to run in and buy some gifts last year (or maybe it was 2018).

The Moorestown Mall was always in the shadow of Cherry Hill Mall. Arguably in a better location just off 295, it wasn't conveniently accessible from 295 until a developer created the East Gate Square mega store shopping area and convinced NJDOT to close the direct 295 South to 73 North ramp on favor of a ramp from 295 that snaked thru several poorly timed traffic lights to 73. Moorestown also was a dry town, so no restaurants with liquor licenses could open at the mall. (That has since changed)

The Deptford Mall, about 13 miles away off Routes 42 & 55, is less well known, yet has done very well and their sales per square foot are among the leaders in the overall region. They had 4 anchors; lost only one (Sears) pre-pandemic. The remaining 3 remain open, and a Dicks Sporting Goods and and a Dave and Busters type entertainment center filled up the former Sears anchor location.