3 messages.---------Johnnie
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>From: GOLD BUG <[log in to unmask]>
>Date: Wed, 18 Mar 1998 17:07:06 EST
>Subject: Re: most common town names
The Post Office Directory lists 27 offices with the name "Washington" vs. 24
"Springfield". In the George Washington Atlas published by the George
Washington Bicentennial Commission in 1932, Washington's name is given to one
state, 32 counties, 257 townships and 121 cities, towns and villages.
Just to add a bit of trivia, 26 post offices bear the surname of another
president ... but none of them were named for him.
Art Lassagne
Gold Bug Historic Maps & Software [log in to unmask]
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<< I seem to recall a similar article, I don't know where or when, that
focused on
towns in the US named "Washington". >>
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>Date: Wed, 18 Mar 1998 22:54:32 -0600
>From: [log in to unmask] (Dennis McClendon)
>Subject: Re: most common town names
> We have a patron who is looking for a list of the most
> frequently used town name in each of the fifty states.
First, I assume you mean the most frequently used town name in *all* the
fifty states, rather than in *each*. It depends, of course, on what you're
counting.
A press release on the USGS _Geographic Names Information System_, quoted
in the _ACSM Bulletin_ July 1994, gives the most popular "town" name as
Midway. Fairview is second and Oak Grove third. However, I believe this
is based on the placenames on topographic maps, which include many
unincorporated and "railroad siding" placenames, as opposed to a strict
count of incorporated municipalities. This listing, however, was accepted
as the answer when NPR's Car Talk posed this as a puzzler a few years
back.
Andy Rooney of "60 Minutes" on 16 Oct 1994 quoted a US Postal Service
listing and gave the answer as Franklin (33 usages), Washington (31), and
Clinton (30).
American Demographics, Feb 1992, claims that "Washington has more American
places named after him than any other person," but then seems to only be
concerned with county names: Washington 31, Jefferson 26.
I tried to answer the CarTalk puzzler by spending some time with the
alphabetical listing of post offices in the back of the ZIP Code directory.
I came up with Franklin 27, Clinton 26, and Madison 25. Marion,
Greenville, and Chester all tied at 24 each, and Washington only had 23.
I think a more rigorous count could be obtained from the Census Bureau
TIGER files, counting all "minor civil divisions" rather than mere
populated places or post offices, but I don't have the computer resources
to do it myself.
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Dennis McClendon, Chicago CartoGraphics [log in to unmask]
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>Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 10:26:46 -0500
>From: Harry Zohn <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: most common town names
Just in case you did not see the attached reply.
Harry Zohn
USGS
The answer is Midway at 212 (in 39 states), but with all sorts of
provisions. Firstly, there is no official definition for city, town,
etc., and our category of populated place INCLUDES in addition to
incorporated places (only 18% of communities nationwide), well-known
large, unincorporated places (such as Reston, Virginia) as well as
neigborhoods and subdivisions. Secondly, it changes because we are
still in dynamic compilation, and 2 years ago Fairview, now at 202
(in 39 States) occurences was number 1. Regarding places that occur
in every State, our records indicate that there are NONE. We would
like to know also if it is otherwise. In this category the most
commonly occuring is Riverside with 117 occurances in 46 states.
This name, according to our records, and still subject to our ongoing
data compilation, does not exist in Alaska, Hawaii, Louisana, or
Oklahoma. If this is not so, we would like to know otherwise.
Secondly in this category is Centerville with 108 occurances in 43
states, and apparently not occuring in Oregon, New Hampshire, North
Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska, Alabama, and Hawaii. Springfield is most
often proclaimed by these sorts of contests as occuring in every
State. We have record of only 63 occurances in 34 States. Please
let us know if you have futher questions.
Roger L. Payne
Manager, Geographic Names Information System
The Nation's Official Geographic Names Repository
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