Depending on whom you ask, the independent city of Bristol, Va., was founded by Joseph R. Anderson. Or Col. Samuel Eason Goodson. Or both. The city of 17,341 shares its name with its larger municipal Siamese twin to the south, … Continue reading →
Augusta Smith named the Tennessee town she and her husband, Warren, founded in 1878 Hohenwald, the German word for “high forest,” a descriptive term referring to the surrounding countryside and its location on the Western Highland Rim a few miles … Continue reading →
Having your neighbors and friends name a town in your honor shows a lot of respect — especially when they displace the name of a war hero to do so. Abraham Pickering (1776-1833) earned that respect. Pickering was born in … Continue reading →
Josiah White and Jim Thorpe never met; White died 37 years before Thorpe was born. Yet the confluence of the two men’s impact forged the town of Jim Thorpe, Pa. White (1781-1850) was an industrialist and entrepreneur with a staggering … Continue reading →
For several years, William G. Butler (1799-1857) and his wife, Emily, were the only white inhabitants of what would become known as Saugatuck, Mich., and its surrounding county of Allegan. They were by all historical accounts “on the most kindly … Continue reading →
As a planned community charted March 9, 1959, Peachtree City, Ga., is a relative newcomer to the nation’s family of municipalities. But the city of 35,000 carries ubiquitous earmarks harkening to the person and heritage of William McIntosh Jr. (1775-1825), … Continue reading →
Several rival factions — including settlers, Native Americans, the English and the French — grappled over possession of the land now known as Morgantown, W.Va., until Zackquill Morgan (1735–1795) literally settled the matter for good. Morgan served honorably in the … Continue reading →
Audubon, Iowa, was platted by a railroad, settled through the invaluable efforts of two highly energetic real estate promoters and named after a vaunted ornithologist and artist who may or may not have passed through the area 35 years before. … Continue reading →
Back in the days of Colonel Andrew Hynes, who lived from Feb. 28, 1750, to September of 1800, establishing a town was not always as simple as staking a plot of uncharted wilderness, tacking up a few shanties and growing … Continue reading →
Theodore Koch, founder of Clara City, was born in the Netherlands in 1854. An exemplary student, he mastered four languages before his formal education was cut short for lack of funds. After that, the energetic and frugal entrepreneur schooled himself … Continue reading →
Most modern-day communities were founded by individuals and were named after their founder. Davidson, N.C., follows about half that tradition. The lakeside town of 11,750 was named after its founder, Davidson College, which was named after Brigadier General William Lee … Continue reading →
