What is a small town?

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Fri Dec 18, 2020 9:20 pm

transitioning and transporting this from the discussion that never ends

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Fri Dec 18, 2020 9:31 pm

Wherever the fear of Jesus is taught.

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Dec 18, 2020 9:31 pm

X - Where I was taught to fear Jesus

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Dec 18, 2020 9:31 pm

Dammit

duff · Post by **duff** » Fri Dec 18, 2020 9:36 pm

First thing that pops in my head when I hear Small Town.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Fri Dec 18, 2020 11:04 pm

That video takes my breath away.

EnochRoot · Post by **EnochRoot** » Fri Dec 18, 2020 11:17 pm

Need an option for it’s relative.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Fri Dec 18, 2020 11:38 pm

EnochRoot wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 11:17 pm Need an option for it’s relative.

Nah. Sure if you grow up in NYC literally everything is a small town. You know what small town means.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Fri Dec 18, 2020 11:40 pm

EnochRoot wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 11:17 pm Need an option for it’s relative.

Yeah, it is relative. San Carlos only has 30,000 people but it is one of a dozen connected cities between San Francisco and San Jose. It is less than half the size of my hometown of Grand Junction, Colorado, but feels much bigger due to its much closer proximity to big cities.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Fri Dec 18, 2020 11:42 pm

I’m going to post a similar thread when I’m at a computer cause I think you people are out of touch. I can use the same metrics but the question will be where did you grow up. Obviously as an Appalachian kid everything was small.

EnochRoot · Post by **EnochRoot** » Sat Dec 19, 2020 12:05 am

A_B wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 11:42 pm I’m going to post a similar thread when I’m at a computer cause I think you people are out of touch. I can use the same metrics but the question will be where did you grow up. Obviously as an Appalachian kid everything was small.

Sure, but as you said, if you grew up in a metropolis, everything else looks small.

Actually when you think about it, what of communities that have actual paid fire fighters rather than volunteers?

It’s entirely relative.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Sat Dec 19, 2020 1:15 am

Well the town I grew up in has 800ish people. The town I went to high school has a touch over 2000 (and it's own high school!)

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Sat Dec 19, 2020 7:51 am

sancarlos wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 11:40 pm
EnochRoot wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 11:17 pm Need an option for it’s relative.
Yeah, it is relative. San Carlos only has 30,000 people but it is one of a dozen connected cities between San Francisco and San Jose. It is less than half the size of my hometown of Grand Junction, Colorado, but feels much bigger due to its much closer proximity to big cities.

Yeah I think the scales might be different for self-contained areas and those that are within a larger metro area. I grew up in a “town” of 20,000, but it was just a suburb surrounded by other suburbs.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Sat Dec 19, 2020 12:15 pm

good lord people if it wasn't relative I wouldn't have asked this relative question with myriad options

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Sat Dec 19, 2020 12:18 pm

Right but it’s relative.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Sat Dec 19, 2020 12:32 pm

I currently live in a small town in the middle of the city take that

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Sat Dec 19, 2020 1:45 pm

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Sat Dec 19, 2020 12:15 pm good lord people if it wasn't relative I wouldn't have asked this relative question with myriad options

Married a KC doll, brought her to that small town, now she's small town, just like B.

Post by **Shirley** » Sat Dec 19, 2020 2:54 pm

Any town that's part of a larger metro area is not a small town, regardless of population.

A small town has one public high school.

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Sat Dec 19, 2020 2:57 pm

Not a bad definition. But more like the county HS is in the next small town over.

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Sat Dec 19, 2020 4:01 pm

Shirley wrote: ↑Sat Dec 19, 2020 2:54 pm Any town that's part of a larger metro area is not a small town, regardless of population.

A small town has one public high school.

Or one at most. My college gf was from a town of 150 people and didn't have any schools of its own. They went to a school in another small town ten miles away.

Post by **Shirley** » Sat Dec 19, 2020 5:03 pm

Fair enough. Let's say 1 or fewer high schools.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Sat Dec 19, 2020 5:23 pm

Shirley wrote: ↑Sat Dec 19, 2020 2:54 pmAny town that's part of a larger metro area is not a small town, regardless of population.

Hmmm ... I'm not sold on this. Especially if the town outside the metro area makes it a point to separate itself from the city.

Shirley wrote: ↑Sat Dec 19, 2020 2:54 pmA small town has one public high school.

I like this as long as we're not saying the inverse is also true, that multiple high schools means it can't be a small town.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Sat Dec 19, 2020 7:58 pm

you can both be a suburb and a small town if said suburb has a tiny number of people and its own police force/city government

granted, my kids could never say they grew up in a small town if we stay here for a while but this place is very small towny independent of KC and the larger small lake town around us

rass · Post by **rass** » Sat Dec 19, 2020 8:01 pm

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Sat Dec 19, 2020 7:58 pm you can both be a suburb and a small town if said suburb has a tiny number of people and its own police force/city government

And a city council that outlaws dancing

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Sat Dec 19, 2020 8:02 pm

I feel like next step here has to be listing out some cities and deciding if they're small town or not.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Sat Dec 19, 2020 8:50 pm

rass wrote: ↑Sat Dec 19, 2020 8:01 pm
Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Sat Dec 19, 2020 7:58 pm you can both be a suburb and a small town if said suburb has a tiny number of people and its own police force/city government
And a city council that outlaws dancing

that somehow made me think of dirty dancing and not footloose and in an alternate life I would like to re-enact roadhouse

HaulCitgo · Post by **HaulCitgo** » Sun Dec 20, 2020 4:46 am

Jefferson, Georgia pop. 11,704. Not small town. Some might say is in atlanta sphere of influence but 60 miles doesn't violate the small municipality in big city rules. College towns don't count either so no Fort Valley GA pop. 8,962. Barnesville GA pop. 6,650 is small town about 60 miles from atlanta to the South. Interstate proximity has great effect on classification.

elflaco2 · Post by **elflaco2** » Mon Dec 21, 2020 8:39 am

definitely suburban nj where i live -- pop ~14.5.. but only one public high school, middle school, elementary school and kindergarden. def small town feeling. main street, train station. all the kids play rec soccer then move on to baseball or travel soccer or both. senior nights at the lighted field for the teams. one, pub, arts festival, fall/spring fairs, so on and so forth.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Mon Dec 21, 2020 9:04 am

elflaco2 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 21, 2020 8:39 am... pub...e... fairs, so on and so forth.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Mon Dec 21, 2020 9:23 am

In my opinion, every town I can think of that has less than 10,000 people is a small town and some that would fall in the next bracket are not so I picked "Under 10,000" in the poll.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Mon Dec 21, 2020 9:48 am

I'd be interested in a full analysis of where everyone grew up and how they voted. My logic was the same as above, but with under 50,000.

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Mon Dec 21, 2020 10:10 am

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Sat Dec 19, 2020 7:58 pm you can both be a suburb and a small town if said suburb has a tiny number of people and its own police force/city government

granted, my kids could never say they grew up in a small town if we stay here for a while but this place is very small towny independent of KC and the larger small lake town around us

Hedwig Village, TX has 2,557 people and is definitely not what I would consider a small town.

To me, a town is not a part of a metro area if there is not an unincorporated area separating it from the nearest town. Katy, TX not a small town. Brookshire, TX is...for now.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Mon Dec 21, 2020 10:29 am

We can bicker about ANYTHING!

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Mon Dec 21, 2020 10:41 am

Footnote 37: Please remember that everything is bigger in Texas.

duff · Post by **duff** » Mon Dec 21, 2020 11:33 am

Our address growing up said I lived in Anderson. 2010 census population was 56,000. Down from 59,000 in 1990 and 71,000 in 1970.

Our phone number had a Perkinsville exchange. No census data because it is unincorporated. We could only call Anderson exchange numbers with out it being long distance. Phone was also a party line. Barely remember that, but mom remembers picking up the handset and letting the neighbor girls that she needed the phone.

Went to high school in Frankton. 2010 population 1800, up from 1700 in 1990. No stop light in town. One gas station. 2 convenience stores at the time. 1 grocery store. 5 bars, 8 churches. Long distance charge to call the school.

So Anderson is a city. Frankton a small town/village. Perkinsville is a shit hole that has a converted farmer's hangout turned into a posh restaurant that people from Hamilton County and Indy like to come up to and tailgate before their reservations. Bonge's Tavern.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Mon Dec 21, 2020 11:38 am

town = Maybe has their own police force, but relies on some other entity for a lot its infrastructure needs. Definitely just one main street, no more than handful of stoplights. Population no more then 10k, and that's really pushing it. Mostly in the 2500-6000 range. When you get below 2500 you're starting to talk about Village.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Mon Dec 21, 2020 11:42 am

I think to qualify as a village you have to have thatch-roofed huts. Maybe that's just in england.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Mon Dec 21, 2020 11:57 am

duff wrote: ↑Mon Dec 21, 2020 11:33 amPerkinsville is a shit hole that has a converted farmer's hangout turned into a posh restaurant that people from Hamilton County and Indy like to come up to and tailgate before their reservations. Bonge's Tavern.

I've never had antelope.

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Mon Dec 21, 2020 12:52 pm

duff wrote: ↑Mon Dec 21, 2020 11:33 amSo Anderson is a city. Frankton a small town/village. Perkinsville is a shit hole that has a converted farmer's hangout turned into a posh restaurant that people from Hamilton County and Indy like to come up to and tailgate before their reservations. Bonge's Tavern.

This works for me.

I grew up in a municipality of 25,000 or so. But it was not a small town in my view, because it was basically a bedroom community and part of the larger Chicagoland metropolitan area.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Mon Dec 21, 2020 4:05 pm

When I grew up, my hometown had maybe ~30k in the city limits and ~50k metro. But, when I lived there, we actually thought we were something like urban sophisticates, because we lived in the biggest metropolis in a 250 mile radius, and all the rural folks would come to our town to go to the bars/restaurants/stores, etc. In actuality, we were rubes too, but lacked the self-awareness to realize it.

Pretty funny, in retrospect.

What do you consider a "small town?"