Small Town in the playground

[de-trick]

Before today I thought of Dauphin(my hometown) as a small city, but today I went to Brandon and was shocked at the differences.

The first thing me and my friends talked about was how were going to go to Dairy Queen and get a blizzard, and how we were going to differnt fast-food places today.

The second thing today was we saw a drink machine that had a spot for bills, and to make a long story short here we ended up staying thirsty, we could not figure what end to put the money in, or what bill to put in.

The third thing was the prices of somethings and the varity. I'm a wal-mart shopper who spends maybe $5-$15 on a shirt and $20-$35 on jeans. One store I walked into had shirts for about $40-$75, and jeans $50 -$120. And how many stores sold the samething.

So anyone else in the playground a hick living out country

[Serpentine]

What's the population of Dauphin? My last hometown was 1000 people, and my first was slightly less than that. I think I like Armidale, size-wise - big enough to have a cinema, reasonable number of shops, plenty of cafes and most of the amenities anyone's likely to want, but small enough that you can walk just about anywhere in around an hour, you recognize a lot of people around, people still have (the nicer) small-town attitudes (like manners and chatting), and it's fairly clean, treed and pleasant.

[FoE]

The town where I currently work my evil schemes is about 5,000 people. But my hometown is about 500.

[someonenonotyou]

1000 ha i live in a city with 400 ish something its not technicly a city its a township and im like related to 50 percent of them

[Serpentine]

Meh. A "town" near Tallangatta, so far as I can tell, consisted entirely of a football ground. No, really. There's a sign saying "Sandy Creek" (no, it's not naming a stream of water :smallsigh:), a football oval, and a couple of associated buildings. A friend of mine lived there, on a smallish farm down the road.

[RTGoodman]

I don't know the population, but the place I live only became an official "town" about a year ago. There's no Wal-Mart or anything like that, but there is a Food Lion, a Chinese restaurant, a smokeshop, a Wendy's, and a Dollar General Store in the one little shopping center.

Of course, there are about 5 or 6 bigger cities within maybe 20 minutes of driving, so it's not actually that bad.

[Syka]

^ You still have Food Lion? That's awesome. Ours closed years ago and nothing else has taken it's place.

My town is suburbia. As in, about 5 different towns just kinda meld into each other and form a sprawling suburbia. I think my particular town has 10000 people? But that's a lot considering we're crammed into a small space. I think you can drive for about...an hour plus, and all the towns blend together, you don't leave civilization. Unless you go west, then you leave civilization in about 15 minutes and get to Cow Country.

Up north you could tell the different towns because, ya know, there was undeveloped land between them. *rolls eyes* Darn development.

Cheers,
Syka

EDIT: I just looked at census information. About 10k for my town, 9k for the one just south of me, 800 for one south of that, 800 for one west of us, etc.

I think in my area it's impossible to have a small town because they are all huddled together. oO

[InaVegt]

Well, I'm from Zwolle, which has over 100k inhabitants, but it's so provincial it doesn't feel like a city, more like a really large town.

[skywalker]

I don't know the population, but the place I live only became an official "town" about a year ago. There's no Wal-Mart or anything like that, but there is a Food Lion, a Chinese restaurant, a smokeshop, a Wendy's, and a Dollar General Store in the one little shopping center.

Of course, there are about 5 or 6 bigger cities within maybe 20 minutes of driving, so it's not actually that bad.

Smokeshop seems pretty random...

Syka, we've still got a Food Lion in Oak Ridge, TN. A few others have gone out of business and, like you said, never been replaced by anything :smallfrown:

[RTGoodman]

For most of the early years of my life, I didn't even know there were grocery stores that weren't Food Lions. Then a Lowes Foods moved in a town over, and now there are at least two Super Wal-Marts within driving distance, so the Food Lions probably won't last too much longer.

^Smokeshop as in, place where you buy cigars, cigarettes, and other smoking/tobacco supplies. In North Carolina, there all over the place because of the ties with tobacco. At least, they're all over where I've lived.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Well, I'm from Zwolle

And I never knew.

Well, I live in Dordrecht with 100 000+ inhabitants, and thats not counting the villages(Even though they call them ´cities´now which is absolutely weird, they don´t even have their own hospitals) like Papendrecht, who ´grew on to´ Dordrecht.

[skywalker]

^Smokeshop as in, place where you buy cigars, cigarettes, and other smoking/tobacco supplies. In North Carolina, there all over the place because of the ties with tobacco. At least, they're all over where I've lived.

Yah, still seems like a pretty random thing to have, until you point out the NC association with tobacco. Then it makes all the sense in the world.

[Emperor Ing]

town I used to live in had a population of 95
and it was awesome. :smallcool:

[Bayar]

Wow, in my country, the small towns have things cheaper than in the big city. I live in a city with a pop of about 300.000 . We dont raise chickens in the city :frown:

[Dallas-Dakota]

I live in The Netherlands, (south) Holland to be precise, except for the green heart, its all one big city actually, just with multiple names.
I.E. Cross a bridge. You have left Dordrecht, Welcome to Papendrecht.

[Cainen]

My current abode is in the middle of Nowhere, AR, population...oh, 50.

If I didn't say it's very close to the worst place you could possibly stick me, I'd be a liar. Saying "I hate it out here" doesn't come close to how strongly I feel about this place.

[Zaggab]

The place I live in has about 3000 inhabitants, but it's only 16 km away from Umeå, the largest city in the northern half of Sweden. Which, with about 100 000 inhabitants, is probably still considered being a small town by some. Anyways, since it is so close to Umeå, most non-grocery shopping, activities, school etc. is done there.

[SoD]

I (usually, not now) live in Tasmania. Total population over the entire island: about 50 000ish, I think.

[Serpentine]

Total Aboriginal population? 0ish.

<.<
>.>

Too soon?

[Goats_o_Mjolnir]

Highland Mills NY, were our mainstreet is literally as long as our track field, most poeple by me just refer to it as

"bumblef**k"

[SoD]

Total Aboriginal population? 0ish.

Sounds about right. Give or take a few.

I don't think I've actually met an aboriginal in Tasmania...

[Syka]

For most of the early years of my life, I didn't even know there were grocery stores that weren't Food Lions. Then a Lowes Foods moved in a town over, and now there are at least two Super Wal-Marts within driving distance, so the Food Lions probably won't last too much longer.

^Smokeshop as in, place where you buy cigars, cigarettes, and other smoking/tobacco supplies. In North Carolina, there all over the place because of the ties with tobacco. At least, they're all over where I've lived.

For us, it's Albertsons (mostly gone, the one nearest me was replaced by a Winn Dixie, which had moved from it's place down the street to only have Publix take over it's spot from across the street, and Office Depot snatch up the empty space), Winn Dixie (also mostly, but not totally gone), and Publix. Publix is pretty much pwning the competition though.

Dallas, it sounds like my area. :) Yay smallish towns/cities and form a huge town/city.

Cheers,
Syka

[Dragonrider]

My town is ~16,000. We have an Albertson's, a Safeway, and a Wal-Mart. Oh, and a Bi-Mart. :smalltongue:

[Telonius]

My current place of residence has (officially) 853 residents. There's been quite a bit of development since the last census, though, so it's probably up around 2,000 by now. Literally no stoplights in the town.

So yeah, I live way out in the sticks. But I commute in every day to work in Washington, DC. (just under 600,000 in the city itself, 5 million in the metro area).

My hometown was Erie, PA. About 250,000 people are in the metro area.

[Rare Pink Leech]

Definitely not a small town boy here: I live in a city whose population is nearly 6 million people, including its suburbs. On the other hand, my mom is from a small town that we visit frequently since most of her extended family is there. When walking down the main street (which has 3 sets of traffic lights), it's not uncommon for us to come across at least two or three sets of family members. The town has around 2,400 people, which is about the same number of people who went to my high school!

[Cristo Meyers]

First hometown was less than 300 people, the next was around 600. Both towns are in a county of probably no more than 3000.

My wife grew up in Chicagoland suburbs and had never seen a town that small before she met me. The look on her face when I showed her around my home was priceless. Poor girl was shell-shocked.

[WalkingTarget]

I grew up on a farm.

About a 7-minute drive either west or east got you to towns of about 300 and 2500 people respectively (the former is where I went to school through 8th grade, the high school was in the larger town).

The smaller one occasionally had a small store (one would open briefly, not do well, and would eventually close), one small non-chain gas station used mostly by local farmers, a small cafe, a tavern, and a locally-owned bank (where I knew and was known by the three tellers and owner/manager, the only people who work there, for practically my whole life).

The larger one had one decent grocery store (part of a local chain, I think they have 5 or 6 in the county but that's the extent of it) and another that comes and goes, eventually 3 gas stations (only one of which, the automated Farm Service station on the edge of town, was usable after about 11pm until pay-at-the-pump became widely used a few years ago), up to 5 bars or taverns at any time, and between 3 and 6 small cafes or other restaurants depending on how business is going. This one was big enough for some other business (a car dealership, a few dentist and doctor offices, etc), but I was still a 30 mile drive from anything resembling a brand-name establishment (Wal-Mart, McDonalds or any other fast food chain, Kroger, a sub-par movie theater, etc). The nearest mall and/or decent movie theater was an hour away (you had a few choices, 3 more populous areas about the same distance away).

Neither of these towns has any stoplights (the smaller one doesn't even have a stop sign on the main street through town; there isn't an important enough intersection to warrant one). This gives up a bit about where I'm from, but not far from where I've been describing (it's within the same county) is a non-incorporated town known, and appearing on maps, as Goofy Ridge.

I've since then moved to a town (or city, where does that distinction happen?) of about 125,000. I like not having to drive so far to buy anything that isn't just groceries.

[Cristo Meyers]

-snip-

Gods, that sounds incredibly familiar...except the town where I went to school had a single stoplight. I think it was the only stoplight in the county.

[Jack Squat]

Smokeshop seems pretty random...

Syka, we've still got a Food Lion in Oak Ridge, TN. A few others have gone out of business and, like you said, never been replaced by anything :smallfrown:

There's one that went out of business just north of Knoxville (the halls/powell area) and is now Dollar General Market...it seems to be the exception though.

Where I am has a population of about 14k people, and is the largest suburb of Knoxville. I'm just happy because we'll be getting a Best Buy down the road a little soon.

[Dallas-Dakota]

I live in a city whose population is nearly 6 million people, including its suburbs.

That is more then 1/3rd of the population of the Netherlands....

[Destro_Yersul]

Well, I'm in a suburb. Around 97k for my particular municipality, and a whole hell of a lot more in the surrounding area. See, I live kinda near Vancouver, BC. the population for this entire area is a little over 2.1 million, which is more than half the Province's inhabitants.

Course, my family is also part owners in a cabin by a lake. The closest population center to said cabin is called Quilchena. Quilchena has a general store, a hotel and a golf course. Maybe a couple houses. And I'm not even sure about the hotel.

So yeah, I'm a city slicker :smalltongue:

[Telonius]

I've since then moved to a town (or city, where does that distinction happen?) of about 125,000.

I'd say that if the place itself (not the metro area) is about 200,000 or more, it's a city.

[Saithis Bladewing]

I was born in a city of around 100,000-150,000 people, then grew up in a much smaller city of about 15,000 - after that we moved to the city of Portland, Oregon, which currently has around 2 million people in its metropolitan area, and then eventually we moved to the city of Eugene, with around 300,000 people at the time, after that we moved to a small town on the outskirts which only had 1,000 people, but was within a 10 minute drive of the city, so it was really just a slightly detached suburb. It wasn't really like living in a small town. Now we're in a town of around 60,000, and it feels pretty small to me. I can walk anywhere in this place!


I'd say that if the place itself (not the metro area) is about 200,000 or more, it's a city.

I direct you to this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City) article for technical definitions of City.

[WalkingTarget]

I direct you to this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City) article for technical definitions of City.

Which lists, for Illinois, the legal distinction is only 2,500 people to make a "city" which seems to not jive with the standard usage of the word. In my own head, I guess I'd probably put the big town/small city distinction somewhere around 100,000.

[Telonius]

I was born in a city of around 100,000-150,000 people, then grew up in a much smaller city of about 15,000 - after that we moved to the city of Portland, Oregon, which currently has around 2 million people in its metropolitan area, and then eventually we moved to the city of Eugene, with around 300,000 people at the time, after that we moved to a small town on the outskirts which only had 1,000 people, but was within a 10 minute drive of the city, so it was really just a slightly detached suburb. It wasn't really like living in a small town. Now we're in a town of around 60,000, and it feels pretty small to me. I can walk anywhere in this place!



I direct you to this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City) article for technical definitions of City.

Woohoo, I was right.

an urban locality exceeding an arbitrary population size
:smallbiggrin:

[Fostire]

I used to live in a city with a pop. of around 2000, then i moved here to Montevideo with a pop. of around 1300000. Thats almost 1/2 the country's population.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Meh, Holland is just one really big city, with different names and a hole in it called the green hart.

[skywalker]

There's one that went out of business just north of Knoxville (the halls/powell area) and is now Dollar General Market...it seems to be the exception though.

Where I am has a population of about 14k people, and is the largest suburb of Knoxville. I'm just happy because we'll be getting a Best Buy down the road a little soon.

Ah, yes, that one. That is the exception.

A new Best Buy, where?

[SDF]

I grew up in a small town in MN of about 8,000 people. Iconic midwest small town really. Hundreds of miles from the nearest city. Now I live in the capital of Idaho and there are several hundred thousand people here.

[thorgrim29]

Something like 160k in Sherbrooke, it used to be a lot less, but we merged with the suburbs, works out pretty well, but it's so spread out....I'd say its about an half hoursish drive from one end to the other.

[Jack Squat]

Ah, yes, that one. That is the exception.

A new Best Buy, where?

In Halls, near the Emory/Norris intersection IIRC. I know Super Wal Mart is going there, and Home Depot, Lowes, and Best Buy are supposed to follow.

[de-trick]

dauphin has about 7800- 8500 people we have a Wal-mart, Canadian tire, home hardware, Co-op, extra foods, safe way and 2 malls, one doesnt really count though it just like maybe 3 stores most

[Burrito]

Grew up in Dent, Minnesota. Population at that time was 177. Now I live outside of Duluth, which if you count the surrounding cities and towns, has over 120,000.

[Wooter]

I don't even know where I live anymore. My address says one thing, my phone number implies another, and I'm in an entirely different county.

I guess I live in the middle of Nowhere, North Carolina. My neighbors are trees and farms. *Sigh* I didn't usd to live here. I used to live in someplace civilized. You know, places where I didn't have to drive past veal farms every day.

[blackfox]

I'm in Charlottesville, VA, which is 40k within the city limits and 120k in the whole county (C'ville is basically the only city in the county.) With any luck, I'll get to live in Ithaca, NY (!) in Fall '09, which is 30k in the city (half of which are college students) and 100k in the county, which is so much more the middle of nowhere than my home county is.

[Flabbicus]

I'm in Charlottesville, VA, which is 40k within the city limits and 120k in the whole county (C'ville is basically the only city in the county.) With any luck, I'll get to live in Ithaca, NY (!) in Fall '09, which is 30k in the city (half of which are college students) and 100k in the county, which is so much more the middle of nowhere than my home county is.

You know what they have in Ithaca?

Nothing. Hahahaha.

[Twisted shroud]

The town I live in has around 6000 people and about 1000 of them are students.

[RTGoodman]

I don't even know where I live anymore. My address says one thing, my phone number implies another, and I'm in an entirely different county.

I guess I live in the middle of Nowhere, North Carolina. My neighbors are trees and farms. *Sigh* I didn't usd to live here. I used to live in someplace civilized. You know, places where I didn't have to drive past veal farms every day.

What part of NC do you live in, if you don't mind my asking?

One of my friends back home was in that same situation (but without the veal) before he moved. He only lived about 5 minutes from me in the same county, yet somehow he had an address from somewhere about 20 minutes away and phone number for we-don't-even-know-where.

[Wooter]

The piedmont area, near Salisbury.

[Serpentine]

The town I live in has around 6000 people and about 1000 of them are students.Tallangatta had about 1000 people, and when I was there the high school had 365 students (my >1/3 beats your 1/6 :smalltongue:). There were also two primary schools, a retirement village and a nursing home. I know of very, very few people there who weren't in the retirement village or nursing home, at one of the schools, or mostly there just because they had family that was.