Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Category: Government

  • Ohio Capitals

    I enjoyed researching the migrating state capitals of Alabama and Georgia. So why not try another state? Yes, I think I will focus on Ohio. I discovered an interesting website in the process too, Ohio History Central “researched and written by staff at the Ohio Historical Society” It seemed to be a well-written site in…

  • Sydney Tentacles

    It’s been a long time since I visited Sydney, Australia, as evidenced by the lousy quality photograph I took of the city skyline from the Taronga Zoo. That happened during the pre-digital era, or at least my pre-ownership-of-anything-digital era. Digital cameras probably existed although my cheapness would have prevented me from purchasing something until much…

  • More Full Names

    I enjoyed compiling a list of Full Name counties in the United States earlier this week. In a comment “The Basement Geographer” improved the article significantly with a list of similarly-constructed counties in Canada. It was great work on his part. Readers should refer back to his comment and check it out. That led me…

  • Full Name Counties

    Almost exactly a year ago, 12MC published Jeff Davis, a treatise on the use of the Confederate leader’s full name as a geographic identifier at the county level of government. Davis County wasn’t a good enough name for some of those deeply-Southern states. No, it had to be Jeff Davis or the more formal Jefferson…

  • Town of County Line

    I’m always on the lookout for odd town names. So that’s what drew my eye to a dot, the aptly named County Line, Alabama. I wish I could make a better map, however Google seems to be stripping features away from “old” Maps, and the newer version is even worse. I can’t do simple things…

  • Railroads Torment Colfax

    I mentioned Colfax, Louisiana in “Just the -fax, Ma’am.” Something rang in my mind with a sense familiarity. Where had I heard of the town’s namesake, Schuyler Colfax before? I combed through the 12MC archive and discovered he’d made an appearance in a different context. One of our readers, John Deeth first mentioned him. Then…

  • Gary Coleman on the Grassy Knoll

    The search engine query landed like an explosion on Twelve Mile Circle, hoping to uncover the ultimate in unlikely conspiracy theories, “Gary Coleman on the Grassy Knoll.” Yet, the article you are reading right now is the first time that Mr. Coleman ever appeared on this blog. I couldn’t remember any other occasion, and I…

  • Mutual Ownership Defense Housing

    My reference to Audubon Park, New Jersey in For More Birds revealed an historic experiment in middle class public housing. In that instance the earlier residents of Audubon voted the newly-arrived shipyard workers out of their borough. So in response, those displaced residents created a separate Audubon Park borough. In the meantime, that anecdote revealed…

  • Bostonian Confusion and I Don’t Mean Massachusetts

    I kept things vague when I discussed Boston — the Boston in Texas — in Named Like a Whole Other Country. I stopped at “the man who opened the first store in the area was W. J. Boston.” Otherwise I might have tipped my hand that I’d discovered three Texas Bostons all within about four…

  • City of Frogs

    I love statistical clustering. Another moment of weirdness revealed itself on my never-ending family history quest. I’ve oftentimes searched for months without finding anything beyond mundane anecdotes of routine life. However, the latest one was far better. It actually tied to geography in a concrete way so bear with me as I provide context, or…