Small Town News

Welcome to Sweetwater, Tennessee, home of the Lost Sea!  The town was established in the 1850s and was presumably named after the natural springs in the area (not the weird stuff some guy made up).  The town is located in the Great Smoky Mountains in Southeastern Tennessee.  Sweetwater is home to the Craighead Caverns, an extensive cave system which contains the largest underground lake in the Uni...

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov 

Did you know Big Bird was originally supposed to be on the doomed Challenger Sapce Shuttle mission?  Have you ever wondered which Muppet we would want to travel hang out with in space?  We didn't think so.  Unfortunately Dr. Jess is gone and we've been left unsupervised.  Take a listen as we revisit some of our favorite places using articles that were not used in the original episodes.  ...

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov 

Welcome to Beatrice, Nebraska, where you can "Stake Your Claim"!  The town was founded in 1857 and is the seat of Gage County.  Beatrice is home to the Homestead National Historic Park.  When the Homestead Act was passed by Congress in 1862, it allowed settlers to claim 160 acres of government land for a small fee.  The Act had an incredible impact on the speed of settlement in the West....

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov 

Welcome to Carlsbad, New Mexico, the "Pearl on the Pecos"!  Founded in 1888 as Eddy, the town was renamed Carlsbad after a famous European spa of the same name after the local mineral springs were commercially developed for medicinal qualities.  The town is also home to Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  The town has been called home by several notable people including Dan Blocker.  Blocke...

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov 

The small town so nice, we had to stop twice!  We hope you enjoy the continuation of our visit to Ellensburg! Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov 

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov 

Welcome to Ellensburg, Washington, where "it's a pleasure to host you"!  The town was founded in 1871 along the Yakima River in the Kittitas Valley.  The town grew rapidly in the 1880s after the Northern Pacific Railway arrived.  In 1889, the town made a bid to be the capital of the newly formed state of Washington.  The bid was stymied when a major fire destroyed the downtown area...

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov 

Welcome to Pottstown, Pennsylvania... and Exton... and Boyertown.  The primary source for this week's podcast is the Berks-Mont Newspapers,  which covers a number of communities in the area.  Each of these towns claims the paper, so we are including them all in this week's podcast.  This area has quite a few interesting claims to fame.  Which town do you think was selected by director Ke...

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov 

Welcome to "The Boat"!  Steamboat Springs is an internationally known ski resort destination and has produced more athletes for the Winter Olympics than any other town in North America.  The town got its name when early trappers heard the chugging sound made by the natural hot springs in the area and mistook them for a steamboat.  We presume these trappers were well into a bottle or two...

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov 

Welcome to everywhere!  This week Dr. Jess is on sabbatical and we have to fend for ourselves.  Instead of actually doing any work, we reach into the grab bag and read unused articles from some of our recent small town expeditions.  We hope you enjoy!   Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov 

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov 

Welcome to Dahlonega, Georgia, the site of the second major gold rush in the US.  As you can imagine, George quickly becomes a fan of the town. The discovery occurred in 1828, and quickly became a boomtown.  The Cherokee had their own gold mines as well, and the government was under pressure to remove the Native Americans so the white settlers good claim the gold.  As we discover more often than w...

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov 

Welcome to Clarinda, Iowa, where they "Honor the Past, and Imagine the Future".  The town was founded in 1851 and incorporated in 1866.  In it's early years, the town was best known as the home of Berry's Seed Company.  It was a mail order seed company founded in 1885 in Clarinda.  The town has a minor league baseball team, the Clarinda A's.  The team has sent several play...

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov 

Welcome to Kennebunk, Maine, "the only town in the world so named".  First settled in 1621, the town first flourished as a trading, shipping and shipbuilding port.  Originally the town was part of the towns of Wells and Arundel, but was incorporated in 1820 as Kennebunk.  The town has become a popular summer tourist destination in modern times, but still retains much of its original char...

Small Town News--whose headline is it, anyway? @SmallTownNewsImprov 

Welcome to Wickenburg, Arizona, the Dude Ranch Capital of the World!  Wickenburg was founded in 1863 by ranchers and miners.  The town went through a number of trials in its first few decades including the Indian Wars, mine closures, drought, and disastrous flooding due to a dam failure in 1890.  The town endured and then flourished with the arrival of the railroad in 1895.  Although only freight...