Sort of a compliment to
Tony's post, but interesting enough that it merits its own post.
In his post, mentioned the fact that Waynesville's population was relativity small compered to Waynesboro.
And, if you look on paper, it is. Much smaller (2006 est. 3,507 vs. est. 21,454).
But
that will be changing. Very soon. In fact, it could very well happen overnight.
Let me explain.
Waynesville and St. Robert (affectionately known, by me, as "the 'Ville" and "St. Bob") are technically different cities, but they're basically, along with the Army base Fort Leonard Wood, one community, as you can see here:
View Larger MapThe 'Ville has a population of around 3,500 and St. Bob around 2,700.
But if you were to come here without knowing anything about the community other than the population figures, you'd be mighty confused. How many communities of 6,000 have rush-hour traffic jams?
They don't. The actual population of the entire community is somewhere closer to 40,000. The problem is, most of Ft. Wood's population is unincorporated, so it doesn't count towards the figures of either city. Fort Wood has about 35,000 people (tricky, since the Army is transient... so it might, in all truth be even more).
If you read the article above, though, you'll read that the Wayesville and St. Robert city councils and the Pulaski County commission are in talks to annex the population of Fort Leonard Wood, which will mean that they'll add 17,500 people to the numbers of each city.
If you're keeping track, that would put the 'Ville at 21,007 and 20,260 for St. Bob. And since they're basically one community that's upwards of 40,000 people.
This is significant, for a few reasons. First, now people will actually look at the city populations and not think "podunk, middle of nowhere town." They'll think "podunk, little CITY off
I-44."
Second, and most importantly, businesses might give us a second look and give us the possibility for even more growth. Which means that maybe we'll finally get a Panera Bread and a standalone Starbucks.
If we couple it with
Rolla, 20 miles up the road towards St. Louis— pop. 18,438, plus 6,000
college students— we've got ourselves a nice little corridor of small cities. Who knows, maybe we'll even get a Borders or Barnes & Noble bookstore (snicker).
When all is said and done, it looks like Tony and Chase still live in a larger metropolitan area—
Augusta County, VA has a total population of 70,910 (not sure, at this point, if that includes Waynesboro and Staunton).
Pulaski County, MO, on the other hand, has a population of 44,546, including the 'Ville, the Fort and St. Bob. So we're still smaller.
You guys just aren't multiplying overnight.
Labels: maps, Missouri, numbers, Wayne
Despite Waynesville's relative smallness
compared to Waynesboro, the city has a higher percentage of roadways available for Google Street View.
But when Google came through the 'boro, they captured one of the oddest items I've seen in any lame "street view sightings" site. Es.g.:
1,
2. They pictured a line painting truck:
That said, Street View has really bloomed. Just
zoom in here to check the coverage area.
I've also been thinking about the
Mercator projection and
Atlanta's mapathon.
Labels: maps, Wayne
Tony and I have already posted about our
similar living situations, as well as
weird coincidences that kinda happened to us in our professional lives.
There's also this one that I didn't bring up before: reading a bit of the sports blog from Tony's paper, I found out that the teams from the 'boro regularly play a team from
Rockbridge County School. Funny that a frequent opponent of the teams from the 'ville is
Rock Bridge High School in Columbia.
Unfortunately, Rock Bridge is good at basketball but doesn't have as good of a nickname as its crosstown rival,
Hickman: the
Kewpies.
I was going to have a post about other funny nicknames and sporting things I've come across in Missouri, but it wasn't ready. You'll have to wait.
Until then, another strange similarity of the 'ville and the 'boro (kinda). Tony already talked about going "
over the mountain" to go to work. Here's a view from my side of the world: the Ozarks on U.S. Highway 63. Unedited (no Photoshop on the laptop), probabaly a lot shittier, but I get a similar vibe. A preview of what Chase might see on
his road trip, even:
Labels: driving, landscape, Missouri, mountains, Wayne
Never mind the
coincidence; the fact that Tony and I work at newspapers in towns with similar names and compete with newspapers with the
same name. Oh, it's still there. Only this story just makes it a little freakier.
Listen: there's this wrestler, named Gordon Bierschenk. He graduated from Waynesville High School in 2003. In high school he was a mediocre wrestler at best but decided after graduation that he'd walk on at the University of Minnesota anyway, just for the hell of it.
So far, so good. He then went to Iraq after being a decent walk-on and came back with a new fire. Now he's the Big Ten Wrestler of the Week.
Now, here's the freaky part: I got scooped on his story. Not by the
Springfield News-Leader, or the
Pulaski County Daily. No. I got scooped by the
Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Never in a million years did I expect that to happen.
Now, this would admittedly be a lot freakier if Tony was still interning there. But still...who'd've thunk it? I've got national competition (*snicker*).
And you can read my version of the story
here (no e-link yet, but I just posted the pdf on my blog, that'll have to do for now). My version is a bit more in-depth, plus I was able to talk to his mom and high school coach. Mine comes out Saturday, and the Strib piece was on Wednesday...the bastard.
Labels: coincidence, Daily Guide, Missouri, ne, newspapers, Star Tribune, Wayne, work
The Center of the Venn (a diagram of similarities)
Before reading a word, please LISTEN.
What were the chances that two equally dapper and similarly attired Hillsdale freshman would meet through a common love of The Hives and four years later find themselves living in towns named after the same fiery Revolutionary War hero while competing against Gannett newspapers, also of the same name?
Suffice it to say, it happened. The details below will paint the picture, and clarify the Center of the Venn diagram too.
| WAYNESVILLE | WAYNESBORO |
| Rookie reporter | Jack | Tony |
| Population | 3,507 (˜ 20,000 when grouped with St. Robert and Ft. Leonard Wood "metro" area) | 21,454 |
| Namesake | "Mad" Anthony Wayne | "Mad" Anthony Wayne |
| Competing newspaper | The News Leader, Springfield | The News Leader, Staunton |
| Historical fame | prostitution capitol | birthplace of spandex |
| Nearby nat'l landmarks | Mark Twain National Forest | Shenandoah National Park, Monticello |
| Downtown is: | classic in disrepair | classic with vacancies |
| City motto | Preserving the Past, Planning for the Future | Hospitality in the Valley |
| Incredible discovery | KDHX in St. Louis, best station ever. And WJR in Detroit comes in too. | lost-freight company |
| Area employers | Ft. Leonard Wood | Invista, Hershey, Little Debbie, Target |
| Nearby nature | the Ozarks | mountains, bears, contaminated fish |
| Historic Highway | Route 66 | Blue Ridge Parkway |
| Cheesy attraction | Stubby Stonehenge (Rolla) | giant watering can (Staunton) |
| Prob. of getting lost on mountain highways | high | moderate |
| Weekend pastimes | High school sports | making local liquor store most lucrative in the state |
| Gang presence? | none...unless counting soldiers vs. strip club security personnel | Bloods, Crips, MS13, Burples, VA Stickups, etc. |
| Town reputation: | conservative; military | groan-inducing |
| Big news lately | Serviceman court martial | School murder plot; 41-year-old case closed |
| Recommend town for living? | no. | no. |
More about the namesake: Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745–December 15, 1796) was a United States Army general and statesman. His military exploits and fiery personality quickly earned him a promotion and the sobriquet of "Mad Anthony".
Labels: coincidence, Missouri, newspapers, Virginia, Wayne, work
