You know you live in a small town when...

[hoodat]

Our water tower -- and flag pole, are the tallest structures by far. Within a 1/2 mile radius, you can farm taters and alfalfa, buy groceries, fill your tank, go to church, hunt ducks, deer, quail and coyotes. We claim a population of 7 or 8 hundred. Two cops keep the peace, and it's pretty tough for them-- to stay awake. It's about as close as you can get to living in Mayberry. jd

And we have a kind of sideways outlook on things.

[pworley1]

Our town has about 300 residents. We have an elementary school, a bank, a drug store, a cafe, a service station, 5 churches, and no traffic light. Most of the families have been here for several generations. We are one of the new families, we have only been here 5 generations so far.

[BunkTheory]

You know its a small town when they have to hold the family reunion on election days so as to make sure everyone shows up

[10x]

A newspaper only survives in a small town despite the fact that every one knows what every one else is doing. They only read the paper to find out who got caught.

[JoeJames]

I consider myself living in a small town, population of around 2800. The tallest building in town is the local bank and its 2 stories. But we can drive 30 miles in 3 different directions and be at a Walmart Supercenter or a nice place to eat.

Its been a good place to work and live.

Here the tallest occupied building is the courthouse which was built in 1895. It has three stories. Grain elevators are the tallest structures. You know Fall is here when you hear the rice dryer going.

[bedbugbilly]

I came back to this thread with my morning coffee to eat the posts. Maybe it's "nostalgia" but I actually woke up last night and had trouble going back to sleep and was thinking about "small towns".

Where I grew up - it has grown so much that I hardly know anyone anymore. I wold see people and have to ask my wife - who is not a "native" but she taught school for over thirty years in the local district - I wold have to ask her who they were as she had their kids.

Yea . . in small towns people know everyone else's business and at times it can be irritating . . . but in the town I grew up near . . . people cared about each other. It was when there was no "entitlement" programs, no welfare, no food stamps or any of those things. Some folks may not have had a whole lot of money but they had their pride and if they had to, they worked two jobs. I knew many who farmed small farms and worked in shops as well.

In the town i grew up near, there was a blind woman who lived in a small house. She was older and literally had nothing other than her house - yet she never wanted for anything because the "community" took care of her. The local Standard Oil distributor - a friend of my Dads, kept her fuel oil tank full yet no one every knew it. The owner of the local small grocery kept her supplied with food. My folks owned a lumberyard and I can remember that her house roof was bad and my Dad noticed it as he drove right by her house everyday he went to work. My Dad talked to a contractor he did business with and on a weekend, the contractor had rounded up a number of men and they tore the old roof off, repaired, put up new roof sheathing and re-roofed it. My folks furnished the materials at no charge with the understanding that nobody was to anybody who furnished the materials. I was with my Dad one night when he met the contractor and several other men at the lumberyard and they loaded up what they needed.

Back in those days, Doctors stlll made house calls and the old Doctor who went to my grandparent's house to take care of them, also took care of the woman. If she needed care beyond what he cold give her, he arranged for it through other Doctors or Specialists that he knew and as far as I know, the woman never received a bill. The small town knew her circumstances and as a result - the "political machine" of the town kept her assessments low and her property taxes a a minimum - and the tax bills were taken care of by several Fraternal Organizations in the area.

Farmers helped the farmers out. If a crop was ready to harvest and a farmer had a tractor or picker broken down, his neighbors showed up and made sure the crop got harvested. If sickness struck a farmer . . . the neighbors made sure the chores got done and the cows got milked.

We all can joke and get a chuckle about our "small towns" and most who grew up or live jn one can certainly relate . . . but all I can say is "Thank God for small towns"! I look at what is going on in this country today and it's a shame that the lessons that they have to teach about neighbors caring for neighbors, people willing to help others regardless of if they agree with some of their thinkings, the sounds of church bells on Sunday morning where neighbors gather to thank God for the blessings they have, not what they don't have - and the list goes on and on - yea . . ."small towns" are the backbone of this country as far as i'm concerned and people could learn some valuable lessons from them about the important things in life if they would only stop their greed long enough to actually listen and learn.

OP - I'm glad you made this post as it has brought back a lot of good memories and I, for one, have greatly enjoyed what everyone has shared - I hope more will post.

[popper]

Yrs ago I was stationed near a small 'town', Dam neck Va. Town sign was mounted on a telephone pole, no building in sight.

[wv109323]

My father was born in a town that had no car road to it. The only way to get in or out was the train- a steam locomotive. You could park your car and walk about 2 miles.

[MaryB]

Under 300 people in my town, post office is one of their prefab buildings they drop on a slab... new water tower, the old one was rusted out and leaking. They kept i for fire fighting though, they can fill it from the town well(no longer used for drinking water, that comes in via pipeline) in 10 minutes and the rural tank trucks can fill fast from it.

New grain elevator, went with a massive steel bin. The old wood building had a wall blow out from rot and was in danger of collapse. Kid who salvaged all the timbers said it had a million nails in it! He is cutting 1x6's from the old timbers, outer pieces getting used as reclaimed wood for accent walls, inner pieces are old growth pine that is way harder than modern lumber.

Add in the bank and equipment repair place and that rounds out the town! No stop lights! Train runs through about once a week in spring and fall and maybe once a month in summer. VERY rare they make a winter run. Tracks are 15mph top speed and in bad shape...

[Lloyd Smale]

small town of about 500. We have two bars and an Indian casino but no post office. Towns name is Christmas michigan and i live on jingle bell lane. When i first moved here we had a post office that was in a party store and everyone came from miles around christmas time to get there mail post marked Christmas. Bars would never make it if it werent for tourists in the summer and snowmobilers in the winter.

[gpidaho]

A small town about thirty miles west of my house, Adrian Oregon, Has a school, a store and a bar-restaurant along with a few agriculture buildings and an Outhouse on an otherwise empty lot and a sign that says "City Hall" Gp

[SeabeeMan]

There are only 2 stoplights in the ENTIRE COUNTY, both located in Spooner, WI and within sight of each other. Graduating classes in the school I teach at range between upper teens and mid 20's.

[Misery-Whip]

In small towns are full of kind guestures, if ya break down they stop and help ya get goin again or get ya where you need to go. They dont try and run ya over.

there is always that person who can horse trade a home baked pie for a trumpet, or a batch of fresh cookies for a good used dryer for their neighbor.

Or bring you a cord of firewood when the see your stack is low, and you been sick. And its paid back by another kind act to them or another community member.

[memtb]

This happened quite a few years ago.....but, is still pretty amazing.

I moved to a small (about 2500 to 3000 people) town in Wyoming and within about 3 years married a home town girl. Around Christmas, a cousin of mine sent us a package....only our first names, the town name, and zip code. No last names, no street address......we received the package! memtb

[Lloyd Smale]

There are only 2 stoplights in the ENTIRE COUNTY, both located in Spooner, WI and within sight of each other. Graduating classes in the school I teach at range between upper teens and mid 20's.

we have one that was put in 3 years ago

[mexicanjoe]

in the little town I lived in where I met the future Mrs., folks were always happy to help out in any way they could. Feller got hurt and couldnt work, food was prepared and brought by, somebody had a raffle: funds for the family; kids got picked up and taken to school.... lots of good stuff happening. We missed church one day due to the Mrs having a head cold. Several of the ladies in church dropped by with hot meals. " Keep the casserole dish, I have others at home " was heard more than once. I was a deputy sheriff at the time, and I had to ask a feller to leave the convenience store; and he bowed up to me.... The entire high school football team was there buying refreshments. When they heard the feller, they all gathered around him as a group and STARED at him..... He got the message real quick!
What was funny was catching some of the rowdier kids driving and drinking beer. Several pleaded to be taken to jail as opposed to us calling mom and dad..... Ahhh the good old days?

[jonp]

I lost a race for Board Of Govenors by one vote. 7-6. This was 5 towns combined. My town had 4 residents. If Butch had shown up i might have won

[higgins]

The Post Office is closed for lunch, and you seldom have to wait to step up to the counter.; I've often been the only customer there. The clerks are friendly and willing to small talk. The only downside I've personally experienced is they never have enough cash on hand to cash a MO over about 20-30 dollars unless you happen to get there after they've sold a large MO or two, but that's no big deal since I can cash it at the bank in a couple or three days.

[ulav8r]

Went to the building supply this morning and bought 10 2x4's. I sat in the truck and let the workers load them. Watching in the mirror, I saw them sot through 25 or 30 to pick out better ones. I had not asked for anything special.

[jsizemore]

If your drivers license lists you PO box as the address. Ex father in law had that where he lived in north Florida.

That was probably 2 Egg, Fl.