Can anyone help out a confused Englishman? I've enjoyed reading this thread but it has caused me to start thinking (?) What does constitute a town, city or village in the US?

Over here the traditional definitions are:
Hamlet - small collection of homes with no communal facilities
Village - small collection of homes with communal facilities, usually a church but could be a Post Office
Town - larger (usually) than a village that has historically been granted the status by charter
City - Originally the location of a cathedral or seat of a bishop. Now large towns of can be granted a Royal charter elevating them to city status.

These definitions mean there can be some strange anomalies. St Davids in Wales is a cathedral city smaller than many villages. Somerton in Somerset where I used to live was a town with a population of 5000, while nearby Street was a village of 15,000.

DM

I went to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town

and I found this:

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The types of municipalities in U.S. states include cities, towns, boroughs, villages, and townships (in the sense of Pennsylvania townships and New Jersey townships; for the meaning in other states, see civil township), although most states do not have all five types. Many states do not use the term "town" for incorporated municipalities. In some states, for example Wisconsin, "town" is used in the same way that civil township is used in elsewhere. In other states, such as Michigan, the term "town" has no official meaning and is simply used informally to refer to a populated place, whether incorporated or not.

In the US, there doesn't seem to be a uniform way of labeling an area. I think for the purpose of letterboxing, "towns" do not have to have an official status. The name just has to get you close to the box. This is my current opinion, anyway, now that online maps recognize such small "communities".

-Quiet Place

In some states, for example Wisconsin, "town" is used in the same way that civil township is used in elsewhere.

Yes, that is true. I lived in Stone Bank, which was in the Town of Merton. But things really got confusing because we had an Oconomowoc mailing address, a North Lake exchange on our telephone number and I went to high school in Hartland. :)

TG

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Fast forward many years; she is 92 and still lives alone out in the country. A few years back (I don't remember how many but less than 10) she was burning some leaves, as usual, and caught a big sycamore tree on fire. She went inside to call 911 and they came out, only to tell her they could not do anything since it was in the other township...

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Please tell me someone came and put it out? I mean after the wrong FD came the first time

She pulled out her garden hose, and had the fire under control by the time the correct department arrived. She's not known for her patience. *GRIN* She wasn't able to save the tree, though.

She wasn't able to save the tree, though.


Well hey at least she got it under control.

-HG

I can't say that I know what would happen with more than one child in a household. My educated guess is that they would all go to school in the same district, but I have no idea how that would be determined...maybe based on the age of the oldest kid. I'm sure it doesn't happen that often.

I also can't speak for all of Ohio, just my corner of it. This information is something I learned when I was working for a property title company some years ago.

Mercs