What's behind the name?

[Pennie 26]

hello everyone

Ok I have come up with a new activity that I want to make up but I am needing your help however. It is still a work in progess until I get info gathered up. What I am wanting to do is make an activity that explains how a town got its name. Example is I live in Onalaska, TX, it is located: Onalaska, Texas, located on a peninsula extending into Lake Livingston, 13 miles west of Livingston and 28 miles east of Huntsville on US Highway 190, is nestled in a very picturesque setting surrounded by Lake Livingston and the Piney Woods in all directions History: An "Old Sawmill Town" in Texas. When you stop to chat with local townsfolk and shop owners you find that Onalaska has quite a colorful history. The area was first settled in 1840, and was a farming area until the arrival of the Carlisle Company.

 

With the sawmill, Onalaska then became a boom town and was even larger than the nearby county seat of Livingston. The town had two hotels, a movie theater, a large park, a hospital, a large downtown which included many stores, a cold storage plant, its own electrical plant, a bank, a railroad depot, and a large general store where you could purchase almost anything.

 

The town's primary claim to fame was the largest sawmill in Texas. However, when the forest was depleted in the mid 1920's the sawmill closed. The loggers moved on and Onalaska shrank to a "sleepy little East Texas village".

William Carlisle sent L.O.. Jackson to Polk County, Texas in 1903 and, with the help of Judge J.E. Hill and R.T. Stone, he purchased thousands of acres of land between the selected mill site and Trinity, Groveton, Corrigan and east of Livingston. The price paid for the land was approximately $5 per acre. This included land and mineral rights.

more history on Onalaska http://cityofonalaska.us/history.htm

 

So I would like all of you to tell me where you live city, state & some info about the town ie how it got its name etc. I will then make up some sort of activity program out of this to do with the residents.

Once I have completed this I will post it for all of you to use. This is if I get enough response to turn this into an activity. Also any suggestios or ideals on how you think thi sactivity would work will be appericated.

Thanks in advance

You can post your info here &/0r email it to me pbacon@activitydirector.com