I got to wondering if there are towns with “Colorado” in their names. There are actually 2 tiny towns called Colorado in the United States. One is in Texas and the other is in Alaska, but both are extremely small. There is a Colorado City, and it was named for the state of Colorado, but it’s in Arizona. This gets confusing.
There are said to be 68 places in the world with Colorado in their names because in the Spanish language the word Colorado means “colored red”. The towns called Colorado are in 18 mainly Spanish-speaking countries north of The Equator near red mountains or at least having a red-hued landscape. Mexico alone is said to have 19 towns that use the word Colorado in their names.
Colorado City, AZ is an interesting place that Ruth and I have travelled through. It’s just across the border from Utah, has a population of about 5,000, and has acquired a definite Mormon connection. At least 3 fundamentalist Mormon sects are said to be based there, and some call it a polygamy community. A number of large residences with many rooms appear to confirm this and are seen during a drive-through. This town was formed by a breakaway group of Mormons who wanted to practice polygamy, but some say that this was in the distant past and is no longer true. This remains a controversial topic.
The state with the most towns named after it is not Colorado. It’s California. One source says there are 21 California towns, but I can find only about 10 and towns named California Junction in Iowa and New California in Louisiana. The largest town named California is in Maryland and has a population of about 12,000. There is a California, MO west of Jefferson City that has more than 4,000 Missourians living there, and California, Pennsylvania is home to almost 7,000 people south of Pittsburgh. The California’s in states like Virginia and Maine are unincorporated. California is a neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio. The California in Michigan has about 1,000 residents and is east of I-69 and the town of Kinderhook. The others are very small like the California in Kentucky that has fewer than 100 people.
Names can lead to confusion. A guide at Ellis Island told his group that included us the story of a man who spoke no English and went from his immigrant boat to Houston, TX and settled there even though his family was waiting for him to join them on Houston Street in New York City.
Hank
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