why so much east vs west in such a small state (Franklin: island, population)

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by thenewtexan

You've heard of Northboro and Southboro, but not Westboro? That's pretty funny.

Southboro has St. Marks and i played them in sports. Had a kid in my class from Southborough.... Northborough ..i think i saw sign for it in Southboro.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

From context, I believe he means he’s always seen it written Westborough and never Westboro. Back in the dark ages when I was between startups, I worked at the main Data General building in Westborough. Internally, it was Webo. Generally, it was spelled Westboro and you didn’t see much of Westborough. I did a startup in Marlboro in the industrial park just outside 495. I don’t recall ever seeing Marlborough on anything in the mail.

If you see Westborough now, I figure it’s because the realtors got at it to make it more pretentious.

I'm pretty sure it's origin point was the construction of the U.S. interstate system. X'borough was quite a bit of typography for a single road sign, thus is was truncated on 495/90 signage. The town was incorporated as "Westborough", the state funded town town signs read "Westborough", and all of the town websites and offices list as "Westborough" ... it's Westborough, despite what others limiting their knowledge to highway signage might think.

What doesn't help is towns like Attleboro which fail to acknowledge historical context. Pretentious? Perhaps.

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by thenewtexan

You've heard of Northboro and Southboro, but not Westboro? That's pretty funny.

Massachusetts has a lot of directional towns, but most of the sets seem to be incomplete.

The hamptons all seem to be there. Northampton, Westhampton, Easthampton, and Southampton. They even seem to be vaguely in the right position.

There's a Northborough, Southborough, and Westborough, all of which broke off from Marlborough, but there's no Eastborough.

There's Weston, and Easton, and even a Norton, but there's no Southton. Also, Weston is, if anything, north of Easton and Norton is definitely south (and a bit west, at least) of Easton.

And there's Westwood, which is north of Norwood (and a little bit west, thankfully), but the only Eastwood in Massachusetts is in movie theaters.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

I'm pretty sure it's origin point was the construction of the U.S. interstate system. X'borough was quite a bit of typography for a single road sign, thus is was truncated on 495/90 signage. The town was incorporated as "Westborough", the state funded town town signs read "Westborough", and all of the town websites and offices list as "Westborough" ... it's Westborough, despite what others limiting their knowledge to highway signage might think.

What doesn't help is towns like Attleboro which fail to acknowledge historical context. Pretentious? Perhaps.

I realize all those towns are incorporated as *-borough but the alternate shortened spelling is pretty common for all of them. You're not going to see Westboro in a town property tax bill but everybody else uses the spellings interchangeably. I have to see if I have any ancient business cards kicking around from my Marlboro and Westboro jobs. I'm pretty sure both companies used Marlboro and Westboro but that was a looooong time ago when Spags was a thing.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

What doesn't help is towns like Attleboro which fail to acknowledge historical context. Pretentious? Perhaps.

"Attleboro" was formed when they split the original town of "Attleborough" into Attleboro and North Attleborough , in which the latter kept the "ough".

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by massnative71

"Attleboro" was formed when they split the original town of "Attleborough" into Attleboro and North Attleborough , in which the latter kept the "ough".

Just like North Andover and Ando ... oh wait.

[dcb175]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

Massachusetts has a lot of directional towns, but most of the sets seem to be incomplete.

The hamptons all seem to be there. Northampton, Westhampton, Easthampton, and Southampton. They even seem to be vaguely in the right position.

There's a Northborough, Southborough, and Westborough, all of which broke off from Marlborough, but there's no Eastborough.

There's Weston, and Easton, and even a Norton, but there's no Southton. Also, Weston is, if anything, north of Easton and Norton is definitely south (and a bit west, at least) of Easton.

And there's Westwood, which is north of Norwood (and a little bit west, thankfully), but the only Eastwood in Massachusetts is in movie theaters.

I grew up in Northboro in the 90's (see what I did there?) It's common for locals to drop the "ugh" for some reason. Effectively, the 4 of them function as one town (as someone noted, they once were) and most residents criss-cross the boroughs regularly for shopping, dining, etc. Northboro & Southboro share a school system (Algonquin) whose main rival is (duh) Westboro. I believe Marlboro was more of a rival to Hudson, at least back in my day (we whipped all 3 of them in hockey regularly

It's true that they are not the most happening suburbs, but growing up there was nice enough. Claim to fame: Julio's Liquors is one of the best liquor stores on the east coast, if not the country. If you at all appreciate fine bourbons, scotches, wine or beer, do yourself a favor and hop on the pike and get yourself there. It's a requisite stop for me when visiting my folks. I regularly see out-of-state license plates there when I visit.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by dcb175

It's true that they are not the most happening suburbs, but growing up there was nice enough. Claim to fame: Julio's Liquors is one of the best liquor stores on the east coast, if not the country. If you at all appreciate fine bourbons, scotches, wine or beer, do yourself a favor and hop on the pike and get yourself there. It's a requisite stop for me when visiting my folks. I regularly see out-of-state license plates there when I visit.

Yeah, its a good store, but I gotta say, with that Total Wine opening, its almost not going to anymore. Same bourbons are like a quarter to half as much at Total Wine, for example, Basil Hayden is $10-15 cheaper at Total Wine.

[dcb175]

Originally Posted by timberline742

Yeah, its a good store, but I gotta say, with that Total Wine opening, its almost not going to anymore. Same bourbons are like a quarter to half as much at Total Wine, for example, Basil Hayden is $10-15 cheaper at Total Wine.

For the basics, I tend to agree. But, you go there for the Buffalo Trace Antique releases, the Four Roses Single Barrel Julio's store picks, things like that. Also, you get some labels that Total Wine would never have access to. And the employee knowledge base there is world class. You do indeed pay for all of that though.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by dcb175

For the basics, I tend to agree. But, you go there for the Buffalo Trace Antique releases, the Four Roses Single Barrel Julio's store picks, things like that. Also, you get some labels that Total Wine would never have access to. And the employee knowledge base there is world class. You do indeed pay for all of that though.

Yeah, I can see that. One thing with Total Wine (I don't know if its the same as Julios) is the good stuff doesn't hit the floor. You have to ask. Julios has, or had, a club thing, but I never did it.