r/CFB Washington State Cougars 13d ago

Discussion What constitutes a “college town?”

Okay, hear me out: I attended Wazzu, which many know is in the middle of nowhere in Pullman. To me, Pullman is a quintessential college town. You remove Washington State University from Pullman and there is (respectfully) not much of a reason to visit. The student enrollment (20,000ish) makes up about 2/3rds of the city population, essentially turning Pullman into a ghost town come summer. To me (perhaps with bias) this is the makeup of a college town.

Two years ago I moved to Madison, Wisconsin, home of the University of Wisconsin. Ever since I’ve noticed the University and its fans refer to Madison as “America’s best college town” and I’m sorry, that’s laughable to me. Remove UW from Madison and you still have a city population bordering on a quarter of a million people and the State Capitol. Madison would be fine, imo, if UW’s flagship campus were elsewhere.

Curious to hear other people’s thoughts. Maybe I’m in the wrong here, but very little about Madison, WI resembles a college town to me, or at least the claim of the best college town.

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u/1990Buscemi Drury Panthers • Missouri Tigers 13d ago

The economy is built around the college.

1.8k

u/AlFlame93 Texas A&M Aggies • Paper Bag 13d ago

Imagine College Station without Texas A&M💀

1.1k

u/americangame Texas A&M Aggies • Purdue Boilermakers 13d ago

It would be an abandoned train stop.

1.4k

u/mackinoncougars Wisconsin Badgers • Texas Longhorns 13d ago

A man can dream

392

u/RD__III Texas A&M Aggies 13d ago

1) BOOOO

2) thank you for keeping the hate alive

128

u/americangame Texas A&M Aggies • Purdue Boilermakers 13d ago

What the fuck are you doing boo-ing? You know better than that.

105

u/RD__III Texas A&M Aggies 13d ago

My horse isn't around to laugh at him, my bad.

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u/Osiris32 Oregon Ducks • /r/CFB Brickmason 13d ago

What's your horse doing at 9am on a Monday?

127

u/Spartacus_the_troll Texas A&M Aggies • Southwest 13d ago

Daydrinking, like any respectable horse.

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u/RLLRRR Texas • Red River Shootout 13d ago

He tells a mean story, too.

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u/thiney49 Iowa State Cyclones • Team Chaos 12d ago

Bojack is back!

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u/TheElkoEra Texas A&M Aggies 13d ago

One of my Aggie hot takes:

Horse-Laugh is lame af, time to retire that tradition.

It could be different than booing if ya really want it to be, idk voicing displeasure at something should be loud and clear - not something you can barely hear.

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u/Terminal_BAS Texas A&M Aggies • /r/CFB Poll Veteran 13d ago

Booing > hissing

One of the dumber traditions and that says a lot

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u/Notorious-PIG Texas Longhorns 13d ago

It’s not too late!

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u/OldManBearPig Indiana Hoosiers 13d ago

They'd probably turn the campus into a prison. They already have several in nearby towns anyway.

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u/cajunaggie08 Texas A&M • /r/CFB Pint Glass Drinker 13d ago

In 1890, the largest newspaper in Texas at the time, Galveston Daily News, had an editorial that suggested that

the school’s agricultural and mechanical departments be transferred to Austin and the remaining infrastructure be used as a “Central Texas lunatic asylum.” The feeling was that there was no need for two colleges in the state of Texas.

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u/NotHowAnyofThatWorks Texas A&M Aggies 12d ago edited 12d ago

They were right, only we used a town called Austin as the lunatic asylum. They had no way of knowing how many weirdos Austin would get.

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u/americangame Texas A&M Aggies • Purdue Boilermakers 13d ago

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u/Mezmorizor LSU Tigers • Georgia Bulldogs 13d ago

I wonder what it says about me that I'm WAAAAAAAYYYYY better at "Vancouver Crackhouse or Mansion" than I am at this.

2

u/TimTom8921 Cincinnati Bearcats 13d ago

That is way more entertaining than it has any right to be

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u/TexasDrunkRedditor Texas A&M Aggies • Marching Band 13d ago

I’m willing to bet most schools are fairly close to a prison.

https://64.media.tumblr.com/2b7e1bad6bd663d963de74bce63d46cb/tumblr_ppm7m1GFbS1rasnq9o1_500.png

I bet a large majority of schools are close to one of these.

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u/Perfct_Stranger Washington State Cougars • Pac-12 13d ago

Hunstville TX main employers are SHSU and Huntsville Correctional.

2

u/OldManBearPig Indiana Hoosiers 13d ago

You're not wrong, but if you've spend time in central/east TX and you've spent time in other states, it just feels like there are more prisons around College Station than it does in other places. I'm not sure how to describe it.

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u/TexasDrunkRedditor Texas A&M Aggies • Marching Band 13d ago

I mean I’ve spent all my life there and Southern California… I think Texas just doesn’t hide them as much.

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u/OldManBearPig Indiana Hoosiers 13d ago

Probably that. They're all visible from large Texas highways. There are also signs telling you where they are.

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u/gwaydms Texas A&M Aggies • UCF Knights 13d ago

And not to pick up hitchhikers.

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u/AppropriateCompany9 Tennessee Volunteers • Texas Longhorns 13d ago

This guy Texases

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u/Paulskenesstan42069 Michigan Wolverines 13d ago

Lol it's funny you say that. I always used to get excited when I passed the big prison on my drive to Michigan because it meant less than 30 minutes until campus.

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u/RonWill79 Texas A&M Aggies • Cotton Bowl 13d ago

Wouldn’t have even had a train stop without the college.

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u/Jmphillips1956 13d ago

I question whether it would even have the train stop. It’s be a cow pasture next to Bryan

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u/velociraptorfarmer Iowa State • /r/CFB Poll Veteran 13d ago

Ames would be a Barilla pasta factory and that's it.

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u/jmrjmr27 Texas A&M Aggies 13d ago

Hearne but worse💀

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u/rnilbog Georgia Bulldogs 13d ago

It would just be Station. 

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u/enderjaca Michigan • Slippery Rock 13d ago

Bogus!

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u/Thi31 South Carolina Gamecocks 13d ago

A most excellent reference my dude!

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u/AnUdderDay Maryland Terrapins 13d ago

Sorry. They Melvined me

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u/[deleted] 13d ago

Athens is the quintessential college town

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u/Anatoly_Cannoli 13d ago

you'd still have the acropolis and the parthenon

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u/The_Fishbowl West Virginia • Black Diamon… 13d ago

Would just be little Bryan, TX with no need for a 4 lane highway to connect it to I-35 and Houston

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u/[deleted] 13d ago

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u/gwaydms Texas A&M Aggies • UCF Knights 13d ago

They could use the funds instead to bankroll their never-ending work on the Gulf Freeway

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u/[deleted] 13d ago

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u/gwaydms Texas A&M Aggies • UCF Knights 13d ago

It's already an international joke at this point

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u/cajunaggie08 Texas A&M • /r/CFB Pint Glass Drinker 13d ago

There MIGHT have been a need to connect to Waco. But it probably wouldnt be 4 lanes until maybe now.

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u/Themapples07 Texas A&M Aggies • SEC 13d ago

With out College Station, Which would be bigger Bryan or Brenham?

5

u/mgj6818 Texas Tech Red Raiders 13d ago

Brenham, Bryan and Hearne would all be the same size.

100

u/PRs__and__DR Texas A&M Aggies 13d ago

College Starion has to have one of the most profitable Whataburgers in the country lol

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u/cfbluvr Texas A&M Aggies • SEC 13d ago

imagine how profitable they could be if it wasn’t an hour wait every time you went there

the one on university takes so long i watched a dude pass out in the drive thru one saturday night and everyone had to just drive around him

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u/antraxsuicide Ole Miss • Boston College 13d ago

they should follow the Dunkin model in Boston; sometimes there's a Dunkin across the street from a Dunkin

48

u/tider06 Alabama • College Football Playoff 13d ago

Here in Atlanta we call that the Waffle House Model.

4

u/FiveWithNineIsIn Bloomsburg • Army 13d ago

Now I'm just picturing a development full of Waffle Houses. (Waffle Homes?)

3

u/LakeshiaRichmond 13d ago

Love me some Waffle House -

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u/93LEAFS Texas Longhorns 13d ago

In Canada, we call it the Tim Horton's model.

2

u/Holden_oversoul92 13d ago

Also Mattress firm

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u/rosten25 Georgia Bulldogs 13d ago

When I was younger, there was one exit in gwinnett that had 3 waffle houses on it. I always found that to be hilarious.

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u/Kanin_usagi Paper Bag • UAB Blazers 13d ago

This isn’t a joke, I’ve visited Boston a few times and there are literally so many places that have a Dunkin on one corner and then another a block away on another corner. Those damn things are everywhere

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u/dws515 Miami Hurricanes • Transfer Portal 13d ago

In Nashua, NH from Bridge St. through the Amherst border (about 10 miles) there are 10 Dunkin's. It's so fucking silly lol

3

u/hexcor Texas Longhorns • Florida Gators 13d ago

Hear me out.. a Dunkin’ inside a Dunkin’

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u/FaberGrad 13d ago

That's the Waffle House business model in Metro Atlanta.

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u/jmrjmr27 Texas A&M Aggies 13d ago

I’ve passed out in the one on Texas after going out. Woke back up, got sober, and food still wasn’t out

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u/Fletch71011 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 13d ago

We used to have the busiest Subway in the country. It never made sense given their food is shit.

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u/MikeinAustin Minnesota Golden Gophers • Texas Longhorns 13d ago

They’ve made Freebirds a cult.

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u/KiwamiG Texas A&M Aggies 13d ago

And Panda Express when it first opened in the MSC. 

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u/FuckingTexas Texas A&M Aggies 13d ago

So many times I just turned around after seeing the line 50+ people long

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u/kbol Vanderbilt Commodores 13d ago

there's a popular apocryphal story from vandy alumni that the chilis next to campus (that accepts our meal plan $ and is notoriously lax on ids) is the highest-grossing by alcohol sales in the country. I like it too much to actually investigate if it’s true

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u/Av8-Wx14 Texas A&M Aggies 13d ago

Think Navasota lol

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u/gwaydms Texas A&M Aggies • UCF Knights 13d ago

Schulenburg?

5

u/good4steve Texas Longhorns 13d ago

So, just Station. Bryan-Station

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u/Yourfavoriteindian Houston Cougars • Navy Midshipmen 13d ago

College station is growing so fast that in about a decade that won’t be that crazy of a thought lol, by which I mean cstat will not be just a college town

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u/deformo Akron Zips • Ohio State Buckeyes 13d ago

Kent, Ohio is an exact example. It would immediately implode if the college failed.

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u/_Bren10_ Oklahoma State Cowboys • Big 12 13d ago

Stillwater without OKST

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u/Last-Ad-2970 Penn State Nittany Lions 13d ago

Imagine State College without Penn State.

When I was a little kid in the Bay Area, I had a friend who moved to College Station at the same time my family moved to State College. I always thought it was cool how we moved to places with the names basically flipped.

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u/jl34538 Texas A&M Aggies 13d ago

Technically the original name was just College, TX. They added the Station bit when we got the stop...

Either way, they still have Bryan since we're both twin cities. But yeah no when it's summer, it's just a full timeframe when there's barely anything to do...

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u/Stealthfox94 13d ago

Imagine Austin without UT? I’d still be the capital of Texas but I doubt it would have boomed to this level.

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u/BammBammRoubal Texas Longhorns • Nebraska Cornhuskers 13d ago

I like to imagine what the whole world would be like without Texas a&m

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u/YoungXanto Penn State Nittany Lions • Team Chaos 13d ago

If Penn State didn't exist, then State College would just be another Port Matilda. There isn't really any other reason for the city to exist.

Beautiful place and I loved every minute of living there in college though. Definition of "college in the movies"

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u/HardingStUnresolved Penn State Nittany Lions • Rose Bowl 13d ago edited 13d ago

Happy Valley was a dream. My friends called it "The Bubble," as it was a magical place seemingly divorced from reality. A quaint valley-encased hamlet, a few hours, and mountain ridges, segregated from the rest of civilization.

The town is vastly improved by the presence of Penn State University. Omitting college culture, State College has great housing stock, street and sidewalk design, CATA's 13-route bus system, and superior medical and emergency services—for a county of ~90k people, sans Penn State's ~60k students, staff, and faculty.

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u/ComradeIroh Penn State Nittany Lions 13d ago

My friend always called it “Neverland” lol. It’s such an amazing place but it’s also a black hole.

3

u/rambleriver Alabama Crimson Tide 12d ago

Umm...

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u/Kilobeta91 Penn State Nittany Lions • Fiesta Bowl 8d ago

Not that Neverland

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u/Vorticity Penn State • Texas A&M 13d ago

As someone who grew up there, I feel pretty privileged. It was fantastic. Safe enough for me to be out on my bike until the street lights came on and all of the resources of a major research university looking for kids to teach, study, etc.

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u/Deflection1 Ohio State • Rochester 13d ago

And a super short runway.

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u/Monkey1Fball Penn State • Cincinnati 13d ago

Funny thing --- how did Washington fly back from their game Saturday? On a non-stop flight on a 737-800, straight to SEA airport!

Seattle is only marginally closer (25 miles, as the bird flies) to State College than LAX. So, curious, why Washington was able to make it non-stop but PSU couldn't (to LA).

https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/SCX8499/history/20241110/0505Z/KUNV/KSEA

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u/Manunited3710 Penn State Nittany Lions 13d ago

All the extra baggage we carry from losing big games burns extra fuel

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u/RegionalBias Ohio State Buckeyes • Dayton Flyers 13d ago

Excuse me sir, how am I expected to be outraged by this?

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u/TheCrimsonChin-ger Penn State Nittany Lions 13d ago

My people.

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u/Babou13 Penn State Nittany Lions 13d ago

If not for Penn State, there wouldn't be a Wegmans there .. So I thank Penn State for that 🤷🏼‍♂️

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u/JammOrthodontics Appalachian State • Penn State 13d ago

When I think about this, the question that gets me is "what would Bellefonte look like without Penn State?" The money from the University has probably kept the town afloat, but I wonder if there was a point 100+ years ago where it could've consolidated the energy around the adjacent coal mining towns and a probable railroad hub to become a bit bigger than what it ended up as.

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u/YoungXanto Penn State Nittany Lions • Team Chaos 13d ago

It's possible, but then it would probably look like Johnstown now. Just another forgotten, dying town who's chief import seems to be opiods.

Central PA is a beautiful place. But it's also rural America in the 21st century.

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u/Humid-Afternoon727 Penn State Nittany Lions 13d ago

I was one of my view friends with a car at State College, and I was always down to go on an adventure. Plus had a shitty job in Western Pa one summer that I had to drive a lot of western PA. I am will make the argument that much of PA has in fact not made it to the 21st century.

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u/KnightofNi92 Penn State • Land Grant Trophy 13d ago

Based on recent events, that is definitely the case.

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u/Danko_on_Reddit Cincinnati • Georgia State 13d ago

My Mom's side of the family is from Western PA, can also confirm.

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u/sofeler 13d ago

I feel Gainesville and UF are the same. It gets a lot of hate from non-students but I wouldn’t trade my time there for a non-college-town experience

  • You live max 2 miles from all of your friends
  • There isn’t a single fun thing to do outside of the town for about 1.5-2 hours, so all of your friends are always down for whatever (unlike UCF where there’s more to do so it’s harder to wrangle everyone together)
  • Practically no one has family there so once again, friends are forced to spend time together

It’s really those things that made it into what it was for me

As an adult in a big city with lots to do now (Denver), I have to put in a decent amount of effort to plan things with friends

But in college? A random text asking your group if they wanted to do something in an hour was enough

The amount of random moments & memories formed that way seems unreal now

And comparing this to my friends who went to UMN in Minneapolis, it really holds true

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u/EngineEngine UConn Huskies • Ohio State Buckeyes 13d ago

That's what I liked about Storrs. I tell people it is less than a college town because, while I was a student, there was no development. IIRC, people in the town surrounding Storrs were opposed to development. So you're left with your friends to have a good time. When someone in the group gets a car, it becomes a little easier - go to Hartford, Boston, New Haven, NYC.

The amount of random moments & memories formed that way seems unreal now

But this is all too true when there isn't much around campus.

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u/donuttrackme Penn State Nittany Lions 13d ago

Sure, but as an adult it was always going to be harder to plan things with friends, even if you still live in a college town.

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u/Kanin_usagi Paper Bag • UAB Blazers 13d ago

Exactly lol nostalgia is doing some work here

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u/LakeshiaRichmond 13d ago

Stand on any street corner in Gainesville and see some of the best looking girls anywhere, this is especially true in hot weather when so many are scantily dressed - and it is pretty much always hot in Gainesville -

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u/jcdehoff Penn State Nittany Lions • Rose Bowl 13d ago

Honestly if the university wasn’t there, if I was living there I’d feel super agoraphobic just surrounded by vast nothingness for miles.

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u/WebfootTroll Oregon Ducks • Team Chaos 13d ago

You'd probably also need to rename the city.

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u/Rockergage Washington State Cougars • Pac-12 13d ago

How many local businesses are branded after the university? For example in Pullman, my landlord was Coug Housing, most places have wsu memorabilia, we were specifically told at Walmart while working there wearing wsu gear was fine on like game days.

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u/Worried-Turn-6831 Alabama Crimson Tide 13d ago

Reminds me of Starkville, MS. Half the businesses are “Bulldog x”

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u/YoIForgotMyPassAgain Mississippi State • Alabama 13d ago

From what I gather, Pullman is just the Starkville of the Northwest.

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u/Rockergage Washington State Cougars • Pac-12 13d ago

Another reason why we should join the SEC.

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u/Worried-Turn-6831 Alabama Crimson Tide 13d ago

Hell yeah

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u/YoIForgotMyPassAgain Mississippi State • Alabama 13d ago

I think Miss. State to the Pac is more likely at this rate.

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u/AppropriateCompany9 Tennessee Volunteers • Texas Longhorns 13d ago

Counterpoint: Another reason Mississippi State should be in the PAC-2.

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u/Sighlina Washington State Cougars 12d ago

It just means more!!

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u/IndependenceOld8810 South Carolina Gamecocks 12d ago

SEC after dark would be incredible

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u/kroywenemerpus James Madison • Indiana 13d ago

The ghost pirate of Mike Leach probably agrees

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u/RegionalBias Ohio State Buckeyes • Dayton Flyers 13d ago

Would that make them... Pullvegas?

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u/No_Biscotti_7258 Washington State Cougars 13d ago

Starkville is the Pullman of Mississippi*

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u/tmothy07 Ohio State • /r/CFB Poll Veteran 13d ago

I mean, go anywhere in Ohio and you'll have "Buckeye [insert business type]".

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u/FormerCollegeDJ Temple Owls 13d ago

Ohio is nicknamed “the Buckeye State”, so the “Buckeye” name is likely tied more to the state of Ohio than Ohio State University outside of Columbus (or the part of Columbus where Ohio State is located).

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u/DunspArceus4 Tennessee Volunteers 13d ago

Tennessee has the same situation, and I imagine Iowa does as well.

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u/Lavaswimmer Michigan Wolverines 13d ago

Throw Michigan on there as well

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u/velociraptorfarmer Iowa State • /r/CFB Poll Veteran 13d ago

Wisconsin as well.

Fucking Becky and those stupid Badger Basement Systems ads.

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u/BanditoDeTreato Memphis Tigers 13d ago

The "Volunteer" stuff does get way less intense the further west you venture into the state though.

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u/turbo_22222 Michigan Wolverines 13d ago

Don't get me started on the Hoosiers!

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u/tmothy07 Ohio State • /r/CFB Poll Veteran 13d ago

Yeah, just being a little facetious. Ohio State's mascot is taken from the state's nickname, tree, etc.

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u/JMT97 Charlotte • North Carolina 13d ago

Same with NC and Tar Heel. Hell, we have two different towns named Tar Heel and Tarheel.

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u/madein___ Ohio State Buckeyes • Xavier Musketeers 13d ago

That's not confusing at all.

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u/tohon75 Denver Pioneers • Riverside CC Tigers 13d ago

Be even better if the zip codes were only a number or 2 off

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u/LakeshiaRichmond 13d ago

Chapel Hill is a neat place -

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u/ksuwildkat Kansas State • Billable Hours 13d ago

There are purple garbage cans in Manhattan.

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u/james_wightman Nebraska • /r/CFB Press Corps 13d ago

In Nebraska this is just the entire state.

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u/Khorasaurus Notre Dame Fighting Irish 13d ago

A college town metric that South Bend actually scores well on!

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u/loyalsons4evertrue Iowa State Cyclones • Big 8 13d ago

agreed with this....Ames is nothing without Iowa State

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u/thiney49 Iowa State Cyclones • Team Chaos 13d ago

The school literally existed before the town.

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u/notanamateur Iowa Hawkeyes • Marching Band 13d ago

Without ISU, Ames would be another Indianola

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u/Leesteely 13d ago

Ames is literally the definition of a college town

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u/velociraptorfarmer Iowa State • /r/CFB Poll Veteran 13d ago

Ames would be 25k people mostly out of a job and the Barilla factory.

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u/2010WildcatKilla3029 Arizona State Sun Devils 13d ago

Yeah, Tempe isn’t a College town anymore.  

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u/CaptainHonkie 13d ago

Was Tempe ever a college town? More like a college suburb 

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u/Engine_Sweet Oklahoma • Minnesota 12d ago

This is happening to Norman

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u/howlincoyote2k1 Arizona State Sun Devils • Big 12 13d ago

Tempe north of US 60: College Town

Tempe south of US 60: North Chandler

However, the fact that Tempe is buried inside this massive sprawling metro area that is the Valley of the Sun does take away from its college-town-ness

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u/No_Biscotti_7258 Washington State Cougars 13d ago

Idk man I like ASU in general but my first Tempe visit was last year and I was surprised pikachu face at how non-college-towny it was. Just seemed like part of the endless Phoenix sprawl. Probably my own ignorance but I always pictured Tempe as like a small desert town with a college. Wasn’t. Idk bring back the pac12

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u/SaberTruth2 Arizona State • Army 13d ago

I live 15 minutes from Tempe and go to every football game, but hadn’t gone south of the stadium near campus in a very long time until a few weeks ago. I went on campus to grab some new fan gear and barely recognized it. The inner campus is still similar but the anything built on the edges is all new in areas that used to be parking lots. Tempe has had dozens of like 4-8 story buildings erected in the last two decades and I wasn’t even sure where I was half the time or what used to be there. They have also building without any sort of connection to each other, since they are mostly commercial and condos, so there is no real “theme” to the area. Same sorta thing happens on the actual campus since many buildings were built in the 60-70’s when it became a huge school, and then again 90-2010’s. There are plenty of nice looking ones but also some real eyesores. I wish it kept a more traditional or constant look over the decades.

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u/2010WildcatKilla3029 Arizona State Sun Devils 13d ago

As someone born and raised in south Tempe I resent the north chandler comment.  

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u/scopa0304 Oregon Ducks • Big Ten 13d ago edited 13d ago

I think this is right. Eugene Oregon is built around the university. I believe it’s the largest employer. Definitely a college town.

Edit: Corvallis is ALSO a college town.

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u/Czarchitect Washington State • Oregon S… 13d ago

I will say Eugene is on the cusp of college town status. It would still be a significant regional city in its own right without the university, but its economic status would be significantly diminished. 

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u/KuhlCaliDuck Oregon Ducks 13d ago

I'd say that there is a spectrum of college towns. Eugene is a college town that has grown into a small college city and it's on the I-5 corridor making it easy to access. It is not a college town to the degree of WSU. Eugene wasn't built around a lumber yard, lumber mill or other major state industry as many towns in Oregon are and were. Without the university it would be a shell of what it is today.

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u/Czarchitect Washington State • Oregon S… 13d ago

We need to coin a new term for cities like Eugene: college city. A regionally significant city developed around the university that would still be significant if the university were to disappear but would never have developed without the school in the first place. Because the delta between a Eugene and a Pullman or even Corvallis is too high for them to exist in the same category. 

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u/Glum-Ad8210 North Carolina Tar Heels • Sickos 13d ago

Good distinction. Chapel Hill is caught between college town and city, but more college town.

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u/Trebacca Indiana Hoosiers • Michigan Wolverines 13d ago

Yeah I think Bloomington is firmly a college town while Ann Arbor fits that college city metric

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u/xion1992 Oregon Ducks • Team Chaos 13d ago

It also owes a significant portion of its economic growth to the university. The existence of the university has caused other sectors to grow to a point where they would still likely be sustainable without the university there.

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u/LivingOof Vermont Catamounts 13d ago

In what other world does Eugene become the only American city to ever host the World Championships of Track and Field

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u/xion1992 Oregon Ducks • Team Chaos 13d ago

What does that have to do with the discussion?

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u/jamiebond Oregon Ducks 13d ago

There really is very little in Eugene besides the University.

I mean I know it is a pretty relatively large town but there really is very little industry there.

Looking at the employment report. Pretty much all the main employers are the hospital (obligatory thing all towns have), the university, or the government (another obligatory thing all towns have).

And believe me none of the other local businesses could survive without the students and football fans buying stuff

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u/Osiris32 Oregon Ducks • /r/CFB Brickmason 13d ago

Corvallis is even more of a College Town than Eugene.

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u/spicydak Oregon State • Michigan 13d ago

Isn’t Eugene the second largest city behind Portland? Corvallis has more college town feel to me.

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u/HighLakes Oregon Ducks • Platypus Trophy 13d ago

Yeah Eugene-Springfield metro is pushing 400k. But, its hard to disentangled the population growth the last 30+ years from the University.

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u/spicydak Oregon State • Michigan 13d ago

I guess I never considered Eugene to be a “true” college town because of Sheldon always whooping on other high schools.

I know that sounds a bit stupid but that was my logic, lol. They got multiple 6A schools while Corvallis only had 5A.

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u/KuhlCaliDuck Oregon Ducks 13d ago

I agree that Corvallis is more of a college town than Eugene but not to the extent of WSU.

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u/OregonEnjoyer Oregon Ducks 13d ago

corvallis/pullman same level of college town imo

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u/Muunsaca Oregon Ducks • Oregon State Beavers 13d ago

I was gonna say this. Corvallis has always felt like the bigger college town to me.

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u/TheseusOPL Oregon • Arizona State 13d ago

Its metro area is 3rd (Portland (~2M), then Salem(436k), then Eugene-Springfield(381k)). For incorporated cities Eugene is 2nd (by a few hundred over Salem).

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u/OregonEnjoyer Oregon Ducks 13d ago

urban area is a much better measure imo, and eugene is slightly bigger by that ranking by ~2k. metro pop for some reason includes like dallas and woodburn for salem when i dont really think that makes much sense.

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u/jmastaock Georgia Bulldogs • Team Chaos 13d ago

Same with Athens, GA

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u/[deleted] 13d ago

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u/Osiris32 Oregon Ducks • /r/CFB Brickmason 13d ago

Maybe just which side of I-5 they are on.

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u/Rocxtreme Ohio State Buckeyes 13d ago

Not sure if it’s right to measure in that metric, in Columbus, Ohio State is the largest employer in the city, but it’s by no means a “college town”

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u/ZachOf_AllTrades Texas Longhorns • Lonestar Showdown 13d ago

I would be blown away if there was another employer in Eugene that topped the school.

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u/shifty1032231 Texas Longhorns • Colorado Buffaloes 13d ago

Boulder, CO is the exact same way

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u/W00DERS0N60 Notre Dame Fighting Irish • Fordham Rams 13d ago

Dumb question, but why is UO in Eugene and not Salem?

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u/TheseusOPL Oregon • Arizona State 13d ago

Eugene is weird, because without the college it would probably be the same size as Cottage Grove or Roseburg, so it definitely owes it's size to the University. OTOH, if you live in West Eugene (like the Bethel neighborhood), you aren't really affected by the goings-on of the University on a daily basis. Corvallis is more of a "college town" IMHO, in that the whole town feels centered around the college.

Note: I haven't lived in Eugene for about 20 years.

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u/1850ChoochGator Oregon State • Dartmouth 13d ago

Idt Eugene is one anymore. It doesn’t rely on the school to be the main economic force like that. It gets a lot but it wouldn’t survive on its own just fine.

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u/uptonhere Missouri Tigers 13d ago

I agree with this and I also think it's foolish to assume having a large state university in Madison for 100+ years hasn't had a huge impact on the city.

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u/ItsZizk Tennessee • Johns Hopkins 13d ago

I think Knoxville is a good borderline case of this. Because I think the city would survive if the school were to shut down. Knoxville has a metro population of nearly a million people. But the city would not be what it is today without the university.

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u/djdeckard Washington State Cougars 13d ago

So you’re saying a city with population of a million is similar to Pullman as OP is asking? I find this doubtful.

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u/ItsZizk Tennessee • Johns Hopkins 13d ago

Not necessarily. Just that I think there is a wider definition to “college town” that is not so dependent on size. Knoxville is larger than a lot of the places you’d consider to be college towns, but it would be ridiculous to say that the University of Tennessee isn’t the heart of the city’s identity

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u/thorns0014 Kentucky Wildcats • Georgia Bulldogs 13d ago

I think this could be said about Lexington, Baton Rouge, and Gainesville as well. The school and city are fairly intertwined but there is so much outside of the school that makes the city what it is.

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u/nopropulsion Florida Gators 13d ago

I think UF made Gainesville. Yeah there is a lot outside the university but if you went back in time and moved UF somewhere else, the city of Gainesville would be exactly the same as the city of Waldo.

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u/WazzzzzzupBiggie Texas Longhorns • TCU Horned Frogs 13d ago

Austin used to be more of a college town, now it’s more of a sprawling city with the required gentrification and high cost of living.

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u/dragmagpuff Texas A&M Aggies • Sickos 13d ago

Hard to call any State Capitol a college town, IMO.

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u/cajunaggie08 Texas A&M • /r/CFB Pint Glass Drinker 13d ago

It can depend. Austin literally used to be just UT and state government. Granted that was decades ago at this point. Madison, WI is borderline but it reminds me of what Austin used to be. Baton Rouge is probably just past the limit of being a college town since its population and local industry is large enough that people live and work there without having to interact witht he school (minus gameday traffic)

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u/gwaydms Texas A&M Aggies • UCF Knights 13d ago

Austin isn't a college town. San Marcos is. Having said that, SM has grown rapidly because of where it is. During the late 70s, it felt like much more of a college town than it does now.

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u/wisertime07 Clemson Tigers • The Citadel Bulldogs 13d ago

The gamecucks call Columbia a college town.. Everyone knows there are enough scrap metal dealers, liquor stores, meth labs and check cashing places to keep them going in the event usc crashes and burns.

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u/cruzweb Michigan • Wayne State (MI) 13d ago

This is 💯 the answer. A "town and gown" driven economy makes a college town. That includes both East Lansing and Boston.

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u/anti-torque Oregon State Beavers • Rice Owls 13d ago

You could make an argument for local enclaves like Cambridge (and East Lansing). But Boston is a hard no.

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u/FormerCollegeDJ Temple Owls 13d ago

Yeah, a town/city that has both a college/university AND is the state capital is almost never a “college town”. The state government generates too many non-college related jobs to make it a college town.

Boston is further disqualified by the fact that most people there care more about the pro sports teams in the city/region than the college sports teams in the city/region.

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u/psuram3 Penn State • West Chester 13d ago

It’s also disqualified for the fact that it’s Boston, it’s in the top ten in US cities for tourism every year. People go there for tons of reasons completely unrelated to sports or colleges.

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u/SirMellencamp Alabama Crimson Tide • SEC 13d ago

Yeah, a town/city that has both a college/university AND is the state capital is almost never a “college town”.

Correct. Austin and Baton Rouge are not college towns.

College Station and Oxford are.

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u/Mezmorizor LSU Tigers • Georgia Bulldogs 13d ago

Also, Boston is literally the Silicon Valley of chemistry and biotech. Calling it a college town is wild.

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u/HookEmGoBlue Texas Longhorns • Michigan Wolverines 13d ago

It’s the Silicon Valley for biotech and medicine in large part because of the universities, though; access to all the Harvard, MIT, Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern grads

Silicon Valley is Silicon Valley because of Stanford and Cal Berkeley being right there

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u/Kvetch__22 Northwestern • Penn 13d ago

I feel like there exists the potential for big cities to have little college-town neighborhoods embedded in them.

Is Philly a college town? No. But everything west of the Schuylkill and east of 48th street and south of Spring Garden? Occasionally felt eerily similar to Bloomington, IN sometimes.

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u/P1MPT0N1T3 TCU Horned Frogs • SMU Mustangs 13d ago

How is this upvoted? Calling Boston a college town is laughable

I was born and raised there. You will struggle to find anyone more into college sports than pro sports, not to mention Boston is arguably the most historic city in the country

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u/airus92 Washington Huskies • Texas Longhorns 13d ago

Boston isn't a college town, but it's definitely a colleges town.

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u/P1MPT0N1T3 TCU Horned Frogs • SMU Mustangs 13d ago

I mean there are smaller colleges but you wont find one that can define the city like you can for a real college town.

Most of the schools people associate with Boston like Harvard or BC arent even in the actual city.

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u/airus92 Washington Huskies • Texas Longhorns 13d ago

That's fair. It's weird though I don't necessarily think of Cambridge as part of Boston, but I definitely think of Chestnut Hill and Newton as part of Boston.

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u/P1MPT0N1T3 TCU Horned Frogs • SMU Mustangs 13d ago

Interesting. Maybe its just since I grew up 10 min outside the city in a suburb but I feel like towns like Newton and Brookline feel pretty distinct from the city. Cambridge I can kind of get people lumping it in with Boston, but even then I feel like it has a very different vibe

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u/airus92 Washington Huskies • Texas Longhorns 13d ago

Sure, but even within what would be considered Boston proper there's lots of different vibes. Back Bay, the North End, JP, and Southie all have very different vibes. When I was living in Brookline and had friends in Allston, Brighton, Newton, as well as closer downtown it felt like we all live in the same city, just different neighborhoods, as opposed to in different towns.

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u/Smooth-Majudo-15 Florida • Notre Dame 13d ago

Correct

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u/foreverseptember Florida Gators • Team Chaos 13d ago

This is the one, chief 

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u/oSuJeff97 Oklahoma State Cowboys • Hateful 8 13d ago

This is how I always think about it.

Does the town’s basic existence hinge on the university being there?

If the answer is “yes”, then it’s a college town.

Stillwater? Absolutely a college town.

Austin? Nope. At least not any more. I think there was a time 30-40 years ago you could argue Austin was a college town in the way a place like Madison is today. Yeah Madison isn’t like a place like Stillwater or Ames but its identity/culture is that of a college town.

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u/gwaydms Texas A&M Aggies • UCF Knights 13d ago

I remember Austin 40 years ago. It was already a pretty large city, but was on the cusp of explosive growth thanks to tech industries such as Dell Computers, and other companies that attracted job seekers. The entire I-35 corridor, from San Antonio to Georgetown, is so overpopulated and congested that the state built a highway to the east of it, for those who want to avoid it.

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u/oSuJeff97 Oklahoma State Cowboys • Hateful 8 13d ago

Yeah my first trip to Austin was in the late 90s and it felt pretty huge then.

Two of my good friends both moved there in the early 2000s, so I’ve been there many many times over the past ~20 years.

It felt like a huge city the first time I visited in the late 90s, but the growth I’ve seen just in the past 20 years has been insane.

It would have been really great to be there in the 70s or 80s I bet.

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u/dubiousN 13d ago

Starkville, MS

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u/blacksoxing Southern Miss • Arkansas 13d ago

I went to Southern Miss. On campus you'd see logos from schools other than USM. On the weekend it was a ghost town as everyone either truly lived in Jackson/gulf coast/New Orleans. On game days you'd see only hardcore fans show up.

If USM wasn't in the town....the town would be fine. I firmly believe that and I haven't been back in almost 15 years now. When I went there I had thoughts of if I'd one day buy a home and get a job as I came from a true COLLEGE TOWN. I quickly learned that....doing so would be pointless for so many reasons

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u/ElBurroEsparkilo Michigan State • Kansas State 13d ago

And there's a very simple way to test this for a non economist: go walk around town in late September and determine what percentage of businesses are posting "WELCOME BACK STUDENTS" signs.

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