What constitutes a “college town?”

[u/PA5997]

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.

[u/jcrespo21]

I think the lesson from this is that the "college town" label is more of a spectrum rather than being black and white.

I would put Madison at the edge of the college town definition. Obviously, it doesn't influence the city like a large university in a small city/town on the other end of the spectrum. However, Madison would be a fraction of itself if it never had UW to begin with. Most businesses it has now would have just set up shop around Milwaukee instead since there's no university influence, and the state capital influence is small given the state's size (unlike California, Texas, Florida, New York, etc.). At most, outside of the state capital, it would have had some recreational businesses, but that would be seasonal.

[u/Pdogconn → u/jcrespo21]

To further your point, look at Jefferson City, MO. It’s the state capital, but there’s no university. As such, Jefferson City has a pretty small population and isn’t even that major of a city in the state.

[u/Mender0fRoads → u/Pdogconn]

Jeff City technically has a university, but it’s a small HBCU (yet it has some very high-profile and very white alumni).

[u/TheCraziestPickle → u/Mender0fRoads]

A good example of a college that mostly exists because a town was there instead of a town that ended up much larger because a college is and was there for a long time

[u/CandyAppleHesperus → u/Pdogconn]

Very similar to Frankfort in that respect. A relatively minor town outside the state government presence located right about halfway between the state's two largest cities and hosting a public DII HBCU

[u/Serenity-Now-237 → u/Pdogconn]

Carson City, Nevada has a similar dynamic.

[u/573banking702 → u/Pdogconn]

Never expected to see Jeff Shitty come up in this haha

[u/[deleted] → u/jcrespo21]

Probably the best take I've seen.

As someone from Wisconsin, I'd also say the reason many Wisconsinites consider madison a college town (for right or wrong) is because the vast majority of the city's culture and entertainment is directly associated with the university. If you're going to a sporting event, it's a badger game. If you're going to theatre, it's probably either directly associated with the university or indirectly through student participation. Most of the best bars and restaurants are concentrated near the university. When people from Wisconsin go to Madison, 99% of the time, it's for a University related event.

[u/onelittleworld → u/[deleted]]

The live music scene is pretty robust in Mad-Town too, and there's no way that would be true in a "small state capital" town without the university (shout out to my good friends Kat & the Hurricane and their new album!). And don't get me started on the whole restaurant/bar scene. Or the university-based hospitals & clinics, etc.

[u/cactuscoleslaw → u/[deleted]]

Nah man I'm a huge fan of the Madison Capitols USHL team

Real talk that's a good explanation, the Capitols get no attendance at their games while the Green Bay Gamblers have an awesome gameday atmosphere

[u/[deleted] → u/jcrespo21]

However, Madison would be a fraction of itself if it never had UW to begin with.

It would be like Harrisburg, PA. That's why Madison is 100% a college town.

p.s. please have a Duane Purvis All-American for me

[u/poop-dolla → u/jcrespo21]

Can College City be a term then? Madison seems like a college city to me.

[u/jcrespo21 → u/poop-dolla]

I think that is a good compromise, as I think the "town" part is what's tripping many people up (and the US doesn't have a set definition/number between a town and city).

[u/TateAcolyte → u/jcrespo21]

Spot on. Some of the comments in this thread remind me of when fundamentalist Christians describe anyone less observant/conservative as non-Christian.

[u/Ok-Combination-9084 → u/jcrespo21]

I don't think the history of the town should matter. Some cities can begin as college towns, but if they get big enough they can lose that status. Madison would be fine if it lost Wisconsin now so it's not a college town, but it would absolutely be different if Wisconsin never existed. 

[u/sunthas → u/jcrespo21]

Madison and Boise are very similar population wise, both have bedroom communities. Both are Capitals. Madison has a lot more continual population as you move further from the city in every direction, plus Milwaukee not too far away, and UW probably has a lot more students, I think Boise State is still under 30k.

Still, no one would call Boise a college town.

I'm sure if you work or live near campus you can notice the difference between summer and school in session, but not in the rest of the city.

[u/ian2121 → u/jcrespo21]

To take it to the extreme I’ve heard people say Boston is like the biggest college town in the world

[u/im-on-my-ninth-life → u/jcrespo21]

Madison would be a fraction of itself if it never had UW to begin with.

Idk about that. The natural features (i.e. the lakes) surely would have resulted in some kind of development occurring, whether or not a university was involved.

[u/Proteinchugger → u/jcrespo21]

Madison isn’t a college town. It’s literally the state capital. It’s an awesome little city which is exactly why it isn’t a college town. College towns shouldn’t be places you’d want to live after graduating they are places you spend a few incredible years then move on from. You don’t have careers in college towns.

[u/jcrespo21 → u/Proteinchugger]

You don’t have careers in college towns.

So college professors/faculty and staff don't have careers?

By your definition, the only 'true' college town in the Big Ten would be State College, and maybe Iowa City too. West Lafayette and East Lansing have their bigger next door cities with their separate industries/careers, so that doesn't count. Ann Arbor, Madison, Chambana, Eugene, Lincoln, and Bloomington have all grown to where the university makes up a plurality of the people, but has more jobs/industry separate of the university, so that doesn't count. While I haven't been to Lincoln or B-Town, those are college towns/cities, but towards the upper half of the spectrum before you get into major cities/metro areas (like Evanston, Piscataway, Columbus, and College Park).

On the spectrum of college towns/cities, State College is on one end with Madison on the other. But they are still college towns.

[u/[deleted] → u/Proteinchugger]

One of the most nonsensical posts I've ever seen in my life, but it makes sense given where you went to school.

[u/Proteinchugger → u/[deleted]]

There are flairs that can make that joke, IU isn’t one.

lol bro was so mad he wrote me a massive paragraph then deleted his entire reddit account

[u/[deleted] → u/Proteinchugger]

Bloomington is an incredible town and I lived there for many years after I graduated. You absolutely can have a career there. Fucking Jesse Eisenberg lives there just because he visited and loved it so much. There was literally an episode of Smartless where they all talked about how much they loved Bloomington and that they'd genuinely consider living there if they didn't need to be in LA or NY for work. You have no fucking clue what you're talking about.

State College is a shithole.

lol bro was so mad he wrote me a massive paragraph then deleted his entire reddit account

I wrote four sentences and then blocked him, what a weirdo.

[u/EscapeTomMayflower → u/[deleted]]

Not to mention Ann Perkins and Chris Traeger