There isn't much to look at when it's dark and you're driving along I-70 near
the Colorado - Kansas line. In order to stay awake, you've got to find things
to think about - make 'em up if you have to. After passing Kanorado, I began
to wonder how many other stateline portmanteaus there are (town names
that are fashioned by combining letters or syllables from the names of adjoining
states). I did a little research, got some input from the misc.transport.road
newsgroup, and here's what resulted...
...and since then, people have continued to bring others to my attention (particularly Dan Tilque, who contacted me with his more extensively-researched findings about a year-and-a-half after I posted this page). You can click on the yellow boxes for larger-scale maps with legible toponyms. Or you can use this interactive map, which shows all 70-some locations. If you're aware of any stateline portmanteaus that I've missed, please let me know (but first check the list of towns I've excluded).
I've now expanded the list to include toponyms from sources other than GNIS (but if you're looking for any of these places, please keep in mind: most of them are very small, unincorporated communities. In fact, some are historic, and others are nothing more than railroad sidings. Most won't appear in a typical road atlas.) I've also listed a few unofficial names in local usage at the end of this page. Below is a full alphabetical listing of these places, and following that I have them grouped by state. But first, a couple observations (all links below will also take you to the map that covers that particular town):
Seven names that combine more than two state names:
Nine sets of towns which have the same name and are situated across the state line from each other:
Arkinda, AR (I included this because presumably it's a combination of "Arkansas" and "Indian Territory", as Oklahoma was once known.)
Arkola, AR (maybe "Arkokla" would've been a little tricky to pronounce?)
Minn-Kota State Wildlife Management Area, MN
Oklarado, CO (more info on this page)
Texola, OK (maybe "Texokla" would've been a little tricky to pronounce?)
Vir-Mar Beach, VA (this one is interesting: despite the fact that Maryland's mainland is a few miles across the Potomac River, this community is nevertheless technically right on the state line, because as soon as you step into the water from this part of Virginia's shoreline, you've entered the jurisdiction of Maryland.)
ALABAMA
ARIZONA
ARKANSAS
CALIFORNIA
COLORADO
Oklarado, CO (more info on this page)
DELAWARE
FLORIDA
GEORGIA
IDAHO
ILLINOIS
INDIANA
KANSAS
KENTUCKY
LOUISIANA
MARYLAND
MICHIGAN
MINNESOTA
Minn-Kota State Wildlife Management Area, MN
MISSISSIPPI
MISSOURI
MONTANA
NEVADA
NEW HAMPSHIRE
NEW MEXICO
NORTH CAROLINA
NORTH DAKOTA
OHIO
OKLAHOMA
Oklarado, CO (more info on this page)
OREGON
PENNSYLVANIA
SOUTH DAKOTA
Minn-Kota State Wildlife Management Area, MN
TENNESSEE
TEXAS
UTAH
VERMONT
VIRGINIA
WEST VIRGINIA
WYOMING
MEXICO
A few other unofficial names in local usage:
"Arklahoma" (Fort Smith - Fayetteville - nw Arkansas - ne Oklahoma area)
"Arklatex" (Texarkana TX/AR - Shreveport LA area)
"Illiana" (Terre Haute IN area)
"Kentuckiana" (Louisville KY area)
"Michiana" (South Bend IN area)
An interesting also-ran:
Lake Koocanusa, a reservoir on the Kootenai River. The dam is in Montana, but the slackwater extends into British Columbia. The name contains "Koo-" for the river; "-can-" for Canada; and "-usa" for... well, you get it.
Places I've chosen to exclude:
Arkana, AR (besides the one I've listed above, there's another one in the north part of the state. It's near the Missouri line, but not the Louisiana line.)
Illiana, IL (besides the one I've listed above, there was another historic one further south, in Elgin County.)
Michillinda, MI (so distant from Illinois and Indiana, it makes me wonder whether its name refers to something other than those states.)
Ovapa, WV (not particularly close to Ohio, and probably closer to Kentucky than Pennsylvania.)
Penndel, PA (the "-del" appears to refer to the nearby river, not the state.)
Tennala, AL (close to Georgia, but not close to Tennessee.)
Uvada, NV (besides the one I've listed above, there was another historic one further north, in White Pine County.)
Viropa, WV (not particularly close to Ohio, and probably as close to Maryland as it is to Pennsylvania.)
Lake Wissota, WI (not particularly close to Minnesota.)
Wyodak, WY (not close to South Dakota - even by Wyoming standards - and actually closer to Montana.)
Contributors to this page are listed here (click that link, then search for "Stateline").
Page created 21 February 2003; last updated 09 October 2008. |
