Fun Facts about Rolla!

So, John and I were reading about Rolla today - our new home and there were some crazy facts in the AAA book.

Fact 1: St. Patrick's Day is really big in Rolla because St. Patrick is the patron saint of engineers and the university is about 80% engineering students. There is a parade, a beard contest, they paint one of the streets green, and a few other things.

Fact 2: (our personal favorite) Rolla became a town in 1855 due to a railroad station being built there. In 1857, the townspeople were trying to come up with a name for the town. A local farmer wanted to call it Hardscrabble. Someone else wanted to call it Phelps Center (Rolla is in Phelps Co.). A homesick North Carolinaean wanted to name the town after the capital of his home state, Raleigh, but the townspeople spelled it as he pronounced it: Ra-la. ;)

You gotta love the southern accent.....