We're going on a little adventure to Lawton.  Not Lawton, OK but some of the other Lawtons in the United States.

Cities Named Lawton: Google Maps
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Did you know there is a Lawton, PA?  Lawton, IA, WV, ND, KY, KS MI?  There are and we wanted to know a little more about each of them.

Lawton, Iowa is on the western edge of Iowa in Woodbury County and about seven miles east of Sioux City.  It was renamed by Joseph Law in 1901 after he claimed the railroad gave him naming rights and he changed the town from Truxton to Lawton.  There are about 908 people who live in Lawton, Iowa (according to their website:  www.lawtoniowa.com).  You can go to the Coffee Klatch at the Friendship Center Thursday mornings at 9:00am.  That's the only thing on their Calendar of events, but sounds like a fun time!

Lawton, Pennsylvania is in Bradford county in northeastern PA (somewhere close to the Susquehanna River).  Flynn's Ice Cream is the only eating spot listed on Trip Advisor but they do have a big thing called Redneck Fest which, according to Redneckfest.net is a "mud covered celebration of your redneckism combined with the study of aerodynamics and nutrition.  AKA - Runin' trucks in the mud with occasional breaks for BEER-PONG and FOOD!"  Ok, that sold me.

Lawton, West Virginia is an unincorporated community in Fayette County.  It used to be a coal mining town but most of the mines closed in the 50's and the last closed in the 1980's.  It was named after Joseph Lawton Beury who was a Civil War captain.  Sadly, Lawton has been abandoned.

Lawton, North Dakota has a population of 30 (that might actually be pretty big for North Dakota) and is about 1 mile long and wide.  the 2010 census said those thirty people belong to 8 families and the town is 100% white.  Well, there are only 30 of them, after all.  In 1920, it was a booming little town of over 220 people but has seen steady decline.

Lawton, Kentucky might be the most interesting on the list becuase it is famous for haunted mushroom mines.  So, first, there are mushroom mines.  One of them is in the little abandoned town of Lawton, KY, and is, apparently, haunted.  One local blog site that promotes ghost villages had this post from member #18 "My spouse claims to have encountered people in white robes with orange / amber hoods in the mines years ago.  The bodies were transported and dumped there by the murders.  The victims of this crime was the perpetrates father and step mother.  Him and his Girlfriend killed them and then hid the bodies in the mines."  While we are not too sure about all that there is an old general store there that seems to still be in operation.  If I didn't hate mushrooms (which I do) and didn't hate ghost stuff (which I do) this little spot might be interesting.

Lawton, Kansas is another little unincorporated community -- this one in Cherokee County.  It had a post office once, but that was shut down in 1986.  that's really all we could find out about Lawton, Kansas.  Hmmmmm.....

Lawton, Michigan might be a better place to visit since there are people and stuff there.  They have about 1,900 residents and are in the heart of the Michigan Wine Country.  It's listed as a 'village' but seems to be a quaint little place named for Nathaniel Lawton (an early settler).  Lawton gave 10 acres to the Michigan Central Railroad in 1848 to entice them to build a line to his property.  Later, they discovered the area to be perfect for growing fruit like grapes and today, Lawton is known to be the center of grape juice production in the US -- and they have a major Welch's plant in town.

 

 

 

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