OUR ALTER EGOS
Dublins Around the Country
What do a soft drink, a hamburger and an almanac have in common? They all come from the city of Dublin, not Dublin, Georgia, but from other Dublins around the country. During this St. Patrick’s Festival, the nation’s longest celebration of Irish heritage, let’s take a look at three Dublins and what they are famous for.
All Dublins in the world derive their name from the ancient capital city of Ireland. Dublin, Georgia holds the distinction of being the second Dublin in the United States. It was named by Jonathan Sawyer, the town’s first postmaster. Sawyer named the post office in the summer of 1811 in honor of the ancestral home of his wife, the former Miss Elizabeth McCormick.
Dublin, Texas, with it’s population of 3,250, lies near the geographic center of the Lone Star State. Of all of the Dublins in this country, its history is most like that of Dublin, Georgia. James Tucker opened a store there one year before the southern states declared their independence from the North. J.M. Miller laid out his cotton field and began selling lots in 1881. By the end of the 1880s, Dublin was home to two railroads, a bank and a newspaper. Like Dublin, Georgia, Dublin, Texas owed its life to cotton and the railroads, which kept the money flowing and people coming.
For all of the 1940s and 1950s, Dublin, Texas was the home to the World Championship Rodeo, made famous by Gene Autry. The nearby “Lightning C” ranch covered a dozen thousand acres, making it the largest rodeo ranch in the world. Dublin is the home of Ben Hogan, one the greatest legends of golf.
But by far, Dublin, Texas is known as the home of Dr. Pepper, which was first bottled in Dublin in 1891 by Sam Houston Prim. Every June the citizens of Dublin and surrounding areas turn out by the thousands to honor the soft drink and its plant, which is the only plant which still uses the original pure cane sugar recipe. There is a circus with shows at “10, 2 and 4" in keeping with the slogan of Dr. Pepper.
Dublin, Texas also holds a St. Patrick’s festival. The three-day affair features a carnival, food festival, softball tournament, art & quilt show, parade, Little Miss Dublin contest and tours of the town museum and bottling plant. Dublin, which is located 70 miles southwest of Fort Worth, is known for its dairy farming, peanuts and cattle farms.
Dublin, Ohio, the second largest of all Dublins in America, lies among the northwestern suburbs of Columbus. During the 1970s, Dublin was engulfed by the urban sprawl of Columbians, the completion of I-270 and the development of Muirfield Village Golf Club, a course designed by Jack Nichalaus. This Dublin’s origin dates back to a 400 acre village on the banks of the Scioto River in the second decade of the 19th Century. On every Memorial Day weekend, Dublin hosts a golf tournament which draws the best players on the PGA tour. Dublin, Ohio is also the home of Wendy’s Hamburgers, founded by Dave Thomas.
Dubliners from Ohio love festivals. There is the requisite St. Patrick’s Festival, where the Lion’s Club hosts a pancake breakfast followed by a 5K Leprechaun run and a parade. Sound familiar? Dubliner’s let it all hang out at the Rockin’ Barney Blash. But the celebration of Irish heritage doesn’t end there. In early August, there is the Dublin Irish festival, an event which began in 1988. There are Irish goods of all kinds, as well as exhibits which feature the cultural heritage of Ireland. Of course, there is a feast of Irish food and drink. What kind of festival would it be without stew, breads and beer? On the first weekend of each December, known as Holly Days, everything that glitters is green. The lighting of the city’s official Christmas tree opens the festival before the city’s merchants throw open their doors where nearly everything is on sale.
The first Dublin in the United States was founded as one of the highest villages in New Hampshire in 1771. In 1792, another Thomas, Robert Thomas, began publishing the Old Farmer’s Almanac. The annual almanac is the country’s oldest continuously published periodical. Despite also being the home of The Yankee Magazine, which publishes a variety of travel magazines, Dublin, New Hampshire’s population is around 1500 people.
Dublin, North Carolina, located in Bladen County, is located between Fayetteville and Wilmington in the southeastern part of the Tar Heel State. About a quarter of a thousand people live in Dublin. The big festival in the community comes during the third week of September, when everyone celebrates the harvesting of the peanut crop.
A few hundred miles to the northwest is Dublin, Virginia. Founded by the Henry Trollinger family in 1776, the community was first known as Newburn Depot and later Dublin Depot. On May 9, 1864, southwestern Virginia’s most vicious battle of the Civil War took place in and around the depot. Confederate troops under the command of Gen. J.C. Breckenridge foiled Union attempts to capture the vital railroad depot.
The area around Dublin, California was first settled in 1822 by Jose Maria Amador. In 1877, a church, two hotels, a blacksmith shop and a shoe maker’s shop was built. The community, first known as Doughtery’s Station, is located in the Armador Livermore Valley. Dublin, California was incorporated in February, 1982 and is located 35 miles east of San Francisco. It’s population, now the largest of any Dublin, is buoyed by the fact that Dublin lies at the intersection of two major interstate highways. The country’s westernmost Dublin is driven by rapidly growing technological and medical businesses.
Dublin, Indiana, a small town of less than a thousand people, is located along the Ohio line in the middle of the state. It was the site of the first women’s rights convention in Indiana in 1851. The annual highlight of the year is the volunteer fire department’s fish fry on Memorial Day weekend.
Once there were or still are Dublins, post offices or just places along the road named Dublin in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York and Pennsylvania. What you may not know is that there have been two other Dublins in Georgia. There was once a Dublin community in Butts County, which changed its name to Cork. The third Dublin, Georgia is now known as Resaca.
Dublins Around the Country
What do a soft drink, a hamburger and an almanac have in common? They all come from the city of Dublin, not Dublin, Georgia, but from other Dublins around the country. During this St. Patrick’s Festival, the nation’s longest celebration of Irish heritage, let’s take a look at three Dublins and what they are famous for.
All Dublins in the world derive their name from the ancient capital city of Ireland. Dublin, Georgia holds the distinction of being the second Dublin in the United States. It was named by Jonathan Sawyer, the town’s first postmaster. Sawyer named the post office in the summer of 1811 in honor of the ancestral home of his wife, the former Miss Elizabeth McCormick.
For all of the 1940s and 1950s, Dublin, Texas was the home to the World Championship Rodeo, made famous by Gene Autry. The nearby “Lightning C” ranch covered a dozen thousand acres, making it the largest rodeo ranch in the world. Dublin is the home of Ben Hogan, one the greatest legends of golf.
But by far, Dublin, Texas is known as the home of Dr. Pepper, which was first bottled in Dublin in 1891 by Sam Houston Prim. Every June the citizens of Dublin and surrounding areas turn out by the thousands to honor the soft drink and its plant, which is the only plant which still uses the original pure cane sugar recipe. There is a circus with shows at “10, 2 and 4" in keeping with the slogan of Dr. Pepper.
Dublin, Texas also holds a St. Patrick’s festival. The three-day affair features a carnival, food festival, softball tournament, art & quilt show, parade, Little Miss Dublin contest and tours of the town museum and bottling plant. Dublin, which is located 70 miles southwest of Fort Worth, is known for its dairy farming, peanuts and cattle farms.
Dubliners from Ohio love festivals. There is the requisite St. Patrick’s Festival, where the Lion’s Club hosts a pancake breakfast followed by a 5K Leprechaun run and a parade. Sound familiar? Dubliner’s let it all hang out at the Rockin’ Barney Blash. But the celebration of Irish heritage doesn’t end there. In early August, there is the Dublin Irish festival, an event which began in 1988. There are Irish goods of all kinds, as well as exhibits which feature the cultural heritage of Ireland. Of course, there is a feast of Irish food and drink. What kind of festival would it be without stew, breads and beer? On the first weekend of each December, known as Holly Days, everything that glitters is green. The lighting of the city’s official Christmas tree opens the festival before the city’s merchants throw open their doors where nearly everything is on sale.
Once there were or still are Dublins, post offices or just places along the road named Dublin in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York and Pennsylvania. What you may not know is that there have been two other Dublins in Georgia. There was once a Dublin community in Butts County, which changed its name to Cork. The third Dublin, Georgia is now known as Resaca.
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