Dawson City - City or Town

City or Town

Dawson was incorporated as a city in 1902 when it met the criteria for "city" status under the municipal act of that time. It retained the incorporation even as the population plummeted. When a new municipal act was adopted in the 1980s, Dawson met the criteria of "town", and was incorporated as such, although with a special provision to allow it to continue to use the word "City", partially for historic reasons, partially to distinguish it from Dawson Creek, a small city in northeastern British Columbia. Dawson Creek is also named in honour of George Mercer Dawson. This led the territorial government to post the following signs at the boundaries of the town: "Welcome to the Town of the City of Dawson".

Read more about this topic:  Dawson City

Famous quotes containing the words city and/or town:

    half-way up the hill, I see the Past
    Lying beneath me with its sounds and sights,—
    A city in the twilight dim and vast,
    With smoking roofs, soft bells, and gleaming lights,—
    And hear above me on the autumnal blast
    The cataract of Death far thundering from the heights.
    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)

    Although then a printer by trade, he listed himself in this early directory as an antiquarian. When he was asked the reason for this he replied that he always thought every town should have at least one antiquarian, and since none appeared for the post, he volunteered.
    —For the State of Iowa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)