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I actually knew that Peculiar existed. A good friend of mine did his dissertation on the rocks in the area. He really wanted to make the town the type locality for a thin layer of rocks. Not such a thick layer that it would be a "formation." No, just the "Peculiar Beds."gillip wrote:How about Normal, IL and Peculiar, MO. I can see wanting to name your town Normal. It sounds like a nice place. But it took some strange people to name thier town Peculiar.
The town was actually named Peculiar after the first postmaster had the name Excelsior rejected because it already existed elsewhere in MO. The postmaster general rejected several other names and sent a letter saying he didn't care what it is called as long as it is something "peculiar". The frustrated postmaster named the town Peculiar.
The story for Normal is not nearly as peculiar. It was originally North Bloomington, but was renamed for the Illinois State Normal University (a teachers college) located there. The university is now Illinois State University.
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