Novi, MI

[snopes]

Comment: Here's one for place names, not sure if it's true or not.

Novi, Michigan was named because it was the sixth stagecoach (or railroad,
or whatever) stop from Detroit. The sign read: No VI (for "number six")
and people just called it Novi.

[Floater]

From Wikipedia (for whatever it's worth):

The name Novi was taken from the township, which was organized in 1832 from Farmington Township. The name was offered by resident Dr. J. C. Emery, at the suggestion of his wife. Residents were reportedly looking for a shorter name than Farmington.

Several popular but historically inaccurate explanations have been given for the origin of the name Novi. One version is that it was named after the 6th tollgate (No. VI) on the Grand River toll road. However, the township was named in 1832 and the toll road was not constructed until the 1850s. A similar claim is made about the township being stop number 6 on the railroad. However, the Holly, Wayne and Monroe (now CSX) railroad was not constructed through the township until 1870 – 1871, almost 40 years after it was named.

[Beachlife!]

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: Here's one for place names, not sure if it's true or not.

Novi, Michigan was named because it was the sixth stagecoach (or railroad,
or whatever) stop from Detroit. The sign read: No VI (for "number six")
and people just called it Novi.

I'm not sure I've ever seen roman numerals used with 'No.' before. I would expect either 'No 6' or just 'VI'.

[matches]

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: Here's one for place names, not sure if it's true or not.

Novi, Michigan was named because it was the sixth stagecoach (or railroad,
or whatever) stop from Detroit. The sign read: No VI (for "number six")
and people just called it Novi.

This legend is repeated as fact more often than not in Michigan (I grew up not far from Novi) and growing up I had never once heard it questionsed.

However according to the City of Novi under the section titled Brief History:

The town seems to get it's name from Novi Road which ran through the town. However it was the sixth stop on the CSX line out of Detroit, which gave rise and support to the original legend.

I'm a little sad now, this was one of my favority legends happily repeated to out of state friends.

Now I guess I'm just going to have to tell them about the Northville Tunnels, or there is always the one about the Tourist from Detroit on the New York City Subway.

[bl76km81]

One of the worst urban Legends is how Muskegon, MI got its name.

A Native American, and fur trapper were canoeing down the river, when the trappers musket fell in to the river. The Indian look at him and said...Musk he gone. Which eventually became Muskegon.


Is there anyone out there that can come up with a worse one?

[Chloe]

Originally Posted by bl76km81

Is there anyone out there that can come up with a worse one?

Well, there used to be a guy named Dick in a place now known as Decatur, Illinois...

[Beachlife!]

Originally Posted by bl76km81

One of the worst urban Legends is how Muskegon, MI got its name.

A Native American, and fur trapper were canoeing down the river, when the trappers musket fell in to the river. The Indian look at him and said...Musk he gone. Which eventually became Muskegon.


Is there anyone out there that can come up with a worse one?

I went to High School in a little town in Washington called Issaquah. We were told the town got it's name because there was an Indian village there that disappeared; and when someone came back after checking on it they said all that's left 'Is a squaw'.

[Iludium Phosdex]

And let's not forget a discredited story about the origins of Sheboygan, Wisconsin's name: Seems the wife of an Indian chief had given birth to another son, prompting him to remark "she-boy-again!"

And though not quite in line with the topic, two communities along the old Ann Arbor Railroad's diagonal course through Lower Michigan from Frankfort to its namesake were Diann (where it crossed with the Detroit, Toledo and Ironton) and Ann Pere (in some versions, "Annpere," but in any case, the Ann Arbor and Pere Marquette railroads--the latter now part of CSX--crossed there).

[kmcm]

I live in a town called Poulsbo in the state of Washington. (A bit north of Beachlife's Issaquah) It's original settlers were from Norway. When they decided that they were big enough to be a town and they wanted their own post office they decided to call it "Paul's Bo" Which loosely translates to "Paul's Home." The postmaster couldn't read the handwriting of the person who filled out the application, so it's named Poulsbo.

[snopes]

Comment: When I lived in Michigan, I heard a rumor that the town of Novi,
Michigan got it's name from an immigrant who got off the train at the
Number 4 (No. VI) train platform, pronounced it "Novi" and the name stuck.

[lord_feldon]

Pretending for a moment that VI is 4, why would a place that is so undeveloped as to not have a name have a train station with four (or six) platforms?