On Nov 5, 2006, at 8:30 AM, Bob W wrote: > What does it mean when they say a place is unincorporated?
--- from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town In the United States of America, the meaning of the term town varies from state to state. In some states, a town is an incorporated municipality, that is, one with a charter received from the state, similar to a city. In others, a town is unincorporated. It is interesting to note that the towns, especially the so-called small towns, are usually classified in the United States as rural areas, versus the big or small cities as the urban areas. Many so these small-towns could be farming communities with comparatively small population; such a place would definitely be called a village in Great Britain or India (where a town is usually an urban area). The types of municipalities in U.S. states include cities, towns, boroughs, villages, and townships (in the sense of Pennsylvania townships and New Jersey townships; for the meaning in other states, see civil township), although most states do not have all five types. Many states do not use the term "town" for incorporated municipalities. In some states, for example Wisconsin, "town" is used in the same way that civil township is used in elsewhere. In other states, such as Michigan, the term "town" has no official meaning and is simply used informally to refer to a populated place, whether incorporated or not. [... snip for brevity ...] In California, where the term "village" is not used, "town" usually refers to a community that is unincorporated, regardless of size. Because of this, some towns are larger than small cities and any settlement with a name may be called a town, even though it may only be a relatively small grouping of buildings. Unincorporated communities, even large ones, are usually not referred to as cities. In casual speech, "town" may be used as a substitute for "city", especially a "general law city", as distinct from a "charter city". --- -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net

