beamjockey (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beamjockey) wrote2012-02-29 12:36 pm
beamjockey) wrote2012-02-29 12:36 pm
Mechanicsburg: Home of the Heterodynes
A discussion elseweb concerning Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania led me to comment. I thought I might repeat the comment here.
Back when the Heterodyne Boys were American inventors of the Tom Swift variety-- years before Girl Genius appeared-- I was fascinated with the notion that several U.S. towns were named Mechanicsville or Mechanicsburg, and remarked to Phil Foglio that the Boys' hometown might be Mechanicsburg.
Many further examples beyond Pennsylvania: Wikipedia's Mechanicsville disambiguation page and Mechanicsburg disambiguation page.
I envisioned arriving in a town populated with clever tinkerers, where shiny gadgets and novel conveyances could be seen in every direction. You'd step off the train and a helpful porter would direct a steam-driven forklift, flyball governor whirring, to unload your luggage. A shoeshine boy would offer you a shine, delivered by a brass-and-clockwork device of his own design. The streets would be spotless, as roving pneumatic mechanisms polished the cobblestones. Because a town named Mechanicsburg should be like that, or why bother to give it the name?
This idea went into the bubbling cauldron of Phil's mind, along with ten thousand other bits of history, science, and culture. Then he met Kaja, and everything got stirred in with all the bits SHE contributed.
Years later, I was very pleased when I learned that the hometown of the rebooted Heterodyne Boys, albeit transplanted to central Europe, was indeed Mechanicsburg.
(Ad in The American Artisan and Hardware Record, volume 77, May 31, 1919, page 48:
Back when the Heterodyne Boys were American inventors of the Tom Swift variety-- years before Girl Genius appeared-- I was fascinated with the notion that several U.S. towns were named Mechanicsville or Mechanicsburg, and remarked to Phil Foglio that the Boys' hometown might be Mechanicsburg.
Many further examples beyond Pennsylvania: Wikipedia's Mechanicsville disambiguation page and Mechanicsburg disambiguation page.
I envisioned arriving in a town populated with clever tinkerers, where shiny gadgets and novel conveyances could be seen in every direction. You'd step off the train and a helpful porter would direct a steam-driven forklift, flyball governor whirring, to unload your luggage. A shoeshine boy would offer you a shine, delivered by a brass-and-clockwork device of his own design. The streets would be spotless, as roving pneumatic mechanisms polished the cobblestones. Because a town named Mechanicsburg should be like that, or why bother to give it the name?
This idea went into the bubbling cauldron of Phil's mind, along with ten thousand other bits of history, science, and culture. Then he met Kaja, and everything got stirred in with all the bits SHE contributed.
Years later, I was very pleased when I learned that the hometown of the rebooted Heterodyne Boys, albeit transplanted to central Europe, was indeed Mechanicsburg.
(Ad in The American Artisan and Hardware Record, volume 77, May 31, 1919, page 48:
Wanted — First-class all around man who can do tinning, plumbing, steam, hot water and hot air heating, and anything that comes up in a country shop. Steady job and good wages for the right man. GL Freeto, Mechanicsburg, Illinois.Sounds like my kind of town!)
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Here is one.
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