Metropolis

When William McBane and James Wilcox envisioned founding a bustling city on the banks of the Ohio River, they hoped it would be a center of commerce at the gateway to the ever-expanding American West. They needed a name befitting their ambitious vision, and though it may not have matched the grandeur of its founders’ intent, Metropolis, Illinois, is the only place in the world that can claim that name as anything more than a descriptor. Located near historic Fort Massac, Metropolis played a vital part in the booming river traffic of the 1800s and was an important manufacturer of steamboats. In addition to its pleasant small-town atmosphere and wide, expansive boulevards ready for the explosive growth that never quite made it there, Metropolis is the hometown of notable figures John Marvin Steele, the D-Day paratrooper made famous in The Longest Day, and the Man of Steel himself–Superman.