I no longer live in Columbus but grew up there and went to OSU.

From my expereinces, Cow Town came from a publicity program back in the 70's in which there was a very popular calendar that had a cow and pasture in the foreground and the skyline in the background. I would guess that the marketing direction had something to do with the "best of both worlds": city and country. That is probably still true today. Anyway, somehow, the term stuck with the CB'ers at the time and the rest is history.

I have traveled and lived in may states, however, unfortunately, I have spent the last twenty years in Columbus, the Capitol of West Virginia, which is located in central Ohio. It is a job town where a large part of the Columbus working force commutes from the nearby rural Appalachia areas during the weekdays, then returns home on the weekends. Others reluctantly move to Columbus from the nearby rural Appalachia areas for jobs. I have found that very few people in Columbus have ever been outside the Columbus – Appalachia area. They basically don’t have a clue what a real city is like.

Another issue that Columbus has is all the propaganda about Columbus that is repeatedly broadcasted daily on its television / radio stations and in it’s local papers. I haven’t seen this much propaganda since the Khrushchev Administration. I attribute this to the influence that the local developers and real estate companies have on the local media. They basically do not want to loose money from people moving away from Columbus. So they brain wash its citizens into believing that Columbus is the best place in the world to live and that the OSU Football Team is the greatest in the world. The locals do not realize how much effect this propaganda has on them. However, its abundance is plainly seen by individuals from other parts of the state and country that visit Columbus. I have found that most people in Columbus have a phobia of going to places outside the Columbus – Appalachia area.

Columbus seems to have a glass bubble over it. The people here live in their own little world. They don’t seem to recognize Cinncinatti, Cleveland, Toledo, Dayton or other places outside of the Columbus – Appalachia area as being part of Ohio. They don’t seem to recognize that life outside the Columbus – Appalachia area even exists. Most people in Columbus are ethnocentric and act like they cannot cope with people from other parts of the state, country or world.

Columbus isn’t bad; it’s the attitude of the people that makes it a Cowtown and this, I attribute to the propaganda of the local media.

Well there are cows in town, because of the Ohio State University Ag School. There are two areas in NW Columbus where you drive by fields of cows. One is beef cows, one is milk cows. So that may be why Columbus is called a cow town or a cowtown.... Columbus is more small town feeling than Cinci and Cleveland and some of the newer neighborhoods in some areas border cornfields which makes it feel sort of rural for a city of it's size.

Check out some of the great neighborhoods to live in, in and around Cow Town:

http://www.ServingColumbus.com

Vito Boscaino
Encore Asset Management of Ohio Realty
614.571.9054

The mentality you speak of is the same in all cities ranked 10-30 in population in US. It is what it is, however, to think that people only pay attention to local media is a poor assumption.

I've been a lot of places, currently South Florida, but I loved Columbus as a city. Plop it somewhere that the sun doesn't disappear for 6 months at a time and I would still be a Columbus citizen.

Columbus, Ohio was once home to the Borden Corp. - thus the reference of cowtown. Various recent travel articles in the NY Times, Chicago Tribune, and magazines were written about the arts scene, restaurants, the large gay community etc. Proud to be a Columbus resident!

Maybe that's a common label.
Here in Texas we consider Fort Worth "Cowtown". But that truly applies
to it's history.

I'd like to thank Agent Laurie Manny for letting me post and try to honestly answer her question on, "Why do people call Columbus a cow town?".

This is serious issue that has unfortunately been around for years.
It is also a complicated issue which cannot be explained in a few sentences.

The people who are in love with Columbus cannot adequately answer this question, because they are not he ones calling Columbus a cow town and all they know how to do is express their love for Columbus.

To really find out the answer to this question, you need someone who has the guts to give you honest feedback on "Why do people call Columbus a cow town?"

I know that I maybe ZAPPED! from this blog because of what I say, but I have a tendency to get people to think and some people are afraid to think and worst yet, some people do not want to hear the truth because sometimes, the truth hurts.

Ignoring this issue will not make it go away. You need honest sincere feedback to find out the true problems in Columbus that portrays this image.

It is going to take a little time to explain the answer to this question for I have other things in my life. However, I believe this is a very serious issue and I am willing to explain it on an educated level to someone who is serious about finding out the answer.

This does have a lot to do with demographics, the mass media and how those who are not in love with Columbus perceive Columbus.

A question that I have is, if a person only ate at White Castle all his life, and you asked him where is the best place to eat steak at in Columbus, what do you think he is going to say? If a person has only lived in Columbus all his life, how does he know where the best place in the United States to live? If you don't have anything to compare it to, you cannot honestly use the term "Best". Think about it!

Hopefully you will allow me to go into depth on answering your question.

Columbus is a big city with a cowtown mentality. Many Midwestern cities are like this, and in many ways the same could be said about Chicago.

Anecdotal: The Ohio State University, College of Agriculture has fields of cattle among busy urban streets, near an airport, and around busy suburbs; people visiting for football parked in the cow pastures, walking carefully in the grass; years ago, a cow was elected Homecoming Queen by the prankster and eclectic students at The Ohio State University. Also, the town years ago seemed backward to sophistocated Cincinnatians and Clevelanders visiting (Not any more).MOOOO!