Transition from "In <location name>" from "at <location name>

[NW Mailing List]

Thanks to both Frank Akers and Larry for their thoughts. The idea of a political entity (IN Chillicothe) being a bit too imprecise for location purposes makes sense to me. In the frog-removal example I provided, the frogs referenced were probably less than 100 feet from the Chillicothe depot. 

I’m curious how the article would have been worded if the location had been a mile either way, yet still in the political entity (Near Chilliocthe? At Sugar Street in Chillicothe?).

I’d wondered if the same way of describing locations was still used today. 

Thanks guys!

Matt

> On May 30, 2023, at 8:01 PM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> My take is on a railroad, a location is a specific point. You can either be at that location or not at that location. So even today, the first example is correct on a railroad. If the line still operated by timetable and change order and I received a train order to meet another train IN Chillicothe, I’d ask to have the order clarified as to where exactly in Chillicothe I was supposed to meet that other train. As for the second, the style of writing by railroad people probably just carried through to general writing.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Larry Stone
> lstone19 at stonejongleux.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On May 30, 2023, at 11:33 AM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Oops, I sent the below to the wrong mailing list (modeling instead of the main list). 
>> 
>> From: Matt Goodman <mgoodman312 at icloud.com>
>> Subject: Transition from "In <location name>" from "at <location name>
>> Date: May 30, 2023 at 2:26:40 PM EDT
>> To: nw modeling List <nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org>
>> 
>> My father has a fat library of literature and magazines from bygone days. I’ve noticed that older industry writings typically used “at” to reference cities / towns the railroad passed through. Here’s an example from a 1926 employee magazine:
>> 
>> The eastbound crossing frog at Chillicothe with the Chillicothe Street Railway has been taken out and straight rails put in. 
>> 
>> We extend to Floyd Mann, chief clerk, at this station, our sincere sympathy in the loss of his father, who died at Gahanna, O.,
>> 
>> If I wrote that sentence today, I would say “in Chillicothe” and “in Gahanna”. 
>> 
>> When / why did that change? Is that type of structure unique to railroads? Or is this a shift in how the language is used more generally?
>> 
>> Matt Goodman
>> Columbus, Ohio, US
>> 
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