18 Small Towns That Changed America

Borrowing its name from the Osage and the Pottawatomie people who once lived in the area, this town, which now has 4,308 residents, was the site of the Battle of Osawatomie in 1856, an important precursor to the Civil War. The battle was marked by abolitionist John Brown's unsuccessful stand against the Border Ruffians, but his brave efforts are commemorated at the hill where he fought, now known as John Brown Memorial Park.

Related: 25 Tiny Towns to Visit for a Glimpse at How We Used to Live

Pioneers who traveled the entire length of the 2,000-mile Oregon Trail ended their four- to six-month journey in Oregon City. Now home to 36,286, the city was a hub of commerce that became so integral to westward expansion that it once served as the territorial capital of Oregon.

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A chance discovery in Coloma may have sparked the California gold rush, but America's first major gold rush started years before in this now 6,437-person town in the Peach State. According to Preserve America, it all began when deer hunter Benjamin Parks serendipitously tripped over a rock and realized it was gold!

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Astoria served both as a winter stopover for the pioneering Lewis & Clark Expedition and the site of Fort Astoria, a trading post that started the fur trade in Oregon. The establishment of the trading post made this tiny town the first American settlement west of the Rockies, according to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.

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Malibu's neighbor to the north has built a reputation as the tech center of America, but this carefree California town also made a valuable contribution to science when a local laboratory invented lasers in 1960. The light-emitting devices have been used in applications from cinema projectors and light shows to manufacturing and medical procedures.

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Gonzales has been dubbed the "Lexington of Texas" because, much like Lexington and Concord, it saw the first military engagements of the Texas Revolution, a conflict that eventually led to Texas's being annexed as our nation's 28th state. The 7,660-person town has memorialized the battle site with stone and bronze statues, including the "Come and Take It" monument, which celebrates the colonists' retort when the Mexicans demanded the return of their canons.

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Before this town of 14,489 was called Whitman, it was known as "Little Comfort," an apt name for the city that gave us the chocolate chip cookie. The first batch of the round confections, now beloved the world over, was whipped up in Whitman's own Toll House Inn by chef Ruth Graves Wakefield in 1938, according to WCVB Boston.

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The Woodstock Music Festival of 1969 drew 400,000 peace-loving music fans for three days of performances by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Santana, and the Grateful Dead. The event shaped America's perception of rock and roll as a genre with cross-cultural appeal and was a pivotal moment for the counterculture movement of the 1960s.

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Even those who don't believe in UFOs would have difficulty denying Roswell's role in turning an interest in flying saucers into an iconic part of Americana. Extraterrestrial-themed edifices in the 48,184-person town, like the flying saucer-shaped McDonald's, keep the alien legacy alive for the next generation of Roswell residents and visitors.

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