A tour of North America's "Rose Cities"

“The Rose City,” or some variation thereof, just sounds cool and inviting. Maybe a little too much, as there are likely at least a dozen places that lay claim to the name in the United States alone, and more in Canada. Let’s take a little tour of all of them, and please let us know if we’ve missed one in the comments below…

Portland, Oregon - The City of Roses OR Rose City: Probably the most well-known “Rose City,” the gorgeous hipster haven of Portland hosts an annual Rose Festival, has an NBA arena called The Rose Garden, and a womens soccer team named the Portland Thorns.

Little Rock, Arkansas - The City of Roses: A traditional nickname for Arkansas’ largest city, origins seemingly unknown.

Portland, Oregon is among many "Rose Cities"
in North America (image from here)

Chico, California - City of Roses: Also known as the City of Trees, or more notably, Ryan from the OC’s hometown. (oops, that's Chino. Classic mix-up.)

Pasadena, California - The City of Roses: Host of the annual Rose Bowl Parade and Rose Bowl college football game. We’ll allow it.

Pana, Illinois - City of Roses: Pana is a small city of about 5,500 in central Illinois, and came to be known as the City of Roses due to the high amount of greenhouses that set up in the area.

Madison, New Jersey - The Rose City: According to the New York Times, this city of about 15,000  “was nicknamed the Rose City because of a 19th-century rose-growing industry started by wealthy residents drawn to Madison by its location on the Morris & Essex train line." Alright then.

Springfield, Ohio - Rose City or City of Roses: Since Springfield is the most common city and town name in the United States, one would imagine that having a nickname is kind of helpful in setting your Springfield apart from all the other Springfields. A quick search reveals little about how this state capital of Illinois came to get its nickname. Know the answer? Let us know in the comments, please!

Lancaster, Pennsylvania - The Red Rose City: Lancaster is home to about 60,000 residents and lies in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country. It got its nickname from the House of Lancaster in England, whose symbol was a red rose.

Chehalis, Washington - Rose City: This small city of about 7,300  is located about halfway between the two largest cities in the USA’s Pacific Northwest, Seattle and Portland. It adopted the “Rose City” nickname in 2000, and despite some rumblings of changing to the Friendly City a few years back, they decided to stick with what’s worked.

Lovell, Wyoming - The Rose Town of Wyoming/The Rose City: The town of Lovell has 2,360 residents, which basically qualifies it as a metropolis in the context of Wyoming. According to the town’s website “Dr. William Watts Horsley came to Lovell in the 1920's.  As one of the foremost authorities in the United States on roses, he found the climate in Lovell to be exceptional for growing this flower and began to create rose gardens.”

 
Norwich, Connecticut - Rose City or The Rose of New England: This city of about 40,000 has a large rose garden, and a newspaper called the Norwich Rose.

Camrose, Alberta - The Rose City: A stunning town in Alberta, Camrose earned its nickname due to the large number of wild roses that grow in the area.  

Welland, Ontario - The Rose City: Nestled in Ontario’s beautiful Niagara region, this blue-collar city of 50,000 has an official rose and a yearly Rose Festival.

Windsor, Ontario – the City of Roses: With about 300,000 residents and situated across the river from Detroit, Windsor is a hard-working city with a whimsical nickname. According to this page, “The “City of Roses” nickname arose …  quite simply because Windsorites are so fond of their rose beds. At one point there were so many rose beds planted and cultivated within the city limits… that the air itself carried a faint rose scent throughout the city.” Thanks to a provincial ban on pesticides, though, there are far less rose beds than there once were.

Say, in the mood to buy some roses after reading that? Check out the Rose Page at bloomex.ca!