RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Indiana >> Clay County >> Prairie City >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Prairie City, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Prairie City and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Prairie City:
    • 39.445603, -87.113505
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Prairie City
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Clay County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clay County
    • Since Prairie City is near Putnam County and also Vigo County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Putnam County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Vigo County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Prairie City

Communities Also Named Prairie City ...

We found eleven communities that are also named Prairie City.

Within Indiana, the name Prairie City is unique.

Beyond Indiana, we know of eleven communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Sacramento County
      • This Prairie City is located in Sacramento County and lies 1,815 miles [2,921 km]<1> to the west of the Prairie City that is located in Clay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sacramento County community of Prairie City.
    • Illinois
      • McDonough County
      • This Prairie City is located in McDonough County and lies 194 miles [312.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Prairie City that is located in Clay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the McDonough County community of Prairie City.
    • Iowa
      • Jasper County
      • This Prairie City is located in Jasper County and lies 353 miles [568.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Prairie City that is located in Clay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jasper County community of Prairie City.
    • Kansas
      • Douglas County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Douglas County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Douglas County community of Prairie City.
      • Osage County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Prairie City [Osage County].
      • Shawnee County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Prairie City [Shawnee County].
    • Missouri
      • Bates County
      • This Prairie City is located in Bates County and lies 391 miles [629.3 km]<1> to the west of the Prairie City that is located in Clay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bates County community of Prairie City.
      • Clay County
      • Although located in Clay County, we don't know the location within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clay County community of Prairie City.
      • Daviess County
      • Although located in Daviess County, we don't know the location within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Daviess County community of Prairie City.
    • Oregon
      • Grant County
      • This Prairie City is located in Grant County and lies 1,648 miles [2,652.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Prairie City that is located in Clay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grant County community of Prairie City.
    • South Dakota
      • Perkins County
      • This Prairie City is located in Perkins County and lies 900 miles [1,448.4 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Prairie City that is located in Clay County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Perkins County community of Prairie City.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Prairie City ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Art
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
  • Billtown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Billville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Bowling Green
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Bowling Green is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bowling Green
  • Brazil
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Center Point
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Cherryvale
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Cherryvale is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherryvale
  • Cottage Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Cottage Hill is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottage Hill
  • Harmony
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Harmony is located in Clay County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 639 people
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Hoosierville
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
      • Hoosierville is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoosierville
    • Knightsville
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Knightsville is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knightsville
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 769 people
    • Purdy Hill
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Purdy Hill is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Purdy Hill
    • Saline City
      (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
      • Saline City is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saline City
    • Shady Lane
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Shady Lane is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Lane
    • Twin Beach
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Twin Beach is located in Clay County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Beach

How Far From Prairie City to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Prairie City to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Prairie City and extending to:

  • Brazil, which is the Seat of Clay County, lies just to the North.
  • Indianapolis, which is the State Capital of Indiana, lies 55 miles [88.5 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could walk a straight line from Prairie City to Indianapolis, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 540 miles [869 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just over a day, a buggy would take 21 days and walking would take 31 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,280 miles [10,106.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,011 miles [11,283.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,889 miles [7,868.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Prairie City) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Prairie City, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Prairie City could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<6>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Prairie City to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Prairie City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.4456, Longitude: -87.1135       In this case, the coordinates for Prairie City have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.089 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 310.59 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.00 degrees.