RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Missouri >> Jefferson County >> Crystal City >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Crystal City, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Crystal 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 Crystal City:
    • 38.226942, -90.385558
    • 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 Crystal 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 Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Since Crystal City is near Monroe County and also Saint Louis County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Monroe County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Saint Louis 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 Crystal City

Communities Also Named Crystal City ...

We found four communities that are also named Crystal City.

Within Missouri, the name Crystal City is unique.

Beyond Missouri, we know of four communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these four communities, three are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Manitoba
      • This Crystal City lies 864 miles [1,390.5 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Crystal City that is located in Jefferson County.
    • Michigan
      • Benzie County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Crystal City [Benzie County].
    • Texas
      • Zavala County
      • This Crystal City is located in Zavala County and lies 852 miles [1,371.2 km]<1> to the southwest of the Crystal City that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Zavala County community of Crystal City.
    • Virginia
      • Arlington County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Virginia community of Crystal City [Arlington County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Crystal 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.

  • Bushburg
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Bushburg is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bushburg
  • Goldman
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Hematite
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Hematite is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hematite
  • Herculaneum
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
  • Imperial
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Ivy
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Ivy is located in Monroe County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ivy
  • Ludwig
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Ludwig is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ludwig
  • Madonnaville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Mitchie
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Silica
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Silica is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silica
  • Sulphur Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Sulphur Springs is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sulphur Springs
  • Sunnyside
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Sunnyside is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyside

How Far From Crystal City to ...

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

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

  • Hillsboro, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Crystal City to Hillsboro, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Jefferson City, which is the State Capital of Missouri, lies 99 miles [159.3 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 721 miles [1,160.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 41 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,464 miles [10,402.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,198 miles [11,584.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,077 miles [8,170.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Crystal City) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Crystal 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.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Crystal 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 Crystal City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.2269, Longitude: -90.3856    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.179 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.822 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.827 degrees.