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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Ford City, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ford 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 Ford City:
    • 40.111662, -94.464680
    • 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 Ford 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 Gentry County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gentry County
    • Since Ford City is near DeKalb County and also Andrew County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for DeKalb County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Andrew 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 Ford City

Communities Also Named Ford City ...

We found four communities that are also named Ford City.

Within Missouri, the name Ford 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 ...
    • Alabama
      • Colbert County
      • This Ford City is located in Colbert County and lies 528 miles [849.7 km]<1> to the southeast of the Ford City that is located in Gentry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Colbert County community of Ford City.
    • California
      • Kern County
      • This Ford City is located in Kern County and lies 1,403 miles [2,257.9 km]<1> to the west of the Ford City that is located in Gentry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kern County community of Ford City.
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Ford City.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Armstrong County
      • This Ford City is located in Armstrong County and lies 785 miles [1,263.3 km]<1> to the east of the Ford City that is located in Gentry County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Armstrong County community of Ford City.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Ford 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.

  • Berlin
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Berlin is located in Gentry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berlin
  • Empire Prairie ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Empire Prairie is located in Andrew County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Empire Prairie
  • Fairport
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Fairport is located in DeKalb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairport
  • Flag Springs ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Flag Springs is located in Andrew County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flag Springs
  • Island City
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Island City is located in Gentry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island City
  • King City
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Mount Pleasant
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Gentry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Orchid
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Orchid is located in DeKalb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orchid
  • Union Star
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Union Star is located in DeKalb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Star
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 415 people
  • Voyage ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Voyage is located in Gentry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Voyage

How Far From Ford 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 town such as Ford City to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Albany, which is the Seat of Gentry County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Ford City to Albany, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Jefferson City, which is the State Capital of Missouri, lies 161 miles [259.1 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 930 miles [1,496.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 37 days and walking would take 53 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,515 miles [10,484.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,262 miles [11,687.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,154 miles [8,294.6 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Ford 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 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 Ford 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 Ford 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 Ford City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.1117, Longitude: -94.4647       In this case, the coordinates for Ford City have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.008 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.335 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.405 degrees.