How charming. And the lack of cars.

Judging by the amount of water about, I'd ask if the town was so named because it's a place convenient for carrying canoes between water courses?

BTW, black faces are now allowed in the Queen's Guards: Coldstream, Irish, Scots, Grenadier but weren't up till recent years.

>I looked at some old photos of Portage, WI (where i am from) recently.
>
>http://www.ci.portage.wi.us/vertical/Sites/{889D2199-3A6C-48F9-AB94-DE81D288EE40}/uploads/{8D7F7CC9-C532-4250-A1D6-633AB6539F15}.PPT#274,18,Slide 18
>
>Looking at slide 18 amazed me. The entire time I lived in Portage (60s-70s) there was not a single black family there. Almost all European immigrants (and those mostly Norwegians, Swedes, Danish, Polish, and English) or native americans. It is a small town anyway - around 8,000 people while in the late 1800s it was actually larger. There is a picture of the police force (slide 18) and there is a black member of the force.
>
>It was actually more diverse 50-100 years ago!
>
>>>I think a lot of people started building their own homes (in the old days) and never finished. So most municipalities consider it an unfinished dwelling. I found this for the city of Oshkosh:
>>>
>>>City of Oshkosh Municipal Codes
>>
>>T. Is that where Osh Kosh B'Gosh kids' clothes come from?
>>
>>...