washingtonian best places to live::Where does your hometown fall washingtonian best places to live

washingtonian best places to live::Where does your hometown fall?
Nixa you probably know about the explosion of development that has hit nixa in the last decade.
Nixa was incorporated as a town in 1902.
It was named after a local blacksmith named nicholas a.
Nicholas was a civic leader in the area in the late 1800s.
Around the turn of the century, not long after a post office was built in the region, locals gathered to discuss the possibility of establishing a town and picking a name.
Some wanted to name the town after nicholas because of his influence in the community.
That was in 1902.
Nixa has earned a bit of local notoriety as one of the first towns near springfield to become successful on its own merit, say nixa boosters.
Some might attribute this to aggressive business recruiting or strategic planning on the part of city hall.
The nixa area chamber of commerce and its president and ceo, sharon lighthill gray, have certainly also played a part.
Actually, maybe she did have a hand in getting the ball rolling for nixa; she was the mayor from 1994 to 1997.
These days, the selfproclaimed town cheerleader has an important job.
Thinking up town slogans.
So there are probably no other nixas in the world, but what else are nixa residents so proud of?
The most common answer is the nixa recreation and aquatics center.
Most people just call it the center, director kelly hasner included.
The center was one of the things lighthill gray mentions by name when we asked her why nixa was a great place to live.
She also mentions plans to build a skatepark so teens will have someplace to gather.
She talks about it while offering me a treat from her xshaped candy dish.
Exactly what we were thinking.