A jerkwater town is a small, rural town with few amenities and decreasing population. The term may come from soda jerks in drugstores or from the lack of water towers on branch lines of railroads. It is still used to describe small towns with limited attractions.
The term jerkwater town is often applied to a small, rural town with very few amenities or visitor accommodations. Such a city may be so isolated or insular that the population decreases each year as younger residents move to larger cities. A typical jerkwater town may feature a single gas station, a locally owned restaurant, a few small shops, and a church. The expression is often used in a derogatory sense to define a small city in perpetual economic crisis, hampered by location or accessibility. Typical dialogue in 1930s gangster films included the main character’s eagerness to “get out of this idiotic town” or “blow up this popsicle stand.”
There is a theory that suggests the term jerkwater town comes from the town tradition of operating a soda fountain within the local drugstore. An employee known as a soda jerk made frozen desserts and flavored sodas for drugstore customers. These soft drinks would consist of sweet syrups and carbonated water drawn or “stretched” from a gas dispenser. These soda jerks have become so closely associated with small-town life, it’s conceivable that a disgruntled drinker could describe the alcohol-free environment as a city from a horse or a jerkwater. When the only drinks available are those made by an idiot, the association with a stuffy small-town existence might become popular over time.
A more likely source for the expression can be traced back to the railroad industry of the 1870s and 1880s. Major rail lines tended to pass through larger cities, where both passengers and crew could find overnight accommodations, food and other needs. The steam trains themselves could be supplied through large water towers located near railway stations. However, that was not the case with the less popular lines which branched off the main platforms and served smaller towns.
Branch lines often passed through smaller towns that lacked the technical capabilities of major railway stations. There were no large water towers to supply steam engines, for example, so water had to be carried to waiting crews. The act of drawing water is also known as “jerk” so the imported water supply would be called “jerkwater”.
Experienced railroaders and passengers would know whether a particular destination was on a mainline or branch line or a “jerkwater” line. Stopping in a jerkwater city, then, would mean longer turnaround times and fewer services during the break. Over time, improvements in the railroad industry eliminated the need for water stops in so-called jerkwater towns, but the expression is still used informally to describe an exceptionally small town with limited attractions and amenities.
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