Why you'd want to live in Auburn

The Alabama city of Auburn sits in the eastern section of the state, about 30 miles from the Georgia border. The city is located 55 miles east of Montgomery, 35 miles west of Columbus, Georgia, and about 105 miles southwest of the Georgia state capital of Atlanta. It is the largest city in eastern Alabama and is home to Auburn University, Alabama's largest university. The city is served by three principal highways: Interstate 85, U.S. Route 29, and U.S. Route 280. Founded in 1836 and incorporated three years later, the city of Auburn derived its name from a line in "The Deserted Village," a poem by Oliver Goldsmith. The line "Sweet Auburn, the loveliest village of the plain" also gave the city its unofficial nickname. Originally chartered in 1856, the earliest incarnation of Auburn University was known as the East Alabama Male College. The institution would undergo a few name changes through the years (Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama, Alabama Polytechnic Institute) before becoming known as Auburn University in 1960. Auburn today has an economy centered around the university and university-affiliated services. The university itself employs roughly one-quarter of the city's total workforce, and several thousand more people are employed by the federal and state governments in positions linked to the university. Auburn has four technology parks and the city's industry is heavily focused on high tech manufacturing and research. via citytowninfo.com