Every city in Solano County is the most populous with its name in the United States.

Article Last Updated: Sunday, Apr 24, 2005 - 10:41:16 pm PDT

Rio Vista, Dixon population kings, too

By Brad Stanhope

FAIRFIELD - Every city in Solano County is the most populous with its name in the United States. While Fairfield is the most popular name of the county's seven cities - nearly half the states have a Fairfield - Rio Vista and Dixon are also the largest towns by their names in the nation.

There appears to be only one other Rio Vista in the U.S. - Rio Vista, Texas, a town southwest of Dallas with a population of 656. There are plenty of neighborhoods and retirement areas and apartments called Rio Vista, which means "river view" in Spanish, but only the Texas town. Solano County's Rio Vista has 5,682 residents, according to the latest estimate.

There are more Dixons, but the 16,103 people in the Solano County version give it 162 more residents than Dixon, Ill. - which is where Ronald Reagan lived from seventh grade until he left for college. There are also Dixons in Missouri, Kentucky, Iowa and Wyoming, but all are significantly smaller.

The county's other four cities - Vallejo, Benicia, Vacaville and Suisun City - are the only ones by those names in the nation.

Reach Brad Stanhope at 427-6925 or bstanhope@dailyrepublic.net.