TIL of Ripton, Massachusetts, a fictitious town created in 1985 by a professor at UMass-Amherst to protest the Boston-based state government's neglect of rural Western Mass towns. He applied and was approved for grants and funding from the state before the hoax was uncovered.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripton_(fictitious_town)
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1fh2vjd/til_of_ripton_massachusetts_a_fictitious_town/