Elwood City (Arthur) - General Information

General Information

Elwood City is a large city that has a soda shop (Sugar Bowl, located on the corner of Maple St. and Elm St.), a shopping mall (Mill Creek Mall), a movie theater (Loring Cinema), 15 schools (including a preschool and Lakewood Elementary School where Arthur and his friends go), a science museum, a fire department with fire stations, a police department, a hospital, a city hall, doctors offices, a dump, a planetarium, numerous parks, forests, an animal shelter, a newspaper office (The Elwood City Times), a bike shop, an ice cream shop, a fresh water lake, ponds and streams, a reservoir, a waterpark, a library (Elwood City Library), a bowling alley, many churches, a synagogue,a mosque, a pizza restaurant, a community theater, a soccer field, a car dealership (Crosswire Motors), a community garden, a veterinary office/hospital, a professional baseball stadium and team (Elwood City Grebes), a pet store, a glass shop, a YMCA, diners, a community pool, a recycling center, fast food restaurants, industries, factories, and warehouses, a joke shop, a doll hospital, beauty salons, barber shops, and many other houses and stores. Arthur and the Read Family live at 562 Main Street.

Much like Springfield from The Simpsons, the exact whereabouts of Arthur’s hometown have never been explicitly stated. Arthur's writers have given conflicting evidence regarding Elwood City's actual whereabouts. While Elwood City bears strong resemblance to the Boston area, home of WGBH—such as Waltham, Massachusetts—there are references to Brown's hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania in some episodes (For instance, Elwood City, like Erie, has a Mill Creek Mall). Various anthropomorphic animals populate the city itself. In some instances animals are shown both in anthropomorphic form as well as realistic animal form. For example, Arthur has a pet dog, Pal, and two friends who are dogs, Binky and Fern.

Other evidence that suggests that Elwood City is located in New England is because it is not a right to work state as suggested by Francine's dad when told Binky he had to be in a union to drive a sanitation truck. More evidence of a New England location, much like suburban Boston, Massachusetts, would be the portrayal of the fictional city's professional baseball team, the Elwood City Grebes, as a fictional representation of the real life Boston Red Sox, referencing baseball lore such as The Curse of the Bambino and vaguely, the rivalry between the Red Sox and the New York Yankees, by having the Grebes' World Championship (reference to World Series) opponent being the Crown City Kings, with Crown City, a large metropolis featured in a few episodes, being apparently a representation of New York City, and the Crown City Kings being a representation of the New York Yankees, or New York Mets. In one episode, Arthur's family drives to Washington, D.C., only taking a few hours. In Arthur's Birthday, Arthur and his classmates indicate that Elwood City is very far from Ohio, where Arthur's relatives live. In another episode, Arthur and the Brain (Alan) visit the Exploratorium, which is located in San Francisco, though this does not mean that they didn't visit a fictional Exploratorium.

There are, however, various references throughout the series to a Canadian location. One of those references is in "The Good, the Bad, and the Binky", a five dollar bill given to Binky is blue and a twenty given to him is green (Though that might be a simple cartoonist shortcut to show that it is a different kind of bill), characteristics of Canadian paper money. The show is also recorded in Montreal, Quebec, which also contributes to the possibility of Elwood City being in Canada. However, this is refuted by many other factors, such as the Presidents bearing resemblance to Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and that D.W (In Episode 5, "D.W the copycat") states that they are in America.

The above lends to maybe Arthur's Elwood City is in Delaware or Central PA like Harrisburg, Arthur's family drove to Washington, DC while they flew to NYC. Leading to the conclusion they are closer to Washington, DC than New York City. Elwood City could be referring to a town in Maryland called Hunt Valley. Again Washington, DC would be a quick weekend trip, while New York City would be someplace you fly to. Also in Baltimore has an impressive Science Museum, many schools takes trips there hence the Exploratorium. Also Baltimore City is known for trains (which could be Crown City).

On the other hand, there is some evidence that Elwood City is located in West Virginia. The strongest candidate for this is in the episode "The Blackout", the DJ Dr Jake, gave the radio call sign as "WELD", which refers to two radio stations in West Virginia.