Friends that grew up here and moved away - when we play golf with strangers tell people they’re from Troy or Glen Carbon. After I say where I’m from, I promptly rat them out as Granite Citians.
All outsiders know (if they’ve driven through town) is that we have a steel mill that shoots fire into the sky. That’s the only thing they remember.
I take time to educate them that GC is larger than a slag heap and a polluted industrial area.
Without towns like GC, Edwardsville wouldn’t exist.
As for the Missouri “blue bloods” - Chesterfield is legitimately about a 10-minute drive from the heart of Ferguson.
I know people that live over there - the generations that earned the money are regular people.
The ones that didn’t are just like any spoiled, entitled d-bag you meet from anywhere.