Metropolis, Illinois: a tourist destination for Superman fans

In keeping with my obsession with big things… how about a 12 foot tall fiberglass Superman?

For that you need to go to Metropolis Illinois, a quiet, tiny little town (to put just how tiny this place is in perspective, my HIGH SCHOOL had 4,500 students)

Metropolis is located on the southern border of Illinois, along the Ohio River, and it’s so quiet that even at 4:30pm on a weekday, it has mostly empty streets, seriously, where are the people?

Besides Superman, it does not really have much else going for it, other than there is a riverboat casino on the Ohio River…

So, in an impressive attempt at working with what you’ve got, the town has taken as much advantage as a town possibly can of having the same name as the fictional town Superman is supposed to be from.

There is superman stuff all around the center of town…

There’s a superman museum, that is ostensibly a massive store that sells everything superman, with an exhibit in the back ($5 entre fee)

But, since it was declared Superman’s official home in 1972, by the Illinois State Legislature…  I guess it’s official.

I will say I was VERY happy to find this statue of Louise Lane located at the other end of town from Superman

And just near her I found this….

So, all in all it’s a cute place to stop and stretch your feet if your taking a road trip that passes by it or near it …. or if you have some hard-core superman fans in your family

 

BUT… that said, on the way out-of-town I drove by a grocery store called Big John that’s had a statue out front that I sware looked to be about twice as big as the Superman statue… What’s up with that?