WHAT CITY IN THE UNITED STATES seems to you, to be the counterpart
to the fictitious city of River Heights? That was the inquiry posed to these magnanimous respondents, at the NancyDrewSleuths
discussion site by means of an opinion survey prepared expressly for this expose.
"For some reason, when I was a child reading these books, I always
had the belief that River Heights was somewhere in Illinois." --TODD
"I definitely think Chicago." --Marci
"I always assumed that River Heights was somewhere in Ohio." --Paula
"I always really pictured Iowa." --Snorky Pam
"As a child, I thought that the stories took place in New Jersey,
but later developed the idea that it was a smaller city in southern Illinois or somewhere in Ohio." --PQ
NEW JERSEY
"I always imagined River Heights to be in the Northeast." --Carol
"I have always been of the opinion that River Heights is near the
eastern coast..." --Suzy (Y)
"I always seemed to imagine that River Heights was located in the
middle of the U.S. But then in "Crumbling Wall" and Tolling Bell and Whispering Statue, those locales were near the water
or seashore and I then thought of the Eastern Coast for some reason." --Kathleen
"No specific city comes to mind but I have always considered River
Heights as being located in Ohio." --Donna
"Either Ohio or Iowa as they were two states that Millie seemed
the most familiar with and that's probably where she based River Heights as being located." --JK
As can be detected by reading those clever ripostes, it becomes
evident that there are four unique regions, which are discernable as potential quarters to River Heights. More to the point,
the states most intrepidly ascribed are Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey, and Iowa. There are also a few illuminating reasons for
these assessments, as it appears nearly all of the suppositions come from perusal of the mystery stories at hand. This raison
d'être inexorably emerges by conception from scrutiny of the original, revised, and later texts of the classic series and
furthermore, discernment of the environs where the ghostwriters resided.
If one were to read the original texts exclusively, one would essentially
envisage the fashionably small city established in the Mid-west, most notably in the states of Iowa and Ohio. This suggestion
formulates in view of the well-known fact, that the principal and most legendary ghostwriter of the introductory narratives,
Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson (1905-2002), was born and raised in Ladora, Iowa, a small town near Iowa City.
Map of Iowa
Many mysteries in the original tales occur in Nancys midwestern
city. Since initially, River Heights and surrounding localities were representative of this indigenous area, we can sagaciously
presume that Mildred Benson depicted this fair city after an authentic place in Iowa and Ohio. Should one surmise further,
the implication might well be true that she would have portrayed River Heights from her own individual experiences garnered
from living in these midwestern states.
An added mysterious letter that River Heights is fashioned after
a small city in Iowa, is a connotation from an acquaintance, who writes a strange message in a parchment:
"RIVER HEIGHTS is River Heights Dr. located in Mason City,
Iowa. I lived one block from it. It ran from 5th St SE to So. Carolina, following the Winnebago River & is still there. There
is a foot bridge that connects it to 2nd St SE, so that you can walk across the bridge & not have to go around to other
streets." --Marilyn
Understandably, Mildred could have transcribed her intuitive accounts
of Ohio too, in her picturesque depictions of River Heights. "When she Married Asa Wirt in 1928 they did not go directly to
Toledo, Ohio, but at first after leaving Iowa, settled in Cleveland, Ohio, where Asa worked as a press correspondent."(1)
Map of Ohio
Conceivably, this astounding ghostwriter may well have built Nancys
inexplicable world upon those very regions, since Mildred had wrote many, but not all of the original mysteries while living
in the Middle West, upward to and including the first printing of number thirty, The Clue of the Velvet Mask, in
1953. (2) Incidentally, this festooned mystery takes place in Nancys own hometown, River Heights' final titivation by this
notable author!
In comparison to the above view while investigating the revised
and later texts of the classic series, one might ponder that the authors may have obliquely hinted of River Heights being
located nearer to the east coast, in particular, the state of New Jersey. Harriet Stratemeyer Adams (1892-1982), another
prominent and innovative ghostwriter, composed or re-wrote the larger part of the later texts while continuously inhabiting
this eastern state.
An additional recognized fact is that the Stratemeyer Syndicate,
initially sited in New York City, moved their offices in New Jersey on two different occasions, following the death of Edward
Stratemeyer. "After Harriet and Edna settled Edward's estate, since his wife, Magdalene, was a semi-invalid and unable to
do so, they moved the Syndicate offices to East Orange, New Jersey in November 1930. Some years later they moved the offices
to Maplewood, New Jersey."(3)
Apparently, Harriet also lived in those vicinities, allowing her
to be in close proximity to the syndicate headquarters. Thus, it is perceivable by conjecture alone, that she perhaps circuitously
and indirectly hinted about the sought after city of its positioning in that particular state while writing these volumes.
By logically deducing the condensed distances it would take Nancy Drew to arrive at out of town destinations, such as New
York City, New York, River Heights would theoretically align with this location, in that way, hauntingly bridge the violation
of travel time in the revised and later texts.
Furthermore, why not have some added degree of speculation on this,
whereas Harriet Adams alludes to this precise fact, in an article she wrote for TV Guide magazine printed in 1977? Responding
to where she gets her ideas for the mystery stories she writes, "Secondly, story incidents evolve from research, travel,
and personal experience."(Emphasis added)(4) Puzzlingly, rarely is there ever a telltale sign indicative of a specific
city in New Jersey, with the exception of East Orange. Looking for an indication in some long ago missing map, a sleuth might
stumble upon the clue that East Orange, and Maplewood are only 4 miles away from each other, in the state of New Jersey!
Harriet started the revisions of the early books in 1959(5), beginning
as of number one to number thirty-four The Hidden Window Mystery, also rewriting a few of these texts. She then went
on to consecutively write the remaining Nancy Drew stories from number thirty-five The Haunted Showboat, up to number
fifty-six The Thirteenth Pearl, printed in 1979. Note that ghostwriters Ann Shultz and Mary Fisher later revised
volumes 33 and 34 respectively, though Harriet Adams wrote these original texts! (6)
Ariel photo of Chicago, Illinois
Another consideration offered with alacrity, is the creation of
River Heights in the manner of a small rural district, not far-off from Chicago, Illinois. In contrast, further examination
has Chicago itself being the prototypical city for River Heights! In keeping with the assertion of reduced travel
time, the previously mentioned reference is also in theory for this foundation, and as well, books that are more recently
inscribed with Nancy Drew as the fundamental character. This strange and mystifying case only concerns those books of the
original, revised, and later texts of the first fifty-six volumes of the classic series; hence, not to be the forgotten city,
we may yet think about River Heights as a suburb of Chicago, Illinois.
To be reasonable, in uncovering a small metropolitan locality that
may perhaps be a counterpart to the authors rendering of River Heights, we are required to first perceive the representation
of what variety the small community is. For this we must go in pursuit of information from those endearing mystery books as
regards to location, landmarks, weather patterns, terrain descriptions, and distances traveled to other true cities mentioned,
which are all central in defining River Heights. We should then endeavor to correspond these clues to the distinguishable
locales previously mentioned.
With these indications provided, part three of this markedly intriguing
series, Where is River Heights? will in that case, correlate these existent cities with the simulated and much admired rural
community of River Heights. Further, we will eliminate some of the cities mentioned by deciphering which of the actual cities
have the essentials particular to River Heights and which do not. By this, we will further refine our ostensibly momentous
quest for that ever-elusive city of River Heights.
Map images of New Jersey and Iowa are used by permission, Courtesy of The
General Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin.
Ariel photograph of Chicago, Illinois, is By Courtesy of the U.S. Geological
Survey.
