The American Farm Belt may have seemed backward and barbaric to Kal-El’s mother, but Smallville, Kansas, proved the perfect haven for the orphaned Last Son of Krypton. This quaint, close-knit community was the antithesis of Krypton’s quarantined confinement. Here, Kal-El – renamed Clark Kent – was nurtured by his adoptive parents – was nurtured in equal parts by small-town virtues and the rays of Earth’s sun, growing tall and strong like the fields of corn stretching in every direction.
In the beginning, Smallville was once a trading post of Ezra Small, which somehow escaped the ravages of the Civil War, including the sacking of the nearby town of Lawrence. American settlers’ subsequent push westward helped Smallville grow into a strong farming community with grain and beef cattle its main sources of income. Corporate agriculture may dominate the surrounding prairies, but the family farm remains highly prized by the people of Smallville.
Clark Kent often returns to his picturesque hometown when the woes of the world abate and allow him a moment to rest and reflect. Clark values the honest and humble citizens of Smallville, whose virtues instill humility in the Man of Steel and inspire him to champion the common good of all mankind. And for a Superman who has trod the soils of the other worlds, nothing is more comforting than walking the well-worn paths of home.
Sites of Smallville:
-Smallville General Store
-Smallville National Bank
-Smallville High School
-The Kent Farm
