Let’s take a trip up to Wabash County, Indiana by way of a quick stop at Urban Dictionary. There, we’ll examine an overused piece of Gen Y vernacular, the word “lit.” In 2014, Urban Dictionary user fatoubobala defined lit as “when something is turned up or popping¹.” Four years later, user @realdolanddump -probably a zoomer if his tone is any indication- advised that the word was “what millennials use when describing [something] that is ‘fire’ or ‘dope,’ meaning cool or awesome².”

By those definitions, Miami, Las Vegas, and New Orleans are all “lit” cities while Provo, Utah, is decidedly not. Though most of the nation’s most turnt-up places cluster around the coasts, I’ve got a secret: the oldest lit city the nation is right here in Indiana, a fact that leads us to Wabash.