The history of Half.com, Oregon
One year before eBay bought it, Half.com paid the town of Halfway, Oregon, to rename itself and become the "world's first dot-com city." Blogger William Drenttel called around the town of Half.com to ask, seven years later, about the deal.
I asked him about the town's decision to rename itself Half.com, which, Kaesemeyer told me, turned out to be a rather short-term arrangement. "We just passed a proclamation that lasted for one year." I asked him whether the town actually got the money and computers promised by Half.com: "Yeah, we got our money and some computers," he assured me. " 'Course that just caused some problems like money always does." Encouraged by his answers, I thanked him for his time and asked him to put me in touch with Halfway's mayor.
"That would be me," he replied.
