town and borough (district), administrative and historic county of Warwickshire, central England. The town of Rugby was not of great importance until the coming of the railways in the 19th century. It then became a railway junction and attracted a wide range of industry, including especially the production of electrical equipment. Rugby School, a famous public (i.e., fee-paying) school, was founded for boys in 1567 by Laurence Sheriff, a local resident, and was endowed with sundry estates including Sheriff's own house. The school flourished under the headship of Thomas Arnold (Arnold, Thomas) between 1828 and 1842 and became, under his rule, a model of the British public school for following generations. It was the scene of Tom Brown's School Days (1857) by Thomas Hughes and the founding place of rugby football. The borough includes a mainly rural area surrounding the town. Area 137 square miles (356 square km). Pop. (2001) town, 61,988; borough, 87,449.

city, seat (1889) of Pierce county, north-central North Dakota, U.S. It lies about 140 miles (225 km) northwest of Grand Forks. Rugby, founded in 1885 as a Great Northern Railway (Great Northern Railway Company) junction and named for the English town (see Rugby, England), was settled by Scandinavian and German immigrants. It is in an agricultural area producing wheat, barley, rye, sunflowers, and dairy products; also, truck parts are manufactured there. As determined by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1931, the geographic centre of North America is located just south of the city; the location is marked by a 21-foot (6-metre) stone monument (constructed 1932, moved to present site 1971). Also on the site is the Northern Lights Tower, an 88-foot (27-metre) set of steel pillars lit to mimic the effect of the aurora borealis (aurora). The city also features the Prairie Village Museum, with exhibits on local history, and the Victorian Dress Museum, located in a former church building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The International Peace Garden is about 45 miles (70 km) north of Rugby on the Canadian border. In Wolford, northeast of Rugby, the Dale and Martha Hawk Museum hosts an annual antique farm show. Inc. 1905. Pop. (1990) 2,909; (2000) 2,939.