Where did the ongoing ‘do a good deed and the mayor of the town congratulates you with the key to the city’ in movies & shows come from? Was that ever a real thing?

Question

I’m watching family guy & Peter found a missing kid and as a reward the mayor gave him the key to the city (or town hall?).
I’ve also seen this happen in a few other movies.

Was this ever a real thing? Is this an inside joke I’m not aware of?

In: 2567

Answer 1

My husband was given the Key to the city of Miami when he was Mayor of Crawley. He and his then wife and children were invited over to Miami by the Mayor when he visited the U.K. and my beloved Gray met him at Gatwick Airport. By the time Gray and family visited Miami the Mayor had been replaced and Gray and family ended up having to pay for everything themselves.

Anyway he ended up being given the key to the city, I still have it somewhere. This was back in the 1980’s, my beloved Gray and I got together twenty odd years later, and we really did have a good marriage.

He had stepped away from being involved in politics by then, and truly I don’t think he really missed it.

The Key to the City is gold in colour and is in a little red suede bag.