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Chautauqua Hall

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California, Monterey County, Pacific Grove
The first Chautauqua in the west. Organized at Pacific Grove in June 1879, for the presentation of “moral attractions” and “the highest grade of concerts and entertainment.” Known world wide as “Chautauqua-by-the-Sea,” it made Pacific Grove an unequalled (sic) cultural center.
California Registered
Historical Landmark No. 839
Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the City of Pacific Grove, July 20, 1970

(Arts, Letters, Music • Entertainment) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

First REA Project in Kansas

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Kansas, Brown County, Horton


At this site the first power pole for the Brown-Atchison Electric Cooperative was dedicated in special ceremony on November 10, 1937. Brown-Atchison was the first rural electric project to energize in Kansas financed by loan funds from the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). On April 1, 1938, central-station electricity generated at the Horton Power Plant was sent into the first section of lines to farms in Brown and Atchison counties, signaling an end to darkness and drudgery for rural people. Thirty-eight other electric cooperatives followed in Kansas to deliver the wonders of electricity into every rural area of the state. Rural electrification became known as the best "hired hand" the farmer/rancher could have. Few other occurrences have impacted so positively on rural areas as has the rural electrification program.

This marker is dedicated to all the rural electric cooperative pioneers in Kansas who proved that working together for their own and the common good, produces a better life for themselves and their neighbors.

(Charity & Public Work • Man-Made Features) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

"Four Horsemen of the Lines"

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Kansas, Brown County, Horton


Unquestionably the most widely published photograph in rural electrification history captures high drama and momentum as the last miles of line are pulled only the day before energization for the Brown-Atchison Electric Cooperative Association, Inc. Horton, Kansas on March 31, 1938.

Crew members on the truck were local farmers hired by a Kansas City, Missouri contractor; wages earned by the farmer-linemen went to wire their farm homes.

Crew from left to right:
Lind Jacobson, Junior Adams, Elmer Krebs and Karl Jacobson, all destined to become legend as rural electrification's "Four Horsemen of the Lines".

(Charity & Public Work • Man-Made Features) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Spanish Occupation of Georgia

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Georgia, Camden County, St. Marys

In Commemoration Of The
Spanish Occupation
Of Georgia

Began in 1566 and virtually ended
1686 when the Spanish garrisons
and missions in the face of
English intrusion from Carolina
withdrew south of St. Marys River


(Colonial Era • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Horton Civic Center

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Kansas, Brown County, Horton

WPA & City of Horton Project
1937 - 1939

City Engineer: Harve Lingo
Foreman: Shelton Boyd

"Built From Locally Quarried Limestone"

Erected by
Works Progress Administration
and
City of Horton
A·D·1938

(Agriculture • Charity & Public Work • Entertainment • Man-Made Features) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Mt. Nebo U.P. Church War Memorial

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Pennsylvania, Allegheny County, near Sewickley
MEMORIAL
This memorial is dedicated in sincere tribute to the living and dead whose valiant efforts and unselfish sacrifices have made America great.
God grant that the liberty of humanity, won only by brave souls and vigilantly guarded shall live on with increased strength and spirit.
Perpetuated for all ages to come.

More lasting than words more glorious than praise is our gratitude for their great unselfishness.

(Military) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Buggy Store

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Kansas, Nemaha County, Seneca


This 1886 Romanesque building with its decorative brick facade has a store interior that is basically the same as it was 120 years ago. At that time it was a hardware store that sold buggies, wagons, windmills, and stoves. Before automobiles, since most families kept horses, harnesses and other livery items were also made and sold here. A tinsmith shop was upstairs and the smith's tools are still in place.

The hardware store still has the original windows, 14-foot tin ceilings, wood floors, shelves, wainscoting and counters. A large rope-drawn freight elevator used to haul buggies from the rear of the building to an upstairs display window is still operative. The original stained glass windows have been carefully restored.

The building has been owned by the same family since 1939 and now houses "Buggy Days Antiques," a good re-use of this well-maintained Victorian store.

(Agriculture • Industry & Commerce • Man-Made Features) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The First National Bank

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Kansas, Nemaha County, Seneca


The First National Bank, with its Queen Ann turret, is a landmark on Main Street. Designed in the Richardsonian style with decorative ramparts and brickwork, it reflected grandeur and permanence, signs of Seneca's growing success in 1889. The cornerstone inscription reminds customers that the bank was originally founded in 1874. Tiffany-inspired windows adorned the banking hall which had ornate wooden cashier counters and a tile floor. Upstairs were apartments and professional offices.

During the Great Depression, the bank failed and was sold. New owners later subdivided this grand old building into apartments. A hailstorm broke many of the windows on the west side which were then covered with cedar shakes. Like many Victorian gems in rural Kansas, the building began to deteriorate; it was placed on the Kansas and National Register of Historic Places in 2006, which marked the beginning of preservation efforts.

In 2008, the building was purchased by enterprising Senecans who converted it into the Cornerstone Coffe Haus. All the windows with colorful art glass were restored and the building utilities upgraded. Owners also rescued the popular soda fountain from Harsh's Drug Store, which stood on Main opposite the bank, giving it a new life. Today, the restored building is once again thriving - a bright and comfortable meeting place in a re-energized Seneca.

(Industry & Commerce • Man-Made Features) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Pony Express Home Station

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Kansas, Nemaha County, Seneca


To the brave men
who rode the Pony Express
1860 - 1861

Exact location of the Home Station
Seneca, Kansas

(Communications • Roads & Vehicles • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Railroads

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Kansas, Nemaha County, Seneca


The first railroad beyond the Missouri River was built in 1859 by investors in St. Joseph who saw their city as the gateway to the west. After laying six miles of track on the Kansas side of the river, their enterprise was stalled by the approaching Civil War.

In 1862, President Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act which called for a transcontinental railroad to California. When the war ended, there were three railroads on the shore of the Missouri River. The one who could lay tracks fastest would become the transcontinental railroad - the race west began.

Kansas City took the lead by building the first bridge over the Missouri and the Kansas Pacific steamed west; it was beaten by Omaha's Union Pacific which became the official transcontinental line. Meanwhile St. Joe could not raise funds to bridge the river and its California dream died. The six miles of track became the St. Joseph & Grand Island (StJ&GI) passing through Seneca in 1870 and connecting to the transcontinental line in Nebraska.

The Kansas City and North Western (KCNW), arrived in Seneca in 1887. At that time railroads were crisscrossing Kansas but the Panic of 1893 caused railroad bankruptcies just as automobiles and trucks began further inroads into rail service.

The KCNW stopped running in 1919 and the Union Pacific took control of the StJ&GI. The frequent multi-car passenger trains that had served Seneca became two car "motors" twice a day. This service ended in 1954 and the Seneca depot was torn down.

Today, the Union Pacific runs more trains over this line than ever imagined in 1859. Mile-long diesel powered trains move "empties" to the Powder River coalfields in Wyoming where they are refilled and returned to supply electric plants throughout the central states.

(Industry & Commerce • Man-Made Features • Railroads & Streetcars • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

In Honor of All Who Served and Those Who Died

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Minnesota, Hennepin County, Excelsior

Army • Navy • Air Force
Marines • Coast Guard • Merchant Marines


World War I
Grant Lorenz US Army
Donald Gray US Army
Blanchard West US Army
Mervin Grover US Army
Guy R. Forbes US Army
J. Jay Vietz US Army
John W. Crabtree US Army
Roger Kennedy US Army

Korean War
Herbert L. Schmidt US Air Force

World War II
Alfred Bottke US Marines · Omer E. Huntington US Army Air Force · Paul B. Johnsen US Army · William R. Olson US Army · Donald M. Eden US Army · Lyle E. Hollister US Navy · William H. Hollister US Navy · James A. Studer Canadian Air Force · Donald Bengson US Navy · Roy D. Schuck US Navy · Russell F. Marboe US Marines · Frank Quady US Navy · Richard J. Hollister US Navy · Daryl Luedtke US Marines · Bruce C. Stangohr US Army

Viet Nam
Bernard A. Teske US Marines · Thomas A. Knopik US Army · Jerome A. Olson US Army · Martin J. Benson US Marines · Roger M. Kittelson US Marines · Dale G. Granger US Army · Carl Kollmeyer US Navy · Eric C. Egge US Marines

In memory of those who were called and served.
Excelsior area vererans killed in action while fighting in our great wars.


(Military) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Smith Hotel

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Kansas, Nemaha County, Seneca


Captain John E. Smith was Seneca's first entrepreneur. In 1858 he built a simple hotel and tavern on this site. He also built a wooden bridge over the Nemaha River that bypassed the risky ford crossing two miles north at Richmond. These developments convinced the firm of Russell, Majors, and Waddell to run their Overland Stage and Pony Express routes through Seneca. Smith Hotel became the first Pony Express Home Station west of St. Joseph.

The hotel offered comfortable beds and good meals for weary travelers heading west. Pony Express riders were encouraged to avoid the tavern and head straight to bed for a good night's rest before setting out the next day.

After the end of the Pony Express in 1861, Smith sold his hotel and Main Street grew up around it. In 1870, the first railroad arrived in Seneca and merchants wanted more prosperous-looking brick and stone buildings on Main. A brick addition to the right of the original hotel added more modern rooms. Eventually the original wooden structure was lifted and moved down Main to the north side of 7th Street where it became a rooming house. The space on the corner was filled in 1885 with this brick building.

(Man-Made Features • Roads & Vehicles • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Felt Block

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Kansas, Nemaha County, Seneca


The Pony Express Museum is housed in the restored Felt Block built in 1880 by Seneca resident Andrew Felt, who later became Lt. Governor of Kansas. The design is an urbane Italianate style using cast iron fronts with applied columns and window caps - all made at a foundry in Seneca. The central entrance with a triangular pediment and stairs serve second floor offices.

As Seneca prospered, brick, stone and iron were the preferred building materials. Seneca's early Main Street had hastily built false-front structures as seen in many western movies, but after the Great Chicago Fire of 1870, most prairie towns discouraged wooden structures in their downtowns.

The Felt Block first housed a grocery store and the offices and presses of the Seneca Tribune that was established by Mr. Felt. After 1919 the building housed dry goods businesses; the last was Strathman's Variety which offered an array of merchandise for Seneca's fashion conscious. Strathman's closed in the 1960s yielding to chains such as J.C. Penney (two blocks away) which offered catalog items direct from Chicago and New York.

(Industry & Commerce • Man-Made Features • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Don Clarence Rising

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Kansas, Nemaha County, Wetmore


Pony Express Rider
known as
Johnny Granada

Verified Rider of the
Pony Express 1860-1861
Pony Express Trail Association

(Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Communications • Patriots & Patriotism • Roads & Vehicles) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Black Thursday    Oct 14 1943

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Georgia, Chatham County, Pooler
In Memory Of The
Courageous Airmen Of The
United States Army
8th Air Force


Who Against Overwhelming
Odds And Savage Defiance
Attacked And Severely Damaged
The Ball Bearing Factories In

Schweinfurt,
Germany
14 October 1943

Officially Known As
Mission No. 115

Known By Those
Who Were There As
Black Thursday
1st Air         3rd Air
Division      Division

Groups       Groups
91 ST                 94TH
92 ND                95 TH
303 RD             96 TH
305 TH             100 TH
306 TH             385 TH
351 ST             388 TH
379 TH             390 TH
381 ST                          
384 TH                          

(War, World II) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Whalewatching

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California, Marin County, Point Reyes Station

Southern Migration
• Pass Point Reyes late December through early February.

Northern Migration
•Mexico to Artic feeding grounds
•Pass Point Reyes early March through early May.

California gray whales pass Point Reyes on their seasonal migrations, and often you can see them from this area. The best views are from high ground near the water where you can look down as well as out to sea.

In the spring whales stay close to shore. Look for them just beyond the breakers off the beaches, or next to the rocky walls of the Point Reyes Headlands. Whales pass in the winter also, but they are usually farther offshore.

Spot gray whales by their spouts — air exhaled through their blowholes that rises 10-15 feet and condenses into a white vapor.

(Animals • Environment) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Pittsburg Landing

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Tennessee, Hardin County, near Shiloh
Here was the key to Union strategy — a good troop landing and staging area for an attack on the Southern army at Corinth, a strategic rail center. But the Confederates struck first, driving the surprised Federals from their camps back toward the landing.

On Sunday afternoon thousands of Union stragglers congregated along the banks here and refused to fight, while reports of disaster filtered in from the battlefield.

Late Sunday afternoon the tide began to turn. Cheers went up when the first Union reinforcements appeared on the opposite shore. Throughout the night, additional troops poured into the landing by steamboat and by road — 24,000 in all. The next morning the revitalized Union forces won back all the ground they had lost, and sent the Confederates reeling back to Corinth.

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Widow Gibson Cabin

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Kentucky, Boyle County, near Perryville
In 1862, the widow Mary Jane Gibson and her children lived here in a small cabin. The Gibsons were poor tenant farmers who scratched out a living on land owned by Henry Bottom, their first cousin.

On October 8, the household was spun into confusion as blue-clad Union troops swarmed around the house. Soon, Donelson's Confederate brigade attacked and the Federal soldiers fell back to this ridge, where they reformed on the high ground around the cabin.

For the Gibson family, it must have been a terrifying experience. Artillery shells exploded overhead, bullets cracked against the cabin walls, and wounded Union troops swarmed around the structure desperately looking for shelter. The frightened Widow Gibson took an axe, chopped a hole in the floor and hid with her family beneath the house. The family was so scared that they refused to emerge from their hiding place for several days.

As every barn, home, church and stable was used as a field hospital following the battle. it is likely that the Gibson cabin also served as a hospital. However, archeological work on the site has determined that cannon fire damaged the cabin so severely that the Gibson family abandoned it shortly after the battle.

We all bounded to our feet like so many parched peas, determined to pour the contents of our muskets, into the ranks of our ungodly opposers ... our bullets found them in their hiding places and strewn the ground with their mutilated carcases -- the legitamate fruits of (their) own treason and folly - Union Soldier Joseph Gloren, 80th Indiana Infantry

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Lumsden's Battery

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Kentucky, Boyle County, near Perryville
The scene must have been spectacular to the members of Captain Charles Lumsden's artillery battery. Rolling their four cannon up to this hill to support the attacking Confederate infantry, the Southern cannoneers beheld the Union line that stretched across the far ridge in front of you. Thousands of Federal soldiers were positioned on that ridge, their bayonets gleaming in the October sun.

When Lumsden's artillery was put into action against the Union position, Perryville's hilly terrain caused confusion among the Confederate gunners. While the Union line was two hills away, an optical illusion made the Federal troops appear to be on the first ridge in front of you. This deceptive terrain ruined the accuracy of Lumsden's cannon fire. Most of their shot and shell fell harmlessly into the first hill in front of you, 300 yards away from the Union position.

Later in the day, Lumsden's battery moved from this hill and was replaced by Captain Thomas Stanford's artillery. Stanford's four guns moved into position to support Donelson and Stewart's infantry, as these Confederates advanced past the Widow Gibson cabin.

We went into the fight while the enemy were firing upon us — One of their shells killing one of our horses before we got into position. The music of twelve Yankee guns and their whistling shells is not the most pleasant I have heard. For two hours, we carried on this duel, half a mile distant perhaps. I consider it almost miraculous, that (I) came out alive. - Confederate Corporal James Searcy, Lumsden's Alabama Battery

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Rout of the Union Right

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Georgia, Catoosa County, near Fort Oglethorpe
At 11:10 a.m. on September 20, Confederate forces under General James Longstreet broke through the right side of the Union line about ¼ mile behind you at the Brotherton Cabin. Union soldiers behind the shattered line broke ranks and ran, as General Bushrod Johnson´s Confederates burst out of the woods behind you.

On the hill in front of you stood the headquarters of Major General William S. Rosecrans, the Union commander. A pyramid of cannonballs marks the spot today. Realizing that disaster had struck, Rosecrans told his staff to save themselves, then fled with several of his top officers. It was one of the most disastrous routs of the war.

The highest ranking Union officer left on the field was Major General George S. Thomas. The task fell to him to save the Union Army from annihilation.

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
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