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Tindley Temple

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Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia
Founded 1902 as East Calvary Methodist Church. Renamed for its founder, Rev. Charles A. Tindley. Born a slave in Maryland, he did much to assist later migrants from the South. After his death, Tindley Temple continued to sponsor needed community programs.

(African Americans • Churches, Etc.) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Union Local 274, American Federation of Musicians

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Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia
Chartered 1935 after African-American musicians were denied admission to Local 77. John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie were members. At its 1971 demise, it was last predominantly Black AFM local in U.S. Union office was here.

(African Americans • Labor Unions) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Billie Holiday

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Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia
Known as "Lady Day," she was called the greatest jazz vocalist of her time. Starting in 1933, she recorded with Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, and others. Notable songs include "Lover Man," "Strange Fruit." In this city she often lived here.

(African Americans • Arts, Letters, Music) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Gertrude E. H. Bustill Mossell

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Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia
Teacher and journalist lived here. Wrote for many publications on race and feminism. Her books included "The Work of the Afro-American Woman." Fundraiser for Frederick Douglass Hospital; her husband was its founder.

(African Americans • Arts, Letters, Music) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

George Gordon Meade

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Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia
Soldier, civil engineer. Major general, U.S. Army. Commander, victorious Army of the Potomac at Battle of Gettysburg, 1863. Philadelphia was his family's home; he died at No. 1836 here, in a house given to him for his service to the nation.

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

Mount Assisi

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Pennsylvania, Allegheny County, Bellevue
Mount Assisi
1927
Edward J. Weber, architect

(Churches, Etc. • Education) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Last Blacksmith Shop in Orleans County

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New York, Orleans County, Medina
The last blacksmith shop in Orleans County stood near this site. It was owned by John W. Cielewich (1894-1977), in whose memory this plaque is dedicated. The property was presented to the Village of Medina by his family.

(Industry & Commerce) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Philadelphia Tribune

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Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia
Founded in 1884 by Christopher Perry, the Tribune, located here, began as a single, hand-printed page dedicated to improving the everyday life of Blacks. It is the oldest continuously published Black newspaper in the nation.

(African Americans • Communications) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Civilian Public Service

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Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia
During World War II, some 12,000 men who were classified as conscientious objectors to war -- about fifteen percent of them from Pennsylvania -- served in non-military occupations across the United States. Under the leadership of Mennonite, Quaker, and Church of the Brethren agencies, they were engaged in mental health care and medical experiments, in forestry and on dairy farms, and in other important civic projects.

(Charity & Public Work • Churches, Etc. • War, World II) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

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Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia
America's oldest art museum and school, founded 1805 by Peale, Rush, and other artists. Trained here were Thomas Eakins, Mary Cassatt, Maxfield Parrish, John Marin, Charles Demuth and others. Furness and Hewitt designed the Neo-Gothic building, 1876.

(Arts, Letters, Music • Education) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Girl Scout Cookies

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Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia
On November 11, 1932, Girl Scouts baked & sold cookies for the first time in the windows of the Philadelphia Gas & Electric Co. here. This endeavor soon became a Philadelphia tradition. In 1936 the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A adopted the annual cookie sale as a national program.

(Charity & Public Work • Fraternal or Sororal Organizations) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Otis Spann & Little Johnnie Jones

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Mississippi, Hinds County, Jackson

~ Front Side ~
Otis Spann and Little Johnnie Jones, two of the acknowledged masters of Chicago blues piano, were cousins who lived in Jackson in the 1930s and '40s. On the vibrant post-World War II Chicago scene they both played with blues king Muddy Waters and other luminaries and were hailed for their stellar work both as accompanists and as featured recording artists. Spann and his family lived on this block of Roach Street.

~ Back Side ~
Otis Spann and Little Johnnie Jones grew up playing in church in Jackson, where they also began to focus their highly touted talents on the blues. Piano legend Little Brother Montgomery, who was based in Jackson in the 1930s and ’40s, claimed both Spann and Jones as proteges, and both were also influenced later by Big Maceo in Chicago.

Spann, a longtime member of the Muddy Waters band famed for his rippling piano style and stirring vocals, was the first pianist inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980. Spann had a fondness for tall tales that resulted in a confusing biography and uncorroborated stories of many exploits. His birth date was usually cited as March 21, 1930, in Jackson, but several documents and many musicians suggested he was older. Spann also told author Paul Oliver that he was from Belzoni, where he learned from pianist Friday Ford. His mother, Josephine Ervin Spann, played blues guitar, and his father, Frank Houston Spann, was a carpenter and pianist. (By Montgomery’s account, however, Spann was the son of Friday Ford.) The Spanns lived in Jackson and Pelahatchie, and Otis was in Plain when he was first married in 1945. Spann’s claim to fame in Jackson was winning a talent contest at the Alamo Theater. In Chicago Spann played on records by Muddy, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, and others. His own records in the U.S. and Europe featured accompaniments from Muddy, B. B. King, Eric Clapton, and Fleetwood Mac, among others. Spann, who recorded several albums a year in the late '60s, died in Chicago on April 24, 1970.

Little Johnnie (also spelled Johnie and Johnny) Jones was, like Spann, a well-liked, in-demand pianist in the Chicago clubs and studios. “I wind up teaching him,” Spann once said, “but he beat me at my own game.” Jones was born Johnie McPherson (or McFearson) in Inverness on October 10, 1924. By the late 1930s he was living in Jackson with his mother, Mary, a church pianist, and his stepfather, George Jones, a truck driver and amateur guitarist. In Chicago, Jones played for several years with Tampa Red and recorded with Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Magic Sam, and others, but was best known for his tenure with Elmore James. Jones, recalled as a fun-loving entertainer with a flair for the risque as well as deep blues, died in Chicago on November 19, 1964.

Other blues and R&B performers who left Jackson for Chicago included Cicero Blake, Hip Linkchain, Melvin Taylor, Dead Eye Norris (aka Sonny Mack), Andrew Brown, the Black Lone Ranger (James Ramsey) and Buddy Scott. Others who migrated north and west included Emmit Slay (to Detroit), Mississippi Johnny Waters (Sandifer), King Solomon and Zac Harmon (to California), Millage Gilbert (to Kansas City), and Mel Brown (to Canada after several other stops).

(African Americans • Arts, Letters, Music • Entertainment • Notable Persons) Includes location, directions, 7 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Mother Jones

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Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia
Mary Harris Jones began the March of the Factory Children here, July 1903, to dramatize the need for child labor legislation. Born in Ireland, Jones was an organizer and inspiring presence in the U.S. coal, steel, and textile labor movements.

(Charity & Public Work • Labor Unions) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Public Sector Collective Bargaining

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Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia
In 1938, 3,000 Philadelphia municipal workers launched a strike protesting wage cuts and layoffs, among the first in a major American city. After 8 days, a collective bargaining agreement was reached, leading to the formation of AFSCME District Council 33.

(Labor Unions) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

John Wanamaker (1838-1922)

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Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia
Philadelphia merchant, famed for the department stores bearing his name. In 1861 he opened his first store. He built his "new kind of store" here in 1876 and implemented new concepts including the one-price system & money-back guarantee. Active in public life, he built schools, churches, and missions in this and other nations. As U.S. Postmaster General,1889-93, he fostered rural free delivery and introduced the commemorative stamp.

(Charity & Public Work • Industry & Commerce) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Pennsylvania Bible Society

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Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia
America's first Bible society, founded in 1808 by Robt. Ralston, Bishop Wm. White, and Dr. Benj. Rush. In 1812 PBS was first in the U.S. to print Bibles using stereotyped plates which made them affordable and advanced literacy. Bible House has been its center of distribution since 1854.

(Charity & Public Work • Churches, Etc.) Includes location, directions, 1 photo, GPS coordinates, map.

The Ayer Building

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Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia
Built by N.W. Ayer & Son, the nation's first advertising agency founded in Philadelphia in 1860, this was the agency's national headquarters from 1920 to 1973. Its architecture includes many elements symbolizing communication and reflecting the Art Deco style popular in the 1920s and 30s.

(Industry & Commerce • Notable Buildings) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Siegmund Lubin

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Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia
A motion picture pioneer, famed as the first movie mogul. In optical shop here in 1897, began his empire of six studios in five states. His technical genius and marketing skill did much to popularize the medium. Bankrupt by 1916; died in obscurity.

(Entertainment) Includes location, directions, 1 photo, GPS coordinates, map.

Robert Cornelius

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Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia
This metallurgist and brass founder opened one of the world's first photographic studios here in the spring of 1840. His collaboration with chemist Paul Beck Goddard in successful experiments to reduce exposure times made it possible to use the camera in portraiture.

(Entertainment • Industry & Commerce) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Medina Culvert

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New York, Orleans County, Ridgeway
The first and only road culvert ever built under the Erie Canal passes directly below here. The culvert was built in 1823 during construction of Clinton's Ditch. Its cornerstone, which still exists, is part of the foundation of the Vernon Toussaint home at 3704 Culvert Road.

The original culvert was dismantled in 1854 and rebuilt in 1855 on the Enlarged Canal's new alignment nearby. Forty years later it was substantially altered during the Nine Million Dollar Improvement of 1895.

The construction of the New York State Barge Canal (1905-1918) widened and refaced the road culvert and, however unknowingly, concerved this unique structure, preserving its historical significance for future generations. Cars and trucks continueto [sic] use the Medina Culvert today. [caption] Reconstruction of the south facing of the Medina Culvert in 1908.

Culverts
Culverts were designed and built throughout the Erie Canal system to channel strams and stormwater under the canal and into the river. This avoided the possibility of undermining the canal or flooding its banks. Essentially, culverts sered as cut stone water drains with an opening at either end, although some, like the one at Solay, were double culverts. The largest exceeded 150 feet in length. [caption] View today of the entrance to the Medina Culvert. For more information please visit www.nyscanals.gov.

[captions] Engineer's plan of the Arch Culvert, a cut stone culvert from the Enlarged Erie Canal. The dive culvert at Port Byron, New York. Culvert at Chenango, 1855. A double culvert at Solvay.

(Waterways & Vessels) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
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