Ottumwa Freedom Rock Veterans Memorial

November 4, 2015, 7:11 pm

Iowa, Wapello County, Ottumwa

Gold Star for the Fallen
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Tuskegee Airmen
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Ottumwa Naval Air Station
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833rd Engineering Company
Iowa Army National Guard

(War, World II • Patriots & Patriotism • War, 2nd Iraq • War, Afghanistan) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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McHaffey Opera House

November 4, 2015, 7:38 pm

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Iowa, Wapello County, Eldon

has been listed in the
National Register
of Historic Places
by the United States
Department of the Interior

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

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J P Strother

November 4, 2015, 7:56 pm

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Iowa, Wapello County, Eldon

This site was the original location of J P Strother Construction Company. John Paul Strother was a longtime Southern Iowa highway contractor and civic leader. He established the Wapello County Foundation in 1981 to provide for the future well being of the citizens of Wapello County. Income earned by the foundation is given as charitable grants each year. The City of Eldon has benefitted [sic] significantly from the generosity of Mr. Strother.

The bricks embedded in the base of this memorial are from the office building of J P Strother Construction Company.

"He was a man of integrity and a man of his word and a handshake was a contract for him."
Quote from former employee and friend Loren Fligg

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

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Manuel de la Peña y Peña

November 4, 2015, 8:07 pm

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Mexico, Querétaro, Querétaro

En esta casa el 30 de mayo de 1848,
el Presidente de la República, Lic. D.
Manuel de la Peña y Peña
autorizó con su firma el Tratado de Paz
con los Estados Unidos de Norte America
Comisión Local de Turismo - 1947

English translation:
In this house on May 30, 1848,
the President of the Republic
Manuel de la Peña y Peña
signed the Treaty of Peace
with the United States of North America
Local Tourism Commission - 1947

(Politics • War, Mexican-American) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Veterans Memorial

November 4, 2015, 8:41 pm

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New York, Chemung County, Southport

Dedicated to the memory of
all men and women who
honorably served in the
armed forces
of the United States
of America

(Military) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Suburban Catalyst

November 5, 2015, 4:37 am

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Pennsylvania, Allegheny County, Pittsburgh

You are standing above the historic route of the Main Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad—one of the most important railroad corridors in the country.

The Main Line, which first connected Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in 1852, is significant locally for fostering the growth of some of Pittsburgh's earliest suburbs. Shadyside and East Liberty, the two neighborhoods connected by the South Highland Avenue Bridge—the bridge at your feet—were largely farmland until the PRR arrived—and with it, commuter service to downtown.

Soon the world's wealthiest industrialists were moving their families here beyond the smoky working-class districts. In 1868, the Main Line spurred annexation into the city of twenty-one square miles of rapidly expanding East End Suburbs.

By 1876, the first bridge on this site was completed as part of a program to improve safety by eliminating at-grade crossings. Over the years, the bridge was reinforced a number of times, in part to accommodate heavier streetcar and automobile traffic. The superstructure was replaced in 1925 and again in 2013, though the 1876 stone pier and abutments remain underneath.

Rail travel declined in the early 20th century as the automobile increased access to more remote suburbs. By the early decades of the 21st century, what was once the four-track Main Line was carrying Norfolk Southern freight trains and daily Amtrak passenger trains on two tracks with bus riders commuting on the adjacent East Busway.

(Industry & Commerce • Railroads & Streetcars • Bridges & Viaducts) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Portal of Industry

November 5, 2015, 5:04 am

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Pennsylvania, Allegheny County, Pittsburgh

You are standing above the historic route of the Main Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad—one of the most important railroad corridors in the country.

Connecting Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the first train arrived in East Liberty in December 1852, less than a half mile east of here. While the 350-mile route initially utilized twenty-eight miles of the Allegheny Portage Railroad in order to traverse the Allegheny Mountains, an all-rail line was completed in February 1854. As a result, travel to Philadelphia, which had taken up to a week, was shortened to thirteen hours.

Significant initially for its direct connections to the east coast, the Pennsylvania Railroad quickly expanded westward, with the thriving industrial giant of Pittsburgh at its center.

At its peak of operation in the 1920s, the Pennsylvania Railroad boasted 28,000 miles of track, 7,000 locomotives, 250,000 cars and 280,000 employees. "The Pennsy," as it was affectionately known, was once the nation's largest employer, transporting ten percent of all freight in America, and twenty percent of all passengers.

There are people now living in Pittsburgh who have traveled diligently for a whole week to reach Philadelphia. The same persons can now go from our city to the eastern metropolis between sunrise and sunset of a summer's day, without fatigue, and without occasion for stopping to eat more than one meal.

—Daily Morning Post,Pittsburgh on the opening of the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1854

(Industry & Commerce • Railroads & Streetcars) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Simon Barnard Row

November 5, 2015, 7:02 am

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Pennsylvania, Chester County, West Chester

Simon Barnard Row
104-116 East Washington Street
227 North Walnut Street

These Row Houses were constructed about 1856 by Simon Barnard, local businessman, builder, realtor and Political Activist who was an advocate of the Anti-Slavery cause. The Simon Barnard Row is characteristic of the working class dwelling of West Chester in the 19th century. Original features include fenestration, side passages, exposed brick walling and cornices.

(Notable Buildings • Architecture) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Everglades Community Church

November 5, 2015, 11:55 am

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Florida, Collier County, Everglades

This building was completed by April 1940 on land donated in May 1939 by the estate of Barron Gift Collier, founder of the county which bears his name and its largest landholder. The congregation at that time was Presbyterian, officially established in 1926, and had met in various places in the city. Before then, various visiting pastors served the area, the first being the Reverend George W. Gatewood in 1888. One condition of the gift of land was that the structure be erected before October 1, 1940 and that the church be non-denominational. Both conditions were met when the dedication ceremony took place on May 5th 1940. The town was a Collier company town with buildings constructed of ship lap siding, a tin roof and flooring made of Dade Country pine. A fellowship hall and breezeway to the southwest was added in the late 1950s. The digital carillon was installed in 1990 and chimes hourly. On September 4, 2007, Everglades City proclaimed the church to be historically preserved because it “provides links with the aspirations and attainments of the City’s pioneers and their descendants.” The bell tower and narthex were repaired in June 2008, as the first step in a complete restoration of the building.

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

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This Stone

November 5, 2015, 3:44 pm

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New York, Chemung County, Southport

This stone
was removed from Coldbrook Creek
about ¼ mile from this spot
during a construction project
in 1992.
No record of Walter Helsman,
or his ancestors, can be found
in the records of
the Town of Southport
of Chemung County.

(Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Charles M. Martin

November 5, 2015, 3:56 pm

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Iowa, Wapello County, Eldon

The memorial tree planted nearby
is dedicated by the Rock Island
in affectionate memory of
Charles M. Martin
who by his industry courage and
loyalty through every vicissitude
signally aided in the development
of the
Chicago Rock Island & Pacific Railway
into a great transportation system
devoted to the public service

Seventieth anniversary
October tenth [1922]

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

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Doodlebug

November 5, 2015, 4:55 pm

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Iowa, Wapello County, Eldon

In the early to mid 1900s the DOODLEBUG arrived at this platform six days a week bringing passengers from Des Moines and in between to board the great passenger trains of the day. On November 2, 1902 the first run of the luxurious Golden State Limited, carrying passengers from Chicago to Los Angeles, was made. Included on that route was a stop in Eldon. Many years later it would seem most fitting that after nearly 100 years of service, the Eldon Depot saw its last passengers on February 20, 1968, when the Golden State Limited, making its final run, stopped in Eldon for the last time.

The DOODLEBUG was a gasoline-powered electric train. It was the smallest full train on the Rock Island system. The one-car train ran daily, except Sunday, from Des Moines to Eldon and returned, a four-hour trip each way. The train carried passengers, baggage and mail. It was operated by a four-man crew consisting of an engineer, a conductor, a brakeman and a mailman. In later years the DOODLEBUG ran a shortened route between Eldon and Ottumwa.

(Communications • Railroads & Streetcars) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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W. C. Handy Birthplace

November 6, 2015, 7:06 am

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Alabama, Lauderdale County, Florence

(side 1)
William Christopher Handy, widely honored as the “Father of the Blues,” was born in this house on November 16, 1873. In his autobiography, Handy traced the key events in his discovery of the blues back to his time in the Mississippi Delta, beginning in 1903. He also wrote that the music he had heard as a child in Florence “generated the motif for my blues.” Here he also received the musical training in school and church that prepared him for his illustrious career.

(side 2)
W. C. Handy started on his path to worldwide fame in the blues here in Florence, where he heard songs and field hollers and learned hymns and spirituals while servings as the organist at his father’s A.M.E. church. His schoolmaster, Young A. Wallace, also taught him hymns and classical music. His father and Wallace opposed Handy’s desire to pursue a career in music, however, and Handy wrote that when he brought a guitar home, his father, Charles Handy, called it “ one of the devil’s playthings.” But he continued to be inspired by the secular music of fiddle players Jim Turner and Uncle Whit walker and by the songs of laborers he heard in Florence, Muscle Shoals and Bessemer. Even the sounds of birds, frogs and farm animals were music to his ears. As he began to play cornet and travel, he assimilated more music in St. Louis; Evansville, Indiana; and Henderson, Kentucky; and on tour with Mahara’s Minstrels, that he would later use in his blues compositions and adaptations.

Handy, who had been playing marches, waltzes, rag, classic and popular music, moved to Clarksdale, Mississippi to lead a band in 1903. In the nearby town of Cleveland, he was stunned when a crowd showered Prince McCoy’s ragged local trio with coins for playing music he described as “long associated with cane rows and levee camps.” A guitarist at a train station in Tutwiler playing what he called “the mood for what we now call blues. My own fondness for this sort of thing began in Florence…. In the Delta, however, I suddenly saw the songs with the eye of a budding composer.”

In 1905 Handy moved to Memphis where he and a partner, Harry Pace, founded the first successful black-owned music publishing company. The Pace & Handy firm relocated to New York in 1918 and was reorganized as Handy Brothers Music Company in 1921. Handy’s “Memphis Blues” was among the first blues ever published, in 1912, and his famous “St. Louis Blues” ranks as one of the most-recorded songs of all time. Handy became the public voice of the blues, often quoted in the press and saluted far and wide for his achievements. He also arranged and published many spirituals. His death in New York on March 28, 1958, came less than two weeks before the premiere of the Hollywood film based on his life, St. Louis Blues, starring Nat King Cole. At Handy’s instructions, all of his possessions were put into a boxcar and sent by rail to Florence. The W.C. Handy Music Festival was founded here with the help of Sheffield jazz musicians Willie Ruff in 1982.

Other Florence natives who have contributed to the recording, producing or songwriting of Mississippi blues and rhythm & blues include Sam Phillips (1923-2003), founder of Sun Records in Memphis, and Frank “Frank-O” Johnson (born in 1950), Phillips recorded B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf, Ike Turner, Elvis Presley and many other Mississippi-born blues and rock’n’roll artist at his studio in the 1950s. Johnson worked as a songwriter for Malaco Records in Jackson, Mississippi, and recorded for the Jackson-based Traction and Ace labels before launching his own Phat Sound label and creating a syndicated radio show. Tommy Couch, a co-founder of Malaco, was born in Tuscumbia in 1942.

(Arts, Letters, Music • Entertainment • African Americans) Includes location, directions, 8 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Unfair Negotiations

November 6, 2015, 7:15 am

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Ohio, Lucas County, Maumee

After the American Revolution, the arrival of more settlers to the Ohio Country threatened the fragile peace between Native Nations, the British and the United States.

Land boundaries were set between the British and the U.S. at the Treaty of Paris in 1783; however, Native Nations were excluded from these negotiations. In the years preceding the Battle of Fallen Timbers, further international councils were called, but peace could not be achieved.

(Settlements & Settlers • War, US Revolutionary • Wars, US Indian) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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William Christopher Handy

November 6, 2015, 7:29 am

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Alabama, Lauderdale County, Florence

(side 1)
William Christopher Handy was born on November 16, 1873, in this two-room log cabin, which was located approximately one-half mile north of this site. In 1954, the cabin was dismantled, placed in storage, and restored to its original condition at this location in 1970. Handy grew up in Florence where his father and grandfather were Methodist-Episcopal ministers. Early in life, he developed a deep understanding and appreciation for religious music as performed in black churches. Later, he composed and published more than 30 spirituals. As a young man, Handy traveled widely, performing as a band leader and musician playing the trumpet and cornet. From 1901 to 1903, he taught music at the Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College in Normal, Alabama. From 1903, to 1909, he directed the Knights of Pythias Band in Clarksdale, Mississippi. In 1909, Handy moved to Memphis, Tennessee. There, he composed the "Memphis Blues." This popular work, along with the "Saint Louis Blues," the "Beale Street Blues," and 37 other blues tunes, made him an internationally prominent figure in the music world. Handy moved to New York in 1918 and established a very successful music publishing business. He spent the next several decades actively involved in the music business while composing and performing. (Continued on other side)
(side 2) (Continued from other side) Handy had a deep appreciation of his own race, its heritage, and accomplishments. He wrote, edit and published five books on this subject, including his own autobiography entitled The Father of the Blues. Florence, Alabama, was always home to Handy and he often returned to visit relatives and friends. In the summer of 1931, during a visit to Florence, he planned and conducted an elaborate concert. Funds raised at this event were donated to the Greater St. Paul AME Church. In the late 1930s, Handy went blind and in 1955 he suffered a stroke which confined him to a wheelchair. He continued to compose music until his death on March 28, 1958, at the age of 84. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, New York City. The City of Florence honors the "Father of the Blues" each year with a birthday party at the W.C. Handy Museum. The Handy legacy is also honored each summer with the W.C. Handy Music Festival. A statue of Handy is located in Wilson Park and his accomplishments are recognized with a plaque on the Walk of Honor in River Heritage Park. A second historical marker is located at the intersection of Cherokee and Beale Streets, indicating the original Handy home location.

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

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Edison’s Water Systems

November 6, 2015, 7:38 am

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Florida, Lee County, Fort Myers

When Edison created plans for his Florida retreat in 1885, water was a major concern to supplement the shallow well at the existing Caretaker’s House. This may have been dug for the Summerlin family before Edison purchased the property.

By 1887 Edison provided water to the Caretaker’s House via a windmill, which pumped water from the well to a storage tank perched on a tower. At the same time, a water tank was placed at the first lab to provide the water that ran the steam boiler for the electricity-producing generator. It is also believed that cisterns were located at both houses.

In 1902 Edison began to create an extensive and formal water system for the property. A well was dug next to the lab to provide a more direct route for water to power the steam boiler. Between 1903 and 1908 several other well/elevated tank/pumping systems were placed around the Caretaker’s House. Two artesian wells were dug. Pipes were laid all around the grounds to provide water for the homes for domestic use as well as food crop irrigation. A sprinkler system was also installed to maintain an improved Florida garden. A fire sandpipe system was installed in 1909 and used until a Pyrene system and chemical extinguishers were placed at the Estate in 1919.

In 1919 a large concrete cistern (40,000 gallons) was built to capture rainwater for drinking only. By 1929 city water was hooked up to riverside property. However, a new system incorporating the old deep well and a rainwater tank with a grid for drainage ditches was constructed on the east property to supply water for Edison Botanic Research project.

(Man-Made Features • Environment) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Motor Generator

November 6, 2015, 7:44 am

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Florida, Lee County, Fort Myers

Motor Generator

The Hertner Electric Company
Cleveland, Ohio
Serial No. 2528
15 hp 220v 30 60 Hz
37A 1750 RMP
400 C Continuous Duty

Throughout the history of Seminole Lodge various equipment was used to supply or produce power. This motor generator and housing came to the property in 1928. A cable connected to the motor extended down to the riverbank to recharge Edison’s battery-powered boat, and electric launch named Reliance. It may have also lit the light along the pier, as well as the lanterns hanging in the Summer House situated at the end of the pier. In 1928 all overhead electric wiring was placed underground. Henry Ford financed these improvements and other projects in the 1920s, in exchange for Edison’s donation of the 1886 Fort Myers laboratory to Ford’s Greenfield Village museum.

Edison’s invention and business life included extensive and successful work with intergraded power systems. Edison placed an “isolated” power system on the south end of the 1886 Edison was interested in bringing electricity to the rest of Fort Myers, a number of reasons prevented the project. Years later in 1898, local resident A.A. Gardner franchised the first electric plant to the city.

The electrical lines extended beyond the Edison property by 1919. At that time Edison disassembled the original power system components and sent them to his New Jersey laboratory. Today one can view the them at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan.

(Industry & Commerce • Environment) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Edison Pool Complex

November 6, 2015, 7:49 am

≫ Next: “Why, this will be the finest thing that ever happened to lovely Fort Myers.”

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Florida, Lee County, Fort Myers

“Madeleine, Marie, Theodore and the two maids have gone bathing in the hotel pool—so everybody is happy, wrote Mina to family, April 7, 1909.

By the 1911 winter season the family and staff no longer had to travel downtown to the Royal Palm Hotel pool. Edison had a bathing pool built right on his own Estate.

The pool was constructed by W.R. Wallace and Company of Fort Myers. The work included the floor and walls made of concrete, re-enforced throughout with woven wires or expanded metal, corners for 10 feet reinforced with ½ inch twisted iron bar, and the side and bottom made continuous by interweaving of the metal. Initially it included stone steps leading to the pool, a plank walk around the interior of the pool, a board fence, and dressing rooms located on the southeast corner. The final cost for the project was about $1,000.

The swimming pool underwent major changes in 1928 to meet more modern needs. The remodeling plan was designed by the local architect Nat Gaillard Walker. Concrete walks around the pool, pipe framing for the railing fence and pavilion, a tea house, fountain and a bath house with showers were added. All features were attached to make one combined entertainment area.

The pool complex remained a favorite spot for the Edison family as Madeleine relates in a letter to her mother March 10, 1947:

“We did enjoy the lazy days at Fort Myers—I couldn’t have borne it not to see the place again it always was—and I’m glad it was warm enough for a farewell swim in the pool!”

(Man-Made Features) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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“Why, this will be the finest thing that ever happened to lovely Fort Myers.”

November 6, 2015, 7:54 am

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Florida, Lee County, Fort Myers

“Beyond doubt you have the finest place in the country, and if you build a sea wall inside a few years this section will not be large enough to hold the tourists that will be scrambling to get here every winter. Yes, sir, by all means build the sea wall.”
-Thomas Edison, thoughts on the proposed city seawall from a local newspaper article in 1908.

Edison built the first section of the rock seawall along his property in 1903 and extended it along the Guest House property in 1907. the seawall was 3' tall and 2' wide and was completed at a cost of $450. The Seminole Lodge Caretaker, Ewald Stulpner, related in a letter to Edison that the structure “makes a great improvement to your riverfront."

The seawall protected the property and provided a small beachfront area for the Edison family and guests. The lawn along the seawall was also an important feature of the landscape.

Seawall Restoration 2005
. Lee County Beach and Shoreline Grant
. State of Florida, Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development
. City of Fort Myers
. Florida Gulf Coast University Archeological Survey

(Man-Made Features) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Edison Pier

November 6, 2015, 7:59 am

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Florida, Lee County, Fort Myers

The pier was originally called “the wharf.” It was used as a working area to off-load boats carrying materials and contents for the homes and laboratory, beginning in November 1885. After the Estate buildings were complete, the pier’s initial function changed.

Mina’s correspondence to family in 1909 relates, “Thomas caught a trout, snapper and I think a small tarpon which he did land, right off the pier… We may supper there this evening, I am not sure.”

By this time, Edison had improved the pier by lengthening it into the Caloosahatchee River about 1,500 feet and adding small docks, boat houses, and a summer house. The area was used routinely as a gathering place for leisure and recreational actives.

The many beautifying improvements to the grounds in the 1920s included the addition of a feature at the entrance of the pier. It was comprised of a rustic bridge, benches, and a trellis wrapped with a colorful bougainvillea vine. Besides creating a new spot to sit along the river bank, the feature enhanced the impressive view across the lawn through to the river as guest entered the Estate via the Main Gate Allee.

(captions)
A postcard of the Edison historic pier. (Circa 1930)
Mina strolls across the bridge. (Circa 1925)
Mina Edison and a friend at the summer house on the Edison pier. (Circa 1920)

(Man-Made Features) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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