Today is Admission Day for Tennessee, our 16th state, admitted to the Union on June 1st, 1796. Long before I knew all the states, or had visions of traveling to all of them, I knew about Tennessee. Although I may be dating myself here, it all goes back to watching the Disney movie, Davy Crockett, who was “Born on a mountain top in Tennessee, The greenest state in the land of the free. . . .” (If you’re not familiar with the song you can listen to it here.) Well, maybe that didn’t tell me much about the state, but the belief that it was lush and verdant stuck with me. Tennessee is a southern state, bordered by eight other states. (Missouri also borders eight states.) It’s been known as the “Volunteer State,” a nickname going back to the War […]

Today is Admission Day for Wisconsin, our 30th state, admitted to the Union on May 29th, 1848. Wisconsin in located in the Great Lakes region, and is bordered by Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. Originally the state’s boundary line was to have been much further south (it would have encompassed the city of Chicago), but political expediency won out, and the boundary was established where it is today. Originally, Wisconsin’s economy centered around farming, primarily dairy farming. Even today, it is known as “America’s Dairyland,” and leads the nation in production of cheese. It is second in total dairy production, behind California. On the Wisconsin Commerative Quarter, you’ll find a design that includes a Holstein cow, an ear of corn, and a wheel of cheese. The economy has changed with the times, and although agriculture is still important, mining, timber […]

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), often called “The Big Board,” is the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume and ranks second in the number of companies listed on its exchange. The exchange is located in Manhattan at 11 Wall Street (between Broad & New), but actually consists of five building, or “rooms,” that are used for trading. The main building (18 Broad Street, between Wall Street & Exchange Place) is a National Historic Landmark. The roots of the NYSE reach back to 1792 at the Buttonwood Agreement. From that agreement, named for the buttonwood tree that it was signed beneath, the current concept of trading grew. The exchange’s current location is not far from its original location at 40 Wall Street, but the building, like the system of trading, has grown exponentially since the beginning. When […]

Today is Admission Day for Minnesota, our 32nd state, admitted to the Union on May 11th, 1858. Minnesota is the 12th largest state (geographically) in the U.S., and is the northernmost of the contiguous 48 states. Most of the residents of the state (60%) live in the Minneapolis-St Paul area, which is generally referred to as the Twin Cities. The state ranks 21st in population. The Twin cities of Minneapolis/St Paul combine the largest city in the state (Minneapolis) with the capital city (St. Paul). It is the hub of the state, and the center for business, industry and culture. The rest of the state is primarily rural, and consists of prairies, forests, farm land, and lakes. Let’s not forget those lakes, as Minnesota is known as the “Land of Ten Thousand Lakes.” Minnesota has extreme weather, both frigid winters […]

Today is Admission Day for Louisiana, our 18th state, admitted to the Union on April 30th, 1812. If you remember your U.S. history, you will recall that the Louisiana Purchase was negotiated with Napoleon Bonaparte for the princely sum of about $15 million dollars (a price of less than three cents an acre), representing a combination of bonds and forgiveness of debt. The purchase was for far more than then president Thomas Jefferson has been looking for, and doubled the size of the country. Political foes argued that this was a worthless piece of land, but were really more concerned about their own New England influence in government would be diminished by the new states to be formed in the South. Louisiana has always marched to the beat of a different drummer, and I remember in law school that many […]

This weekend kicks off Fiesta San Antonio, a 10 day city-wide, fun-filled, multi-cultural, family-oriented celebration. It’s a huge party — with an estimated three and a half million people attending — a real fiesta, lasting for days and days, with over 100 different events. The annual Fiesta honors the memory of heroes of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto, with the origins tracing back to 1891 when a group of women decorated horse-drawn carriages and paraded in front of the Alamo, throwing flowers at one another. That event became a parade known as the Battle of Flowers Parade, and it has become the largest parade in Fiesta. Interestingly, it is the second largest floral parade (the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena is the largest), and is the only parade in the country to be planned and completely […]

As a big fan of baseball, I’ve been meaning to write about Yankee Stadium for some time. As a fan of both the sport and the history of the game, I can’t think of many with a more storied history than “The House That Ruth Built.” Opening on April 18th, 1923 in the Bronx, as the home of the New York Yankees, the team won that opening game at the new stadium, defeating the Boston Red Sox, 4-1. Oh yeah, the stadium was once the home of the New York Giants football team, was the site some impressive boxing bouts, and hosted a variety of other special events, but to millions of people, it’s all about baseball. Yankee Stadium was the first three-level sports facility in the United States, and it was the first to used the term “stadium” instead […]

Croatia was part of the political and cultural mish-mash of the former Yugoslavia, and for years toiled under a restrictive, and often punitive, dictatorship. It’s hard to believe in such a closed and suppressed society, that art could flourish — but it did, and recent years have brought both the art and artists to the attention of people around the world. The Croatian Naive Art Gallery & Museum collection opened in St. Petersburg (Florida) recently, exclusively featuring the intricate Croatian reverse glass paintings. I’ve seen these painting before, and always thought that they were Russian, but never really understood the art medium. Think of this as painting in reverse. The artist paints with oils on the reverse side of a piece of glass, doing everything backwards from a typical painting. The paintings is done in stages, and in the reverse […]

Across from the Liberty Bell Center in Philadelphia (which I previously wrote about ), is Independence Hall. Although it was originally built between 1732-1756 as the State House of the Province of Pennsylvania, it became better known for other events that occurred there: George Washington was appointed Commander in Chief of the Continental Army in the Assembly Room (1775) Declaration of Independence was adopted (July 4th, 1776) American flag design was approved (1777) Meeting place for the Second Continental Congress, except during the time Philadelphia was occupied by the British Army (winter of 1777-78) Articles of Confederation were adopted (1781) U.S. Constitution was drafted (1787) The tour begins in the East Wing, and offers a close up view of what is considered classic Georgian architecture. Great pains have been taken to restore the building, inside and out, to its original […]

The city of Portland has as sordid an underground history as my home city of Seattle does, and, like Seattle, it makes for a fun walking tour. There were plenty of nefarious deeds going on above ground, but the underground was where the really fun stuff was happening.  In the subterranean world of Chinatown, you can still see impressive architecture from years gone by, looking nothing like the modern city in the photo.  Below ground you’ll find the “Shanghai Tunnels.”  The tunnels originally connected the basements of most of the downtown hotels and bars to the Willamette waterfront, and were used to expeditiously move goods.  They later became the site of many kidnappings called “crimpings” and known to us today as shangaiing.  During the years of Prohibition, a different kind “goods” were moved through the tunnels, and many bars were set up […]