Happy 75th Philip Glass

(Wikipedia) Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer. One of the highest profile composers writing "classical" music today, he is often said to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. His music is also often (controversially) described as minimalist, along with the work of the other "major minimalists" La Monte Young, Terry Riley and Steve Reich.
... Glass was born on January 31, 1937, in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Ida (née Gouline) and Benjamin Charles Glass, and the grandson of Jewish immigrants from Lithuania. His father owned a record store, and consequently Glass's record collection consisted to a large extent of unsold records, including modern music (such as Hindemith, Bartók, Schoenberg, Shostakovich) and Western classical music (including Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartets and Schubert's B♭ Piano Trio, which he cites as a "big influence"), at a very early age. He then studied the flute as a child at the Peabody Conservatory of Music and entered an accelerated college program at the University of Chicago at the age of 15, where he studied Mathematics and Philosophy. Continued

Photo by http://flickr.com/photos/28437914@N03

Discovering the Civil War by Train

(nbcwashington.com) Railroads have undoubtedly shaped the course of American history -- but have you ever thought about their effect on the Civil War? The War Came By Train at the B&O Railroad Museum (901 West Pratt St., Baltimore, Md.) explores the first war in which railroads played a prominent role, starting with the Baltimore riot of 1861 and ending with Lincoln's funeral train. Continued

Photo: MDRails

Boom in shale drilling slows Pa. crude oil industry

(York Dispatch) ... Pennsylvania, birthplace of the petroleum industry thanks to Col. Edwin Drake's fortuitious 1859 well near Titusville, has 19,000-plus oil wells in production. Those shallow wells plugged nearly 4 million barrels of crude oil into the marketplace last year.
In sharp contrast to deeper oil wells in the Oklahoma and Texas fields, Pennsylvania's wells are classified as stripper wells, or shallow wells that are marginal producers and eke out 10 barrels of oil or less a day. The average stripper well in Pennsylvania yields less than half a barrel (0.43) of oil a day, or about 18 gallons of crude oil.
Still, at today's going rate of nearly $100 a 42-gallon barrel, there's money to be made in conventional oil production that typically features a mom-and-pop operation going back two or three generations.
The enterprise, though, has been turned topsy-turvey because of the deep shale gas industry that has drawn in global, mega-energy companies intent on tapping hugely prolific natural gas tucked inside rock strata ten-times deeper than Pennsylvania's conventional oil sands. Continued

Photo: Pennsylvania. Tank house and good pumping oil well, circa 1910 (Library of Congress).

The Knickerbocker Storm

(Wikipedia) - The Knickerbocker Storm was a blizzard that occurred on January 27–28, 1922 in the upper South and middle Atlantic United States. It was named this due to the resulting collapse of the Knickerbocker Theater in Washington, D.C. shortly after 9 p.m. on January 28 which killed 98 people and injured 133. An estimated 22,400 square miles (58,000 km) of the northeast United States were affected by 20 in (51 cm) of snow from this cyclone, which was over one-fifth of the total area that received over 4 in (10 cm) of snow. Snowfall was quite heavy in Maryland and Virginia. Richmond, Virginia recorded 19 inches. Baltimore, Maryland was paralyzed as it received the most snowfall within 24 hours since 1872. Continued

Photos: Library of Congress

The Johnston Gang

(Wikipedia) Bruce Alfred Johnston Sr (March 27, 1939 – August 8, 2002) was the leader of one of the most notorious gangs in the history of Pennsylvania, USA. The gang started in the 1960s and was rounded up in 1978 after his son, Bruce Jr, testified against him.
The gang and its wide network stole primarily in Chester County, according to a 1980 Pennsylvania Crime Commission report, but they made their way into Lancaster County on several occasions. They also crossed the state lines to Maryland and Delaware. Continued

"Our Gallant Harry"

(Wikipedia) - Harry W. Gilmor (January 24, 1838 – March 4, 1883) served as Baltimore City Police Commissioner in the 1870s, but he was most noted as a Confederate cavalry officer during the American Civil War.
Gilmor's daring raids, such as The Magnolia Station Raid gained his partisans fame as "Gilmor's Raiders" [Gilmor's men often referred to themselves simply as "The band."
Gilmor was born at "Glen Ellen," the family estate in Baltimore County, Maryland. He was the son of Robert Gilmor and Miss Ellen Ward, daughter of Judge William H. Ward. Harry was the fifth of eleven children. Continued

Columbia Records

(Wikipedia) The Columbia Phonograph Company was originally the local company run by Edward Easton, distributing and selling Edison phonographs and phonograph cylinders in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Delaware, and derives its name from the District of Columbia, which was its headquarters. As was the custom of some of the regional phonograph companies, Columbia produced many commercial cylinder recordings of its own, and its catalogue of musical records in 1891 was 10 pages long. Columbia's ties to Edison and the North American Phonograph Company were severed in 1894 with the North American Phonograph Company's breakup, and thereafter sold only records and phonographs of its own manufacture. Continued

Stonewall Jackson

(LoC) Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, one of Robert E. Lee's most outstanding generals in the Army of Northern Virginia, was born in Clarksburg, Virginia (now West Virginia), on January 21, 1824.
Orphaned at a young age, Jackson spent much of his childhood moving between the homes of various family members. In 1842, he was awarded an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. A commissioned officer during the Mexican War, he served as a second lieutenant of artillery, was promoted to first lieutenant, and later won brevets to captain and major. Continued

I don't mean any disrespect to anybody - but am a little like the old "grayback" who, after the surrender, went to the Provost Marshal, at Charlottesville, to be paroled. After taking all the oaths required of him, he asked the Provost if he wasn't all right. "Yes, " said the Captain, "you are." "Good a Union man as anybody, ain't I." "Yes," replied the Captain, "you are in the Union now as a loyal citizen, and can go ahead all right." "Well, then," said the old sinner; "didn't 'Stonewall' use to give us h--l in the Valley." You see he was one of "Stonewall's foot cavalry," and couldn't help being proud of it. - How a One-Legged Rebel Lives by John S. Robson

Pictured: Prayer in "Stonewall" Jackson's camp by Adalbert Volck.

Edgar Allan Poe

(LoC) No writer has the ability to evoke a sense of horror and dread more effectively than Edgar Allan Poe, born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe's parents were actors. Their brilliant and unstable son grew up to be a romantic poet, a master of macabre tales, the originator of the modern detective story, and an acute literary critic, editor, and journalist. Orphaned at age two, Poe grew up in the Richmond, Virginia home of a childless couple, merchant John Allan and his wife Frances. His foster parents treated him well, though Frances was Poe's primary source of affection. Allan paid for Poe's education at schools in England and in Virginia. Poe showed an early gift for language and Allan enrolled him in the University of Virginia in February 1826. Continued

Also: "Poe Toaster" a no show for 3rd year, 3 "impostors" show up overnight

The Monuments Men

(National Archives) George Clooney’s next film—which he will write, direct, and star in—is based on holdings from the National Archives!
Clooney announced last weekend that his number one priority is to make a film about the “Monuments Men,” a group of cultural scholars and historians who donned Army uniforms to serve the Allies by rescuing, identifying, and trying to return precious artworks looted by Adolf Hitler.
Clooney shared with the press that while the Monuments Men were not trained for combat, they did face live fire and even had to give orders. He offered a possible example: “Don’t aim your tank over there, that’s the Leaning Tower of Pisa!” Continued

The Last of the Red Hot Mamas

(LoC) Sophie Tucker was born Sonya Kalish to a Russian-Jewish family on January 13. The year was either 1884 or 1886. ... In New York, Sophie Tuck became Sophie Tucker. One of her first jobs was at the 125th Street Theater, where her strong contralto voice made her a powerful "Coon Shouter," a white performer who in the style of the day appeared as a blackfaced minstrel. Although Tucker asked to perform without blackface, she was told that she was "too big and ugly."
... Sophie Tucker soon became known for both her husky voice and her outspoken comedy. When she first heard her own recorded voice she exclaimed, "My God, I sound like a foghorn!"2 But the public loved Tucker's sound and she became a popular recording artist in an era when recordings were still made on cylinders. In 1911 she recorded her hit song "Some of These Days" for the Edison Company. Written by African-American composer Sheldon Brooks, the piece became her theme a decade later. By 1914 Sophie Tucker was a major star, touring in the U.S. and abroad. Elaborately costumed, she perfected a bawdy performance style that blended ragtime and jazz, Yiddish popular culture, and sentimental ballads. Continued

See a national park for free this weekend

(NPS) Start your new year with a free visit to a national park! All 397 national parks across the country will offer free admission from January 14 through 16 to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
You can literally walk in Dr. King's footsteps at Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Georgia, the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail in Alabama, or the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC – just a few of the many national parks that have direct ties to Dr. King or the Civil Rights movement.
Other parks that will hold special events honoring Dr. King that weekend include the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, DC, Morristown National Historical Park in New Jersey, Fort Donelson National Battlefield in Tennessee, and Frederick Douglass National Historic Site in Washington, DC. Continued

O'Malley formally recognizes Piscataway tribe

(Baltimore Sun) For Mervin Savoy, recognition was sweet — even if it came more than two centuries too late.
Savoy was one of hundreds of Piscataways who gathered beneath the State House dome in Annapolis Monday as Gov. Martin O'Malley issued executive orders formally recognizing the Native American tribe as a distinct people.
... In the past, the drive for recognition has been thwarted in part by internal divisions between the rival Piscataway-Conoy Confederacy and the Piscataway Indian Nation. O'Malley's executive orders recognize both groups, as well as the Cedarville Band of the Piscataways. Continued

Vacant Bel Air BB&T building will meet wrecking ball soon

(ÆGIS) A piece of Bel Air's history will be turned to rubble when the old Branch Banking and Trust building in downtown Bel Air is demolished later this winter.
The building is one of the survivors of the great Bel Air fire on Groundhog Day 1972 that destroyed the buildings along Main Street between the bank and the Boyd and Fulford Drugs building.
... Originally, the Commercial & Savings Bank, most of the 19,700-square-foot building to be torn down was built in the late 1960s; however, archival photographs and other material indicate a bank building has been on the same site since around 1900. Continued

Fire chief plans to OK temporary repairs at historic York church

(York Dispatch) A historic York church once slated for demolition is getting a second chance.
York City Fire Chief Steve Buffington said Monday that he intends to issue a permit for temporary repairs to the damaged roof of Trinity United Methodist Church, 241 E. King St. The permit hinges on approval from Historic York, which serves as a consultant to the city's Historical Architectural Review Board (HARB).
Buffington, who earlier ordered the 140-year-old desanctified church immediately repaired or demolished, said he is "reasonably comfortable" with the congregation's newly submitted plan to stabilize the building. Continued

Photo: Preserving York

Pirates, in Fallston?

(J. Alexis Shriver, Bel Air Times, 1937) Who wants to join me in the fascinating (even though it be futile) building up of a playing card house, about an old tradition concerning a pirate?
Every indication points to the contrary, and yet there must be some reason to explain the constant search for hidden treasure which has continued for a hundred years.
Let us take our playing cards and build our fragile house of romance at "Bon Air", the gem of a French mansion built in 1794 by Claudius Francis Frederick de La Porte near the Gunpowder Falls in Harford County, almost adjoining the old Quaker Meeting House at Fallston. Continued

Photo: Historic American Buildings Survey E. H. Pickering, Photographer October 1936 BUILT 1794 BY CAPTAIN DE LA PORTE OF ROCHAMBEAU ARMY - Bon Air, Laurel Brook Road, Fallston, Harford County, MD

Abraham Lincoln’s Audacious Plan

(NYTimes) Abraham Lincoln is remembered by some as a thoughtful, often cautious leader. But in late 1861 he began to develop a plan that, even during that most unusual of times, was audacious in the extreme: the federal government would buy out Delaware’s entire slave population.
In November 1861 he drafted legislation that he hoped would be introduced in the legislature of Delaware, the smallest of the slave states — and a slave state loyal to the Union. “Be it enacted by the State of Delaware,” Lincoln’s draft began, “that on condition the United States of America will, at the present session of Congress, engage by law to pay . . . in the six per cent bonds of the said United States, the sum of seven hundred and nineteen thousand and two hundred dollars, in five equal annual installments, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, at any time after the first day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand, eight hundred and sixty-seven, within the said State of Delaware.”
... Lincoln predicted to his friend David Davis that “if Congress will pass a law authorizing the issue of bonds for the payment of the emancipated Negroes in the border states, Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri will accept the terms.” Continued

Colora: The breezy ridge of Cecil County

(Cecil Whig) Vast and many have been the unique pronunciations of Colora but few are they who can, with any certain knowledge, define how the bucolic rolling village attained the romantic moniker.
The name derives from the Latin words "culmen aura," meaning "breezy ridge." According to Louis C. Whiteley in a 1986 issue of The Highline on the Pennsylvania Railroad, titled "Octoraro Odyssey," the village was renamed in 1869, having previously born the name West Nottingham and "took its name from the farm of Lloyd Balderston nearby," Whiteley explains. "A student of Latin, Mr. Balderston selected the words culmen aura, then shortened it to Culaura and, taking some liberty with the vowels, settled on Colora as more pleasing to the eye." Continued

Photos: Colora railroad station, school (Falmanac).

Hereford fire company selling woven blankets with 13 area historic sites

(North County News) A woven blanket that includes scenes of 13 historic places in and around Hereford is now on sale.
The cotton, washable blanket is 48 inches by 68 inches and costs $50. Proceeds will benefit the Hereford Volunteer Fire Company, which sold 500 blankets in 1999 to celebrate its 75th anniversary. ... New sketches are of St. James Episcopal Church in Monkton, 1750, the oldest church in the area, and the Glencoe Post Office, 1927, that was relocated to Oldfields School campus in 1980. Continued

Photo: Saint James Church (Kim Choate).

Stephen Decatur

(Wikipedia) Commodore Stephen Decatur, Jr. (5 January 1779 – 22 March 1820) was an American naval officer notable for his heroism in the Barbary Wars and in the War of 1812. He was the youngest man to reach the rank of captain in the history of the United States Navy, and the first American celebrated as a national military hero who had not played a role in the American Revolution. Decatur was born on January 5, 1779, in Berlin, Maryland, to Stephen Decatur, Sr. and his wife Ann (Pine) Decatur. Continued

1847: Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government

(Wikipedia) On January 4, 1847, Captain Samuel Walker and the Texas Rangers, who had acquired some of the first Colt revolvers produced during the Seminole War, saw the holster revolver and ordered 1,000 of these revolvers for use in the Mexican-American War. The large order allowed Colt to re-establish his firearm business. As he no longer owned a firearm factory, or even had a model of a firearm ready for sale, Colt hired Eli Whitney Blake, who was established in the arms business, to make his guns. Colt and Captain Walker drew upon the prototype Colt had built with some improvements from Walker. From this new design, Whitney produced the first thousand-piece order known as the Colt Walker. The company then received an order for a thousand more; Colt took a share of the profits at $10 per pistol for both orders.
With the money he made from the sales of the Walkers and a loan from his cousin, Elisha Colt, a banker, Colt bought the machinery and tooling from Whitney to build his own factory: Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company factory at Hartford. Continued

Photo: The most powerful handgun until the introduction of the .357 Magnum, the Colt Walker. This reproduction is made by Uberti. (Flickr via Wikipedia)

Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul - Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty

(NYTBR) Should you find yourself in front of the Rhode Island Statehouse in Providence, look up and east, and tip your hat — real or imagined — to Roger Williams. A 35-foot statue of the Protestant theologian (1603?-1683) stands high in Prospect Terrace Park, with right hand extended, as if blessing the city he founded. The beatific image does not quite resemble its cantankerous model, for reasons that John M. Barry explores, if only partly, in his new biography, “Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul.” Continued

Photo: Engraved print depicting Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island, meeting with the Narragansett Indians (NYPL via Wikipedia).

1861: ‘A Sad, Fearful, Raging Year’

(NYTimes) ... The year 1861, which closes to-day, will loom up in immense proportions to the future student of our history – to the antiquarian who searches into the records of the past.
His attention will be attracted by it as the great landmark of our destiny – as the year which precipitated a glorious, and brilliant, and happy past into a turbulent, bloody and uncertain future!- The Cincinnati Daily Enquirer Continued

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