Off to Hartford, Connecticut today.The photos are: 1) Hartford's downtown district seen from across the Connecticut River; 2) a view of the southern portion of downtown Hartford; 3) the Connecticut State Capitol building; 4) the Harriet Beecher Stowe house; 5) the Mark Twain house; 6) the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch; 7) Bushnell Park in the Spring; and 8) Elizabeth Park during the Annual Rose Festival.
Hartford is the capital of the State of Connecticut. It is located in Hartford County on the Connecticut River, north of the center of the state and 24 miles south of Springfield, Massachusetts. Its 2006 population of 124,512 ranks Hartford as the state's second-largest city, after Bridgeport. New Haven, located 40 miles south of the city, has a population nearly identical to that of Hartford. Greater Hartford is also the largest metro area in Connecticut and 45th largest in the country (2006 census estimate) with a metropolitan population of 1,188,841.
Nicknamed the 'Insurance Capital of the World,' Hartford houses many of the world's insurance company headquarters, and insurance is the region's major industry. At almost 400 years old, Hartford is one of the oldest cities in the United States, and, following the American Civil War took the mantle of the country's wealthiest city from New Orleans . In 1868, Mark Twain described the city as follows: "Of all the beautiful towns it has been my fortune to see, this is the chief".
With a brand new convention center and hotel, upcoming science center, reclaimed river front and an infusion of residential and commercial ventures in the city, Hartford has begun to attract new development, especially to its downtown, after years of relative stagnation. It is home to the nation's oldest public art museum (Wadsworth Atheneum), the oldest public park (Bushnell Park), the oldest continuously published newspaper (Hartford Courant), the second-oldest secondary school (Hartford Public) and the sixth-oldest opera company in the nation (Connecticut Opera). Its vibrant arts scene, ethnic and cultural diversity, as well as the region's highly educated workforce, have added to the city's appeal as a regional hub of economic and social activity.
In 2004, the Hartford metropolitan area ranked second in per capita economic activity nationwide, behind San Francisco, California. Hartford is ranked 32nd of 318 metropolitan areas in total economic production and generates more economic activity than sixteen U.S. states.
Nicknamed the 'Insurance Capital of the World,' Hartford houses many of the world's insurance company headquarters, and insurance is the region's major industry. At almost 400 years old, Hartford is one of the oldest cities in the United States, and, following the American Civil War took the mantle of the country's wealthiest city from New Orleans . In 1868, Mark Twain described the city as follows: "Of all the beautiful towns it has been my fortune to see, this is the chief".
With a brand new convention center and hotel, upcoming science center, reclaimed river front and an infusion of residential and commercial ventures in the city, Hartford has begun to attract new development, especially to its downtown, after years of relative stagnation. It is home to the nation's oldest public art museum (Wadsworth Atheneum), the oldest public park (Bushnell Park), the oldest continuously published newspaper (Hartford Courant), the second-oldest secondary school (Hartford Public) and the sixth-oldest opera company in the nation (Connecticut Opera). Its vibrant arts scene, ethnic and cultural diversity, as well as the region's highly educated workforce, have added to the city's appeal as a regional hub of economic and social activity.
In 2004, the Hartford metropolitan area ranked second in per capita economic activity nationwide, behind San Francisco, California. Hartford is ranked 32nd of 318 metropolitan areas in total economic production and generates more economic activity than sixteen U.S. states.
After Dutch explorer Adriaen Block visited the area in 1614, fur traders from the New Netherland colony set up trade at Fort Goede Hoop (Good Hope) at the confluence of the Connecticut and Park Rivers as early as 1623, but abandoned their post by 1654. Today, the neighborhood near the site is still known as Dutch Point. The first English settlers arrived in 1635 and their settlement was originally called Newtown, but was renamed Hartford in 1637. The name "Hartford" was chosen to honor the English town of Hertford.
The leader of Hartford's original settlers from what is now Cambridge, Massachusetts, Pastor Thomas Hooker, delivered a sermon which inspired the writing of the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, a document (ratified January 14, 1639) investing the people with the authority to govern, rather than ceding such authority to a higher power. Hooker's conception of self-rule embodied in the Fundamental Orders went on to inspire the Connecticut Constitution, and ultimately the U.S. Constitution. Today, one of the Connecticut's nicknames is the 'Constitution State'.
On December 15, 1814, delegations from throughout New England gathered at the Hartford Convention to discuss possible secession from the United States. Later in the century, Hartford was a center of abolitionist activity. Harriet Beecher Stowe, daughter of Lyman Beecher and author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, lived in Nook Farm, part of the Asylum Hill section of the city.
In July 6, 1944, the Hartford Circus Fire destroyed the big top at the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey, the deadliest circus fire in the history of the United States.
On November 3, 1981, Thirman L. Milner became the the first black mayor elected in New England. In 1987, Carrie Saxon Perry was elected mayor of Hartford, the first female African-American mayor of a major American city.
Starting in the late 1950s the suburbs of Hartford grew while the capital city began its long, slow decline. This decline may have been accelerated by construction of highways (including I-84 & I-91 which intersect in downtown Hartford). Many residents moved out of the city and into the suburbs, and as this trend continues. During the 1980s, Hartford experienced an economic boom of sorts and by the late 1980s, almost a dozen new skyscrapers were proposed to be built in the city's downtown. For various concerns, including the economic recession that followed in the early 1990s, many of these buildings were never built. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, many workers in Hartford lived in towns located more than a twenty-minute drive from the city. In the last few years, development, both commercial and residential, has increased downtown.
The leader of Hartford's original settlers from what is now Cambridge, Massachusetts, Pastor Thomas Hooker, delivered a sermon which inspired the writing of the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, a document (ratified January 14, 1639) investing the people with the authority to govern, rather than ceding such authority to a higher power. Hooker's conception of self-rule embodied in the Fundamental Orders went on to inspire the Connecticut Constitution, and ultimately the U.S. Constitution. Today, one of the Connecticut's nicknames is the 'Constitution State'.
On December 15, 1814, delegations from throughout New England gathered at the Hartford Convention to discuss possible secession from the United States. Later in the century, Hartford was a center of abolitionist activity. Harriet Beecher Stowe, daughter of Lyman Beecher and author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, lived in Nook Farm, part of the Asylum Hill section of the city.
In July 6, 1944, the Hartford Circus Fire destroyed the big top at the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey, the deadliest circus fire in the history of the United States.
On November 3, 1981, Thirman L. Milner became the the first black mayor elected in New England. In 1987, Carrie Saxon Perry was elected mayor of Hartford, the first female African-American mayor of a major American city.
Starting in the late 1950s the suburbs of Hartford grew while the capital city began its long, slow decline. This decline may have been accelerated by construction of highways (including I-84 & I-91 which intersect in downtown Hartford). Many residents moved out of the city and into the suburbs, and as this trend continues. During the 1980s, Hartford experienced an economic boom of sorts and by the late 1980s, almost a dozen new skyscrapers were proposed to be built in the city's downtown. For various concerns, including the economic recession that followed in the early 1990s, many of these buildings were never built. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, many workers in Hartford lived in towns located more than a twenty-minute drive from the city. In the last few years, development, both commercial and residential, has increased downtown.
Today's Jumble (10/29/08):
CURCO = OCCUR; LEEXI = EXILE; LAASSI = ASSAIL; DIMPOU = PODIUM
CIRCLED LETTERS = REISSOU
When the aging beauty queen developed laugh lines, it was---
"SERIOUS"
Today is Hermit Day (a quiet day to spend by yourself).
It is also the Internet's Birthday. 39 years ago today the first connection was made between remote computers at UCLA and Stanford Research Institute in which bits of data was transfered.This connection would lead to ARPNET, the forbearer of the Internet.
Finally, in this time of financial crisis one should note that on this day in 1929, the stock market suffered the second catastrophic crash (Black Tuesday) resulting in the Great Depression.
Other things on this day in history:
437 - Valentinian III, WesternWestern Roman Emperor, marries Licinia Eudoxia, daughter of his cousin Theodosius II, Eastern Roman Emperor in Constantinople. This unifies the two branches of the House of Theodosius
969 - Byzantine troops occupy Antioch Syria
1268 - Conradin, the last legitimate male heir of the Hohenstaufen dynasty of Kings of Germany and Holy Roman Emperors, is executed along with his companion Frederick I, Margrave of Baden by Charles I of Sicily, a political rival and ally to the hostile Roman Catholic church.
1390 - First trial for witchcraft in Paris.
1422 - Charles VII of France becomes king in succession to his father Charles VI of France
1467 - Battle of Brusthem: Charles the Bold defeats Liege
1618 - English adventurer, writer, and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh is beheaded for allegedly conspiring against James I of England.
1658 - Action of 29 October 1658 (Naval battle)
1665 - Battle of Ambuila, where Portuguese forces defeated the forces of the Kingdom of Kongo and decapitated king Antonio I of Kongo, also called Nvita a Nkanga..
1675 - Leibniz makes the first use of the long s (∫) as a symbol of the integral in calculus.
1787 - Mozart's opera Don Giovanni receives its first performance in Prague.
1792 - Mount Hood (Oregon) is named after the British naval officer Alexander Arthur Hood by Lt. William E. Broughton who spotted the mountain near the mouth of the Willamette River.
1859 - Spain declares war on Morocco.
1863 - Sixteen countries meeting in Geneva agree to form the International Red Cross.
1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Wauhatchie - Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant ward off a Confederate attack led by General James Longstreet. Union forces thus open a supply line into Chattanooga, Tennessee.
1881 - Judge (U.S. magazine) first published.
1886 - The ticker-tape parade is invented in New York City when office workers spontaneously throw ticker tape into the streets as the Statue of Liberty is dedicated.
1901 - In Amherst, Massachusetts nurse Jane Toppan is arrested for murdering the Davis family of Boston with an overdose of morphine.
1901 - Capital punishment: Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of US President William McKinley, is executed by electrocution.
1913 - Floods in El Salvador kill thousands.
1921 - The Link River Dam, a part of the Klamath Reclamation Project, is completed.
1921 - Second trial of Sacco and Vanzetti in USA.
1921 - The Harvard University football team loses to Centre College, ending a 25 game winning streak. This is considered one of the biggest upsets in college football.
1922 - The King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III, appoints Benito Mussolini as Prime Minister.
1923 - Turkey becomes a republic following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.
1929 - The New York Stock Exchange crashes in what will be called the Crash of '29 or "Black Tuesday," ending the Great Bull Market of the 1920s and beginning the Great Depression.
1941 - Holocaust: In the Kaunas Ghetto over 10,000 Jews are shot by German occupiers at the Ninth Fort, a massacre known as the "Great Action".
1942 - Holocaust: In the United Kingdom, leading clergymen and political figures hold a public meeting to register outrage over Nazi Germany's persecution of Jews.
1944 - Breda in the Netherlands is liberated by 1st Polish Armoured Division
1945 - Getulio Vargas, president of Brazil, resigns.
1948 - Safsaf massacre
1955 - The Soviet battleship Novorossiisk strikes a World War II mine in the harbor at Sevastopol.
1956 - Suez Crisis begins: Israel forces invade the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal.
1956 - Tangier Protocol signed: The international city Tangier is reintegrated into Morocco.
1957 - Israel's prime minister David Ben Gurion and five of his ministers are injured as a hand grenade is tossed into Israel's parliament, the Knesset.
1960 - In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (who later takes the name Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight.
1961 - Syria exits from the United Arab Republic.
1964 - Tanganyika and Zanzibar join to form the Republic of Tanzania.
1964 - A collection of irreplaceable gems, including the 565 carat (113 g) Star of India, is stolen by a group of thieves (among them is "Murph the surf") from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
1967 - London criminal Jack McVitie is murdered by the Kray twins, leading to their eventual imprisonment and downfall.
1967 - Montreal's World Fair, Expo 67, closes with over 50 million visitors.
1969 - The first-ever computer-to-computer link is established on ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet.
1971 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The total number of American troops still in Vietnam drops to a record low of 196,700 (the lowest level since January 1966).
1980 - Demonstration flight of a secretly modified C-130 for an Iran hostage crisis rescue attempt ends in crash landing at Eglin Air Force Base's Duke Field, Florida leading to cancellation of Operation Credible Sport.
1983 - Over 500,000 people demonstrate against cruise missiles in The Hague, The Netherlands.
1985 - Major General Samuel K. Doe is announced the winner of the first multiparty election in Liberia.
1986 - British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher opens the last stretch of the M25 motorway.
1988 - Pakistan's General Rahimuddin Khan resigns from his post as Governor of Sindh, following the efforts by President of Pakistan Ghulam Ishaq Khan to limit the powers Rahimuddin had accumulated.
1991 - The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid.
1994 - Francisco Martin Duran fires over two dozen shots at the White House (Duran was later convicted of trying to kill US President Bill Clinton).
1998 - Apartheid: In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities.
1998 - Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space.
1998 - ATSC HDTV broadcasting in the United States is inaugurated with the launch of STS-95 space shuttle mission.
1998 - While en route from Adana to Ankara, a Turkish Airlines flight with a crew of 6 and 33 passengers is hijacked by a Kurdish militant who orders the pilot to fly to Switzerland. The plane instead lands in Ankara after the pilot tricked the hijacker into thinking that he was landing in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia to refuel.
1998 - Hurricane Mitch, the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane in history, made landfall in Honduras.
1998 - The Gothenburg nightclub fire in Sweden claims 63 lives and injures 200.
1999 - A large cyclone devastates Orissa, India.
2002 - Ho Chi Minh City ITC Inferno, a fire destroys a luxurious department store with 1500 people shopping. Over 60 people died and over 100 are missing. It is the deadliest disaster in Vietnam during peacetime.
2004 - The Arabic news network Al Jazeera broadcasts an excerpt from a video of Osama bin Laden in which the terrorist leader first admits direct responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks and references the 2004 U.S. presidential election.
2004 - In Rome, European heads of state sign the Treaty and Final Act establishing the first European Constitution.
2005 - 29 October 2005 Delhi bombings kill more than 60.
2007 - Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is elected the first woman President of Argentina.
969 - Byzantine troops occupy Antioch Syria
1268 - Conradin, the last legitimate male heir of the Hohenstaufen dynasty of Kings of Germany and Holy Roman Emperors, is executed along with his companion Frederick I, Margrave of Baden by Charles I of Sicily, a political rival and ally to the hostile Roman Catholic church.
1390 - First trial for witchcraft in Paris.
1422 - Charles VII of France becomes king in succession to his father Charles VI of France
1467 - Battle of Brusthem: Charles the Bold defeats Liege
1618 - English adventurer, writer, and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh is beheaded for allegedly conspiring against James I of England.
1658 - Action of 29 October 1658 (Naval battle)
1665 - Battle of Ambuila, where Portuguese forces defeated the forces of the Kingdom of Kongo and decapitated king Antonio I of Kongo, also called Nvita a Nkanga..
1675 - Leibniz makes the first use of the long s (∫) as a symbol of the integral in calculus.
1787 - Mozart's opera Don Giovanni receives its first performance in Prague.
1792 - Mount Hood (Oregon) is named after the British naval officer Alexander Arthur Hood by Lt. William E. Broughton who spotted the mountain near the mouth of the Willamette River.
1859 - Spain declares war on Morocco.
1863 - Sixteen countries meeting in Geneva agree to form the International Red Cross.
1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Wauhatchie - Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant ward off a Confederate attack led by General James Longstreet. Union forces thus open a supply line into Chattanooga, Tennessee.
1881 - Judge (U.S. magazine) first published.
1886 - The ticker-tape parade is invented in New York City when office workers spontaneously throw ticker tape into the streets as the Statue of Liberty is dedicated.
1901 - In Amherst, Massachusetts nurse Jane Toppan is arrested for murdering the Davis family of Boston with an overdose of morphine.
1901 - Capital punishment: Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of US President William McKinley, is executed by electrocution.
1913 - Floods in El Salvador kill thousands.
1921 - The Link River Dam, a part of the Klamath Reclamation Project, is completed.
1921 - Second trial of Sacco and Vanzetti in USA.
1921 - The Harvard University football team loses to Centre College, ending a 25 game winning streak. This is considered one of the biggest upsets in college football.
1922 - The King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III, appoints Benito Mussolini as Prime Minister.
1923 - Turkey becomes a republic following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.
1929 - The New York Stock Exchange crashes in what will be called the Crash of '29 or "Black Tuesday," ending the Great Bull Market of the 1920s and beginning the Great Depression.
1941 - Holocaust: In the Kaunas Ghetto over 10,000 Jews are shot by German occupiers at the Ninth Fort, a massacre known as the "Great Action".
1942 - Holocaust: In the United Kingdom, leading clergymen and political figures hold a public meeting to register outrage over Nazi Germany's persecution of Jews.
1944 - Breda in the Netherlands is liberated by 1st Polish Armoured Division
1945 - Getulio Vargas, president of Brazil, resigns.
1948 - Safsaf massacre
1955 - The Soviet battleship Novorossiisk strikes a World War II mine in the harbor at Sevastopol.
1956 - Suez Crisis begins: Israel forces invade the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal.
1956 - Tangier Protocol signed: The international city Tangier is reintegrated into Morocco.
1957 - Israel's prime minister David Ben Gurion and five of his ministers are injured as a hand grenade is tossed into Israel's parliament, the Knesset.
1960 - In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (who later takes the name Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight.
1961 - Syria exits from the United Arab Republic.
1964 - Tanganyika and Zanzibar join to form the Republic of Tanzania.
1964 - A collection of irreplaceable gems, including the 565 carat (113 g) Star of India, is stolen by a group of thieves (among them is "Murph the surf") from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
1967 - London criminal Jack McVitie is murdered by the Kray twins, leading to their eventual imprisonment and downfall.
1967 - Montreal's World Fair, Expo 67, closes with over 50 million visitors.
1969 - The first-ever computer-to-computer link is established on ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet.
1971 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The total number of American troops still in Vietnam drops to a record low of 196,700 (the lowest level since January 1966).
1980 - Demonstration flight of a secretly modified C-130 for an Iran hostage crisis rescue attempt ends in crash landing at Eglin Air Force Base's Duke Field, Florida leading to cancellation of Operation Credible Sport.
1983 - Over 500,000 people demonstrate against cruise missiles in The Hague, The Netherlands.
1985 - Major General Samuel K. Doe is announced the winner of the first multiparty election in Liberia.
1986 - British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher opens the last stretch of the M25 motorway.
1988 - Pakistan's General Rahimuddin Khan resigns from his post as Governor of Sindh, following the efforts by President of Pakistan Ghulam Ishaq Khan to limit the powers Rahimuddin had accumulated.
1991 - The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid.
1994 - Francisco Martin Duran fires over two dozen shots at the White House (Duran was later convicted of trying to kill US President Bill Clinton).
1998 - Apartheid: In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities.
1998 - Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space.
1998 - ATSC HDTV broadcasting in the United States is inaugurated with the launch of STS-95 space shuttle mission.
1998 - While en route from Adana to Ankara, a Turkish Airlines flight with a crew of 6 and 33 passengers is hijacked by a Kurdish militant who orders the pilot to fly to Switzerland. The plane instead lands in Ankara after the pilot tricked the hijacker into thinking that he was landing in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia to refuel.
1998 - Hurricane Mitch, the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane in history, made landfall in Honduras.
1998 - The Gothenburg nightclub fire in Sweden claims 63 lives and injures 200.
1999 - A large cyclone devastates Orissa, India.
2002 - Ho Chi Minh City ITC Inferno, a fire destroys a luxurious department store with 1500 people shopping. Over 60 people died and over 100 are missing. It is the deadliest disaster in Vietnam during peacetime.
2004 - The Arabic news network Al Jazeera broadcasts an excerpt from a video of Osama bin Laden in which the terrorist leader first admits direct responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks and references the 2004 U.S. presidential election.
2004 - In Rome, European heads of state sign the Treaty and Final Act establishing the first European Constitution.
2005 - 29 October 2005 Delhi bombings kill more than 60.
2007 - Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is elected the first woman President of Argentina.
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