Today we are going to visit the capital city of Little Rock, Arkansas.
The photos are: 1) an aerial view of Little Rock; 2) the Arkansas State Capitol Building; 3) a view of downtown Little Rock from the Arkansas River; 4) the Arkansas River that divides North Little Rock (left) from Little Rock; 5) the River Rail Trolley in the River Market District; 6) the Old State House Museum; 7) the County Courthouse; and 8) the Bill Clinton Presidential Library.
Little Rock is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Pulaski County. The city's population was estimated at 184,422 in 2005.[1] Little Rock, North Little Rock and Conway are co-principal cities of the Little Rock–North Little Rock–Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, an area with a population of 666,401 people, according to 2007 census estimates. The MSA is in turn included in the Little Rock–North Little Rock–Pine Bluff Combined Statistical Area, which had a population of 841,325 in the 2007 census estimates. As of 2007 according to the US census, Little Rock now has a population of 187,452.
Located near the geographic center of Arkansas, Little Rock derives its name from a small rock formation on the south bank of the Arkansas River called la Petite Roche ("the little rock"). The "little rock" was used by early river traffic as a landmark and became a well-known river crossing.
Located near the geographic center of Arkansas, Little Rock derives its name from a small rock formation on the south bank of the Arkansas River called la Petite Roche ("the little rock"). The "little rock" was used by early river traffic as a landmark and became a well-known river crossing.
Many artifacts have been found that suggest Native Americans inhabited Central Arkansas thousands of years before European settlers arrived. These original inhabitants may have included the Folsom people, Bluff Dwellers, Mound Builders, Caddo, Quapaw, Osage, Choctaw and Cherokee. Arkansas was first explored by Europeans in 1541 when Hernando de Soto of Spain traveled through the area.
Little Rock was actually named for a little rock. Early travelers used a stone outcropping on the bank of the Arkansas River as a landmark. "La Petite Roche" (French for "the Little Rock"), so named in 1722 by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe, marked the transition from the flat Mississippi Delta region to the Ouachita Mountain foothills. Travelers would refer to the area as "the Little Rock" and the name stuck.
Little Rock was actually named for a little rock. Early travelers used a stone outcropping on the bank of the Arkansas River as a landmark. "La Petite Roche" (French for "the Little Rock"), so named in 1722 by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe, marked the transition from the flat Mississippi Delta region to the Ouachita Mountain foothills. Travelers would refer to the area as "the Little Rock" and the name stuck.
The history of the city is rich, spanning from pioneer days in the 19th century to presidential elections in the close of the 20th century and with everything from the Civil War to the civil rights movement in between.
Today, in downtown Little Rock, the old and new mix well together. Stately antebellum structures and ornate Victorian buildings neighbor gleaming new glass-facade skyscrapers stretching up into the river city's skyline with scenic, natural surroundings providing the backdrop.
But while Little Rock, filled with vision, charges full-steam ahead into the future, it also clings tight to her rich and colorful Southern history. An entire block of the city pioneer's early rustic structures has been preserved and set aside as a museum since the early 1940s. The Greek Revival-style Old State House, the state's first capitol building fronted by four massive Doric columns, retains a place of prominence on downtown's major thoroughfare across the street from a modern skyscraper housing one of the largest brokerage firms off of Wall Street.
But there was a time when the untamed wilderness of the uncharted frontier reigned here. The first white man to explore the Arkansas territory was Hernando de Soto in 1541. Then came Benard de la Harpe who in 1722 led an expedition of fellow Europeans up the Arkansas River from Arkansas Post, a French trading post founded in 1686 near the mouth of the river.
La Harpe, who is believed to have traveled about 50 miles above the present sites of Little Rock and North Little Rock, described the area when writing of the journey. He noted a landmark on the north bank of the Arkansas River, which he referred to as the "French Rock" (now known as "big rock").
While he didn't mention it specifically, he may have also seen another smaller outcropping of rock along the riverbanks he would have encountered before the larger one. The first outcropping of rock along the riverbanks above its mouth on the south bank came to be known as the "Little Rock." By 1769 there was a settlement of sorts in the vicinity of this landmark but it was made up a just a handful of families, of mixed French and Indian origin, scattered along both sides of the river, with Quapaws primarily on the south side and Osage mainly on the north.
In 1803, Arkansas was included in the sale of the Louisiana Territory Purchase from France to the United States.
When an 1808 treaty between the United States and the Osage ended the tribe's claim to a large area north of the river, a few Americans slowly began arriving to settle on the river's north bank. But they were squatters as the land was neither surveyed nor offered for sale until 1815.
In 1812 when Louisiana entered the Union as a state, Arkansas became part of the Missouri Territory. Through an 1818 treaty, the Quapaws gave up their claim to the land south of the river and west of the "Little Rock" but would not cede their remaining land east of the "Little Rock" until 1824. The Territory of Arkansas was created in 1819 and almost immediately land speculators began claiming land of the south bank of the river near the "Little Rock." In 1821, the legislature chose Little Rock to become the territorial capital and the city was founded that same year and incorporated in 1831.
While Little Rock was an ideal place for a town - it was located nearly in the center of the territory, its river was usually navigable and the bluffs along the banks offered protection from flooding and Little Rock was a stop on the Southwest Trail from Louisiana and Texas. Nevertheless, growth came steadily but slowly because the area was so remote.
In 1819, Little Rock was home to a handful of settlers and just a few crude buildings, including four log "huts" and three larger structures. In the late 1820s, the city consisted of about 400 residents and 60 buildings, only about a fourth of them wood frame or brick; the rest were built of logs.
Despite its rustic frontier appearance and the rough reputation the city attained thanks to some hard-drinking, hard-living, knife-toting rowdy founding fathers, the community still had much to offer for its small size. It had a newspaper, the Arkansas Gazette founded in 1819 and the oldest newspaper west of the Mississippi; schools, the first opened in 1823; and churches, the first established the following year.
That same year, Congress appropriated $15,000 to build a road between Little Rock and Memphis and it opened three years later. In 1826, the first stagecoach line in Arkansas was established between Little Rock and Arkansas Post. Leaving Little Rock every other Tuesday and returning the following Monday, it carried both passengers and mail.
In 1836, Arkansas became a state and Little Rock, in turn, the state's capital.
In 1860, 40 years after it was founded, Little Rock's population was just 3,700 and while residents were enjoying gas lighting in their homes and businesses for the first time, the ensuing Civil War brought construction on the railroad line between Little Rock and Memphis to a halt. It wouldn't be completed until 1871. But in the Reconstruction years following the Civil War, the city grew rapidly - by 1870 the population was at 12,380 - and construction surged.
By the end of the 19th century such modern amenities as electric lights, telephones and a public water system were introduced and growth continued, transforming Little Rock from a frontier town to a modern city. When streetcars were introduced, that growth was able to expand westward outside the central city and into what would be come Little Rock's first suburb, Pulaski Heights (now known as Hillcrest).
At the turn of the 20th century Little Rock had nearly 40,000 residents, more than 170 businesses, six rail lines, one seven-story building, a public library with 3,200 books, 75 churches and more than 60 social clubs.
In the first three decades of the 20th century, Little Rock saw several early skyscrapers rising in its skyline and its population grow to nearly 82,000. The Depression slowed Little Rock's growth and most of the major construction during the 1930s and 1940s were Works Progress Administration projects such as Robinson Center, the city's zoo and the city's arts museum.
In the 1940s, city leaders turned their attention to working to bring industry to Little Rock and by the early 1950s an industrial district had been established in the southwestern fringes of the city. Meanwhile, residents moved, in greater number, to suburbs and more and more roads were built to accommodate the ever-increasing automobile traffic.
In the 1957 and 1958, Little Rock was thrust into the national and international spotlight when Central High School became the site of the first important test of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. The ruling held racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional.
Nine black students made civil rights history when they, under protection of the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army by orders of then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower, entered Central High in September 1957. Eisenhower's orders came after Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, citing safety concerns, had earlier called out the National Guard to prevent the students from entering.
Today, Little Rock is considered a city of racial and cultural diversity.
Little Rock also garnered considerable global attention when then-Governor Bill Clinton made his initial bid for the presidency in 1992 - and won. The Old State House in Little Rock was the site of his election night victory celebration, which he revisited in 1996 for his second winning campaign bid.
Today, Little Rock boasts a population of about 182,000 and is a thriving metropolis with an expanded convention center and new anchoring hotel, the Peabody Little Rock, one of only three Peabody hotels in the nation. Developments in the city's downtown include a newly developed River Market District, the creation of several loft apartments in renovated historic buildings; new corporate office buildings being constructed downtown; a new $80 million, 18,000 seat multi-purpose arena across the river; a recently expanded 42,000 square-foot Arts Center; and the city's first visitor center which recently opened in a historic antebellum home, Curran Hall, following a $1.4 million restoration.
Future developments include the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park (opening November 2004), Heifer International's global headquarters, several loft apartment developments in renovated historic buildings and the construction of new corporate office buildings.
The city continues to expand its boundaries, and more people are taking note of the wealth of entertainment opportunities Little Rock can provide - just as de Soto and la Harpe discovered centuries ago.
Today, in downtown Little Rock, the old and new mix well together. Stately antebellum structures and ornate Victorian buildings neighbor gleaming new glass-facade skyscrapers stretching up into the river city's skyline with scenic, natural surroundings providing the backdrop.
But while Little Rock, filled with vision, charges full-steam ahead into the future, it also clings tight to her rich and colorful Southern history. An entire block of the city pioneer's early rustic structures has been preserved and set aside as a museum since the early 1940s. The Greek Revival-style Old State House, the state's first capitol building fronted by four massive Doric columns, retains a place of prominence on downtown's major thoroughfare across the street from a modern skyscraper housing one of the largest brokerage firms off of Wall Street.
But there was a time when the untamed wilderness of the uncharted frontier reigned here. The first white man to explore the Arkansas territory was Hernando de Soto in 1541. Then came Benard de la Harpe who in 1722 led an expedition of fellow Europeans up the Arkansas River from Arkansas Post, a French trading post founded in 1686 near the mouth of the river.
La Harpe, who is believed to have traveled about 50 miles above the present sites of Little Rock and North Little Rock, described the area when writing of the journey. He noted a landmark on the north bank of the Arkansas River, which he referred to as the "French Rock" (now known as "big rock").
While he didn't mention it specifically, he may have also seen another smaller outcropping of rock along the riverbanks he would have encountered before the larger one. The first outcropping of rock along the riverbanks above its mouth on the south bank came to be known as the "Little Rock." By 1769 there was a settlement of sorts in the vicinity of this landmark but it was made up a just a handful of families, of mixed French and Indian origin, scattered along both sides of the river, with Quapaws primarily on the south side and Osage mainly on the north.
In 1803, Arkansas was included in the sale of the Louisiana Territory Purchase from France to the United States.
When an 1808 treaty between the United States and the Osage ended the tribe's claim to a large area north of the river, a few Americans slowly began arriving to settle on the river's north bank. But they were squatters as the land was neither surveyed nor offered for sale until 1815.
In 1812 when Louisiana entered the Union as a state, Arkansas became part of the Missouri Territory. Through an 1818 treaty, the Quapaws gave up their claim to the land south of the river and west of the "Little Rock" but would not cede their remaining land east of the "Little Rock" until 1824. The Territory of Arkansas was created in 1819 and almost immediately land speculators began claiming land of the south bank of the river near the "Little Rock." In 1821, the legislature chose Little Rock to become the territorial capital and the city was founded that same year and incorporated in 1831.
While Little Rock was an ideal place for a town - it was located nearly in the center of the territory, its river was usually navigable and the bluffs along the banks offered protection from flooding and Little Rock was a stop on the Southwest Trail from Louisiana and Texas. Nevertheless, growth came steadily but slowly because the area was so remote.
In 1819, Little Rock was home to a handful of settlers and just a few crude buildings, including four log "huts" and three larger structures. In the late 1820s, the city consisted of about 400 residents and 60 buildings, only about a fourth of them wood frame or brick; the rest were built of logs.
Despite its rustic frontier appearance and the rough reputation the city attained thanks to some hard-drinking, hard-living, knife-toting rowdy founding fathers, the community still had much to offer for its small size. It had a newspaper, the Arkansas Gazette founded in 1819 and the oldest newspaper west of the Mississippi; schools, the first opened in 1823; and churches, the first established the following year.
That same year, Congress appropriated $15,000 to build a road between Little Rock and Memphis and it opened three years later. In 1826, the first stagecoach line in Arkansas was established between Little Rock and Arkansas Post. Leaving Little Rock every other Tuesday and returning the following Monday, it carried both passengers and mail.
In 1836, Arkansas became a state and Little Rock, in turn, the state's capital.
In 1860, 40 years after it was founded, Little Rock's population was just 3,700 and while residents were enjoying gas lighting in their homes and businesses for the first time, the ensuing Civil War brought construction on the railroad line between Little Rock and Memphis to a halt. It wouldn't be completed until 1871. But in the Reconstruction years following the Civil War, the city grew rapidly - by 1870 the population was at 12,380 - and construction surged.
By the end of the 19th century such modern amenities as electric lights, telephones and a public water system were introduced and growth continued, transforming Little Rock from a frontier town to a modern city. When streetcars were introduced, that growth was able to expand westward outside the central city and into what would be come Little Rock's first suburb, Pulaski Heights (now known as Hillcrest).
At the turn of the 20th century Little Rock had nearly 40,000 residents, more than 170 businesses, six rail lines, one seven-story building, a public library with 3,200 books, 75 churches and more than 60 social clubs.
In the first three decades of the 20th century, Little Rock saw several early skyscrapers rising in its skyline and its population grow to nearly 82,000. The Depression slowed Little Rock's growth and most of the major construction during the 1930s and 1940s were Works Progress Administration projects such as Robinson Center, the city's zoo and the city's arts museum.
In the 1940s, city leaders turned their attention to working to bring industry to Little Rock and by the early 1950s an industrial district had been established in the southwestern fringes of the city. Meanwhile, residents moved, in greater number, to suburbs and more and more roads were built to accommodate the ever-increasing automobile traffic.
In the 1957 and 1958, Little Rock was thrust into the national and international spotlight when Central High School became the site of the first important test of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. The ruling held racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional.
Nine black students made civil rights history when they, under protection of the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army by orders of then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower, entered Central High in September 1957. Eisenhower's orders came after Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, citing safety concerns, had earlier called out the National Guard to prevent the students from entering.
Today, Little Rock is considered a city of racial and cultural diversity.
Little Rock also garnered considerable global attention when then-Governor Bill Clinton made his initial bid for the presidency in 1992 - and won. The Old State House in Little Rock was the site of his election night victory celebration, which he revisited in 1996 for his second winning campaign bid.
Today, Little Rock boasts a population of about 182,000 and is a thriving metropolis with an expanded convention center and new anchoring hotel, the Peabody Little Rock, one of only three Peabody hotels in the nation. Developments in the city's downtown include a newly developed River Market District, the creation of several loft apartments in renovated historic buildings; new corporate office buildings being constructed downtown; a new $80 million, 18,000 seat multi-purpose arena across the river; a recently expanded 42,000 square-foot Arts Center; and the city's first visitor center which recently opened in a historic antebellum home, Curran Hall, following a $1.4 million restoration.
Future developments include the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park (opening November 2004), Heifer International's global headquarters, several loft apartment developments in renovated historic buildings and the construction of new corporate office buildings.
The city continues to expand its boundaries, and more people are taking note of the wealth of entertainment opportunities Little Rock can provide - just as de Soto and la Harpe discovered centuries ago.
Today's Jumble (12/05/08):
VEDEL = DELVE; CAGIM = MAGIC; MADENT = TANDEM; HIENAL = INHALE
CIRCLED LETTERS = DEMAADNH
Despite the latest training equipment, the boxer's punches were---
"HAND MADE"
Today is Bathtub Party Day, National Communicate With Your Baby Day, Special Kids Day, and International Volunteer Day, and The Day of the Ninja. Also, the Abbott and Costello Show debuted on this day in 1952. They only made 52 shows but those ran in syndication for decades.
Other things on this day in history:
63 BC - Cicero reads the last of his Catiline Orations.
663 - Fourth Council of Toledo takes place.
771 - Charlemagne becomes the sole King of the Franks after the death of his brother Carloman.
1082 - Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona is assassinated.
1360 - The French Franc is created.
1408 - Emir Edigu of Golden Horde reaches Moscow.
1484 - Pope Innocent VIII issues the Summis desiderantes, a papal bull that deputizes Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger as inquisitors to root out alleged witchcraft in Germany and leads to one of the severest witch hunts in European history.
1492 - Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola, now Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
1496 - King Manuel I of Portugal issues a decree of expulsion of "heretics" from the country.
1590 - Niccolò Sfondrati becomes Pope Gregory XIV.
1746 - Revolt in Genoa against the Spanish rule.
1757 - Seven Years' War: Battle of Leuthen - Frederick II of Prussia leads Prussian forces to a decisive victory over Austrian forces under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine.
1766 - In London, James Christie holds his first sale.
1775 - At Fort Ticonderoga, Henry Knox begins his historic transport of artillery to Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1776 - In the Apollo Room of the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg, Virginia, students from the College of William and Mary meet for the first time founding Phi Beta Kappa, the first scholastic fraternity in the United States.
1815 - Foundation of Maceió in Brazil.
1831 - Former US President John Quincy Adams takes his seat in the House of Representatives.
1847 - Jefferson Davis is elected to the US senate, his first political post.
1848 - California Gold Rush: In a message before the U.S. Congress, US President James K. Polk confirms that large amounts of gold had been discovered in California.
1865 - Chincha Islands War: Peru allies with Chile against Spain.
1892 - Sir John Thompson becomes the fourth Prime Minister of Canada.
1893 - First appearance of an electric car.
1914 - The Italian Parliament proclaims the neutrality of the country.
1920 - Dimitrios Rallis forms a government in Greece.
1926 - Sergei Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin premieres.
1932 - German-born Swiss physicist Albert Einstein is granted an American visa.
1933 - Prohibition in the United States ends: Utah becomes the 36th U.S. state to ratify the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, thus establishing the required 75% of states needed to enact the amendment (this overturned the 18th Amendment which had outlawed alcohol in the United States).
1934 - Abyssinia Crisis: Italian troops attack Wal Wal in Abyssinia, taking four days to capture the city.
1936 - The Soviet Union adopts a new constitution and the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic is established as a full Union Republic of the USSR.
1941 - World War II: In the Battle of Moscow Georgy Zhukov launches a massive Soviet counter-attack against the German army, with the biggest offensive launched against Army Group Centre.
1941 - World War II: Great Britain declares war on Finland, Hungary and Romania.
1943 - World War II: U.S. Army Air Force begin attacking Germany's secret weapons bases in Operation Crossbow .
1944 - World War II: Allied troops occupy Ravenna.
1945 - Flight 19 is lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
1952 - Great Smog of 1952: A cold fog descends upon London, combining with air pollution and killing at least 12,000 in the weeks and months that follow.
1955 - The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge and form the AFL-CIO.
1955 - E.D. Nixon and Rosa Parks lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
1957 - Sukarno expels all Dutch people from Indonesia.
1958 - Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) is inaugurated in the UK by Queen Elizabeth II when she speaks to the Lord Provost in a call from Bristol to Edinburgh.
1958 - The Preston bypass, the UK's first stretch of motorway, opens to traffic for the first time. It is now part of the M6 and M55 motorways.
1964 - Vietnam War: For his heroism in battle earlier in the year, Captain Roger Donlon is awarded the first Medal of Honor of the war.
1969 - Life Magazine reports the My Lai Massacre .
1970 - Premiere of Dario Fo's Morte accidentale di un anarchico.
1976 - The United Nations General Assembly adopts Pakistan's resolution on security of non-Nuclear States.
1977 - Egypt breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria, Iraq and South Yemen. The move is in retaliation for the Declaration of Tripoli against Egypt.
1978 - The Soviet Union signs a "friendship treaty" with the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
1979 - Sonia Johnson is formally excommunicated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for her outspoken criticism of the church concerning the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
1983 - Dissolution of the Military Junta in Argentina.
1983 - ICIMOD established and inaugurated with its headquarters in Kathmandu, Nepal, and legitimised through an Act of Parliament in Nepal in the same year.
1993 - The mayor of Wien (Vienna), Helmut Zilk, is wounded by a letter bomb.
1995 - The Sri Lankan government announces the conquest of Tamil stronghold of Jaffna.
2005 - The Lake Tanganyika earthquake causes significant damage, mostly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
2005 - The Civil Partnership Act comes into effect in the United Kingdom, and the first civil partnership is registered there.
2006 - Commodore Frank Bainimarama overthrows the government in Fiji.
2007 - Westroads Mall massacre: A gunman opens fire with a semi-automatic rifle at an Omaha, Nebraska mall, killing eight people before taking his own life.
663 - Fourth Council of Toledo takes place.
771 - Charlemagne becomes the sole King of the Franks after the death of his brother Carloman.
1082 - Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona is assassinated.
1360 - The French Franc is created.
1408 - Emir Edigu of Golden Horde reaches Moscow.
1484 - Pope Innocent VIII issues the Summis desiderantes, a papal bull that deputizes Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger as inquisitors to root out alleged witchcraft in Germany and leads to one of the severest witch hunts in European history.
1492 - Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola, now Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
1496 - King Manuel I of Portugal issues a decree of expulsion of "heretics" from the country.
1590 - Niccolò Sfondrati becomes Pope Gregory XIV.
1746 - Revolt in Genoa against the Spanish rule.
1757 - Seven Years' War: Battle of Leuthen - Frederick II of Prussia leads Prussian forces to a decisive victory over Austrian forces under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine.
1766 - In London, James Christie holds his first sale.
1775 - At Fort Ticonderoga, Henry Knox begins his historic transport of artillery to Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1776 - In the Apollo Room of the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg, Virginia, students from the College of William and Mary meet for the first time founding Phi Beta Kappa, the first scholastic fraternity in the United States.
1815 - Foundation of Maceió in Brazil.
1831 - Former US President John Quincy Adams takes his seat in the House of Representatives.
1847 - Jefferson Davis is elected to the US senate, his first political post.
1848 - California Gold Rush: In a message before the U.S. Congress, US President James K. Polk confirms that large amounts of gold had been discovered in California.
1865 - Chincha Islands War: Peru allies with Chile against Spain.
1892 - Sir John Thompson becomes the fourth Prime Minister of Canada.
1893 - First appearance of an electric car.
1914 - The Italian Parliament proclaims the neutrality of the country.
1920 - Dimitrios Rallis forms a government in Greece.
1926 - Sergei Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin premieres.
1932 - German-born Swiss physicist Albert Einstein is granted an American visa.
1933 - Prohibition in the United States ends: Utah becomes the 36th U.S. state to ratify the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, thus establishing the required 75% of states needed to enact the amendment (this overturned the 18th Amendment which had outlawed alcohol in the United States).
1934 - Abyssinia Crisis: Italian troops attack Wal Wal in Abyssinia, taking four days to capture the city.
1936 - The Soviet Union adopts a new constitution and the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic is established as a full Union Republic of the USSR.
1941 - World War II: In the Battle of Moscow Georgy Zhukov launches a massive Soviet counter-attack against the German army, with the biggest offensive launched against Army Group Centre.
1941 - World War II: Great Britain declares war on Finland, Hungary and Romania.
1943 - World War II: U.S. Army Air Force begin attacking Germany's secret weapons bases in Operation Crossbow .
1944 - World War II: Allied troops occupy Ravenna.
1945 - Flight 19 is lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
1952 - Great Smog of 1952: A cold fog descends upon London, combining with air pollution and killing at least 12,000 in the weeks and months that follow.
1955 - The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge and form the AFL-CIO.
1955 - E.D. Nixon and Rosa Parks lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
1957 - Sukarno expels all Dutch people from Indonesia.
1958 - Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) is inaugurated in the UK by Queen Elizabeth II when she speaks to the Lord Provost in a call from Bristol to Edinburgh.
1958 - The Preston bypass, the UK's first stretch of motorway, opens to traffic for the first time. It is now part of the M6 and M55 motorways.
1964 - Vietnam War: For his heroism in battle earlier in the year, Captain Roger Donlon is awarded the first Medal of Honor of the war.
1969 - Life Magazine reports the My Lai Massacre .
1970 - Premiere of Dario Fo's Morte accidentale di un anarchico.
1976 - The United Nations General Assembly adopts Pakistan's resolution on security of non-Nuclear States.
1977 - Egypt breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria, Iraq and South Yemen. The move is in retaliation for the Declaration of Tripoli against Egypt.
1978 - The Soviet Union signs a "friendship treaty" with the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
1979 - Sonia Johnson is formally excommunicated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for her outspoken criticism of the church concerning the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
1983 - Dissolution of the Military Junta in Argentina.
1983 - ICIMOD established and inaugurated with its headquarters in Kathmandu, Nepal, and legitimised through an Act of Parliament in Nepal in the same year.
1993 - The mayor of Wien (Vienna), Helmut Zilk, is wounded by a letter bomb.
1995 - The Sri Lankan government announces the conquest of Tamil stronghold of Jaffna.
2005 - The Lake Tanganyika earthquake causes significant damage, mostly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
2005 - The Civil Partnership Act comes into effect in the United Kingdom, and the first civil partnership is registered there.
2006 - Commodore Frank Bainimarama overthrows the government in Fiji.
2007 - Westroads Mall massacre: A gunman opens fire with a semi-automatic rifle at an Omaha, Nebraska mall, killing eight people before taking his own life.
4 comments:
Hey, Drdad: Little Rock also had a very fun Holiday Inn Resort hotel that we would frequent when driving to OK. It had a putt putt golf course downstairs that my kids loved, plus an arcade, a pool and other nice amenities. We all looked forward to that stopover. Some good friends from Ok have lived there for years and love it. Good job on this fine city...as always.
Hi DrDad, glad you are back and on your blog again...we missed you! Wish I lived closer to the East Coast, so many people I'd like to meet and places I'd just love to see. When I visited New York, Mass.,NJ, etc we just didn't have enough time to do the area justice.
Lois, maybe I'll come haunt you this summer!
Carol, I can't think of anything I'd like better than to be haunted by YOU!...we'll give 'spirits' a whole new dimension. You have a place to stay with an open invitation, so stay as long as you can, whenever you can. There's an endless number of things to do, fun to have, people to see...or if you prefer: things to see, fun to do and people to have. Work with me here, sister. The opportunities to get into trouble are countless. Sounds like a plan! Let's make it happen!
Lois, it sure does sound like a plan! I might actually get on a plane again, and you are the reason! I do not like flying but since the distance is do great, I have no options....it would just be me and we can have a 'girl's week' or whatever. What a load of fun and trouble we could get into.
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