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Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 991. Photo: Fox Film.
American actor George O'Brien (1899-1985) was a muscular, barrel-chested, yet sensitively talented leading man of classic silent films, like John Ford's The Iron Horse (1924) and F. W. Murnau's Sunrise (1927). He became a different kind of star as a cowboy in B-Westerns during the sound era.
George O'Brien was born in San Francisco, California, in 1899. He was the oldest son of Daniel J. and Margaret L. (née Donahue) O'Brien. O'Brien's father later became the Chief of Police for the City of San Francisco and ordered the arrest of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle in September 1921 at the scandalous Labor Day party held by Arbuckle. After his retirement from that office, Dan was the Director of Penology for the State of California. In 1917, George enlisted in the United States Navy to fight in World War I, serving on a submarine chaser. He volunteered to act as a stretcher-bearer for wounded Marines and was decorated for bravery. After the war, O'Brien became Light-Heavyweight boxing champion of the Pacific Fleet. O'Brien came to Hollywood in his early twenties hoping to become a cameraman and worked as an assistant cameraman for a while, for both Tom Mix and Buck Jones. He began his acting career in bit parts and as a stuntman. One of his earliest roles was in the drama Moran of the Lady Letty (George Melford, 1922), most notable for starring Rudolph Valentino. In 1924, O'Brien received his first starring role in the drama The Man Who Came Back (Emmett J. Flynn, 1924) opposite the English actress Dorothy Mackaill. That same year he was chosen by the famed film director John Ford to star in The Iron Horse (1924) opposite Madge Bellamy. The film was an immense success at the box-office and O'Brien made nine more films for Ford. The athletic O'Brien was truly Hollywood's first perfect male physique. In 1927, he starred in the F. W. Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) opposite Janet Gaynor, which won three major Academy Awards and remains his most famous film. He also played the lead in the New York City epic East Side, West Side (Allan Dwan, 1927) opposite Virginia Valli. O'Brien often starred in action and adventure roles alongside such popular actresses of the era as Alma Rubens, Anita Stewart, Dolores Costello, Madge Bellamy, Olive Borden (with whom he was linked romantically during the 1920s), and Janet Gaynor. With the advent of sound, his popularity was sliding. Tony Fontana at IMDb: "With his rugged looks and physical size, he was soon a Western Cowboy Star. He was in some of the best stories ever written, Riders of the Purple Sage (Hamilton MacFadden, 1931), and in some of the worst." So, throughout the 1930s, O'Brien was a consistent Top Ten box-office draw appearing in scores of Westerns, often atop his horse named Mike. He would appear in a few films outside the horse set, such as Ever Since Eve (George Marshall, 1934) with Mary Brian, but those roles would be few.
During World War II, George O'Brien re-enlisted in the United States Navy, where he served as a beachmaster in the Pacific and was decorated several times. He left service with the rank of commander. He later joined the United States Naval Reserve and retired with the rank of captain in 1962, having four times been recommended for the rank of admiral. Following his service in World War II, O'Brien would occasionally take featured parts in films directed by his old friend and mentor John Ford, including Fort Apache (1948), starring John Wayne and Henry Fonda, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), and Cheyenne Autumn (1964), starring Richard Widmark and Carroll Baker. O'Brien's last leading role was in Gold Raiders (Edward Bernds, 1951), with top-billed O'Brien handling the action and the Three Stooges (Shemp Howard, Larry Fine, and Moe Howard) doing comedy routines in a feature film more or less evenly dividing screen time between O'Brien and the Stooges. While serving in the Naval Reserve, O'Brien took on a project for the Department of Defense as part of President Eisenhower's "People to People" program. He was project officer for a series of orientation films on three Asian countries. One of these films, on Korea, was directed by his old friend, John Ford. The other two countries covered were Formosa (Taiwan) and the Philippines. In the 1920s, O'Brien dated actress Olive Borden for many years, and most thought they would marry. For some reason (some say his family did not approve of Olive) they ended their relationship and he eventually married actress Marguerite Churchill in 1933. Their first child, Brian, died 10 days after his birth. Daughter Orin O'Brien became a double bassist for the New York Philharmonic. Their youngest child Darcy O'Brien was a successful writer and college professor. George and Marguerite divorced in 1948. O'Brien suffered a stroke in 1981 and was bedridden the last four years of his life. He died in 1985 in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. He was 86. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Brien was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6201 Hollywood Blvd., in Los Angeles, California.
Sources: Tony Fontana (IMDb), Find-A-Grave, Wikipedia, and IMDb
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
French [?] postcard. Photo: Gaumont.
Georges Biscot (1886-1945) was a popular French music-hall and revue singer and actor, who also knew a career in French silent and sound film.
From which bridge? And what is the name of the river right next to it? To get the bonus prize, what sits behind me?
Void where prohibited.
Must be 18 to qualify
Only valid for residents of West Australia, Virginia and parts of Iceland
The George Washington Bridge, which spans the Hudson River to connect the states of New York (upper Manhattan, New York City) and New Jersey (Ft. Lee).
George Strait's Challenger sitting at Customs after arriving from KSAT for a concert at the Saddledome.
George & Lynne, the liberated couple created by writer Conrad Frost , first appeared in The Sun in 1976 and their adventures continued to appear until 2010 . The secret of their appeal ? Possibly that they had the kind of married life every other couple in Britain wanted to have ! For over thirty years ( our time ; aside from George ditching his seventies sideburns , the loving couple never aged or changed ) , George & Lynne lived in comparative luxury in an affluent riverside community , Lynne sunbathing nude and gossiping with her friends while George was ( occasionally ) at work or ( more often ) in the Ferryman's Inn , or the pair attending bikini parties or out on their expensive looking boat , the 'Pink Gin' , at weekends . They had no apparent money worries , though this didn't not stop George moaning about Lynne's spending . They had an army of friends with mostly alliterative names , including amiable alcoholic Sammy and his long suffering wife Samantha. They had a huge house somewhere in Middlesex ( according to Conrad Frost, who coincidentally had a similar one in the same area ) and, as drawn by John M. Burns ( 1976-1982 ) and later Josep Gual , were effectively physically perfect .
They also famously had a very relaxed attitude to sex and nudity, and George compiled a nude calendar of Lynne every year, which hung in their kitchen.
50 George Square, Edinburgh University was designed by Robert Matthew, Johnston-Marshall and Partners, and completed in 1970. It is Category B listed and forms part of the Category A listed Modernist campus buildings which includes David Hume Tower.
Page/Park architects, Harley Haddow engineers, Thomson Bethune quantity surveyors and Balfour Beatty construction refurbished 50 George Square and the linked basement level of David Hume Tower as part of a £40m project (completed 2014). A new semi-circular glazed extension above the projecting lecture theatre provides a project room. The development has been designed to have a low energy and CO2 emissions to the BREEAM 2008 Education standard. The project won the building conservation category at the RICS Scotland Annual Awards 2015.
The School of Languages, Literatures & Cultures has relocated to 50 George Square with a central teaching hub formed in the DHT basement.
www.urbanrealm.com/buildings/981/50_George_Square.html
www.urbanrealm.com/news/4877/Page%5CPark_unveil_revamp_of...
www.harleyhaddow.com/project/project-title-8/
pagepark.co.uk/projects/50-george-square-university-of-ed...
A photo inspired by my flickr contact George Tot.
There seems to be a kind of communication that is purely photographic.I've never spoken with George but his photos have had an impact on me,
George, if you see this, thanks for taking photos and sharing them.
George Tot: www.flickr.com/photos/o94022/
I shot the same scene with eight different imaging devices. Which device shot George best?
Each photo was shot in full-auto mode and I made no adjustments to the image afterward. All I did was crop and scale each one to a size of 2048 pixels to facilitate your side-by-side comparison. Go ahead and click through to the full-size version if y'like.
To give you some idea of the detail in the image, I've also compiled a lightbox of thumbnails, clipped from the same region of the image at the file's full original resolution (and then scaled to common dimensions).
What to you think? Leave your comments in the comments. I'll post the "answer key" after these have been online for a bit.
(Edited to reveal: Shot with Lumia 1020)
The Postcard
A postally unused postcard bearing no publisher's name.
There is what appears to be a genuine signature of George Hamilton IV on the back of the card.
George Hamilton IV
George Hege Hamilton IV was an American country musician. He began performing in the late 1950's as a teen idol, switching to country music in the early 1960's.
Biography of George Hamilton IV
Hamilton was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on the 19th. July 1937. While a 19-year-old student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Hamilton recorded "A Rose and a Baby Ruth" for a Chapel Hill record label, Colonial Records.
The song, written by John D. Loudermilk, climbed to No. 6 on the United States Billboard Hot 100 chart. By 1960, "A Rose and a Baby Ruth" had attained gold record status for ABC-Paramount (which had acquired the song from Colonial). The self-penned B-side of the record, "If You Don't Know", revealed Hamilton's ambitions to be a rockabilly-country singer.
After a string of pop hits, Hamilton joined the Rockabilly Tour playing with Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers, Little Richard and several others throughout the country.
George was then invited to Washington, DC to become a member of the cast of the Jimmy Dean Show where he performed regularly with Patsy Cline and Jimmy Dean. He also appeared on Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand”, Arthur Godfrey's “Talent Scouts”, and the Perry Como Show.
Hamilton also went on to host his own National Television Musical/Variety shows on ABC and CBS in the late 1950's. In late 1959, Hamilton moved his family to Nashville, Tennessee to further his work as a country musician. On the 8th. February 1960, Hamilton officially became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Later that same year, he began recording for RCA Records, having been signed by Chet Atkins.
Hamilton's breakthrough hit was the 1961 song "Before this Day Ends". His biggest hit came two years later with "Abilene", another song penned by Loudermilk and Bob Gibson. The song spent four weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's country singles chart, and reached the Top 20 of the Hot 100. The success of "Abilene" was followed with the song "Fort Worth, Dallas or Houston" (a Top 5 hit in late 1964).
In 1962, Hamilton started the first Music City USA & Homes of the Stars Bus Tour in Nashville. By the mid-1960's, Hamilton's music began showing a decidedly folk influence. This was especially evident with 1966's "Steel Rail Blues" and "Early Morning Rain" (both by Gordon Lightfoot), and 1967's "Urge for Going" by Joni Mitchell.
Another 1967 hit was "Break My Mind" (by John D. Loudermilk). One more Hamilton song of this genre was a moderate hit in 1969—the Ray Griff-penned "Canadian Pacific". His last Top 5 single came in 1970, with "She's a Little Bit Country".
After his American chart success declined in the early 1970's, Hamilton began touring the world, across the Soviet Union, Poland, Australia, the Middle East, and East Asia. These widely acclaimed international performances earned Hamilton the nickname The International Ambassador of Country Music.
He also hosted several successful television programs in the UK and Canada during the 1970's, and in the 1990's he played himself in the West End musical Patsy, based on the life of Patsy Cline.
In the 1980's Hamilton appeared with Billy Graham on Ministry Tours throughout the US and Canada, as well as the UK tour 'Mission England'.
In 2004, he recorded an acoustic gospel album with producer Dave Moody entitled On a Blue Ridge Sunday which earned Hamilton a Dove Award nomination in the "Best Bluegrass Album of the Year" category by the members of the Gospel Music Association. A single from the album, "Little Mountain Church House", won nominee recognition in the "Best Bluegrass Recorded Song" category the following year.
Until the very late years of his life, Hamilton was a regular at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and in country shows throughout the U.S. and the UK. Hamilton celebrated his 50th. year as a Grand Ole Opry member in 2010.
He mainly concentrated on gospel tours both at home and abroad. In 2007 he collaborated with Live Issue, a group from Northern Ireland, to record a live album based on the life of Joseph Scriven, who wrote the hymn "What a Friend We Have in Jesus". The two also toured together again in 2009.
In 2008, Hamilton released a parody of his classic hit "Abilene" in the height of the soaring U.S. gas prices called "Gasoline". The acoustic single featured "The Oil Spots" (a.k.a. the Moody Brothers & George Hamilton V) and became a hit with audiences during Hamilton's Opry appearances. Hamilton was also a regular participant in the Country's Family Reunion video series.
In 2010, Lamon Records released the album Old Fashioned Hymns, recorded transatlantic with producers Dave Moody in Nashville and Colin Elliott in Ireland. Hamilton was joined on the 28-track collection by a number of musical guests, including Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, Gail Davies, Pat Boone, Del McCoury, Bill Anderson, Connie Smith, Tommy Cash, Cliff Barrows, and George Beverly Shea, among others.
On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed George Hamilton IV among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.
George Hamilton IV's Personal Life
Hamilton married his high school sweetheart Adelaide “Tink” Peyton and had two sons, George and Peyton, and one daughter, Mary. Hamilton’s middle son George Hege Hamilton V became a singer using the name Hege V, since his father and the actor were already using the name George Hamilton.
When he was seven years old, he found one of his father's guitars and began writing songs. The younger Hamilton said his father "never pushed me", but he eventually began playing in nightclubs. On tours, which sometimes included his father, Hege V played rhythm guitar and sang harmony and occasionally the lead, including some of his father's songs.
Death and Legacy of George Hamilton IV
Hamilton had a heart attack on the 13th. September 2014, and died at the age of 77 on the 17th. September 2014 at Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee.
On the 24th. September, the Ryman Auditorium hosted a memorial service which included performances by Marty Stuart, Ricky Skaggs, the Whites, Jett Williams, Gail Davies, Connie Smith, Dave Moody, Jimmy Capps, Barry and Holly Tashian, the Babcocks, Andrew Greer, and Cindy Morgan. English music historian and journalist Tony Byworth, music writer and author Frye Galliard, artists and songwriters John D. Loudermilk and Bill Anderson, Grand Ole Opry general manager Pete Fisher, and WSM announcer Eddie Stubbs all shared stories of Hamilton's life and career during the memorial. The service concluded with "Amazing Grace" performed on bagpipes by Nashville Pipes and Drums Pipe Sergeant David Goodman.
The George Hamilton IV Collection is located in the Southern Folklife Collection of the Wilson Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Hamilton had been inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2010.
The North Carolina Board of Transportation voted to name a bridge on Business 40 after Hamilton. The ceremony naming the bridge was held on the 19th. July 2016, which would have been Hamilton's 79th. birthday.
A fist sculpture at 37th and Chicago Avenue in George Floyd Square in Minneapolis.
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This image is part of a continuing series following the unrest and events in Minneapolis following the May 25th, 2020 murder of George Floyd.
This church is St Georges Edgbaston. It is on what is now a traffic island around Westbourne Crescent.
It is Grade II listed.
Anglican Church of St George - British Listed Buildings
A church, built in three distinct phases, to the designs of Joseph John Scoles (1836-8), Charles Edge (1855-7) and J.A.Chatwin (1884-5). The building is of sandstone with a slate roof. The ritual east end is oriented to the south-east compass point and directions in this description refer to ritual orientation. The two southern aisles formed part of the original church of 1836-8. To these a chancel, north-eastern vestry and clock tower were added in 1855-7 and in 1884-5 a larger nave and chancel were attached to the south side, replacing the former south aisle.
EXTERIOR: The original church designed by J.J.Scoles was relatively simple, with a nave and aisles under separate pitched roofs and no chancel. The north aisle has six bays of lancet windows, divided by buttresses, with a simple corbel table below the parapet. There is a door to the western end of the aisle and a gabled porch to the west end. An illustration of 1847 shows the west end to have a more-elaborate gable treatment with pinnacles and a rose window (perhaps blind) and it may be that these details were removed in the bomb damage of 1943. The Charles Edge chancel of 1855-7 continues the overall style of the Scoles building with lancets to the north and east sides and on the vestry. The octagonal clock tower is set in the re-entrant angle between the north aisle and the chancel. The Chatwin nave and chancel of 1884-5 continues this pattern of respectful adaptation and its south aisle reproduces the overall pattern of the north aisle, although it is lower, to accommodate a clerestory above, which has paired lights with cusped heads. The chancel has an eastern window of five lancet lights. To its south side is the lowest stage of a planned steeple which, together with its circular staircase turret, is capped by a temporary pitched roof.
INTERIOR: The Nave and north aisle of 1836-8 remain largely intact. The nave has a panelled ceiling with two circular, metal, ventilation grilles to the centre. The tall, slender columns which divide nave from aisle consist of clusters of colonettes with waterholding moulding to the base. The mouldings to the underside of the north gallery survive inside the parish room and the gallery appears to have its original bench seating with pipes for gas standards to the backs. Apart from this the former seating has been removed.
The chancel by Charles Edge originally had the Ten Commandments in black lettering to its East wall, but following the re-fitting as a Lady chapel in 1935 this is now covered by a reredos and panelling. The screen dividing this space from the body of the nave also appears to date from this period, or slightly earlier.
The nave and south aisle by Chatwin follow the module of Scoles' church, to the extent that the columns are placed at the same distance [and presumably use some of the earlier foundations]. The nave is divided into bays by colonettes and every two clerestory windows correspond to one arch of the nave arcade. The exception is at the eastern end, where the arcade arch at each side is a full two bays in width. The substantial roof has cusped wind braces and trusses with queen struts.
The fittings include an ashlar and alabaster font and matching pulpit, richly carved choir stalls and an organ with case designed by Chatwin and carved by Bridgeman which was placed in the lower stage of the unfinished tower. The stained glass is particularly good, with memorial windows by Kempe in the Lady chapel (Tree of Jesse), Heaton, Butler and Bayne, John Hardman and Burlison and Grylls. The floor is tiled to the body of the church and there are mosaic pavements in the chancel depicting the Evangelists and St. George. The royal coat of arms of oak which now hangs on the west wall was carved in 1839 and formerly hung on the front of the western gallery.
HISTORY: In 1831 Samuel Wheeley left £500 to build a new church or chapel in the parish of Edgbaston. The site for the church, formerly known as Tinsel Field, was given by Lord Calthorpe, together with the rest of the cost of building the church (almost £6,000). This first building by J.J. Scoles, had a capacity of nearly 1,000 worshipers, of which 200 were free places. The building was originally a chapel of ease to St. Peter's Harbourne, but in 1852 St George's became a parish. In 1849 pillar gas lighting was installed, some pipe-work of which still survives in the north gallery. The congregation grew and Charles Edge was commissioned to design a new chancel and attached vestry and clock tower at the eastern end of the church, completed by 1857. The new chancel was used to accommodate added seating and not primarily as a ritual space. The congregation continued to grow. A new vicar, the Revd. Charles Ansfield, was appointed in 1883 and in 1884 plans were drawn up by J.A.Chatwin for a large, new nave and chancel attached to the south side of the building at a cost c. £6,000. By 1891 the font, pulpit, choir stalls and screens had all been fitted, as had the mosaic chancel floors. The notable series of memorial stained glass windows were added at the end of the C19 and in the early years of the C20. The former chancel was converted to a Lady Chapel in 1935. In 1936 the north aisle under the gallery was enclosed and equipped as a choir vestry and now serves as a parish room. The church was damaged by wartime bombing in 1943 at the west end of the Scoles nave.
SOURCES: Andy Foster, Birmingham - Pevsner City Guides, 2005, 223-4; J.C.Harknes & J.R.H.Pinkess, St. George's Church Edgbaston 1838-1998, 2nd Ed.; Howard Colvin, Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840, 2nd Edition, 855 [where the Scoles church is wrongly recorded as 'rebuilt'], 330 [reference to Edge drawings 349-52 in Birmingham Reference Library].
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The Church of St. George, Westbourne Crescent, Edgbaston is designated for the following principal reasons:
* The church has clear architectural quality and was designed by three architects of note, namely Joseph John Scoles, Charles Edge and C. A. Chatwin.
* The two later designs respect the pattern of the earliest and this helps to give the building coherence.
* The church has fittings of quality, including a notable set of stained glass memorial windows to the chancel, Lady chapel and south aisle by Burlison and Grylls, Kempe, Hardman and others.
From Westbourne Crescent.
TIMOR SEA (July 9, 2015) An F/A-18E Super Hornet from the "Eagles" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 115 launches from the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) as part of Talisman Sabre 2015. Talisman Sabre is a biennial exercise that provides an invaluable opportunity for nearly 30,000 U.S. and Australian defense forces to conduct operations in a combined, joint and interagency environment that will increase both countries' ability to plan and execute a full range of operations from combat missions to humanitarian assistance efforts. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Chris Cavagnaro/Released)
Henschel in an 1886 photograph by W. & D. Downey of Ebury St, London - made with Joseph Swan's carbon process.
Pianist, singer, conductor, and composer [Sir] George Henschel was born on 18th Feb 1850 in Breslau, Prussia and died on 10th Sept 1934 in Aviemore, Inverness, Scotland.
Upon its foundation in 1881 he was first conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra - the inaugural concert was on 22nd Oct 1881 in the Old Boston Music Hall.
He was knighted in 1914.
In Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, felon George Floyd was stopped by police after a criminal complaint about him passing a counterfeit bill. After resisting arrest and throwing himself to the ground after refusing to get into the squad car, police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd's neck to restrain him. After almost 9 minutes, he died.
Nationwide unrest followed, including riots in Chicago that involved BLM and Antifa. 700 people were arrested. This Bloomingdale's store was looted and vandalized on the night of May 30th.
Located at 600 N. Wabash Ave.
A statue of George Washington outside Federal Hall National Memorial, Wall Street, New York City, New York:
It was on Wall Street in New York City, New York, April 30, 1789 that George Washington took the oath of office as the first President of the United States of America. The swearing ceremony took place on the balcony of the newly remodeled Federal Hall. Federal Hall at the time was home to the first Congress, Supreme Court, and Executive Branch offices.
Federal Hall started its life as New York City Hall. It was constructed between 1699 and 1703 and was the seat of government for the British colony of New York. As such it was the location of several significant events.
Among them was the arrest, jailing on Nov 17, 1734 and trial on Aug 16th, 1735 of German-born newspaper publisher, John Peter Zenger. This is a fascinating page in the History of New York and the United States. Zenger and a group of New York citizens did not like the decisions and heavy-handed rule of the British King’s appointed Governor of New York, William Cosby. Zenger was arrested and held in the City Jail, which was in the attic of City Hall. Mr. Zenger was accused of and later acquitted of libel for exposing government corruption in his newspaper. His acquittal helped to further the cause for freedom that led to revolution, forty years later. The John Peter Zenger trial would lead the way for the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, which reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." To read more about the events that led to Zenger’s arrest see: www.nps.gov/feha/historyculture/the-new-york-weekly-journ...
For more information on the trial itself and Andrew Hamilton’s famous quote from it see: www.nps.gov/feha/historyculture/the-trial-of-john-peter-z...
Another significant event occurred in October 1765 when City Hall hosted the Stamp Act Congress, which assembled to protest "taxation without representation."
After the American Revolution, the Continental Congress met at City Hall and, in 1787, adopted the Northwest Ordinance, establishing procedures for creating new states.
When the Constitution was ratified in 1788, New York remained the national capital. Pierre L'Enfant was commissioned to remodel the City Hall for the new federal government. The First Congress met in the remodeled City hall now called Federal Hall and wrote the Bill of Rights.
George Washington, after learning of his election by the Electoral College, made his way from Virginia to New York City. He arrived to much fanfare on Apr 23, 1789 and went to his new residence at 3 Cherry Street. On Inauguration Day, which was the 30th of the same month, a crowd of people gathered around Washington's home, and at noon they made their way to Federal Hall by way of Queen Street and Great Dock (both now Pearl Street) and Broad Street. Washington dressed in an American made dark brown suit with white silk stockings and silver shoe buckles; he also wore a steel-hilted sword.
Upon his arrival at Federal Hall, Washington was formally introduced to the House and Senate in the then Senate chamber, after which already sworn-in Vice President John Adams announced it time for the inauguration. Washington moved to the second-floor balcony where he took the presidential oath of office, administered by Chancellor of New York Robert Livingston in view of throngs of people gathered on the streets. The Bible used was randomly opened in haste to Genesis 49:13. Livingston shouted "Long live George Washington, President of the United States!" to the crowd, which was replied to with cheers and a 13 gun salute. Washington then delivered the first inaugural address in the Senate chamber. To find out more about the inaugural address and to read it, see: www.archives.gov/legislative/features/gw-inauguration/
In 1789 there were no inaugural balls for the day of the ceremony, though a week later on May 7 a ball was held in New York to honor the first president.
The first and second sessions of Congress met in the building. To find out more about the History of Congress while they met in Federal Hall see: www.nps.gov/feha/historyculture/the-congress-at-federal-h...
When the capital moved to Philadelphia in 1790, the building again housed city government until 1812, when Federal Hall was demolished. The current structure was built as a Custom’s house and opened its door in 1842. The classic building has a unique combination of architectural styles. The Doric columns of the facade, designed by Ithiel Town and Alexander Jackson Davis, resemble those of the Parthenon and serve as a tribute to Greek democracy; the domed ceiling inside, designed by John Frazee, echoes the Pantheon and the economic might of the Romans.
In 1862 the Customs house was moved down the street and the building became the US Sub-Treasury. Millions of dollars of gold and silver were kept in the basement vaults, until the Federal Reserve Bank replaced the Sub-Treasury system in 1920.
On September 16, 1920 at 12:01pm, an explosion ripped through the street in the front of the JP Morgan Bank Building across the street from Federal Hall and the Washington Statue. The buildings in the area including the New York Stock exchange suffered only surficial damaged in what became know as the Wall Street Bombing. The people in the street at lunchtime were not so fortunate. Shrapnel ripped through the crowd. The carnage resulted in 38 dead and 143 seriously injured. Most of the causalities were young people working at financial institutions, stenographers, clerks, brokers, and messengers. The act was quickly identified as terrorism though no one was arrested for the crime. Who was responsible is also unclear but many historians and investigators think it the work of Galleanists (Italian Anarchists) who held the American financial system in contempt. The attack led to enhanced security and vigilance. Funny after all these years nothing much has changed. Despite the destruction, photos from the time show the George Washington statue standing over the chaotic scene, undamaged, an a beacon of hope. A patriotic rally was held the next day in the shadow of the statue. For more on the Wall Street bombing see: terrorism.about.com/od/originshistory/p/WallStreetBomb.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_bombing
Now, the building with its statue serves as a museum and memorial to our first President and the beginnings of the United States of America.
On September 6, 2002, approximately 300 members of the United States Congress traveled from Washington, D.C. to New York to convene in Federal Hall as a symbolic show of support for the City, still recovering from the September 11, 2001 attacks. Just four blocks from Ground Zero, the meeting was the first by Congress in New York since 1790.
In 2006, Federal Hall National Memorial reopened after a brief closure and a $16 million renovation, mostly to its foundation, after cracks threatening the structure were greatly aggravated by the collapse of the World Trade Center Twin Towers.
One of the fascinating items on permanent exhibit at Federal Hall is The Bible George Washington used during his inauguration. The Bible was loaned to him by a local Masonic Lodge, St. John's Lodge No. 1, Ancient York Masons.
Printed in London in 1765, it is now known as the George Washington Inaugural Bible. Members of the St. John's Lodge allow it to be displayed in a special case in the Inaugural Gallery on the first floor of Federal Hall National Memorial when it is not in use by the Lodge or on tour.
The Bible itself has been witness to many historic Presidential inaugurations. It was used in the inaugurations of Presidents Warren G. Harding, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush (whose 1989 inauguration was in the bicentennial year of George Washington's). During the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president on January 20, 2009, members of the St. John's Lodge and the Washington Bible took part in a special ceremony in front of the statue of George Washington on the steps of Federal Hall to honor the momentous occasion.
The famous bronze Statue of George Washington shown in this photograph stands on the steps of Federal Hall. Sculpted by John Quincy Adams Ward in 1882 it stands at the approximate site where Washington was inaugurated as President on the balcony of the former structure. For more on John Quincy Adams Ward and his work see:
The bottom end of George Street was nearing the end of the road as a retail thoroughfare by late 1985.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry introduces financier and philanthropist George Soros, who spoke with Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Doug Frantz about strengthening civil society, democracy, and the world economy at the U.S. Department of State's Open Forum in Washington, D.C., on May 13, 2014. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]
George Henry Knott, died 11th July 1921
George Henry Knott was my great-great grandfather. He was born in Gillingham, Kent on 31st March 1843.
George's father William Knott, my great-great-great-grandfather, had been away from home for the night of the 1841 census, but he makes an appearance on the 1851 census when he, Caroline and three of their children including George, as well as their granddaughter Rebecca, were living at 8 Church Street, Gillingham. William gave his occupation as an agricultural labourer, and he had been described as a labourer in the Northfleet and Gillingham parish records on the occasion of the baptism of several of his children. But little more is known about him, because by the time of the 1861 census he was dead, and Caroline was a widow.
Ten years later, in 1861, William's youngest son George, my great-great-grandfather, was eighteen years old, and had moved with his mother Caroline to Hillington Square, Gillingham. The Church Street house was now occupied by George's oldest brother William and his wife Mary and their children. George was an agricultural labourer, probably working on the same farm as his mother. A mile or so off in Pleasant Row, Chatham, a seventeen year old servant girl was living in the household of her uncle. Her name was Mary Ann Bowles, and she would be my great-great-grandmother. Mary Ann had a rather extraordinary background. She is one of the most colourful of my ancestors. Her mother Caroline Thompson had been born at Stoke Damerel in Devon, the parish which includes Devonport, a busy area of the city of Plymouth. Caroline married one William Bowles, a mariner, and at the time of the 1841 census, she was living under her married name Bowles in the Devonport workhouse. A few months after this, when she was pregnant with Mary Ann, Caroline walked the 300 miles from the Devonport workhouse to Faversham in Kent, apparently to reach her estranged husband's family. She was accompanied by Mary Ann's older sisters, who were both under five years old.
By 1851, Caroline was in the Faversham workhouse in Kent with four children, including the eight year old Mary Ann, my great-great-grandmother. Mary Ann's father was almost certainly Thomas Bowles, the brother of Caroline's estranged husband, William Bowles.
Mary Ann Bowles was born in the Mall, Preston-next-Faversham, Kent on 1st November 1843, and she seems to have spent many of her childhood years in the Faversham workhouse. By the time of the 1861 census she was living as a servant in Gillingham. She was 17 years old. It is quite likely that by 1861 she already knew George Knott, but on the 17th August 1862 she married Henry Welch at Faversham parish church. Mary Ann was pregnant, and their son Charles Henry Welch was born in early 1863.
It is unclear what happened next, but by March 1866 George Knott and Mary Ann Welch were living as man and wife at High Street, Gillingham, and Mary Ann had given birth to George Knott's son, who was called George Bowles Knott, with no mention of Mary Ann's married name on the birth certificate. But George and Mary Ann were not married. Henry Welch appears to have taken his son Charles off to live with his recently widowed mother at New Brompton, a few miles away.
George and Mary Ann moved to Upchurch, just outside of the Medway Towns, where a second son was born in 1868, and then on the 3rd December 1869 at Upchurch was born their third son, my great-grandfather William Knott. The 1871 census shows George and Mary Ann living in Upchurch with their three sons, George being recorded as a labourer.
And then, a few months later, Mary Ann's legal husband Henry Welch died of smallpox.
At last, George and Mary Ann were free. They married at All Saints, Frindsbury, Kent on 17th March 1872. The witnesses were George's sister Jane and her husband, Joseph Cox. There would be five more children, but three of George and Mary Ann's children would be dead by the time of the 1911 census. Several of the Knott boys were professional soldiers. One of them spent most of twenty years in India before fighting in Iraq in the First World War, which he survived. Another brother headed off to Ireland, and we find him in 1901 in Portsmouth as an infantry instructor. He died young, as did his sister Caroline and his brother Albert. However, my great-grandfather William Knott stayed close to home.
William had been born in Upchurch, but when he was about three years old the Knott family moved to the neighbouring village of Halstow for the birth of Albert and Caroline, both of whom would die in childhood. After this, there is a curious gap of eight years in the birth of children. We know that by 1881 the family were back in the Medway Towns at Gillingham, where George was working as a labourer in a brickfield. It seems likely that the Knott family were not very well off at this time, for in 1883 George's mother Caroline died in the Chatham Workhouse at the age of 84. By 1886, however, George and Mary Ann had moved further up the Medway to Strood, on the opposite bank to Rochester. Their son, my great-grandfather William, married Mary Ann Waters at St Mary's church, Strood in December 1892. William and Mary lived on Cuxton Road and then on London Road, both in Strood, and their first four children were all born in Strood.
In about 1907, my great-grandparents William and Mary Knott moved away from his parents George and Mary Ann some fifteen miles to Dartford, where my grandfather Joe Knott was born, but by 1914 they were back on the Medway again at 96 Temple Street, Strood. Joe 's family lived at the Temple Street house throughout his childhood and early adult years. Joe's grandparents George and Mary Ann Knott were close at hand, and, while George was still working as a labourer, they opened a small sweetshop and general store at 58 Grange Road, their terraced house. The shop was in business at the time of both the 1901 and 1911 censuses. In 1913, Kelly's Directory of Kent, Surrey and Sussex listed the following under shopkeepers: Knott George 58, Grange Road, Frindsbury, Rochester. It was probably the most stable and successful that either side of the family had been for generations.
On 27th November 1916, during the darkest period of the First World War, Mary Ann died at the Grange Road house of liver cancer. She was 73. On 11th July 1921, her husband George died at the Temple Street house. He was 78.
Temple Street was badly bombed during World War II, and finally demolished in the 1960s. Today, it is the site of Strood Tesco. But 58 Grange Road still survives - today, it is a terraced house.