My store dropped the regular electronics dept for an expanded appliances area. The funny part is my store already had an expanded appliance area in the back of the store under a Sears dept. That area is now being used for excess furniture.

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If you would like to use THIS picture in any sort of media elsewhere (such as newspaper or article), please send me a Flickrmail or send me an email at natehenderson6@gmail.com.

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As an experiment in the 1950s, Inuit children were taken from their families in Greenland to be re-educated in the Danish way of life and language.

Learning to play with other types of toys was one of the new things to learn.

A 12-meter antenna being relocated at the Chajnantor Plateau

Relocation of a small prebuilt cottage over the Bower bridge.

At His Peak

After his release from the Neulengbach prison (Lower Austria), Schiele relocated to the studie of his friend Erwin Dom Osen in Vienna. That same summer of 1912, he traveled with Wally to Carinthia and Trieste, as well as to Lake Constance and Munich, where he discovered the work of German Expressionists.

In November Schiele rented a studio at Hietzinger Hauptstraße (Main Road) 101 in Vienna's Thirteenth District, which he kept until his death. Through Gustav Klimt, Schiele was introduced to the industrialist and collector August Lederer. Erich, the Lederers' adolescent son, invited Schiele to spend Christmas and New Year's at the family home in Györ, Hungary. Thanks to the patronage of the Lederer Family and of the collector Franz Hauer, Egon Schiele's financial situation improved.

Early in 1913, Schiele was admitted to the "Association of Austrian Artists" and participated in its exhibition in Budapest. He also presented a large number of works in prominent shows in Munich, Berlin and Düsseldorf in that year. The "International Black and White Exhibition" and the 43rd Exhibition of the Secession in Vienna included works by the artist.

 

Am Zenit. Nach seiner Entlassung aus dem Neulengbacher Bezirksgefängnis übersiedelt Schiele nach Wien ins Atelier seines Freundes Erwin Dom Osen. Noch im selben Sommer reist er mit Wally nach Kärnten und Triest sowie an den Bodensee und nach München, wo er Werke des deutschen Expressionismus kennenlernt. Im November mietet Schiele ein Atelier in der Hietzinger Hauptstraße 101 im XIII. Wiener Gemeindebezirk, das er bis zu seinem Tode behalten wird. Gustav Klimt vermittelt ihm den Kontakt zu dem wichtigen Sammler und Industriellen August Lederer. Erich Lederer, der damals 16-jährige Sohn der Familie, lädt Schiele auf den Familiensitz im ungarischen Györ ein, wo der Künstler Weihnachten und Neujahr verbringt. Durch den Sammler Franz Hauer und die Familie Lederer bessern sich Schieles finanzielle Verhältnisse.

Anfang 1913 wird Schiele in den "Bund österreichischer Künstler" aufgenommen und beteiligt sich an dessen Budapester Ausstellung. Auch in München, Berlin und Düsseldorf sind in prominenten Ausstellungen zahlreiche seiner Werke zu sehen. In Wien nimmt er an der "Internationalen Schwarz-Weiß-Ausstellung und der 43. Ausstellung der Secession teil.

 

The Albertina

The architectural history of the Palais

(Pictures you can see by clicking on the link at the end of page!)

Image: The oldest photographic view of the newly designed Palais Archduke Albrecht, 1869

"It is my will that ​​the expansion of the inner city of Vienna with regard to a suitable connection of the same with the suburbs as soon as possible is tackled and at this on Regulirung (regulation) and beautifying of my Residence and Imperial Capital is taken into account. To this end I grant the withdrawal of the ramparts and fortifications of the inner city and the trenches around the same".

This decree of Emperor Franz Joseph I, published on 25 December 1857 in the Wiener Zeitung, formed the basis for the largest the surface concerning and architecturally most significant transformation of the Viennese cityscape. Involving several renowned domestic and foreign architects a "master plan" took form, which included the construction of a boulevard instead of the ramparts between the inner city and its radially upstream suburbs. In the 50-years during implementation phase, an impressive architectural ensemble developed, consisting of imperial and private representational buildings, public administration and cultural buildings, churches and barracks, marking the era under the term "ring-street style". Already in the first year tithe decided a senior member of the Austrian imperial family to decorate the facades of his palace according to the new design principles, and thus certified the aristocratic claim that this also "historicism" said style on the part of the imperial house was attributed.

Image: The Old Albertina after 1920

It was the palace of Archduke Albrecht (1817-1895), the Senior of the Habsburg Family Council, who as Field Marshal held the overall command over the Austro-Hungarian army. The building was incorporated into the imperial residence of the Hofburg complex, forming the south-west corner and extending eleven meters above street level on the so-called Augustinerbastei.

The close proximity of the palace to the imperial residence corresponded not only with Emperor Franz Joseph I and Archduke Albert with a close familial relationship between the owner of the palace and the monarch. Even the former inhabitants were always in close relationship to the imperial family, whether by birth or marriage. An exception here again proves the rule: Don Emanuel Teles da Silva Conde Tarouca (1696-1771), for which Maria Theresa in 1744 the palace had built, was just a close friend and advisor of the monarch. Silva Tarouca underpins the rule with a second exception, because he belonged to the administrative services as Generalhofbaudirektor (general court architect) and President of the Austrian-Dutch administration, while all other him subsequent owners were highest ranking military.

In the annals of Austrian history, especially those of military history, they either went into as commander of the Imperial Army, or the Austrian, later kk Army. In chronological order, this applies to Duke Carl Alexander of Lorraine, the brother-of-law of Maria Theresa, as Imperial Marshal, her son-in-law Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, also field marshal, whos adopted son, Archduke Charles of Austria, the last imperial field marshal and only Generalissimo of Austria, his son Archduke Albrecht of Austria as Feldmarschalil and army Supreme commander, and most recently his nephew Archduke Friedrich of Austria, who held as field marshal from 1914 to 1916 the command of the Austro-Hungarian troops. Despite their military profession, all five generals conceived themselves as patrons of the arts and promoted large sums of money to build large collections, the construction of magnificent buildings and cultural life. Charles Alexander of Lorraine promoted as governor of the Austrian Netherlands from 1741 to 1780 the Academy of Fine Arts, the Théâtre de Ja Monnaie and the companies Bourgeois Concert and Concert Noble, he founded the Academie royale et imperial des Sciences et des Lettres, opened the Bibliotheque Royal for the population and supported artistic talents with high scholarships. World fame got his porcelain collection, which however had to be sold by Emperor Joseph II to pay off his debts. Duke Albert began in 1776 according to the concept of conte Durazzo to set up an encyclopedic collection of prints, which forms the core of the world-famous "Albertina" today.

Image : Duke Albert and Archduchess Marie Christine show in family cercle the from Italy brought along art, 1776. Frederick Henry Füger.

1816 declared to Fideikommiss and thus in future indivisible, inalienable and inseparable, the collection 1822 passed into the possession of Archduke Carl, who, like his descendants, it broadened. Under him, the collection was introduced together with the sumptuously equipped palace on the Augustinerbastei in the so-called "Carl Ludwig'schen fideicommissum in 1826, by which the building and the in it kept collection fused into an indissoluble unity. At this time had from the Palais Tarouca by structural expansion or acquisition a veritable Residenz palace evolved. Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen was first in 1800 the third floor of the adjacent Augustinian convent wing adapted to house his collection and he had after 1802 by his Belgian architect Louis de Montoyer at the suburban side built a magnificent extension, called the wing of staterooms, it was equipped in the style of Louis XVI. Only two decades later, Archduke Carl the entire palace newly set up. According to scetches of the architect Joseph Kornhäusel the 1822-1825 retreaded premises presented themselves in the Empire style. The interior of the palace testified from now in an impressive way the high rank and the prominent position of its owner. Under Archduke Albrecht the outer appearance also should meet the requirements. He had the facade of the palace in the style of historicism orchestrated and added to the Palais front against the suburbs an offshore covered access. Inside, he limited himself, apart from the redesign of the Rococo room in the manner of the second Blondel style, to the retention of the paternal stock. Archduke Friedrich's plans for an expansion of the palace were omitted, however, because of the outbreak of the First World War so that his contribution to the state rooms, especially, consists in the layout of the Spanish apartment, which he in 1895 for his sister, the Queen of Spain Maria Christina, had set up as a permanent residence.

Picture: The "audience room" after the restoration: Picture: The "balcony room" around 1990

The era of stately representation with handing down their cultural values ​​found its most obvious visualization inside the palace through the design and features of the staterooms. On one hand, by the use of the finest materials and the purchase of masterfully manufactured pieces of equipment, such as on the other hand by the permanent reuse of older equipment parts. This period lasted until 1919, when Archduke Friedrich was expropriated by the newly founded Republic of Austria. With the republicanization of the collection and the building first of all finished the tradition that the owner's name was synonymous with the building name:

After Palais Tarouca or tarokkisches house it was called Lorraine House, afterwards Duke Albert Palais and Palais Archduke Carl. Due to the new construction of an adjacently located administration building it received in 1865 the prefix "Upper" and was referred to as Upper Palais Archduke Albrecht and Upper Palais Archduke Frederick. For the state a special reference to the Habsburg past was certainly politically no longer opportune, which is why was decided to name the building according to the in it kept collection "Albertina".

Picture: The "Wedgwood Cabinet" after the restoration: Picture: the "Wedgwood Cabinet" in the Palais Archduke Friedrich, 1905

This name derives from the term "La Collection Albertina" which had been used by the gallery Inspector Maurice von Thausing in 1870 in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts for the former graphics collection of Duke Albert. For this reason, it was the first time since the foundation of the palace that the name of the collection had become synonymous with the room shell. Room shell, hence, because the Republic of Austria Archduke Friedrich had allowed to take along all the movable goods from the palace in his Hungarian exile: crystal chandeliers, curtains and carpets as well as sculptures, vases and clocks. Particularly stressed should be the exquisite furniture, which stems of three facilities phases: the Louis XVI furnitures of Duke Albert, which had been manufactured on the basis of fraternal relations between his wife Archduchess Marie Christine and the French Queen Marie Antoinette after 1780 in the French Hofmanufakturen, also the on behalf of Archduke Charles 1822-1825 in the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory by Joseph Danhauser produced Empire furnitures and thirdly additions of the same style of Archduke Friedrich, which this about 1900 at Portois & Ffix as well as at Friedrich Otto Schmidt had commissioned.

The "swept clean" building got due to the strained financial situation after the First World War initially only a makeshift facility. However, since until 1999 no revision of the emergency equipment took place, but differently designed, primarily the utilitarianism committed office furnitures complementarily had been added, the equipment of the former state rooms presented itself at the end of the 20th century as an inhomogeneous administrative mingle-mangle of insignificant parts, where, however, dwelt a certain quaint charm. From the magnificent state rooms had evolved depots, storage rooms, a library, a study hall and several officed.

Image: The Albertina Graphic Arts Collection and the Philipphof after the American bombing of 12 März 1945.

Image: The palace after the demolition of the entrance facade, 1948-52

Worse it hit the outer appearance of the palace, because in times of continued anti-Habsburg sentiment after the Second World War and inspired by an intolerant destruction will, it came by pickaxe to a ministerial erasure of history. In contrast to the graphic collection possessed the richly decorated facades with the conspicuous insignia of the former owner an object-immanent reference to the Habsburg past and thus exhibited the monarchial traditions and values ​​of the era of Francis Joseph significantly. As part of the remedial measures after a bomb damage, in 1948 the aristocratic, by Archduke Albert initiated, historicist facade structuring along with all decorations was cut off, many facade figures demolished and the Hapsburg crest emblems plunged to the ground. Since in addition the old ramp also had been cancelled and the main entrance of the bastion level had been moved down to the second basement storey at street level, ended the presence of the old Archduke's palace after more than 200 years. At the reopening of the "Albertina Graphic Collection" in 1952, the former Hapsburg Palais of splendour presented itself as one of his identity robbed, formally trivial, soulless room shell, whose successful republicanization an oversized and also unproportional eagle above the new main entrance to the Augustinian road symbolized. The emocratic throw of monuments had wiped out the Hapsburg palace from the urban appeareance, whereby in the perception only existed a nondescript, nameless and ahistorical building that henceforth served the lodging and presentation of world-famous graphic collection of the Albertina. The condition was not changed by the decision to the refurbishment because there were only planned collection specific extensions, but no restoration of the palace.

Image: The palace after the Second World War with simplified facades, the rudiment of the Danubiusbrunnens (well) and the new staircase up to the Augustinerbastei

This paradigm shift corresponded to a blatant reversal of the historical circumstances, as the travel guides and travel books for kk Residence and imperial capital of Vienna dedicated itself primarily with the magnificent, aristocratic palace on the Augustinerbastei with the sumptuously fitted out reception rooms and mentioned the collection kept there - if at all - only in passing. Only with the repositioning of the Albertina in 2000 under the direction of Klaus Albrecht Schröder, the palace was within the meaning and in fulfillment of the Fideikommiss of Archduke Charles in 1826 again met with the high regard, from which could result a further inseparable bond between the magnificent mansions and the world-famous collection. In view of the knowing about politically motivated errors and omissions of the past, the facades should get back their noble, historicist designing, the staterooms regain their glamorous, prestigious appearance and culturally unique equippment be repurchased. From this presumption, eventually grew the full commitment to revise the history of redemption and the return of the stately palace in the public consciousness.

Image: The restored suburb facade of the Palais Albertina suburb

The smoothed palace facades were returned to their original condition and present themselves today - with the exception of the not anymore reconstructed Attica figures - again with the historicist decoration and layout elements that Archduke Albrecht had given after the razing of the Augustinerbastei in 1865 in order. The neoclassical interiors, today called after the former inhabitants "Habsburg Staterooms", receiving a meticulous and detailed restoration taking place at the premises of originality and authenticity, got back their venerable and sumptuous appearance. From the world wide scattered historical pieces of equipment have been bought back 70 properties or could be returned through permanent loan to its original location, by which to the visitors is made experiencable again that atmosphere in 1919 the state rooms of the last Habsburg owner Archduke Frederick had owned. The for the first time in 80 years public accessible "Habsburg State Rooms" at the Palais Albertina enable now again as eloquent testimony to our Habsburg past and as a unique cultural heritage fundamental and essential insights into the Austrian cultural history. With the relocation of the main entrance to the level of the Augustinerbastei the recollection to this so valuable Austrian Cultural Heritage formally and functionally came to completion. The vision of the restoration and recovery of the grand palace was a pillar on which the new Albertina should arise again, the other embody the four large newly built exhibition halls, which allow for the first time in the history of the Albertina, to exhibit the collection throughout its encyclopedic breadh under optimal conservation conditions.

Image: The new entrance area of the Albertina

64 meter long shed roof. Hans Hollein.

The palace presents itself now in its appearance in the historicist style of the Ringstrassenära, almost as if nothing had happened in the meantime. But will the wheel of time should not, cannot and must not be turned back, so that the double standards of the "Albertina Palace" said museum - on the one hand Habsburg grandeur palaces and other modern museum for the arts of graphics - should be symbolized by a modern character: The in 2003 by Hans Hollein designed far into the Albertina square cantilevering, elegant floating flying roof. 64 meters long, it symbolizes in the form of a dynamic wedge the accelerated urban spatial connectivity and public access to the palace. It advertises the major changes in the interior as well as the huge underground extensions of the repositioned "Albertina".

 

Christian Benedictine

Art historian with research interests History of Architecture, building industry of the Hapsburgs, Hofburg and Zeremonialwissenschaft (ceremonial sciences). Since 1990 he works in the architecture collection of the Albertina. Since 2000 he supervises as director of the newly founded department "Staterooms" the restoration and furnishing of the state rooms and the restoration of the facades and explores the history of the palace and its inhabitants.

 

www.wien-vienna.at/albertinabaugeschichte.php

 

336 N Market St, Wooster, OH. This store opened in 1952 as a relocation from a smaller space downtown--their second store, which opened in 1932.

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Aisle 3. This is the only store that has given its aisles street names. This was one of the things I remembered from being here long ago, and it's neat to see they remain.

The depot was built in 1894 in nearby Rio Grande, New Jersey by the Atlantic City Railroad. The Atlantic City Railroad connected the South Jersey seacoast with the Philadelphia / Camden area and ferried passenger to and from the resorts of south shore New Jersey in the 19th century. Later the line became Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines. The station was moved to Historic Cold Spring Village and restored.

The Minidoka Relocation Center, 15 miles north of Twin Falls and 150 miles southeast of Boise, was also referred to as the Hunt Camp. Minidoka was considered a model environment because of its relatively peaceful atmosphere and population that got along well with the administration. Because it was not within the Western Defense Command restricted area, security was somewhat lighter than at most other camps. But when the internees first arrived, they were shocked to see the bleak landscape that was to be there home over the next three years.

Located on the Snake River Plain at an elevation of 4000 feet, the land is dotted with sagebrush and thin basaltic lava flows and cinder cones. The internees found the environment to be extremely harsh, with temperatures ranging from 30 degrees below zero to as high as 115 degrees. They also had to contend with blinding dust storms and ankle-deep mud after the rains.

Minidoka was in operation from August 10, 1942 to October 28, 1945. The reserve covered more than 33,000 acres of land in Jerome County. The camp’s peak population reached 9,397 by March 1, 1943, and it became Idaho's third largest city. Five miles of barbed wire fencing and eight watchtowers surrounded the administrative and residential areas, which were located in the west-central portion of the reserve.

Most of the people interned at Minidoka were from the Pacific Northwest: approximately 7,050 from Seattle and Bainbridge Island, Washington, 2,500 from Oregon and 150 from Alaska, including children or grandchildren of Eskimo women and Japanese men. They were temporarily housed at the Puyallup Fairgrounds in Washington, then sent by train to Idaho. In early 1943, all of the Bainbridge Island, Washington, residents interned at the Manzanar Relocation Center were transferred to Minidoka at their own request because of constant conflict with the internees from Terminal Island in Los Angeles.

The central camp consisted of 600 buildings on 950 acres. When the first internees arrived at Minidoka in August 1942, they moved into the crude barracks even though much of the camp was unfinished and there was no running water or sewage system. The Army insisted on having all Japanese removed from the West Coast at once, and they did not halt the evacuation until the camp could hold no more. The last group of 500 evacuees to arrive at the camp had to sleep in mess halls, laundry rooms, or any available bed space. Waiting in line for many daily functions, especially meals, was common.

The camp’s residential area encompassed 36 blocks and was one mile wide and three miles long. Each block included 12 tarpaper barracks, one dining hall, one laundry building with communal showers and toilets and a recreation hall. Immediately after arrival, the internees were instructed to see the camp physician, and then they received an apartment assignment. Apartments were of three sizes, and where possible, family groups or relatives were placed near each other. Efforts were later made to move people near their place of employment.

Memorial to commemorate the loss of SS Admella, created by Karen Genoff, originally unveiled 1992 in St Vincent St East, relocated to Timpson Street 2009. The ship’s wheel and compass pieces represent the lost ship, the coordinates & rocks indicate the wreck site. [Photo from State Library of SA: B 12398 (c1858) (photograph of painting)]

 

The Admella launched 17 Sep 1857 on the River Clyde, Scotland, arrived Port Adelaide Jan 1858 to trade between Adelaide and Melbourne. Loaded with copper and carrying over 100 passengers, she sailed from Port Adelaide 4 Aug 1859 and was wrecked on a reef near Carpenter Rocks 6 Aug 1859. Two sailors managed to get ashore, walk 25 km to Cape Northumberland lighthouse and raise the alarm. The nearest telegraph was at Mount Gambier. Stormy seas prevented rescue for several days. Business in the city halted as people waited for news. The “Corio” was sent from Port Adelaide, a lifeboat from Portland, Victoria, and the Admella’s lifeboat was found ashore, repaired & also used but it was 6 days before the weather eased to rescue the 22 survivors. The wreck and contents were sold by auction the following month. A relief fund was set up to assist, firstly, the rescuers, and secondly, the widows & orphans of those drowned.

 

“The Admella, a steamer built on the Clyde for the Adelaide and Melbourne trade may be expected shortly. She left for this port on the 4th November, and is commanded by Captain McEwen (late of the White Swan), who has been chiefly instrumental in her construction for this trade.” [Adelaide Times 16 Jan 1858]

 

“The saloon . . . pannelling [sic] is of plate glass, on which are delineated oil paintings of scenes in Scotland and Melbourne Forty passengers may be accommodated in the saloon, and the steerage passenger-room is calculated for 120 passengers. . . the capacity of the coal bunkers is such that seven days' coals may be conveniently stowed in them. . . She has two life-boats.” [Adelaide Times 18 Mar 1858]

 

“The Pleasure Excursion by the Admella. Hundreds availed themselves of the opportunity presented by this vessel on Friday, of steaming along the coast to Aldinga Bay. A most agreeable excursion it was. The vessel returned in time for passengers to avail themselves of a conveyance to town by the last train, and all expressed themselves highly gratified with the trip, and the admirable arrangement which had been made by the agents of the vessel to secure the comfort and accommodation of all on board.” [Adelaide Times 3 Apr 1858]

 

“The screw steamer Admella. . . although built to carry a fair cargo, yet her entering and delivering lines are so fine as to ensure speed as well-as to present symmetrical proportions. Her hull, sitting gracefully on the water, is very long and low: and forward the bow is terminated by a skilfully carved female figure, crowned with a wreath of wheat, the ears of which form a tiara to represent the cereal productions of the colonies. . . .A library of modem literature, consisting of 100 volumes, is placed for the use of passengers. . . in compliment to the colonies the first syllables of Adelaide and Melbourne were chosen, but Admel not sounding to euphoniously as Admella, the latter name was bestowed on the vessel. Her dimensions are — 183 feet on keel, 193 feet over all; extreme breadth, 21 feet, by 14 feet depth of hold. The speed she attained on her first trial trip was 17 knots.” [Adelaide Observer 3 Apr 1858]

 

“The steamship Admella accomplished her last run to Melbourne in the short period of 42 hours. It is most remarkable that her last three trips should have occupied the same time.” [Advertiser 16 Jul 1858]

 

“We were erroneously informed that the Admella had ceased to make a practice of calling at Glenelg. The owners of the vessel state that Captain McEwan had particular reasons for not calling last trip, but that she will continue to do so hereafter, unless adverse circumstances intervene.” [Advertiser 23 Jul 1859]

 

“Arrived. . . Monday, August 1 — The steamer Admella, 478 tons, McEwen, master, from Melbourne, Warrnambool, and Portland.” [Register 1 Aug 1859]

 

“Cleared Out. Thursday. August 4 — The steamer Admella, 478 tons, H. McEwen, master, for Portland, Port Fairy, and Melbourne. Passengers.[named]. . . Cargo of the Admella, for Portland and Melbourne. . . flour. . . lead. . . eggs. . . copper. . . horses. . . vine cuttings.” [Register 5 Aug 1859]

 

“Three very fine draught entire horses, bred in the colony, and valued at £1,400, were on Thursday shipped on board the steamer Admella, for Melbourne, by Mr. James Magarey. By the same vessel Mr. Filgate's Barber, Mr. Fisher's Shamrock, and Jupiter also leave the colony.” [Register 5 Aug 1859]

 

“The utmost consternation and distress was occasioned in Adelaide on Monday afternoon by the arrival of telegrams from Mount Gambier announcing the total wreck of the steamer Admella and the apprehended loss of nearly all hands. Our first telegram stated that the keeper of the Lighthouse at Cape Northumberland had forwarded intelligence to Mount Gambier of the wreck. . . The information had been communicated by two of the crew of the Admella, who arrived at the Lighthouse at 7 o'clock on Monday morning, and reported that the wreck had taken place at 5 o'clock on the morning of Saturday, and that they feared they were the only survivors. Eleven persons, including the captain, were, however, according to their report, clinging to the wreck when they left it.” [Register 9 Aug 1859]

 

“Tuesday afternoon. . . This morning, the people on shore were most anxiously signalling the Admella, but no signals for some time were exchanged. At length they were responded to by some one on the wreck, who ascended the mast and exhibited a white flag. It therefore appears that there were some alive up to 10 o'clock.” [Advertiser 10 Aug 1859]

 

“telegram. . . We have found the Admella's lifeboat about four miles off. We have been ever since daylight dragging her off. It is fearful work — she is so heavy and the sand so deep. We have her now a short half mile from the shore, and we intend to launch her. She is not much injured, and we are now repairing her. It is doubtful whether we shall be able to make the attempt to-day, but at daylight to-morrow.” [Register 11 Aug 1859]

 

“the telegrams received shortly after 1 o’clock threw a great damp on the public mind, and created a feeling of greater discouragement than anything yet received. For the rest .of the day large numbers of .persons continued-to assemble about the Exchange up to this time (about half-past 4) when a brief telegram announced that all had been saved that could be saved ; that the messenger who brought up this intelligence had been knocked up, but that further particulars would be sent as soon as possible. Very little business has been thought of.” [Register 12 Aug 1859]

 

“Messrs. Green &, Wadham request us to state that in consequence of the melancholy circumstances attending the wreck of the Admella, their usual Monthly Sale by Auction of Landed Properties, as advertised to take place this day, will be postponed until Friday next.” [Register 12 Aug 1859]

 

“Glorious News! Twenty-Two Saved. . . Nineteen gone on to Portland in the Lady Bird. Three on shore. The nineteen were rescued by the lifeboat of the Ladybird, and the three by the Port lifeboat in charge of Germain [sic]. These were taken off the wreck at 8 o'clock this morning. Conveyances are being sent for those on shore. The majority must have perished but for the Portland lifeboat. The attempt by Germain with the Port boat was a splendid one. His boat was capsized in the surf on its return. . . News from Portland states that the Lady Bird is in sight there. Conveyances and everything in readiness. Sufferers all much exhausted.” [Register 15 Aug 1859]

 

“the Admella was stranded within thirty- five miles of the telegraph station at Mount Gambier; and, consequently, from Monday, when the first intelligence of the wreck reached town, to Saturday night, when the news of the rescue of the few survivors arrived, the streets were crowded with persons anxiously awaiting the frequent messages. . . from the comparative smallness of this community it becomes the literal fact that almost every inhabitant of the colony had an acquaintance — perhaps we may say a friend — on board the Admella, whose fate they were watching, in alternate hope and dread, throughout the whole of last week.” [Register 18 Aug 1859]

 

“a list of 103 persons, some of whose names are as yet unknown, of whom no less than seventy-nine went down in the ship, or perished from the privations to which they were subsequently exposed. Among the names unknown is that of one of the sailors who first escaped from the wreck, and gave the information which led to the efforts made to rescue those remaining on board.” [Register 20 Aug 1859]

 

“They discovered two horses, of Mr. Magarey's, and Mr. Filgate's, Barber, grazing on the coast, and Shamrock lying dead.” [Adelaide Observer 27 Aug 1859]

 

“Wreck and Cargo of the Admella. . . instructions from Captain McEwen, to sell by auction, at their Mart, on Monday, September 5, at 12 o'clock. . . The Hull of the Admella as it lies, said to be on a reef 25 miles N.W. of Cape Northumberland, with Machinery, Spars, Rigging, &c. . . 4,052 Ingots and 426 Cakes Copper stamped ‘Kapunda’, and 226 Cakes Copper marked with a red cross. . . 201 Pigs of Lead, where it may be at time of sale. . . All the remainder of the cargo not washed on shore up to the time of sale, excepting 23 Bales Wool marked J T B.” [Advertiser 27 Aug 1859 advert]

 

“Admella Shipwreck Reward and Relief Fund. . . this meeting deeply deplores the loss of those who have perished in the late shipwreck of the Admella, and sympathizes with their relative and friends. . . desires to express its admiration of the heroic exertions made by the Captains and Crews of the Ladybird, Corio, Ant, and the Lifeboats, and of those who co-operated from tho beach in attempting, at the risk of their lives, the rescue of the survivors. . . to collect Subscriptions throughout the colony to reward, in the first instance, the heroic men by whose exertions the 22 survivors were rescued ; and, secondly, to assist the widows and orphans and others who, by this severe calamity, are deprived of their natural means of support.” [Weekly Chronicle 27 Aug 1859 advert]

 

“The following particulars of Mails Lost in the Wreck of the Admella are published for general information. . . Auckland. . . Californis. . . Valparaiso. . . Sydney. . . Hobart Town. . . 18 Registered Letters. . . ” [Adelaide Observer 27 Aug 1859 advert]

 

“instructions from Capt. McEwan, to sell by auction, at the Mart, This Day (Monday), September 12, at 11 o'clock. The Lifeboat of the Admella, as she lies (said to be) on the Beach, about 25 miles N. W. of Cape Northumberland.” [Advertiser 12 Sep 1859 advert]

 

“report upon the circumstances connected with the loss of the iron screw-steamer Admella, and to investigate the cause or causes of such wreck. . . the Admella screw steamship left Port Adelaide on the 5th August, 1859, with about eighty passengers and twenty-seven in crew, during fine weather. . . she steered her usual course until 4.45 a.m. on the 6th August, when she struck on a reef of rocks 19 miles north-west of Cape Northumberland. . . out of 107 souls, only twenty-four survived; twenty-two were rescued by the daring gallantry of those who manned the Admella's lifeboat, the Portland Bay lifeboat, and the pilot-boat, and two seamen went on shore on the raft.” [Advertiser 17 Nov 1859]

 

“the loss of the Admella is to be attributed chiefly to the effects of a current, which appears to have been setting towards the coast, between Cape Willoughby and Northumberland, on the 5th and 6th August. . . Captain McEwan, lately commanding the Admella, and the whole of his officers and crew are most honourably exonerated from all blame; and that the conduct of the captain is worthy of our highest commendation, he having done all in his power to rescue his passengers and crew from their perilous position, sustain them in hope, and give them clothes, food, and consolation. In this work he was ably seconded by his officers, and such of the crew as survived.” [Register 17 Nov 1859]

 

“the conduct of Mr. Benjamin Germein, the head keeper of the MacDonnell Lighthouse, and his crew. These gallant men having procured a boat that had been washed on shore from the Admella, and having patched her up with canvas, soap, &c, made three attempts to leave the beach, and on each occasion they were swamped — regaining the shore with great difficulty; but on the fourth attempt they were the first to succeed in making fast to the wreck, and the first to rescue any of the survivors. In the two latter efforts of the Admella's boat she was accompanied by the pilot-boat, which, on nearing the wreck on the day the survivors were rescued, was filled by a heavy sea, and the crew had to haul off and bale her out ; the Admella's boat in the meantime succeeded in making fast her line to the wreck.” [Advertiser 18 Nov 1859]

 

“to cause lifeboats and rocket apparatus to be distributed on those parts of the coast where wrecks are likely to occur. Had those means of saving life been stationed at Cape Northumberland, we believe that a far larger proportion of the crew and passengers of the Admella would have been rescued. . . highly desirable that, whenever practicable, the electric telegraph should be extended to the lighthouses on the coast. If this were done, masters of vessels in distress would obtain far greater facilities in procuring assistance.” [Adelaide Observer 19 Nov 1859]

 

“The Geelong Advertiser of June 12 gives the following quotation from the Hobart Town Mercury:—‘By private hand we learn that several articles, bearing the name of the ill-fated Adelaide steamer, Admella, wrecked about three years since upon Cape Northumberland, have been recently washed ashore at Sealer's Cove.’” [Adelaide Observer 27 Jun 1863]

 

Wendy has been marking volunteer trees while she can still identify them for the imminent relocation this winter.

The Rohwer War Relocation Center was a World War II Japanese American concentration camp located in the Delta region of rural southeastern Arkansas, in Desha County. It was in operation from September 18, 1942 to November 30, 1945, and held as many as 8,475 Japanese Americans forcibly evacuated from California. Among the inmates, the notation "朗和 (Rōwa)" was sometimes applied.

 

The Rohwer War Relocation Center Cemetery is located here. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992, and was declared a National Historic Landmark quickly thereafter.

 

The Rohwer War Relocation Center site is now an Arkansas State University Heritage Site, and features a memorial, the camp cemetery, interpretive panels, and audio kiosks.

 

The Japanese American Internment Museum opened in the former Missouri Pacific Railroad Depot in the nearby town of McGehee in 2013. It serves as the history museum and unofficial visitor center for the Rohwer War Relocation Center. Exhibits include a film, oral histories, photographs and personal artifacts of the internees.

 

The dedication ceremony for the museum featured the actor, activist, and former camp incarceree George Takei giving a speech. His narration is also featured on a number of the audio displays.

 

Information from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohwer_War_Relocation_Center

Loose corals are relocated in a safe area outside the rubble removal site, where the ship and response activities impacted the reef.

 

Background: Emergency coral restoration is underway just outside the entrance to Hawaii’s Kalaeloa Harbor. NOAA and partners are working with the owners of the cargo vessel M/V VogeTrader to repair corals that were injured when the vessel accidentally lodged itself onto the reef one morning in 2010.

 

(Original source and more information: NOAA Office of Response and Restoration Website)

San Francisco, June 2015.

Honoring all of the officers in Front Field, as they relocate, the Krispy Kreme truck has come over for some free donuts for the officers. The new diorama expansion that I haven't mentioned yet, is going to be the home of the new Police station, and many more new buildings. I'm sure the officers are really going to like this 'treat'.

One of the WDB that I have Relocated.

I am the way to Payson AZ to give a talk about Rattlesnake. My wife Diane is joining me on this adventure. Hope we can get some good shots

Huntsman Spider that I removed from inside the house.

The 1936 Casavant Frères Opus 1531

Electro-pneumatic (EP) chests.

Three manuals. 4 divisions. 31 ranks. Manual compass is 61 notes. Pedal compass is 32 notes.

  

Relocated to Saint John the Evangelist Church Wellesley from Sacred Heart Church in South Lawrence when that church was closed in 2004, Andover Organ Co. restored and rebuilt and installed the organ in 2018.

 

Covering two floors of this office building in Fleet Place, London, Mansfield Monk designed a fresh working environment that consolidated the two businesses who were relocating to the new offices. The design reflects the individuality, creativity and passion of both parts of the business.

 

www.mansfieldmonk.co.uk

Relocated from the former Roses space at Ashton Square to the former Marshalls space at Plantation Point Shopping Center

Kmart #9348 opened on November 1, 1998, relocating from a store that was in Harwood Heights that now a Burlington Coat Factory to be across from Harlem Irving Plaza. Partly cause of Norridge's lower sales tax to Chicago, the store was one of the top preforming locations in it;s day and even was in 2018. This store was at one point the 3rd most shopped Kmart which could still be today. On October 15, 2018, Sears Holdings decided to close to Norridge Kmart. The reason of the closing is cause Sears Holdings apparently sold to lease back to the shopping center to save the company during it's bankruptcy. This was also my favorite Kmart as it had Little Caesars and it always felt like something had changed each time I came through those doors. It's really sad to know this store in no more as it was a great Kmart and one of the top preforming store.

Relocated to a larger and more prominent space at Sunvalley to make way for a significantly larger H&M store.

ZLATIBOR is a mountain of exquisite beauty. It has pleasant and mild climate, large clearings, exuberant pastures intersected with mountains with mountain streams and pine trees - which this mountain is named for.

The average hight is about 1000m above sea level.

Mountain and sea gulfs encounter here which speed up the curing and the recovering from large number of lung and heart illnesses, especially from illnesses of thyroid gland and anemia.

 

The Balkans is the historical name of a geographic region of southeastern Europe. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains, which run through the centre of Bulgaria into eastern Serbia. The region has a combined area of 550,000 km2 (212,000 sq mi) and a population of about 55 million people.

The ancient Greek name for the Balkan Peninsula was “the Peninsula of Haemus” (Χερσόνησος του Αίμου, Chersónisos tou Aímou).

The Balkans are adjoined by water on three sides: the Black Sea to the east and branches of the Mediterranean Sea to the south and west (including the Adriatic, Ionian, Aegean and Marmara seas).

 

The identity of the Balkans is dominated by its geographical position; historically the area was known as a crossroads of various cultures. It has been a juncture between the Latin and Greek bodies of the Roman Empire, the destination of a massive influx of pagan Slavs, an area where Orthodox and Catholic Christianity met, as well as the meeting point between Islam and Christianity.

 

The Balkans today is a very diverse ethno-linguistic region, being home to multiple Slavic, Romance, and Turkic languages, as well as Greek, Albanian, and others. Through its history many other ethnic groups with their own languages lived in the area, among them Thracians, Illyrians, Romans, Uzes, Pechenegs, Cumans, Avars, Celts, Germans, and various Germanic tribes.

 

The Balkan region was the first area of Europe to experience the arrival of farming cultures in the Neolithic era. The practices of growing grain and raising livestock arrived in the Balkans from the Fertile Crescent by way of Anatolia, and spread west and north into Pannonia and Central Europe.

 

In pre-classical and classical antiquity, this region was home to Greek city-states, Illyrians, Paeonians, Thracians, Epirotes, Mollosians, Thessalians, Dacians and other ancient groups. Later the Roman Empire conquered most of the region and spread Roman culture and the Latin language but significant parts still remained under classical Greek influence. During the Middle Ages, the Balkans became the stage for a series of wars between the Byzantine, Bulgarian and Serbian Empires.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkans

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Professional Movers and Packers is that the the foremost reliable and trusty name in packers & Movers trade. we tend to area unit committed to produce comprehensive resolution for packing and moving services for home goods, business merchandise, offices, machinery, workplace equipments cars, two-wheeler etc. If you're searching for a accredited insured and skilled removal firm able to handle any move kind shifting, house moving, workplace moving, businesses moving than we are able to facilitate in Your transfer.

 

Nikon AF3, Ferrania Solaris 400. 27 June 2011.

 

abandoned outside a railroad station.

 

scanned from negative.

Freightliner

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The Minidoka Relocation Center, 15 miles north of Twin Falls and 150 miles southeast of Boise, was also referred to as the Hunt Camp. Minidoka was considered a model environment because of its relatively peaceful atmosphere and population that got along well with the administration. Because it was not within the Western Defense Command restricted area, security was somewhat lighter than at most other camps. But when the internees first arrived, they were shocked to see the bleak landscape that was to be there home over the next three years.

Located on the Snake River Plain at an elevation of 4000 feet, the land is dotted with sagebrush and thin basaltic lava flows and cinder cones. The internees found the environment to be extremely harsh, with temperatures ranging from 30 degrees below zero to as high as 115 degrees. They also had to contend with blinding dust storms and ankle-deep mud after the rains.

Minidoka was in operation from August 10, 1942 to October 28, 1945. The reserve covered more than 33,000 acres of land in Jerome County. The camp’s peak population reached 9,397 by March 1, 1943, and it became Idaho's third largest city. Five miles of barbed wire fencing and eight watchtowers surrounded the administrative and residential areas, which were located in the west-central portion of the reserve.

Most of the people interned at Minidoka were from the Pacific Northwest: approximately 7,050 from Seattle and Bainbridge Island, Washington, 2,500 from Oregon and 150 from Alaska, including children or grandchildren of Eskimo women and Japanese men. They were temporarily housed at the Puyallup Fairgrounds in Washington, then sent by train to Idaho. In early 1943, all of the Bainbridge Island, Washington, residents interned at the Manzanar Relocation Center were transferred to Minidoka at their own request because of constant conflict with the internees from Terminal Island in Los Angeles.

The central camp consisted of 600 buildings on 950 acres. When the first internees arrived at Minidoka in August 1942, they moved into the crude barracks even though much of the camp was unfinished and there was no running water or sewage system. The Army insisted on having all Japanese removed from the West Coast at once, and they did not halt the evacuation until the camp could hold no more. The last group of 500 evacuees to arrive at the camp had to sleep in mess halls, laundry rooms, or any available bed space. Waiting in line for many daily functions, especially meals, was common.

The camp’s residential area encompassed 36 blocks and was one mile wide and three miles long. Each block included 12 tarpaper barracks, one dining hall, one laundry building with communal showers and toilets and a recreation hall. Immediately after arrival, the internees were instructed to see the camp physician, and then they received an apartment assignment. Apartments were of three sizes, and where possible, family groups or relatives were placed near each other. Efforts were later made to move people near their place of employment.

PPL relocating powerlines for a road widening project in Hazleton, PA

By accident it seems that I have started a new initiative - a Mouse Relocation Program. At the same time I have invented, again by accident, a new "mouse friendly" mouse trap.

 

Twice this week a mouse has fallen into a plastic tub which sides are too high and too slippery for the mouse to escape.

 

Twice this week I have taken the mouse (should be mice) to a nearby scrub and let them go and they quickly scamper off to a new life and freedom.

The move ran smoothing where we arranged for personal belongings and furniture to be relocated and also prepared the offices for the company with organisation including a searing plan for 100+ staff, welfare facilities, signage and more.

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The KOM League

Flash Report

March 22, 2019

 

The link to this report is posted at: www.flickr.com/photos/60428361@N07/46720141664/

 

A matter of fact: If this report is accessed by as few people this week as the one for last week one thing is certain—there won’t be one next week. So, if you want to see them end don’t open this week’s URL. If you missed any of the two previous installments in the Harold John McKibben story I will share the links, upon demand.

 

(Notice: this report is subject to editing and change at any time.)

 

Death of the last member of a baseball playing family.

 

There were five young men from Odin, Kansas who donned the uniforms of professional baseball teams for a decade, starting in 1946. Three of the five saw action in the KOM league. Joe started out as a pitcher for Miami, Okla. in 1946 and was soon turned into a hard-hitting outfielder in the Dodger chain first with Ponca City, Okla. and then finally winding up with the Hutchinson, Kansas Elks, brother Eugene played for Iola, Kansas in 1948 and Bob played for Ponca City in 1949. Jerry and Lee were in the Pittsburgh Pirate chain and neither played in the KOM league. However, they attended more KOM league reunions than all the brothers, who did, combined.

 

On the morning of March 20, of this year, a telephone call was received from Dave Beran informing me that his father, Leon (Lee), had just passed away. He said there was a list of people the family wished to inform of that news and that included Yours truly. That meant a lot to me for I had gotten to know Joe, Jerry and Lee very well over the past couple of decades. Unfortunately, I never got to meet Eugene or Bob.

 

When writing books about the KOM league I always had great cooperation from the Berans and when the newsletters were of the subscription variety that family always supported that effort in every manner. On page 32 of the book “The KOM League Remembered” are two photos. One is of a grade school team that featured three of the Boyer clan from Alba, Missouri and the other photo depicts the five baseball playing Beran brothers along with brother Tony who didn’t play professional baseball and the father of boys. The Beran family photo is on the Flickr link to this report.

 

Dave Beran’s contact with me was made within hours of Lee’s death and no obituary had been posted. That was good for it provided time for me to formulate my memories of the recently departed. Lee and Jerry attended every KOM league and I once asked Lee why he did so. He replied that it was a way to honor his three deceased brother’s memory. (At the time this report was prepared only a notice of Lee’s death was posted in the Emporia, Kansas Gazette. It noted that an obituary would appear later.)

 

At each reunion attendees were called upon to share a special talent. Lee’s gift to the reunion crowd was carrying on the tradition of Norwegian Ole and Lena jokes. As Dave told of his father’s last days I asked how long he keep telling those jokes and he replied “Until about three weeks ago.” One of Lee’s last wishes was to make a trip to Herman, Missouri which is known for its fine wines. So, the Beran’s made a trip, by train, to Herman to fulfill Lee’s final bucket wish.

 

There is irony in many things if you think about them long enough. On page 32 of the KOM league book, the Berans and Boyers were featured as having the most members of any families to play in the league. When Kenny Boyer developed his lung cancer he moved to Herman, Mo. where he died some 100 pounds lighter than his playing weight. Shortly, before his death Lee Beran had one final trip wish and it was to visit Herman.

 

In memory of Lee I scanned the internet for Ole and Lena jokes but I must say that no one on You Tube could even come close to the timing and accent Lee gave in his rendition of those “rib ticklers.”

 

Care is being taken, in writing this preliminary tribute regarding Lee, for I don’t wish to replicate what the official obituary will include. One of the things that stands out in my memory is a photo that was carried in the Sporting News in the early 1950’s.. In that photo was Lee, along with Brandy Davis, Ronnie Kline, Bobby del Greco and a couple of other guys posing with Branch Rickey who by then was the head honcho of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The fellows in the photo were the ones Rickey was counting on to get the Pirates out of the lower rung of the National league standings. Things don’t always pan out.

 

During his early days in the Pirate organization Lee faced slugger, Ralph Kiner, in an exhibition game. In trying to impress the Pirate hierarchy Lee was bearing (no pun intended) down. In facing the home run king, Lee knocked him down twice with inside pitches and what Kiner called him was anything but “buddy.”

 

Lee, after a good start at Brunswick, Georgia developed arm problems and didn’t fare that well in 1952 at Hutchinson. Then, Uncle Sam came along and requested that he serve some time at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas. While there, in 1953, he along with a number of professionals played for the Ft. Smith Smokers. That team won the Arkansas State Amateur title in 1954 and earned the right to play in the National Baseball Congress Tournament in Wichita, Kansas. As it turned out the Smokers had two members who had played for the 1951 Carthage Cubs; Johnny Mudd and Tom Kordas. Mudd like Lee Beran was a pitcher. When Beran found out that I knew Mudd and how to make contact with him he made a request. The request was that he return a certain piece of wearing apparel Mudd extracted from him at Camp Chaffee. Every year that Beran came to a reunion he’d bring up the subject of Mudd and if he had ever mentioned taking that item. Each year the answer was the same…no.

 

There is more than a slight chance that Mudd could read this article. If so, “John, Lee never forgot that jacket.” Take good care of it.

 

***

Lee Beran---Obituary added 3/24/2019. www.robertsblue.com/obituary/leon-lee-beran

 

Leon (Lee) Thomas Beran, 87, died on March 20, 2019 at his home surrounded by family. Lee was a devout Catholic, family man and recreation advocate serving Emporia and the community for the majority of his life.

 

Lee was born June 30, 1931 in Larned, Kansas, the son of Anton and Adelaide “Hattie” (Prosser) Beran. He grew up in Odin, Kansas with five brothers and two sisters.

 

In 1951, Lee signed a professional baseball contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates as a pitcher. Branch Rickey once wrote about Lee in his scouting report on October 4, 1951 as “a really good boy, I mean really good. If all 18-year-old boys were like this chap, most certainly God would be smiling down on us as a nation.” Lee started his professional baseball career in Georgia for the Brunswick Pirates, where he recorded 9 wins and 5 losses during his rookie season. He was moved up to Class C with Hutchinson Elks in Kansas. Lee was drafted into the Army in 1953 during the Korean War, stationed in Camp Chaffee and continued playing baseball as part of military leagues in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Lee claimed to have only held a gun for the picture. Lee was honorably discharged in 1955 and continued to serve in the Army Reserves until 1961.

 

After a short stint in the military, he returned to baseball in 1955 playing for various minor league organizations. In 1955, his professional pitching career was cut short due to an arm injury and he relocated to Emporia to receive therapy. While here, he also enrolled in school at Kansas State Teachers College, where he was a three-year letterman in football, and went on to receive his Bachelor of Science in Physical Education degree in 1959. He also served as a graduate assistant football coach. Lee relocated to Dodge City, Kansas in 1960 to teach and coach football at Saint Mary of the Plains College. After serving less than one season as head coach, Lee returned to Emporia accepting a position with the Emporia Recreation Commission, as well as a graduate assistant football coach in 1961. He was promoted to Director of Emporia Recreation Commission in 1961. In 1965, he served on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness at the invitation of Stan Musial under President Lyndon B. Johnson. Lee also served in both a state and national representative capacity within the Kansas Recreation and Parks Association, in which he held numerous board positions.

 

He received the Distinguished Fellow award from the Kansas Recreation and Parks Association in 1977 and in the same year was instrumental in the construction of the present recreation building.

 

In 1999, Lee retired as Director of the Emporia Recreation Commission and was very proud of his friends and colleagues he had the opportunity to meet and work with over his career. In the same year, Lee was inducted to Kansas Parks and Recreation Hall of Fame. He was commended for his service to the Emporia community by having the Recreation Commission building named in his honor. In 2003, Lee was inducted into the Emporia State University (HPER) Health, Physical Education and Recreation Hall of Honor.

 

In his retirement, Lee continued to manage annual KSHAA state tournaments and acted as tournament manager through 2018. He enjoyed bowling, golf, and attending music and sporting events with his friends and family. Lee was an amateur comic with an endless catalog of jokes to entertain his friends and colleagues. He despised slow golfers, airport security checks (due to having two bionic hips) and watching Judge Judy despite his wife’s interest in the daily program.

 

Lee married Judith Cross on June 13, 1959 in Kansas City, Kansas. She survives of the home. Other survivors include: daughters, Julie Lahr of Derby, Kansas, Andrea Bachura and her husband Jon of Overland Park, Kansas; sons, Michael Beran and his wife Suzan (Putzier) from Shawnee, KS, David Beran and his wife Caryn (Hanna) from Overland Park, Kansas; brother, Tony Beran of Aurora, CO; sister, Alice Dolechek of Odin, KS; Grandchildren, Michael Uran, Andrew Beran, Christian Beran, Kiley Beran, Jameson Beran, Alaina Bachura, Jacob Beran, Mary Grace Beran, and Solomon Beran; as well as one great-grandchild Christian Uran.

 

Lee was preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Gene Beran, Joe Beran, Bob Beran, Jerry Beran; and a sister, Viola Dice.

 

Cremation is planned with a Rosary to be held at 7:30 p.m., Friday, April 5, 2019 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Emporia. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, April 6, 2019 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. A private inurnment will be held at a later date at Holy Family Cemetery, Odin, Kansas. In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be made to the Emporia Recreation Commission or Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Contributions may be sent in care of Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home. The family would like to thank the Hand in Hand Hospice Care staff who took great care of him during his final days.

 

Finally, the family asks that in honor of Lee, everyone remember his eternal inspiring words...”just suck it up.”

_____________________________________________________________________

 

A faithful reader fulfills his promise

 

This article was taken from a March 20, 2019 e-mail from Lt. Col. Frank Hungerford Ret.

 

•

John, about a year ago I informed you that Al Billingsly had passed in late 2017 but I had very little information concerning his passing, and that I would do some research and try to find out more information.

 

After researching Venice, Florida (where Al lived) and Sarasota newspapers for an obituary and funeral services to no avail, I had about given up looking. I wrote a letter to his daughter who informed me that he had passed away.

 

I had talked to one of Al's sons and to his daughter by telephone last year but obviously didn't ask the right questions as I was trying to be considerate, and tried to contact Al's first wife, Betty, (and mother of his three children) who lived in the Orlando area without success.

 

Earlier this month, Betty Billingsly's obituary appeared in the Orlando Sentinel newspaper with her Memorial Services announcement. I attended the services and was able to talk to the three children before and after the services. I had not seen any of the children since about 1960 so they didn't remember me but were very appreciative of me coming to the services and of the letter I had sent last year asking about their Dad and Mother, and of the numerous photos I had sent them. Also, daughter, Marina, had stated she had instructed her Mother not to answer any telephone calls if she didn't recognize the number calling, plus Marina later had placed her Mother in a Nursing Home and had told me that she would probably would not know me if I came to see her.

 

It turns out I had been looking in the wrong place (Venice and Sarasota) for any information about Al and LaRue. First, there were no obituaries published for either Larue or Al, and secondly, they are buried right here in the Orlando area. (Winter Garden, a suburb of Orlando). It was explained to me that Larue had passed away in a Venice/Sarasota nursing

home which Al had withheld information about her condition from the children until the very end, and since he was in very poor physical condition, they brought Larue here for burial and placed Al in a Nursing home in the Orlando area. His oldest son, Rusty, said Al's had prostate cancer, had diminishing mental issues, and finally his heart failed.

 

The children decided to bury them here close to the daughter's home as Rusty lives in Savannah, and son, Ted, lives in St. Louis. Only grave side services were conducted for Larue and Al.

 

Al and Betty were married in Springfield in about 1950 and Al dropped out of professional baseball after their marriage. We, my wife and I were very close to Al and Betty in Springfield but after I joined the Army in 1952 we drifted apart except I did see them in St Louis in 1960, and completely lost contact with Al until 1986 when the Springfield high school Class of 1946 which included Al and my sister, Ramona, had a reunion. Al was a year ahead of some of us (Ray Haley, Paul Nichols, myself). I was looking through Ramona's reunion booklet and saw Al's address so we got together again.

 

I never asked Al the reason for their divorce and he never offered to tell me but I did detect there was some heart break and feelings among his children concerning his leaving their mother and his marriage to Larue. I felt their children's angst but regretted we didn't know of Al's last days and we were not there to pay our respects at his passing.

 

I have attached a photo from Betty's Memorial Services and a photo of Al and Larue's headstone.

(Ed note: Not shown in this report.) I still enjoy your KOM letters. Best regards, Frank Hungerford

 

Ed comment:

 

The names in this report primarily; Ray Haley, Paul Nichols and Hungerford were all former KOM leaguers from Springfield, MO and all offered Yankee contracts by Tom Greenwade. Hungerford was offered a conditional one if he would go to the Amateur Baseball League of America which was comprised of a group of towns in North Central Kansas. The towns that comprised that league had become dissatisfied with the Ban Johnson organization and formed their own group.

 

When Greenwade insisted Hungerford was not ready for professional baseball he signed with the St. Louis Browns and they sent him to Pittsburg, Kansas for the 1947 season. Another Springfield boy was involved in this group. His name was Alvin Newton Long and he married Hungerford’s sister Ramona and he was also signed by Greenwade and was a late season edition to the 1949 Independence Yankees that featured some reasonably fine talent, four of whom went to the big leagues and one of them, Mickey Mantle, to the Hall of Fame.

 

Al Billingsly played for the 1948 Independence Yankees of the KOM league and then returned to the area in 1950 to play second base for the Joplin Miners. What he contributed to that club aside from baseball talent, was an automobile. It was a source of many a tale from the start of spring training, at Branson, Mo. in April to the day the Joplin Miners clinched the Western Association pennant in September.

 

During a night of celebration, following the pennant winning game, some of the fellows were feeling no pain and convinced Billingsly they should get in his car and head for California. It was not a well-planned venture and when the future Hall of Famer on that club decided they weren’t going fast enough he demanded to take over the driving chores. After a few near collisions, on old Route 66, still inside the city of Joplin, Mickey Mantle was relieved of his driving chores.

 

Shortly, after Billingsly got back behind the wheel, as one of the few sober guys in the car, it ran out of fuel. Mantle had a great idea. He would fill the tank by emptying, shall we say, the stuff he had consumed a short time before. Now, the car wasn’t going anywhere. It had to be towed to a garage where extensive work on the carburetor was done the next day. Nobody helped Billingsly with the price of repairs. He told me that the pennant winning night wasn’t any fun in any respect and it wound up costing him money.

 

Yep, these are the kind of stories that you would never find in a sports column but talking with old ballplayers you learn that not all their memories are of the game but rather what happened outside of it.

 

Albert A. Billingsly

Born: January 31, 1929—Springfield, Missouri

Died: November 30, 2017—Orlando, Florida

 

Once I inquired of Billingsly as to the correct spelling of his last name. I had seen it end in “ly” and “ley.” The answer was a bit surprising. There were two families on Route 9 out of Springfield, Missouri who spelled their names with the “ley.” The mail carrier was always getting the mail interchanged. He suggested one family use the “ley” spelling and the other “ly.” And that is how Albert A. Billingsley wound up being Albert A. Billingsly. The latter spelling is found on his tombstone. Which by the way a photo of it is available upon request.

____________________________________________________________________________

 

Filling in some blank spots

 

Seldom are there any updates to the profiles of deceased former KOM leaguers. Over the years I have been fairly successful in determining where a guy was born and when. The same goes for those who have passed away.

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For nearly a quarter century I have shown Andrew Joseph Murren Jr. as being born in Nutley, New Jersey in 1931 and dying sometime in the early 1960’s. I also had a record of his military enlistment date of April 3, 1945 at Newark. Well, some of that checked out to be correct and some was five years off- base in some data I found on him this past week. He either fibbed about his age with a St. Louis Browns scout or the Pittsburg, Kansas Morning Sun sports editor.

 

Murren, a 22-year-old right-handed pitcher, was born July 23, 1926 in Nutley, New Jersey and passed away on June 28, 1958 in Essex New Jersey. I know very little more about him other than his wife’s name was Arline and she was mentioned in many Passaic, New Jersey society columns. Andrew’s name appeared in some wedding announcements as being the best man. City directories in New Jersey carried his name in editions from 1950 through 1958 and that is when they ceased. The last city mentioned where he worked was Belleview, New Jersey.

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Daniel Longaker was a member of the 1947 Pittsburg, Kans. Browns. He was born August 16, 1927 in Detroit, Michigan and passed away February 27, 1995 in Warren, Michigan. Until March 18, 2019 I was unaware of his middle name which was Lawrence.

 

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Russell H. Bland Jr. of the 1951 Pittsburg, Kans. Browns was born October 2, 1931 in St. Louis, Mo. and passed away September 10, 1998 in Glen Carbon, Illinois. Until March 18, 2019 I had never discovered his and his father’s middle name. For the record books it was Hubbard.

 

•

 

John A. “Jack” Nesbit is how I knew the former Pittsburg Browns catcher. He was born Sept 19, 1928 in Detroit, Mich. and died September 9, 1996 in Belleville, Ill. He had attended his first and only KOM league reunion earlier that year. He was an accountant after his baseball career concluded. Until March 18, 2019 I didn’t know that his middle name was Adolph.

 

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Some things just have to be chalked up to oversight. Rex Simpson played for the Chanute Athletics in 1947 and the Pittsburg Browns in 1948. His major contribution to the KOM league, from my perspective was being the first person to ever suggest I write about that league and he donated the first cent to make that happen. He sent $20 after receiving the first KOM league newsletter in 1994 which caused another one to be written the next month and that continued for 16 years. It was later replaced by these Flash Reports which come in a distant second place to the printed, addressed, stamped, stapled version and delivered by the friendly postmen around this country. Although I knew his middle name I did not realize until March 18, 2019 that I failed to show it in some of my files. A posthumous apology goes to Rex Leon Simpson. Or “Big Red” for those who knew him best. For those who recall the name of Loren Packard, a KOM league batting champion and later with the Topeka Owls, he and Simpson were first cousins from Helena, Okla. Later both played for the powerhouse amateur team, the Wichita Boeing Bombers.

 

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Lawrence J. Bale was born on the 4th of July of 1928 in Goodman, Mo. He made it to the Pittsburg, Kansas Browns in 1949. During a search of middle names for those on my database his middle name of James was finally inserted there March 19, 2019. Bale now resides in metro Kansas City.

 

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Melvin J. Smith was a member of the 1948 Pittsburg, Kansas Browns who was born in Springfield, MO in 1927 and died there in 2004. Until March 19, 2019 I didn’t have his middle name of James listed on my database. Melvin had a twin brother by the name of Elwyn.

 

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Robert P. Carle of the 1949 Pittsburg Browns finally got his middle name, Paul, posted on my database 70 years after he broke into baseball. He was born in 1930 at Tiro, Ohio. and died in Lake Worth, Florida in 2001. For many years he was the IRS Director in Detroit, Mich.

 

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Ralph Fall was born in September of 1931 at Sedalia, Mo and was playing with the Pittsburg Browns in 1949. He died in Kansas City in March of 2000 and got his middle name of Edward placed on the KOM league database on March 19, 2019.

•

 

Arthur Robert Marsden. B. 5/20/1924—D. 6/19/2016

 

In a recent search for Robert Marsden’s middle name I found that it was what I had always thought his first name to be. His first name was Arthur but he never went by that in the KOM league with either Pittsburg in 1947 or with Pittsburg, or Iola, Kansas the teams for whom he played in 1948. For historical records he was basically a third baseman.

 

This is his belated obituary: www.findagrave.com/memorial/165418835 Open this site to see a photo of the deceased. He made it into a Pittsburg team photo in 1947. If you have the second edition of “Majoring in the Minors” his photo is on page 342. Even if you don’t have that book, it is still there.

 

Arthur Robert Marsden, 92 of Philadelphia, PA, died Sunday June 19, 2016 in the Lima Estates, Media, PA. He was known by Bob and Art to his friends.

 

Born in Philadelphia, PA, he was the son of the late Arthur E. and the late Edna (Milner) Marsden.

 

Bob was a veteran of the US Army who fought at the Battle of the Bulge. He received the Bronze Star and was a recipient of the Purple Heart.

 

Bob played semipro baseball with the St. Louis Browns. He played soccer and basketball at Temple University where he received both his Bachelors and Masters degrees. (Ed note: The St. Louis Browns ball club at Pittsburg, Kansas was professional baseball of the Class D level, just as was Iola.)

 

He was an avid golfer and had a hole in one at the age of 83.

 

Bob was an Executive Director with the Boys and Girls Club of Philadelphia for 38 years.

 

He was active with the Tioga-Nicetown Community and received awards for his many contributions.

 

Predeceased by his loving wife of 44 years, Rita (nee Aldworth) Marsden.

 

Survived by his children, Scott (Melody) Marsden Tracy (Jim) Oestreich, Dean (Theresa) Marsden, Grandchildren, Brittany Marsden, Matthew (Chrissy) Marsden, Kim Marsden, Sarah (Maurice) Darden, Joshua (Kristen) Oestreich , Abigail Oestreich, and Robert Marsden; Great Grandchildren, William Sgrignioli, Matthew Marsden, Caleb Oestreich, Dear Friend, Teresa Kelly.

 

Funeral service will be held Thursday at 11:00 am at Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Ave, Philadelphia 19116. Friends may call Thursday from 10-11:00 AM at Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia. Burial: Calvary Cemetery, Conshohocken.

 

Comment:

 

Through yet another medical visit yesterday my photos of birds was mentioned. The nurse practitioner and I discussed birds. I sent her a link to a barred owl and she not only looked at that but found a reference to “Majoring in the Minors.” She was looking it up to see if she could find it on line.

 

What she found was a copy on Amazon and inquired if that was the one I wrote. She was interested in purchasing a copy, to be signed, until she found the asking price. Anyone ready for this? The asking price is $1,496.00. That is a pretty good history book but not at that price.

________________________________________________

The saga of Harold John McKibben continues

 

We left off last time in our story with the news Harold John McKibben learned that he had family in Missouri and Oklahoma and he was making plans to “head east.”

 

On September 24, 1927 the Joplin Globe carried a story with the headline “Youth, Missing Seventeen Years, To Come Here to Join Relatives.”

 

John Harold McKibbben, 21 years old, who learned last week that he was an American citizen and not a Mexican boy, as he had been led to believe during seventeen years’ abode with a Mexican family as their adopted son will join two uncles in Joplin as soon as funds sent to him are received the Los Angeles, Calif., Examiner said last night in a telephone message to The Globe.

 

The youth went to Los Angeles in search of his father, not knowing he died fourteen years ago in Sacramento, Calif., just a day or two before his uncles and other relatives discovered through photographs of the boys, published in The Globe. A telegram sent to the Los Angeles newspaper notified the boy of the circumstances and advised him that two uncles living near Miami, Okla., Harve McKibben and John McKibben, would receive him here.

 

Speaks Broken English.

 

As he speaks broken English, Harold McKibben could not converse freely over the telephone from the Examiner office last night and his business was transacted by C. G. Bowen, a member of the Examiner staff.

 

Bowen said McKibben was without funds when he arrived in California, but that the youth had been given employment on the Examiner staff temporarily, in order that he might have sufficient funds to sustain him while he awaited word from relatives.

 

The youth wants to join his uncles and will come to Joplin to meet them here as soon as funds arrive. His uncles sent him sufficient funds by telegraph last night and he expects to leave as soon as possible for Joplin

 

McKibben attempted to converse over the telephone last night, apparently delighted in talking with someone who could assure him that his uncles had been found, but after muttering in broken English, “Hello, who is this?” he gave up the attempt and surrendered the telephone to Bowen.

 

The youth has another uncle, Jake McKibben, living at Claremore, Okla.; two aunts, Mrs. Mattie Smith at Miami and Mrs. J. W. Mitchell at Borger Tex., and a grandmother, Mrs. Lucy Ball, his father’s mother, who lives at Anderson, Mo.

 

The finding of the youth’s relatives came as a result of his learning in El Paso, Tex., that his father once lived in Joplin. The Globe published an account of the boy’s case and also photographs of him as he was at the age of 4, and as he is today, at 21. Harve McKibben was the first of the family to identify himself and make himself known to the Globe. An El Paso newspaper championing the youth’s cause was communicated with immediately, but the youth had gone to California and could not be stopped en route.

 

Harold’s father, Norman McKibben, lived in Joplin until 1910, when Harold was then 4 years old. The father’s first wife died when Harold was in infancy and in 1910 Norman McKibben re-married and went to Texas, taking Harold with them. There the baby was left “for a little while,” but the father and stepmother did not return. News drifted back that they had gone to California.

 

None of the brothers of Norman McKibben heard anything more from him until three years later, when they were notified, by telegram that he had died. No one knew, apparently, what had become of the baby. For the last seven years, one aunt, Mrs. Mitchell, has traveled extensively over the country in search of her nephew, without avail.

 

Fought With Villa

 

The youth’s life is filled with adventure. Known as Juan Chavez, son of Manuel Chavez, a Mexican rancher, he enlisted in the Mexican army and fought with the notorious Pancho Villa, revolutionist. He was educated in the Mexican schools and acted as correspondent for Mexican journals.

 

Harold learned his true identity last week, when his parents, despairing of their intention of having him remain a Mexican all his life, told him of adopting him under an order of the federal court after he had been abandoned by his parents. Overjoyed, the youth went to El Paso and there began his search for his family.

 

With the foregoing article appearing in the Joplin Globe the citizens of the Tri-State area now were up to speed on the Harold John McKibben as the residents of El Paso had been, days earlier. Depending upon the newspaper column cited. he was called both Harold John and John Harold

 

News of young McKibben was becoming “old hat” by the time the Joplin Globe carried its story that he was headed to Joplin. He had given up front page status to Charles Lindbergh who was visiting El Paso after his non-stop flight across the Atlantic. McKibben’s story in the El Paso Times was relegated to a small column, on page 6 that reported on the telephone conversation with his uncles where neither party understood the other. And that was only the beginning of the “lack of communication.”

 

For the next few months McKibben received some attention but the story died quickly. Upon arriving in Joplin he announced that he wanted to get a job for a year or so and then go to college. He expressed some interest in becoming a lawyer. His uncles and aunts said they would provide the funds for him to go to college, immediately. However, he wanted to get acclimated to his new found home. So, he lived around Picher and Commerce, Oklahoma for the next couple of years.

 

In October of 1928 he was receiving some coverage in newspapers across this country by declaring he would “ rather be a poor American than a rich foreigner”. However, the newspapers started picking up stories that the young man may have been an heir to another fortune, this one being oil. The newspaper reporters inquired into this matter with the boy’s aunts, uncles and grandmother and none of them had any knowledge of any other holdings the family had that would make him rich. However, there was great suspicion that Harold’s father owned part of another valuable mine. This story was found in the February 28, 1930 edition of the El Paso Evening Post. Page 13.

 

The headline read “Mystery Boy May Receive New Fortune.”—Sub headlines included: “Harold McKibben Has Rights in Mines Say Seekers—Youth Quits School.—Disappears After Attending Oklahoma Institution for Three Months.

________

 

A new fortune may yet be found for Harold John McKibben, 23, the youth who abandoned riches in Mexico and said: “I would rather be a poor American than a rich foreigner.”

 

The possibility of the new fortune, this one on American-made wealth, developed at the outgrowth of investigations made here by J. W. Mitchell and Mrs. Mitchell of Commerce, Okla. Mrs. Mitchell is the aunt of Harold McKibben and the sister of Harold’s late father, Norman McKibben (This article rehashes what had been reported about Harold being abandoned by his family in El Paso and then learning of his roots in Southwest Missouri and Northeast Oklahoma.)

 

The story now goes back to the El Paso Evening Post article of February 28, 1930. McKibben went to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell in Commerce, Okla., for a year’s residence. Mitchell, an erecting engineer, then sent the lad to a school in Oklahoma City for three months. He disappeared again, Mitchell said, and all efforts to locate him in that section failed.

 

Mitchell and his wife came here (El Paso) for a new inquiry. They announced hitherto unpublished facts which put a different light on the abandonment of the child.

 

Doubt Abandonment

 

“I do not believe that my brother, Harold’s father, ever abandoned his child,” Mrs. Mitchell said.

 

“As he lay dying in Sacramento, Calif, in 1921, he told the priest that his son Harold had been dead for years; that the lad’s mother died in Missouri.

 

“Another strange thing about it is the fact that shortly after the abandonment of the child by the stepmother we got a wire from my brother in an El Paso hospital. Yet neither parent came back to the Chipps after the stepmother abandoned the child”

 

And the father died thinking his child was dead. The wire from the hospital asked for money. Yet we knew that only a short time before the father, the stepmother and the child left Missouri with $30,000 that the father made in mining.

 

Seek Mining Paper

 

“The father also had a partnership agreement, giving him one-fourth interest in another mine in Missouri, valuable property to this day. We have never been able to find that partnership paper. We are trying to find it.”

 

The trail of this paper, a document that was folded up with a lot of old yellow sheets, and has now been missing for two decades, has occupied the Mitchells for five days in El Paso.

 

They interviewed H. N. (Big Kid) Shipley, Victor Benedetti, court officials and police and many others. But so far the paper has not been found. They sought news of the present whereabouts of Harold McKibben but in vain.

 

Benedetti thinks McKibben is seeking movie fame in Los Angeles. He says the lad came through El Paso again a few months ago, borrowed five dollars for meals on a train from here to El Paso and went on. He told of the boy’s fondness for theatricals and movies, a fancy that fits in with Mrs. Mitchell’s report of how the lad used to sit under a tree at her home (Commerce, Okla.) and croon Spanish songs. He seemed lonely in his native land, after so many years in Mexico.

 

The search for the mine paper is continuing.

__________

  

From the time the Mitchell family left Commerce, Okla. for El Paso, Texas nothing was heard from the illusive Harold John McKibben. On April Fool’s day in 1931 the United Press started the saga again with this headline. El Paso, Texas (UP) “Believe M’Kibben is Hunting Family.”

 

Harold John McKibben, who turned his back on Mexican riches in 1927 to search unsuccessfully for his American parents, was believed to have returned to this county in an attempt to learn about his family.

 

His clothes in tatters, his hair hanging to his shoulder, a twenty-four-year-old giving his name as McKibben staggered across the international boundary near Lizard Switch last night and asked that he be extended the privileges of an American citizen.

 

Immigration officers, to whom he told his story, expressed the opinion it was “weird” and released him. Whether he now is on the American or Mexican side, they did not know and a search was started for him.

 

The youth told officers that an insatiable desire to know about himself and his family led him to return to the border and he made a long trek thru Mexico. He had returned to Mexico after he was unsuccessful in trying to find his family in 1927. (At this point in the April 1931 article goes through the entire scenario of him being abandoned, being reunited with family in Joplin and Miami and the whole nine yards. This newspaper account stated that when offered a chance to return to the Joplin area he dropped out of sight and was never seen publicly, again. Of course that belies the fact he lived in Commerce with the Mitchell’s and even spent three months in an Oklahoma City educational facility.)

 

Well, by now it is evident that Harold John McKibben was a very disturbed young man, a pathological liar or a con-man par excellence.

 

The Miami News Record carried another article about the McKibben saga on March 29th of 1931 with the headline” “Miami Relatives Skeptical of El Paso News Story Relating to Return of American Youth Reared by Mexican Family”

 

What may be a dramatic sequel to one of the strangest stories ever printed in the News-Record about anyone with a local connection came to light Saturday (March 28, 1931) when Associated Press dispatches told of John Harold McKibben, 24-year-old white man staggering across the international boundary near El Paso, Tex., and being picked up by border patrolmen.

 

Dispatches described McKibben as “bearded, ragged, starved and heart-sick,” and quoted him as saying he was coming to Miami to visit relatives.

 

While some parts of the story Saturday agree with the story of the John Harold McKibben who visited his uncle, Harve McKibben, here in 1927, other parts of it are incompatible, the Miamian pointed out Saturday when notified of the incident in El Paso.

 

Relatives Skeptical

 

The John McKibben who is Harve McKibbens nephew, has many connections in El Paso and Miami who would finance him if he needed it, making that part of the story hard to believe by his Miami relatives. However, the kinsmen expect to know the truth within a few days as the wanderer told authorities he was headed for this place.

 

The nephew of Harve McKibben of Miami and Jake McKibben of Claremore, visited here in September, 1927, and told his strange story—as he had gleaned it, bit by bit, from relatives and friends of his parents and public records. (This article once again rehashes to story of how McKibben wound up in Mexico as a four year old, for a number of paragraphs) This article then resumed with speculation not previously found in print. It stated “What happened in Mexico is not known, but it is believed that Norman McKibben lost his money in a mining venture, was too proud to return home or ask for help. He is believed to have left his son in care of the Mexican Gomez, until he could go to Los Angeles, recoup his fortunes and reclaim the child.”

 

Father Died in 1913

 

However, reports show that Norman died in Los Angeles shortly after going there in 1913. The mother died when John Harold was an infant. She was a white woman and not a part-Cherokee as stated in the Saturday news dispatches. Harve McKibben also said he knew of no oil heritage which John Harold might lay claim as to the news dispatches suggested.

 

The last article from the Miami News-Record to be found on this story concluded with “Now, whether misfortune has overtaken the Gomez wealth in Mexico, whether the talented and brilliant McKibben has met with foul play, or whether the man who staggered across the border as an imposter remains to be seen when, and if, he shows up.”

 

McKibben Shows up in Surprising Place

 

Where would a fellow go that was eluding authorities? Well, the El Paso Herald followed all leads and the next one led to the most improbable place I would ever have imagined. It had taken from March 28 to July 11, edition of that paper carried this article. ---M’KIBBEN DISCOVERED WANDERING AS A HERMIT. Found With Long Flowing Beard in Missouri Woods..

 

Another chapter in the strange life of Harold John McKibben was unfolded Saturday when officers found that the “hermit” with a long flowing beard, was arrested in the woods near Carthage, Mo, is the person who was left in El Paso as a baby. (The news article again recounts how the boy was left in El Paso in 1910 and reunited seventeen years later with family members in Joplin) The article concluded thusly. “A few months ago U. S. immigration men found him wandering in the desert near El Paso. His mind seemed blank. He disappeared again and was found with a long flowing beard, fingernails an inch long and dressed in knickers in the Missouri woods. He told officer he had been wandering for 15 years after being lost in Oklahoma.

 

Conclusion:

 

And that, my friends is the last thing ever revealed about Harold John McKibben Some 20 years later on September 13, 1947, the El Paso Times looked back on significance stories for that date in history and made mention of it but never was anything else ever found on the “Little Boy Abandoned.” I have searched death indexes, historical newspapers and genealogy sites, all to no avail. So, I will probably never know what became of the fellow as he was last seen wandering in the woods outside my hometown—Carthage, Mo.

 

Although the story of Harold John McKibben has no satisfactory conclusion it opened some insights into the life of my grandfather, Geddes Wadsworth Hall and his son and my uncle Harry Luther Hall.

 

For years I knew they were both living at Baxter Springs, Kansas when they died. Harry died at age 19 in a mining accident and Grandpa Hall died there in 1931 with a mine related lung disease at age 51. Until researching the coming’s and goings of Harold John McKibben I never knew the name of the mine where my grandpa and uncle worked. They were both employed at the Goodwin Mine which was located at the north end of Picher, Okla. which bordered the twin Kansas mining town of Treece. So, they had a five mile trip to work each day from Baxter Springs to Picher.

 

As a young man I always heard my mother and dad talk about Picher and Baxter. The year Geddes died his son Cecil was working in Carthage at the Juvenile Shoe Factory where he met my mother. They were married at Baxter and in order to get there took the street car from Carthage.

 

Thus, during the 1927 to 1931 era I later knew the names of few people who worked the Picher lead and zinc fields. One name I didn’t know became familiar as I grew up watching Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers.

 

Located at Carterville, Missouri is a cemetery filled with names of family members including Hall, Nealy and Taylor. Also in that plot for the deceased are many people by the name of Spencer. The Spencer’s were from Webb City. Ephriam Spencer had a son by the name of Vernon who loved music and played the ukulele. Ephriam was a miner who with his family moved to Mills, New Mexico around 1913 to homestead.

 

In 1927 the Eagle Picher Mining Company convinced Ephriam to move to Picher and become the supervisor of one of their mining operations. He brought along his 19-year-old ukulele playing son, Vernon. Vernon wanted to play his music and his dad insisted he work the mines and make a living.

 

While working in the mines an ore bucket fell on Vernon and he suffered broken vertebrae which ended his days in the mines and he then got to spend more time on his music. Shortly after moving to Picher, Vernon met a young girl by the name of Mabel and wouldn’t you have guessed it, she was a McKibben.

 

Whether Vernon ever met Harold John McKibben is unknowable but they had a few things in common. They were born two years and five miles apart. Vernon in Webb City, 1908 and Harold in Joplin. 1906. Both left the area when they were young. Vernon winding up in New Mexico and Harold, who you know by now, was a resident of Mexico. They returned to the Picher area at the same time. Thus Vernon would have read about the exploits of Harold in either the Miami or Joplin newspapers.

 

Another thing Vernon and Harold had in common was their desire to be entertainers. Each went about it in different ways but California was always the destination of choice. While there isn’t much documentation on McKibben there is a ton of it on Vernon Spencer who changed his first name to Tim and became one of the founders of the Sons of the Pioneers along with Bob Nolan and Leonard Slye who changed his name, to Roy Rogers. For a few hours of reading you can access this link and learn more than you probably ever wanted to know about the aforementioned subject. search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrUi6bkE5VcaykA03IPxQt....

  

Due to the honor of having the nephew of Mabel McKibben Spencer as a reader of these reports I learned of how that part of the McKibben family moved to California and lived happily ever after—or happier than they would have been staying in the lead and zine mining area of Northeast Oklahoma.

 

Museu Blau, Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona, Spain

Architects: Herzog & de Meuron, project 2009-2010, realization 2010-2012

Relocating the Museum of Natural Sciences into the Forum Barcelona building signals the beginning of a new life cycle for both institutions: one where each mutually benefits from the space, program and potential of the other. With its large exterior and interior spaces and its reference to natural processes and shapes, the architecture of the Forum is a particularly appropriate new home for the relocated Museum. And the Museum of Natural Science promises to energetically revitalise the existing building, replacing vacant space with intense new public activities.

The open public space that marks the approach from the Diagonal and extends under the triangular body of the building is now diversified and activated, engaging with the life of the city. The corner addressing the city centre retains its function as the main public approach. This is enhanced by the three existing pavilions which are reconfigured to provide meeting places for groups and general information along the approach to the museum entrance. The second corner, further along the Diagonal is enlivened with lush external planting and the basin under the water patio. And finally, the corner addressing the sea is activated by a new exterior dining area for students and groups, adjacent to a bar which opens onto the plaza. The interior of the elevated triangular building, which is like a vast interior landscape, structured by patios, creates a specific space well suited to an exhibition of Natural science and to the Museum’s demand for growth and need to display more of its outstanding collection.

 

Architecture and Museography

The core of the Museum is its permanent exhibition. This consists of an outstanding collection of rocks and minerals, taxidermy, microbes, plants and herbariums, meteorites, scientific drawings, diagrams, fossils and skeletons, sounds and dioramas, gathered together over centuries in Barcelona. The exhibition consists of elements from the permanent collection structured around the concept of Gaia – the idea of a living planet which forms and is, in turn, transformed by life.

This exhibition arrangement follows the logic of the existing space and at the same time radically transforms it. It frees the visitor to explore any number of individual routes while still ensuring an overall logical sequence. It also extends into the museum lobby, where the main stair and the dramatically hung whale skeleton forms the central arrival and departure point for all public programs, including shop, restaurant, media library, classrooms, event spaces and temporary exhibition, as well as administration and support areas. The lobby extends down to the plaza connecting to the large covered public space of the Museu Blau, allowing for the visitor to invigorate the rapidly developing area where the Diagonal reaches the sea.

Yet another Photshopped picture of Hotmaw, this time I moved her to a beach in Playa Del Carmen.

This uloborid spider was making a web across the hallway in my house! I relocated it outside on our Strelitzia. [Lower Blue Mountains, NSW]

Photo by Lee Bennett

The church of St Nicholas at Kenilworth is the town's original parish church, a building founded at some point in the 13th century, which is ironic since its most celebrated feature is the superb Norman west doorway which is a century older. This appears to have been relocated here from the adjacent abbey following its demolition under Henry VIII. Much of the rest of the building (including the octagonal tower and spire) seems to have reached its present form in the mid 14th century, but it has undergone heavy restoration, partially as a result of Civil War damage but mostly later and subsequently the interior has a rather more Victorian veneer to it.

 

The interior is light and spacious (the nave more so than the dark and mysterious chancel beyond) and as stated above was much restored in the Victorian period. Most of the glass also dates from the latter part of the 19th century and little of it is especially memorable aside from the somewhat earlier heraldic window in the south transept by David Evans.

 

This church is one of the more visitor friendly ones in the area and is usually open and welcoming to visitors during the day. The nearby abbey park is also worth visiting for the remaining fragments of the ancient monastery.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Nicholas%27_Church,_Kenilworth

 

Covering two floors of this office building in Fleet Place, London, Mansfield Monk designed a fresh working environment that consolidated the two businesses who were relocating to the new offices. The design reflects the individuality, creativity and passion of both parts of the business.

 

www.mansfieldmonk.co.uk

Seoul – officially the Seoul Special City – is the capital and largest metropolis of the Republic of Korea (commonly known as South Korea), forming the heart of the Seoul Capital Area, which includes the surrounding Incheon metropolis and Gyeonggi province, the world's 16th largest city. It is home to over half of all South Koreans along with 678,102 international residents.

 

Situated on the Han River, Seoul's history stretches back more than two thousand years when it was founded in 18 BCE by Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. It continued as the capital of Korea under the Joseon Dynasty. The Seoul Capital Area contains five UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Changdeok Palace, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo Shrine, Namhansanseong and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty. Seoul is surrounded by mountains, the tallest being Mt. Bukhan, the world's most visited national park per square foot. Modern landmarks include the iconic N Seoul Tower, the gold-clad 63 Building, the neofuturistic Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Lotte World, the world's second largest indoor theme park, Moonlight Rainbow Fountain, the world's longest bridge fountain and the Sevit Floating Islands. The birthplace of K-pop and the Korean Wave, Seoul received over 10 million international visitors in 2014, making it the world's 9th most visited city and 4th largest earner in tourism.

 

Today, Seoul is considered a leading and rising global city, resulting from an economic boom called the Miracle on the Han River which transformed it to the world's 4th largest metropolitan economy with a GDP of US$845.9 billion in 2014 after Tokyo, New York City and Los Angeles. In 2015, it was rated Asia's most livable city with the second highest quality of life globally by Arcadis. A world leading technology hub centered on Gangnam and Digital Media City, the Seoul Capital Area boasts 15 Fortune Global 500 companies such as Samsung, the world's largest technology company, as well as LG and Hyundai-Kia. In 2014, the city's GDP per capita (PPP) of $39,786 was comparable to that of France and Finland. Ranked sixth in the Global Power City Index and Global Financial Centres Index, the metropolis exerts a major influence in global affairs as one of the five leading hosts of global conferences.

 

Seoul is the world's most wired city and ranked first in technology readiness by PwC's Cities of Opportunity report. It is served by the KTX high-speed rail and the Seoul Subway, providing 4G LTE, WiFi and DMB inside subway cars. Seoul is connected via AREX to Incheon International Airport, rated the world's best airport nine years in a row (2005–2013) by Airports Council International. Lotte World Tower, a 556-metre supertall skyscraper with 123 floors, has been built in Seoul and become the OECD's tallest in 2016, with the world's tallest art gallery. Its Lotte Cinema houses the world's largest cinema screen. Seoul's COEX Mall is the world's largest underground shopping mall.

 

Seoul hosted the 1986 Asian Games, 1988 Summer Olympics, 2002 FIFA World Cup, the Miss Universe 1980 pageant, and the 2010 G-20 Seoul summit. A UNESCO City of Design, Seoul was named the 2010 World Design Capital.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The city has been known in the past by the names Wirye-seong (Hangul: 위례성; Hanja: 慰禮城, during the Baekje era), Hanju (Hangul: 한주; Hanja: 漢州, during the Silla era), Namgyeong (Hangul: 남경; Hanja: 南京, during the Goryeo era), Hanseong (Hangul: 한성; Hanja: 漢城, during both the Baekje and Joseon eras), Hanyang (Hangul: 한양; Hanja: 漢陽, during the Joseon era), Gyeongseong (京城, during the colonial era).

 

During Japan's annexation in Korea, "Hanseong" (Hangul: 한성; Hanja: 漢城) was renamed to "Keijō" (京城, or Template:Korean 한국, Gyeongseong) by the Imperial authorities to prevent confusion with the hanja '漢', as it also refers to the Han Chinese. In reality, the ancient name of Seoul, Hanseong (Hangul: 한성; Hanja: 漢城), originally had the meaning of "big" or "vast".

 

Its current name originated from the Korean word meaning "capital city," which is believed to be derived from the word Seorabeol (Hangul: 서라벌; Hanja: 徐羅伐), which originally referred to Gyeongju, the capital of Silla.

 

Unlike most place names in Korea, "Seoul" has no corresponding hanja (Chinese characters used in the Korean language). On January 18, 2005, Seoul government officially changed its official Chinese language name to Shou'er (simplified Chinese: 首尔; traditional Chinese: 首爾; pinyin: Shǒu'ěr) from the historic Hancheng (simplified Chinese: 汉城; traditional Chinese: 漢城; pinyin: Hànchéng), of which use is becoming less common.

 

HISTOY

Settlement of the Han River area, where present-day Seoul is located, began around 4000 BC.

 

Seoul is first recorded as Wiryeseong, the capital of Baekje (founded in 18 BC) in the northeastern Seoul area. There are several city walls remaining in the area that date from this time. Pungnaptoseong, an earthen wall just outside Seoul, is widely believed to have been at the main Wiryeseong site. As the Three Kingdoms competed for this strategic region, control passed from Baekje to Goguryeo in the 5th century, and from Goguryeo to Silla in the 6th century.

 

In the 11th century Goryeo, which succeeded Unified Silla, built a summer palace in Seoul, which was referred to as the "Southern Capital". It was only from this period that Seoul became a larger settlement. When Joseon replaced Goryeo, the capital was moved to Seoul (also known as Hanyang and later as Hanseong), where it remained until the fall of the dynasty. The Gyeongbok Palace, built in the 14th century, served as the royal residence until 1592. The other large palace, Changdeokgung, constructed in 1405, served as the main royal palace from 1611 to 1872.

 

Originally, the city was entirely surrounded by a massive circular stone wall to provide its citizens security from wild animals, thieves and attacks. The city has grown beyond those walls and although the wall no longer stands (except along Bugaksan Mountain (Hangul: 북악산; Hanja: 北岳山), north of the downtown area), the gates remain near the downtown district of Seoul, including most notably Sungnyemun (commonly known as Namdaemun) and Heunginjimun (commonly known as Dongdaemun). During the Joseon dynasty, the gates were opened and closed each day, accompanied by the ringing of large bells at the Bosingak belfry. In the late 19th century, after hundreds of years of isolation, Seoul opened its gates to foreigners and began to modernize. Seoul became the first city in East Asia to introduce electricity in the royal palace, built by the Edison Illuminating Company and a decade later Seoul also implemented electrical street lights.

 

Much of the development was due to trade with foreign countries like France and United States. For example, the Seoul Electric Company, Seoul Electric Trolley Company, and Seoul Fresh Spring Water Company were all joint Korean–American owned enterprises. In 1904, an American by the name of Angus Hamilton visited the city and said, "The streets of Seoul are magnificent, spacious, clean, admirably made and well-drained. The narrow, dirty lanes have been widened, gutters have been covered, roadways broadened. Seoul is within measurable distance of becoming the highest, most interesting and cleanest city in the East.

"After the annexation treaty in 1910, the Empire of Japan annexed Korea and renamed the city Gyeongseong ("Kyongsong" in Korean and "Keijo" in Japanese). Japanese technology was imported, the city walls were removed, some of the gates demolished. Roads became paved and Western-style buildings were constructed. The city was liberated at the end of World War II.

 

In 1945, the city was officially named Seoul, and was designated as a special city in 1949.

 

During the Korean War, Seoul changed hands between the Russian/Chinese-backed North Korean forces and the American-backed South Korean forces several times, leaving the city heavily damaged after the war. The capital was temporarily relocated to Busan. One estimate of the extensive damage states that after the war, at least 191,000 buildings, 55,000 houses, and 1,000 factories lay in ruins. In addition, a flood of refugees had entered Seoul during the war, swelling the population of the city and its metropolitan area to an estimated 1.5 million by 1955.

 

Following the war, Seoul began to focus on reconstruction and modernization. As Korea's economy started to grow rapidly from the 1960s, urbanization also accelerated and workers began to move to Seoul and other larger cities. From the 1970s, the size of Seoul administrative area greatly expanded as it annexed a number of towns and villages from several surrounding counties.

 

According to 2012 census data, the population of the Seoul area makes up around 20% of the total population of South Korea, Seoul has become the economic, political and cultural hub of the country, with several Fortune Global 500 companies, including Samsung, SK Holdings, Hyundai, POSCO and LG Group headquartered there.

 

Seoul was the host city of the 1986 Asian Games and 1988 Summer Olympics as well as one of the venues of the Football World Cup 2002.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Seoul is in the northwest of South Korea. Seoul proper comprises 605.25 km2, with a radius of approximately 15 km, roughly bisected into northern and southern halves by the Han River. The Han River and its surrounding area played an important role in Korean history. The Three Kingdoms of Korea strove to take control of this land, where the river was used as a trade route to China (via the Yellow Sea). The river is no longer actively used for navigation, because its estuary is located at the borders of the two Koreas, with civilian entry barred. Historically, the city was during the Joseon Dynasty bounded by the Seoul Fortress Wall, which stretched between the four main mountains in central Seoul: Namsan, Naksan, Bukaksan and Inwangsan. The city is bordered by eight mountains, as well as the more level lands of the Han River plain and western areas. Due to its geography and to economic development policies, Seoul is a very polycentric city. The area that was the old capital in the Joseon Dynasty, and mostly comprises Jongno District and Jung District, constitutes the historical and political center of the city. However, for example, the city's financial capital is widely considered to be in Yeouido, while its economic capital is Gangnam District.

 

CLIMATE

Seoul is either classified as a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa), using the −3 °C isotherm of the original Köppen scheme, or a humid continental climate (Köppen Dwa), using the 0 °C isotherm preferred by some climatologists. Summers are generally hot and humid, with the East Asian monsoon taking place from June until September. August, the warmest month, has average high and low temperatures of 29.6 and 22.4 °C with higher temperatures possible. Winters are often cold to freezing with average January high and low temperatures of 1.5 and −5.9 °C and are generally much drier than summers, with an average of 28 days of snow annually. Sometimes, temperatures do drop dramatically to below −10.0 °C, in odd occasions rarely as low as −15.0 °C in the mid winter period between January and February.

  

ADMINISTRATIVE DISTRICTS

Seoul is divided into 25 gu (Hangul: 구; Hanja: 區) (district). The gu vary greatly in area (from 10 to 47 km2) and population (from fewer than 140,000 to 630,000). Songpa has the most people, while Seocho has the largest area. The government of each gu handles many of the functions that are handled by city governments in other jurisdictions. Each gu is divided into "dong" (Hangul: 동; Hanja: 洞) or neighbourhoods. Some gu have only a few dong while others like Jongno District have a very large number of distinct neighbourhoods. Gu of Seoul consist of 423 administrative dongs (Hangul: 행정동) in total. Dong are also sub-divided into 13,787 tong (Hangul: 통; Hanja: 統), which are further divided into 102,796 ban in total.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

Seoul proper is noted for its population density, which is almost twice that of New York and eight times greater than Rome. Its metropolitan area was the most densely populated in the OECD in Asia in 2012, and second worldwide after that of Paris. As of December 2013, the population was 10.14 million, in 2012, it was 10,442,426. As of the end of June 2011, 10.29 million Republic of Korea citizens lived in the city. This was a 24% decrease from the end of 2010. The population of Seoul has been dropping since the early 1990s, the reasons being the high costs of living and an aging population.

 

The number of foreigners living in Seoul is 255,501 in 2010 according to Seoul officials.[58] As of June 2011, 281,780 foreigners were located in Seoul. Of them, 186,631 foreigners (66%) were Chinese citizens of Korean ancestry. This was an 8.84% increase from the end of 2010 and a 12.85% increase from June 2010. The next largest group was Chinese citizens who are not of Korean ethnicity; 29,901 of them resided in Seoul. The next highest group consisted of the 9,999 United States citizens who were not of Korean ancestry. The next highest group were the Republic of China (Taiwan) citizens, at 8,717.

 

The two major religions in Seoul are Christianity and Buddhism. Other religions include Muism (indigenous religion) and Confucianism. Seoul is home to one of the world's largest Christians congregations, Yoido Full Gospel Church , which has around 830,000 members. Seoul is home to the world's largest modern university founded by a Buddhist Order, Dongguk University. Other Christian faiths like The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) maintains a presence in the city.

 

ECONOMY

Seoul is the business and financial hub of South Korea. Although it accounts for only 0.6 percent of the nation's land area, 48.3 percent of South Korea's bank deposits were held in Seoul in 2003, and the city generated 23 percent of the country's GDP overall in 2012. In 2008 the Worldwide Centers of Commerce Index ranked Seoul No.9. The Global Financial Centres Index in 2015 listed Seoul as the 6th financially most competitive city in the world. The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Seoul 15th in the list of "Overall 2025 City Competitiveness" regarding future competitiveness of cities.

 

MANUFACTURING

The traditional, labour-intensive manufacturing industries have been continuously replaced by information technology, electronics and assembly-type of industries; however, food and beverage production, as well as printing and publishing remained among the core industries. Major manufacturers are headquartered in the city, including Samsung, LG, Hyundai, Kia and SK. Notable food and beverage companies include Jinro, whose soju is the most sold alcoholic drink in the world, beating out Smirnoff vodka; top selling beer producers Hite (merged with Jinro) and Oriental Brewery. It also hosts food giants like Seoul Dairy Cooperative, Nongshim Group, Ottogi, CJ, Orion, Maeil Dairy, Namyang dairy and Lotte.

 

FINANCE

Seoul hosts large concentration of headquarters of International companies and banks, including 15 companies on fortune 500 list such as Samsung, LG and Hyundai. Most bank headquarters and the Korea Exchange are located in Yeouido (Yeoui island), which is often called "Korea's Wall Street" and has been serving as the financial center of the city since the 1980s. The Seoul international finance center & SIFC MALL, Hanhwa 63 building, the Hanhwa insurance company head office. Hanhwa is one of the three largest Korean insurance companies, along with Samsung Life and Gangnam & Kyob life insurance group.

 

COMMERCE

The largest wholesale and retail market in South Korea, the Dongdaemun Market, is located in Seoul. Myeongdong is a shopping and entertainment area in downtown Seoul with mid- to high-end stores, fashion boutiques and international brand outlets. The nearby Namdaemun Market, named after the Namdaemun Gate, is the oldest continually running market in Seoul.

 

Insadong is the cultural art market of Seoul, where traditional and modern Korean artworks, such as paintings, sculptures and calligraphy are sold. Hwanghak-dong Flea Market and Janganpyeong Antique Market also offer antique products. Some shops for local designers have opened in Samcheong-dong, where numerous small art galleries are located. Itaewon caters mainly to foreign tourists and American soldiers based in the city. The Gangnam district is one of the most affluent areas in Seoul and is noted for the fashionable and upscale Apgujeong-dong and Cheongdam-dong areas and the COEX Mall. Wholesale markets include Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market and Garak Market.

 

The Yongsan Electronics Market is the largest electronics market in Asia. Electronics markets are Gangbyeon station metro line 2 Techno mart, ENTER6 MALL & Shindorim station Technomart mall complex.

 

Times Square is one of Seoul's largest shopping malls featuring the CGV Starium, the world's largest permanent 35 mm cinema screen.

 

KOREA WORLD TRADE CENTER COMPLEX which comprises COEX mall, congress center, 3 Inter-continental hotels, Business tower (Asem tower), Residence hotel,Casino and City airport terminal was established in 1988 Seoul Olympic . 2nd World trade trade center is planning at Seoul Olympic stadium complex as MICE HUB by Seoul city. Ex-Kepco head office building was purchased by Hyundai motor group with 9billion USD to build 115-storey Hyundai GBC & hotel complex until 2021. Now ex-kepco 25-storey building is under demolition.

 

ARCHITECTURE

The traditional heart of Seoul is the old Joseon Dynasty city, now the downtown area, where most palaces, government offices, corporate headquarters, hotels, and traditional markets are located. Cheonggyecheon, a stream that runs from west to east through the valley before emptying into the Han River, was for many years covered with concrete, but was recently restored by an urban revival project in 2005. Jongno street, meaning "Bell Street," has been a principal street and one of the earliest commercial steets of the city, on which one can find Bosingak, a pavilion containing a large bell. The bell signaled the different times of the day and controlled the four major gates to the city. North of downtown is Bukhan Mountain, and to the south is the smaller Namsan. Further south are the old suburbs, Yongsan District and Mapo District. Across the Han River are the newer and wealthier areas of Gangnam District, Seocho District and surrounding neighborhoods.

 

HISTORICAL ARCHITECTURE

Seoul has many historical and cultural landmarks. In Amsa-dong Prehistoric Settlement Site, Gangdong District, neolithic remains were excavated and accidentally discovered by a flood in 1925.

 

Urban and civil planning was a key concept when Seoul was first designed to serve as a capital in the late 14th century. The Joseon Dynasty built the "Five Grand Palaces" in Seoul – Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung, Deoksugung, Gyeongbokgung and Gyeonghuigung – all of which are located in the district of Jongno District and Jung District. Among them, Changdeokgung was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997 as an "outstanding example of Far Eastern palace architecture and garden design". The main palace, Gyeongbokgung, underwent a large-scale restoration project. The palaces are considered exemplary architecture of the Joseon period. Beside the palaces, Unhyeongung is known for being the royal residence of Regent Daewongun, the father of Emperor Gojong at the end of the Joseon Dynasty.

 

Seoul has been surrounded by walls that were built to regulate visitors from other regions and protect the city in case of an invasion. Pungnap Toseong is a flat earthen wall built at the edge of the Han River which is widely believed to be the site of Wiryeseong. Mongchon Toseong (Hangul: 몽촌토성; Hanja: 蒙村土城) is another earthen wall built during the Baekje period which is now located inside the Olympic Park. The Fortress Wall of Seoul was built early in the Joseon Dynasty for protection of the city. After many centuries of destruction and rebuilding, approximately ⅔ of the wall remains, as well as six of the original eight gates. These gates include Sungnyemun and Heunginjimun, commonly known as Namdaemun (South Great Gate) and Dongdaemun (East Great Gate). Namdaemun was the oldest wooden gate until a 2008 arson attack, and was re-opened after complete restoration in 2013. Situated near the gates are the traditional markets and largest shopping center, Namdaemun Market and Dongdaemun Market.

 

There are also many buildings constructed with international styles in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Independence Gate was built in 1897 to inspire an independent spirit. Seoul Station was opened in 1900 as Gyeongseong Station.

 

MODERN ARCHITECTURE

Various high-rise office buildings and residential buildings, like the Gangnam Finance Center, the Tower Palace, N Seoul Tower and Jongno Tower, dominate the city's skyline. A series of new high rises are under construction, including the Lotte World Tower, scheduled to be completed by 2016. As of July 2016, and excluding the still unopened Lotte World Tower, the tallest building in the city is the 279-metre-high Three International Finance Center.

 

The World Trade Center Seoul, located in Gangnam District, hosts various expositions and conferences. Also in Gangnam District is the COEX Mall, a large indoor shopping and entertainment complex. Downstream from Gangnam District is Yeouido, an island that is home to the National Assembly, major broadcasting studios, and a number of large office buildings, as well as the Korea Finance Building and the Yoido Full Gospel Church. The Olympic Stadium, Olympic Park, and Lotte World are located in Songpa District, on the south side of the Han River, upstream from Gangnam District. Two new modern landmarks of Seoul are Dongdaemun Design Plaza & Park, designed by Zaha Hadid, and the new wave-shaped Seoul City Hall, by Yoo Kerl of iArc.

 

In 2010 Seoul was designated the World Design Capital for the year.

 

CULTURE

TECHNOLOGY

Seoul has a very technologically advanced infrastructure. It has the world's highest fibre-optic broadband penetration, resulting in the world's fastest internet connections with speeds up to 1 Gbps. Seoul provides free Wi-Fi access in outdoor spaces. This 47.7 billion won ($44 million) project will give residents and visitors Internet access at 10,430 parks, streets and other public places by 2015.

 

MUSEUMS

Seoul is home to 115 museums, including four national and nine official municipal museums. Amongst the city's national museum, The National Museum of Korea is the most representative of museums in not only Seoul but all of South Korea. Since its establishment in 1945, the museum has built a collection of 220,000 artifacts. In October 2005, the museum moved to a new building in Yongsan Family Park. The National Folk Museum is situated on the grounds of the Gyeongbokgung Palace in the district of Jongno District and uses replicas of historical objects to illustrate the folk history of the Korean people. The National Palace Museum of Korea is also located on the grounds of the Gyeongbokgung Palace. Finally, the Seoul branch of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, whose main museum is located in Gwacheon, opened in 2013, in Sogyeok-dong.

 

Bukchon Hanok Village and Namsangol Hanok Village are old residential districts consisting of hanok Korean traditional houses, parks, and museums that allows visitors to experience traditional Korean culture.

 

The War Memorial, one of nine municipal museums in Seoul, offers visitors an educational and emotional experience of various wars in which Korea was involved, including Korean War themes. The Seodaemun Prison is a former prison built during the Japanese occupation, and is currently used as a historic museum.The Seoul Museum of Art and Ilmin Museum of Art have preserved the appearance of the old building that is visually unique from the neighboring tall, modern buildings. The former is operated by Seoul City Council and sits adjacent to Gyeonghuigung Palace, a Joseon dynasty royal palace. Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, is widely regarded as one of Seoul's largest private museum. For many Korean film lovers from all over the world, the Korean Film Archive is running the Korean Film Museum and Cinematheque KOFA in its main center located in Digital Media City (DMC), Sangam-dong. The Tteok & Kitchen Utensil Museum and Kimchi Field Museum provide information regarding Korean culinary history.

 

RELIGIOUS MONUMENTS

There are also religious buildings that take important roles in Korean society and politics. The Wongudan altar was a sacrificial place where Korean rulers held heavenly rituals since the Three Kingdoms period. Since the Joseon Dynasty adopted Confucianism as its national ideology in the 14th century, the state built many Confucian shrines. The descendants of the Joseon royal family still continue to hold ceremonies to commemorate ancestors at Jongmyo. It is the oldest royal Confucian shrine preserved and the ritual ceremonies continue a tradition established in the 14th century. Munmyo and Dongmyo were built during the same period. Although Buddhism was suppressed by the Joseon state, it has continued its existence. Jogyesa is the headquarters of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. Hwagyesa and Bongeunsa are also major Buddhist temples in Seoul.

 

The Myeongdong Cathedral is a landmark of the Myeongdong, Jung District and the biggest Catholic church established in 1883. It is a symbol of Catholicism in Korea. It was also a focus for political dissent in the 1980s. In this way the Roman Catholic Church has a very strong influence in Korean society.

 

There are many Protestant churches in Seoul. The most numerous are Presbyterian, but there are also many Methodist, Baptist, and Lutheran churches. Yoido Full Gospel Church is a Pentecostal church affiliated with the Assemblies of God on Yeouido in Seoul. With approximately 830,000 members (2007), it is the largest Pentecostal Christian congregation in the world, which has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records.

 

FESTIVALS

In October 2012 KBS Hall in Seoul hosted major international music festivals – First ABU TV and Radio Song Festivals within frameworks of Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union 49th General Assembly. Hi! Seoul Festival is a seasonal cultural festival held four times a year every spring, summer, autumn, and winter in Seoul, South Korea since 2003. It is based on the "Seoul Citizens' Day" held on every October since 1994 to commemorate the 600 years history of Seoul as the capital of the country. The festival is arranged under the Seoul Metropolitan Government. As of 2012, Seoul has hosted Ultra Music Festival Korea, an annual dance music festival that takes place on the 2nd weekend of June.

 

TRANSPORTATION

Seoul features one of the world's most advanced transportation infrastructures that is constantly under expansion. Its system dates back to the era of the Korean Empire, when the first streetcar lines were laid and a railroad linking Seoul and Incheon was completed. Seoul's most important streetcar line ran along Jongno until it was replaced by Line 1 of the subway system in the early 1970s. Other notable streets in downtown Seoul include Euljiro, Teheranno, Sejongno, Chungmuro, Yulgongno, and Toegyero. There are nine major subway lines stretching for more than 250 km, with one additional line planned. As of 2010, 25% of the population has a commute time of an hour or more.

 

BUS

Seoul's bus system is operated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government (S.M.G.), with four primary bus configurations available servicing most of the city. Seoul has many large intercity/express bus terminals. These buses connect Seoul with cities throughout South Korea. The Seoul Express Bus Terminal, Central City Terminal and Seoul Nambu Terminal are located in the district of Seocho District. In addition, East Seoul Bus Terminal in Gwangjin District and Sangbong Terminal in Jungnang District operate in the east of the city.

 

SUBWAY

Seoul has a comprehensive urban railway network that interconnects every district of the city and the surrounding areas. With more than 8 million passengers per day, Seoul has one of the busiest subway systems in the world. The Seoul Metropolitan Subway has 19 total lines which serve Seoul, Incheon, Gyeonggi province, western Gangwon province, and northern Chungnam province. In addition, in order to cope with the various modes of transport, Seoul's metropolitan government employs several mathematicians to coordinate the subway, bus, and traffic schedules into one timetable. The various lines are run by Korail, Seoul Metro, Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corporation, NeoTrans Co. Ltd., AREX, and Seoul Metro Line 9 Corporation.

 

TRAIN

Seoul is connected to every major city in South Korea by rail. Seoul is also linked to most major South Korean cities by the KTX high-speed train, which has a normal operation speed of more than 300 km/h. Major railroad stations include:

 

Seoul Station, Yongsan District: Gyeongbu line (KTX/Saemaul/Mugunghwa-ho), Gyeongui line (Saemaul/Commuter)

Yongsan Station, Yongsan District: Honam line (KTX/Saemaul/Mugunghwa), Jeolla/Janghang lines (Saemaul/Mugunghwa)

Yeongdeungpo Station, Yeongdeungpo District: Gyeongbu/Honam/Janghang lines (Saemaul/Mugunghwa)

Cheongnyangni Station, Dongdaemun District: Gyeongchun/Jungang/Yeongdong/Taebaek lines (Mugunghwa)

 

In addition, Suseo Station,in Gangnam District, is scheduled to open in late 2016, and offer KTX service on the newly built Suseo High Speed Railway.

 

AIRPORTS

Two international airports serve Seoul. Gimpo International Airport, formerly in Gimpo but annexed to Seoul in 1963, was for many years (since its original construction during the Korean War) the only international airport serving Seoul. Other domestic airports were also built around the time of the war, including Yeouido.

 

When it opened in March 2001, Incheon International Airport on Yeongjong island in Incheon changed the role of Gimpo Airport significantly. Incheon is now responsible for almost all international flights and some domestic flights, while Gimpo serves only domestic flights with the exception of flights to Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Osaka Kansai International Airport, Taipei Songshan Airport in Taipei, Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai, and Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing. This has led to a significant drop in flights from Gimpo Airport, though it remains one of South Korea's busiest airports.

 

Meanwhile, Incheon International Airport has become, along with Hong Kong, a major transportation center for East Asia.

 

Incheon and Gimpo are linked to Seoul by highways, and to each other by the Incheon International Airport Railroad, which is also linked to Incheon line #1. Gimpo is also linked by subway (line No. 5 and #9). The Incheon International Airport Railroad, connecting the airport directly to Seoul Station in central Seoul, was recently opened. Shuttle buses also transfer passengers between Incheon and Gimpo airports.

 

CYCLING

Cycling is becoming increasingly popular in Seoul and in the entire country. Both banks of the Han River have cycling paths that run all the way across the city along the river. In addition, Seoul introduced in 2015 a bicycle-sharing system named Ddareungi.

 

EDUCATION

UNICERSITIES

Seoul is home to the majority of South Korea's most prestigious universities, including Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Korea University, Sungkyunkwan University, Sogang University, Hanyang University, Chung-Ang University, Ewha Womans University, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Hongik University, Kyung Hee University, Soongsil University, Sookmyung Women's University, Korea Military Academy, and the University of Seoul.

 

SECONDARY EDUCATION

Education from grades 1–12 is compulsory. Students spend six years in elementary school, three years in middle school, and three years in high school. Secondary schools generally require that the students wear uniforms. There is an exit exam for graduating from high school and many students proceeding to the university level are required to take the College Scholastic Ability Test that is held every November. Although there is a test for non-high school graduates, called school qualification exam, most of Koreans take the test

 

Seoul is home to various specialized schools, including three science high schools (Hansung Science High School, Sejong Science High School and Seoul Science High School), and six foreign language High Schools (Daewon Foreign Language High School, Daeil Foreign Language High School, Ewha Girls' Foreign Language High School, Hanyoung Foreign Language High School, Myungduk Foreign Language High School and Seoul Foreign Language High School). Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education comprises 235 College-Preparatory High Schools, 80 Vocational Schools, 377 Middle Schools, and 33 Special Education Schools as of 2009.

 

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Seoul is a member of the Asian Network of Major Cities 21 and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Yangon (Burmese: ရန်ကုန်, MLCTS rankun mrui, pronounced: [jàɴɡòʊɴ mjo̰]; formerly known as Rangoon, literally: "End of Strife") is the capital of the Yangon Region of Myanmar, also known as Burma. Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government relocated the capital to the purpose-built city of Naypyidaw in central Myanmar. With over 7 million people, Yangon is Myanmar's largest city and is its most important commercial centre.

 

Yangon boasts the largest number of colonial-era buildings in the region, and has a unique colonial-era urban core that is remarkably intact. The colonial-era commercial core is centred around the Sule Pagoda, which reputed to be over 2,000 years old. The city is also home to the gilded Shwedagon Pagoda — Myanmar's most sacred Buddhist pagoda. The mausoleum of the last Mughal Emperor is located in Yangon, where he had been exiled following the Indian Mutiny of 1857.

 

Yangon suffers from deeply inadequate infrastructure, especially compared to other major cities in Southeast Asia. Though many historic residential and commercial buildings have been renovated throughout central Yangon, most satellite towns that ring the city continue to be profoundly impoverished and lack basic infrastructure.

 

ETYMOLOGY

Yangon (ရန်ကုန်) is a combination of the two words yan (ရန်) and koun (ကုန်), which mean "enemies" and "run out of", respectively. It is also translated as "End of Strife". "Rangoon" most likely comes from the British imitation of the pronunciation of "Yangon" in the Arakanese language, which is [rɔ̀ɴɡʊ́ɴ].

 

HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY

Yangon was founded as Dagon in the early 11th century (c. 1028–1043) by the Mon, who dominated Lower Burma at that time. Dagon was a small fishing village centred about the Shwedagon Pagoda. In 1755, King Alaungpaya conquered Dagon, renamed it "Yangon", and added settlements around Dagon. The British captured Yangon during the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–26), but returned it to Burmese administration after the war. The city was destroyed by a fire in 1841.

 

COLONIAL RANGOON

The British seized Yangon and all of Lower Burma in the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852, and subsequently transformed Yangon into the commercial and political hub of British Burma. Yangon is also the place where the British sent Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal emperor, to live after the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Based on the design by army engineer Lt. Alexander Fraser, the British constructed a new city on a grid plan on delta land, bounded to the east by the Pazundaung Creek and to the south and west by the Yangon River. Yangon became the capital of all British-ruled Burma after the British had captured Upper Burma in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885. By the 1890s Yangon's increasing population and commerce gave birth to prosperous residential suburbs to the north of Royal Lake (Kandawgyi) and Inya Lake. The British also established hospitals including Rangoon General Hospital and colleges including Rangoon University.

 

Colonial Yangon, with its spacious parks and lakes and mix of modern buildings and traditional wooden architecture, was known as "the garden city of the East." By the early 20th century, Yangon had public services and infrastructure on par with London.

 

Before World War II, about 55% of Yangon's population of 500,000 was Indian or South Asian, and only about a third was Bamar (Burman). Karens, the Chinese, the Anglo-Burmese and others made up the rest.

 

After World War I, Yangon became the epicentre of Burmese independence movement, with leftist Rangoon University students leading the way. Three nationwide strikes against the British Empire in 1920, 1936 and 1938 all began in Yangon. Yangon was under Japanese occupation (1942–45), and incurred heavy damage during World War II. The city was retaken by the Allies in May 1945.

 

Yangon became the capital of Union of Burma on 4 January 1948 when the country regained independence from the British Empire.

 

CONTEMPORARY YANGON

Soon after Burma's independence in 1948, many colonial names of streets and parks were changed to more nationalistic Burmese names. In 1989, the current military junta changed the city's English name to "Yangon", along with many other changes in English transliteration of Burmese names. (The changes have not been accepted by many Burmese who consider the junta unfit to make such changes, nor by many publications, news bureaus including, most notably, the BBC and foreign nations including the United Kingdom and United States.)

 

Since independence, Yangon has expanded outwards. Successive governments have built satellite towns such as Thaketa, North Okkalapa and South Okkalapa in the 1950s to Hlaingthaya,

 

Shwepyitha and South Dagon in the 1980s. Today, Greater Yangon encompasses an area covering nearly 600 square kilometres.

 

During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–88), Yangon's infrastructure deteriorated through poor maintenance and did not keep up with its increasing population. In the 1990s, the current military government's more open market policies attracted domestic and foreign investment, bringing a modicum of modernity to the city's infrastructure. Some inner city residents were forcibly relocated to new satellite towns. Many colonial-period buildings were demolished to make way for high-rise hotels, office buildings, and shopping malls, leading the city government to place about 200 notable colonial-period buildings under the Yangon City Heritage List in 1996. Major building programs have resulted in six new bridges and five new highways linking the city to its industrial back country. Still, much of Yangon remains without basic municipal services such as 24-hour electricity and regular garbage collection.

 

Yangon has become much more indigenous Burmese in its ethnic make-up since independence. After independence, many South Asians and Anglo-Burmese left. Many more South Asians were forced to leave during the 1960s by Ne Win's xenophobic government. Nevertheless, sizable South Asian and Chinese communities still exist in Yangon. The Anglo-Burmese have effectively disappeared, having left the country or intermarried with other Burmese groups.

 

Yangon was the centre of major anti-government protests in 1974, 1988 and 2007. The 1988 People Power Uprising resulted in the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands of Burmese civilians, many in Yangoon where hundreds of thousands of people flooded into the streets of the then capital city. The Saffron Revolution saw mass shootings and the use of crematoria in Yangoon by the Burmese government to erase evidence of their crimes against monks, unarmed protesters, journalists and students.

 

The city's streets saw bloodshed each time as protesters were gunned down by the government.

 

In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit Yangon. While the city had few human casualties, three quarters of Yangon's industrial infrastructure was destroyed or damaged, with losses estimated at US$800 million.

 

In November 2005, the military government designated Naypyidaw, 320 kilometres north of Yangon, as the new administrative capital, and subsequently moved much of the government to the newly developed city. At any rate, Yangon remains the largest city, and the most important commercial centre of Myanmar.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Yangon is located in Lower Burma (Myanmar) at the convergence of the Yangon and Bago Rivers about 30 km away from the Gulf of Martaban at 16°48' North, 96°09' East (16.8, 96.15). Its standard time zone is UTC/GMT +6:30 hours.

 

CLIMATE

Yangon has a tropical monsoon climate under the Köppen climate classification system. The city features a lengthy wet season from May through October where a substantial amount of rainfall is received; and a dry season from November through April, where little rainfall is seen. It is primarily due to the heavy rainfall received during the rainy season that Yangon falls under the tropical monsoon climate category. During the course of the year 1961 to 1990s, average temperatures show little variance, with average highs ranging from 29 to 36 °C and average lows ranging from 18 to 25 °C.

 

CITYSCAPE

Until the mid-1990s, Yangon remained largely constrained to its traditional peninsula setting between the Bago, Yangon and Hlaing rivers. People moved in, but little of the city moved out. Maps from 1944 show little development north of Inya Lake and areas that are now layered in cement and stacked with houses were then virtual backwaters. Since the late 1980s, however, the city began a rapid spread north to where Yangon International airport now stands. But the result is a stretching tail on the city, with the downtown area well removed from its geographic centre. The city's area has steadily increased from 72.52 square kilometres in 1901 to 86.2 square kilometres in 1940 to 208.51 square kilometres in 1974, to 346.13 square kilometres in 1985, and to 598.75 square kilometres in 2008.

 

ARCHITECTURE

Downtown Yangon is known for its leafy avenues and fin-de-siècle architecture. The former British colonial capital has the highest number of colonial period buildings in south-east Asia. Downtown Yangon is still mainly made up of decaying colonial buildings. The former High Court, the former Secretariat buildings, the former St. Paul's English High School and the Strand Hotel are excellent examples of the bygone era. Most downtown buildings from this era are four-story mix-use (residential and commercial) buildings with 4.3 m ceilings, allowing for the construction of mezzanines. Despite their less-than-perfect conditions, the buildings remain highly sought after and most expensive in the city's property market.

 

In 1996, the Yangon City Development Committee created a Yangon City Heritage List of old buildings and structures in the city that cannot be modified or torn down without approval. In 2012, the city of Yangon imposed a 50-year moratorium on demolition of buildings older than 50 years. The Yangon Heritage Trust, an NGO started by Thant Myint-U, aims to create heritage areas in Downtown, and attract investors to renovate buildings for commercial use.

 

A latter day hallmark of Yangon is the eight-story apartment building. (In Yangon parlance, a building with no elevators (lifts) is called an apartment building and one with elevators is called a condominium. Condos which have to invest in a local power generator to ensure 24-hour electricity for the elevators are beyond the reach of most Yangonites.) Found throughout the city in various forms, eight-story apartment buildings provide relatively inexpensive housing for many Yangonites. The apartments are usually eight stories high (including the ground floor) mainly because city regulations, until February 2008, required that all buildings higher than 23 m or eight stories to install lifts. The current code calls for elevators in buildings higher than 19 m or six stories, likely ushering in the era of the six-story apartment building. Although most apartment buildings were built only within the last 20 years, they look much older and rundown due to shoddy construction and lack of proper maintenance.

 

Unlike other major Asian cities, Yangon does not have any skyscrapers. Aside from a few high-rise hotels and office towers, most high-rise buildings (usually 10 stories and up) are "condos" scattered across prosperous neighbourhoods north of downtown such as Bahan, Dagon, Kamayut and Mayangon. The tallest building in Yangon, Pyay Gardens, is a 25-story condo in the city's north.

 

Older satellite towns such as Thaketa, North Okkalapa and South Okkalapa are lined mostly with one to two story detached houses with access to the city's electricity grid. Newer satellite towns such as North Dagon and South Dagon are still essentially slums in a grid layout. The satellite towns - old or new - receive little or no municipal services.

 

ROAD LAYOUT

Downtown Yangon's road layout follows a grid pattern, based on four types of roads:

 

Broad 49-m wide roads running west to east

Broad 30-m wide roads running south to north

Two narrow 9.1-m wide streets running south to north

Mid-size 15-m wide streets running south to north

 

The east-west grid of central was laid out by British military engineers Fraser and Montgomerie after the Second Anglo-Burmese War. The city was later developed by the Public Works Department and Bengal Corps of Engineers. The pattern of south to north roads is as follows: one broad 30 m wide broad road, two narrow streets, one mid-size street, two more narrow streets, and then another 30 m wide broad road. This order is repeated from west to east. The narrow streets are numbered; the medium and broad roads are named.

 

For example, the 30 m Lanmadaw Road is followed by 9.1 m-wide 17th and 18th streets then the medium 15 m Sint-Oh-Dan Road, the 30-foot 19th and 20th streets, followed by another 30 m wide Latha Road, followed again by the two numbered small roads 21st and 22nd streets, and so on.

 

The roads running parallel west to east were the Strand Road, Merchant Road, Maha Bandula (née Dalhousie) Road, Anawrahta (Fraser) Road, and Bogyoke Aung San (Montgomerie) Road.

 

PARKS AND GARDENS

The largest and best maintained parks in Yangon are located around Shwedagon Pagoda. To the south-east of the gilded stupa is the most popular recreational area in the city – Kandawgyi Lake. The 61-ha lake is surrounded by the 45-ha Kandawgyi Nature Park, and the 28-ha Yangon Zoological Gardens, which consists of a zoo, an aquarium and an amusement park. West of the pagoda towards the former Hluttaw (Parliament) complex is the 53-ha People's Square and Park, (the former parading ground on important national days when Yangon was the capital.) A few miles north of the pagoda lies the 15-ha Inya Lake Park – a favorite hangout place of Yangon University students, and a well-known place of romance in Burmese popular culture.

 

Hlawga National Park and Allied War Memorial at the outskirts of the city are popular day-trip destinations with the well-to-do and tourists.

 

Yangon Book Plaza, the first and biggest book shop in Myanmar was opened on February 26, 2017 on the fifth floor of Than Zay Market in Lanmadaw Township, Yangon.

 

ADMINISTRATION

Yangon is administered by the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC). YCDC also coordinates urban planning. The city is divided into four districts. The districts combined have a total of 33 townships. The current mayor of Yangon is Maung Maung Soe. Each township is administered by a committee of township leaders, who make decisions regarding city beautification and infrastructure. Myo-thit (lit. "New Towns", or satellite towns) are not within such jurisdictions.

 

TRANSPORT

Yangon is Burma's main domestic and international hub for air, rail, and ground transportation.

 

AIR

Yangon International Airport, located 19 km from the centre, is the country's main gateway for domestic and international air travel. The airport has three terminals, known as T1, T2 and T3 which is also known as Domestic. It has direct flights to regional cities in Asia – mainly, Doha, Dubai, Dhaka, Kolkata, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing, Seoul, Guangzhou, Taipei, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Kunming and Singapore. Although domestic airlines offer service to about twenty domestic locations, most flights are to tourist destinations such as Bagan, Mandalay, Heho and Ngapali, and to the capital Naypyidaw.

 

RAILWAYS

Yangon Central Railway Station is the main terminus of Myanmar Railways' 5,403-kilometre rail network whose reach covers Upper Myanmar (Naypyidaw, Mandalay, Shwebo), upcountry (Myitkyina), Shan hills (Taunggyi, Lashio) and the Taninthayi coast (Mawlamyaing, Dawei).

 

Yangon Circular Railway operates a 45.9-kilometre 39-station commuter rail network that connects Yangon's satellite towns. The system is heavily utilized by the local populace, selling about 150,000 tickets daily. The popularity of the commuter line has jumped since the government reduced petrol subsidies in August 2007.

 

BUSES AND CARS

Yangon has a 4,456-kilometre road network of all types (tar, concrete and dirt) in March 2011. Many of the roads are in poor condition and not wide enough to accommodate an increasing number of cars. The vast majority of Yangon residents cannot afford a car and rely on an extensive network of buses to get around. Over 300 public and private bus lines operate about 6,300 crowded buses around the city, carrying over 4.4 million passengers a day. All buses and 80% of the taxis in Yangon run on compressed natural gas (CNG), following the 2005 government decree to save money on imported petroleum. Highway buses to other cities depart from Dagon Ayeyar Highway Bus Terminal for Irrawaddy delta region and Aung Mingala Highway Bus Terminal for other parts of the country.

 

Motor transportation in Yangon is highly expensive for most of its citizens. As the government allows only a few thousand cars to be imported each year in a country with over 50 million people, car prices in Yangon (and in Burma) are among the highest in the world. In July 2008, the two most popular cars in Yangon, 1986/87 Nissan Sunny Super Saloon and 1988 Toyota Corolla SE Limited, cost the equivalent of about US$20,000 and US$29,000 respectively. A sports utility vehicle, imported for the equivalent of around US$50,000, goes for US$250,000. Illegally imported unregistered cars are cheaper – typically about half the price of registered cars. Nonetheless, car usage in Yangon is on the rise, a sign of rising incomes for some, and already causes much traffic congestion in highway-less Yangon's streets. In 2011, Yangon had about 300,000 registered motor vehicles in addition to an unknown number of unregistered ones.

 

Since 1970, cars have been driven on the right side of the road in Burma, as part of a military decree. However, as the government has not required left hand drive (LHD) cars to accompany the right side road rules, many cars on the road are still right hand drive (RHD) made for driving on the left side. Japanese used cars, which make up most of the country's imports, still arrive with RHD and are never converted to LHD. As a result, Burmese drivers have to rely on their passengers when passing other cars.

 

Within Yangon city limits, it is illegal to drive trishaws, bicycles, and motorcycles. Since February 2010, pickup truck bus lines have been forbidden to run in 6 townships of central Yangon, namely Latha, Lanmadaw, Pabedan, Kyauktada, Botahtaung and Pazundaung Townships. In May 2003, a ban on using car horns was implemented in six townships of Downtown Yangon to reduce noise pollution. In April 2004, the car horn ban was expanded to cover the entire city.

 

RIVER

Yangon's four main passenger jetties, all located on or near downtown waterfront, mainly serve local ferries across the river to Dala and Thanlyin, and regional ferries to the Irrawaddy delta. The 35-km Twante Canal was the quickest route from Yangon to the Irrawaddy delta until the 1990s when roads between Yangon and the Irrawaddy Division became usable year-round. While passenger ferries to the delta are still used, those to Upper Burma via the Irrawaddy river are now limited mostly to tourist river cruises.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

Yangon is the most populous city by far in Burma although estimates of the size of its population vary widely. All population figures are estimates since no official census has been conducted in Burma since 1983. A UN estimate puts the population as 4.35 million in 2010 but a 2009 U.S. State Department estimate puts it at 5.5 million. The U.S. State Department's estimate is probably closer to the real number since the UN number is a straight-line projection, and does not appear to take the expansion of city limits in the past two decades into account. The city's population grew sharply after 1948 as many people (mainly, the indigenous Burmese) from other parts of the country moved into the newly built satellite towns of North Okkalapa, South Okkalapa, and Thaketa in the 1950s and East Dagon, North Dagon and South Dagon in the 1990s. Immigrants have founded their regional associations (such as Mandalay Association, Mawlamyaing Association, etc.) in Yangon for networking purposes. The government's decision to move the nation's administrative capital to Naypyidaw has drained an unknown number of civil servants away from Yangon.

 

Yangon is the most ethnically diverse city in the country. While Indians formed the slight majority prior to World War II, today, the majority of the population is of indigenous Bamar (Burman) descent. Large communities of Indians/South Asian Burmese and the Chinese Burmese exist especially in the traditional downtown neighborhoods. A large number of Rakhine and Karen also live in the city.

 

Burmese is the principal language of the city. English is by far the preferred second language of the educated class. In recent years, however, the prospect of overseas job opportunities has enticed

 

some to study other languages: Mandarin Chinese is most popular, followed by Japanese, and French.

 

RELIGIONS

The primary religions practiced in Yangon are Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. Shwedagon Pagoda is a famous religious landmark in the city.

 

MEDIA

Yangon is the country's hub for the movie, music, advertising, newspaper and book publishing industries. All media is heavily regulated by the military government. Television broadcasting is off limits to the private sector. All media content must first be approved by the government's media censor board, Press Scrutiny and Registration Division.

 

Most television channels in the country are broadcast from Yangon. TV Myanmar and Myawaddy TV are the two main channels, providing Burmese-language programming in news and entertainment. Other special interest channels are MWD-1 and MWD-2, MRTV-3, the English-language channel that targets overseas audiences via satellite and via Internet, MRTV-4 and Channel 7 are with a focus on non-formal education programs and movies, and Movie 5, a pay-TV channel specializing in broadcasting foreign movies.

 

Yangon has three radio stations. Myanmar Radio National Service is the national radio service and broadcasts mostly in Burmese (and in English during specific times.) Pop culture oriented Yangon City FM and Mandalay City FM radio stations specialize in Burmese and English pop music, entertainment programs, live celebrity interviews, etc. New radio channels such as Shwe FM and Pyinsawaddy FM can also be tuned with the city area.

 

Nearly all print media and industries are based out of Yangon. All three national newspapers – two Burmese language dailies Myanma Alin (မြန်မာ့အလင်း) and Kyemon (ကြေးမုံ), and the English language The New Light of Myanmar — are published by the government. Semi-governmental The Myanmar Times weekly, published in Burmese and in English, is mainly geared for Yangon's expatriate community. Over twenty special interest journals and magazines covering sports, fashion, finance, crime, literature (but never politics) vie for the readership of the general populace.

 

Access to foreign media is extremely difficult. Satellite television in Yangon, and in Burma, is very expensive as the government imposes an annual registration fee of one million kyats. Certain foreign newspapers and periodicals such as the International Herald Tribune and the Straits Times can be found only in a few (mostly downtown) bookstores. Internet access in Yangon, which has the best telecommunication infrastructure in the country, is slow and erratic at best, and the Burmese government implements one of the world's most restrictive regimes of Internet control. International text messaging and voice messaging was permitted only in August 2008.

 

COMMUNICATION

Common facilities taken for granted elsewhere are luxury prized items in Yangon and Burma. The price of a GSM mobile phone was about K1.1 million in August 2008. In 2007, the country of 55 million had only 775,000 phone lines (including 275,000 mobile phones), and 400,000 computers. Even in Yangon, which has the best infrastructure, the estimated telephone penetration rate was only 6% at the end of 2004, and the official waiting time for a telephone line was 3.6 years. Most people cannot afford a computer and have to use the city's numerous Internet cafes to access a heavily restricted Internet, and a heavily censored local intranet. According to official statistics, in July 2010, the country had over 400,000 Internet users, with the vast majority hailing from just two cities, Yangon and Mandalay. Although Internet access was available in 42 cities across the country, the number of users outside the two main cities was just over 10,000.

 

LIFESTYLE

Yangon's property market is the most expensive in the country and beyond the reach of most Yangonites. Most rent outside the centre and few can afford to rent such apartments. (In 2008, rents for a typical 60 to 70 m2 apartments in the centre and vicinity range between K70,000 and K150,000 and those for high end condos between K200,000 and K500,000.)

 

Most men of all ages (and some women) spend their time at ubiquitous tea-shops, found in any corner or street of the city. Watching European football (mostly English Premier League with occasional La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga) matches while sipping tea is a popular pastime among many Yangonites. The average person stays close to his or her residential neighbourhood. The well-to-do tend to visit shopping malls and parks on weekends. Some leave the city on weekends for Chaungtha and Ngwesaung beach resorts in Ayeyarwady Division.

 

Yangon is also home to many pagoda festivals (paya pwe), held during dry-season months (November – March). The most famous of all, the Shwedagon Pagoda Festival in March, attracts thousands of pilgrims from around the country.

 

Yangon's museums are the domain of tourists and rarely visited by the locals.

 

Most of Yangon's larger hotels offer some kind of nightlife entertainment, geared towards tourists and the well-to-do Burmese. Some hotels offer traditional Burmese performing arts shows complete with a traditional Burmese orchestra. The pub scene in larger hotels is more or less the same as elsewhere in Asia. Other options include karaoke bars and pub restaurants in Yangon Chinatown.

 

Due to the problems of high inflation, the lack of high denomination notes, and the fact that many of the population do not have access to checks, or credit or debit cards, it is common to see citizens carrying a considerable amount of cash. (The highest denomination of Burmese currency kyat is 10 000 (~US$10.)) Credit cards are only rarely used in the city, chiefly in the more lavish hotels. Credit cards are also accepted in the major supermarket and convenience store chains.

 

SPORTS

As the city has the best sporting facilities in the country, most national-level annual sporting tournaments such as track and field, football, volleyball, tennis and swimming are held in Yangon. The 40,000-seat Aung San Stadium and the 32,000-seat Thuwunna Stadium are the main venues for the highly popular annual State and Division football tournament. Until April 2009, the now defunct Myanmar Premier League, consisted of 16 Yangon-based clubs, played all its matches in Yangon stadiums, and attracted little interest from the general public or commercial success despite the enormous popularity of football in Burma. Most Yangonites prefer watching European football on satellite TV. Teams such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City are among the favorite European teams among the Yangonites. It remains to be seen whether the Myanmar National League, the country's first professional football league, and its Yangon-based club Yangon United FC will attract a sufficient following in the country's most important media market.

 

Yangon is also home to annual the Myanmar Open golf tournament, and the Myanmar Open tennis tournament. The city hosted the 1961 and 1969 South East Asian Games. During colonial times, cricket was played mostly by British officials in the city. First-class cricket was played in the city in January 1927 when the touring Marylebone Cricket Club played Burma and the Rangoon Gymkhana. Two grounds were used to host these matches, the BAA Ground and the Gymkhana Ground. These matches mark the only time Burma and Rangoon Gymkhana have appeared in first-class cricket, and the only time first-class cricket has been played in Burma. After independence cricket all but died out in the country.

 

Yangon has a growing population of skateboarders, as documented in the films Altered Focus: Burma and Youth of Yangon. German non-profit organization Make Life Skate Life has received permission from the Yangon City Development Committee to construct a concrete skatepark at Thakin Mya park in downtown, and plans to complete the park in November 2015.

 

ECONOMY

Yangon is the country's main centre for trade, industry, real estate, media, entertainment and tourism. The city represents about one fifth of the national economy. According to official statistics for FY 2010–2011, the size of the economy of Yangon Region was 8.93 trillion kyats, or 23% of the national GDP.

 

The city is Lower Burma's main trading hub for all kinds of merchandise – from basic food stuffs to used cars although commerce continues to be hampered by the city's severely underdeveloped banking industry and communication infrastructure. Bayinnaung Market is the largest wholesale centre in the country for rice, beans and pulses, and other agricultural commodities. Much of the country's legal imports and exports go through Thilawa Port, the largest and busiest port in Burma. There is also a great deal of informal trade, especially in street markets that exist alongside street platforms of Downtown Yangon's townships. However, on 17 June 2011, the YCDC announced that street vendors, who had previously been allowed to legally open shop at 3 pm, would be prohibited from selling on the streets, and permitted to sell only in their townships of residence, presumably to clean up the city's image. Since 1 December 2009, high-density polyethylene plastic bags have been banned by city authorities.

 

Manufacturing accounts for a sizable share of employment. At least 14 light industrial zones ring Yangon, directly employing over 150,000 workers in 4,300 factories in early 2010. The city is the centre of country's garment industry which exported US$292 million in 2008/9 fiscal year. More than 80 percent of factory workers in Yangon work on a day-to-day basis. Most are young women between 15 and 27 years of age who come from the countryside in search of a better life. The manufacturing sector suffers from both structural problems (e.g. chronic power shortages) and political.

 

problems (e.g. economic sanctions). In 2008, Yangon's 2500 factories alone needed about 120 MW of power; yet, the entire city received only about 250 MW of the 530 MW needed. Chronic power shortages limit the factories' operating hours between 8 am and 6 pm.

 

Construction is a major source of employment. The construction industry has been negatively affected by the move of state apparatus and civil servants to Naypyidaw, new regulations introduced in August 2009 requiring builders to provide at least 12 parking spaces in every new high-rise building, and the general poor business climate. As of January 2010, the number of new high-rise building starts approved in 2009–2010 was only 334, compared to 582 in 2008–2009.

 

Tourism represents a major source of foreign currency for the city although by south-east Asian standards the number of foreign visitors to Yangon has always been quite low - about 250,000 before the Saffron Revolution in September 2007. The number of visitors dipped even further following the Saffron Revolution and Cyclone Nargis. The recent improvement in the country's political climate has attracted an increasing number of businessmen and tourists. Between 300,000 and 400,000 visitors that went through Yangon International in 2011. However, after years of underinvestment, Yangon's modest hotel infrastructure - only 3000 of the total 8000 hotel rooms in Yangon are "suitable for tourists" - is already bursting at seams, and will need to be expanded to handle additional visitors. As part of an urban development strategy, a hotel zone has been planned in Yangon's outskirts, encompassing government- and military-owned land in Mingaladon, Hlegu and Htaukkyant Townships.

 

EDUCATION

Yangon educational facilities has a very high number of qualified teachers but the state spending on education is among the lowest of the world. Around 2007 estimate by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies puts the spending for education at 0.5% of the national budget. The disparity in educational opportunities and achievement between rich and poor schools is quite stark even within the city. With little or no state support forthcoming, schools have to rely on forced "donations" and various fees from parents for nearly everything – school maintenance to teachers' salaries, forcing many poor students to drop out.

 

While many students in poor districts fail to reach high school, a handful of Yangon high schools in wealthier districts such as Dagon 1, Sanchaung 2, Kamayut 2, Bahan 2, Latha 2, and TTC provide the majority of students admitted to the most selective universities in the country, highlighting the extreme shallowness of talent pool in the country. The wealthy bypass the state education system altogether, sending their children to private English language instruction schools such as YIEC or more widely known as ISM, or abroad (typically Singapore or Australia) for university education. In 2014, international schools in Yangon cost at least US$8,000 a year.

 

There are over 20 universities and colleges in the city. While Yangon University remains the best known (its main campus is a part of popular Burmese culture e.g. literature, music, film, etc.), the nation's oldest university is now mostly a graduate school, deprived of undergraduate studies. Following the 1988 nationwide uprising, the military government has repeatedly closed universities, and has dispersed most of undergraduate student population to new universities in the suburbs such as Dagon University, the University of East Yangon and the University of West Yangon. Nonetheless many of the country's most selective universities are still in Yangon. Students from around the country still have to come to study in Yangon as some subjects are offered only at its universities. The University of Medicine 1, University of Medicine 2, Yangon Technological University, University of Computer Studies and Myanmar Maritime University are the most selective in the country.

 

HEALTH CARE

The general state of health care in Yangon is poor. According to a 2007 estimate, the military government spends 0.4% of the national budget on health care, and 40% to 60% on defense. By the government's own figures, it spends 849 kyats (US$0.85) per person. Although health care is nominally free, in reality, patients have to pay for medicine and treatment, even in public clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals including the flagship Yangon General Hospital lack many of the basic facilities and equipment.

 

Wealthier Yangonites still have access to country's best medical facilities and internationally qualified doctors. Only Yangon and Mandalay have any sizable number of doctors left as many Burmese doctors have emigrated. The well-to-do go to private clinics or hospitals like Pun Hlaing International Hospital and Bahosi Medical Clinic. Medical malpractice is widespread, even in private clinics and hospitals that serve the well-to-do. In 2009 and 2010, a spate of high-profile deaths brought out the severity of the problem, even for the relatively well off Yangonites. The wealthy do not rely on domestic hospitals and travel abroad, usually Bangkok or Singapore, for treatment.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Relocated from the former Roses space at Ashton Square to the former Marshalls space at Plantation Point Shopping Center

Nature never ceases to amaze me - how did the couple communicate this move. First he had a mouthful of grasses that he took to the old home - I assume to keep the babies busy eating while he moved them one by one. When he returned - his wife was following (not carrying a baby) and he had the first baby. She stayed on the new nest in the marsh while he retrieved the rest of their family. It was a lot of fun to watch and we were lucky to be in the right place at the right time.

 

2 1/2 hours later he had moved 5 babies and must have been exhausted - he went back to the old home, but hadn't returned within 45 minutes so we left. He was aware of me, even though I was at a respectable distance and he would swim by quickly - changed my camera body to the 7D for a faster shutter speed with the available evening light. Some babies were moved upside down, others with their bum toward me so it was nice that this one's head was facing my way. The marsh is surrounded by trees as you can see reflected in the water. He was moving them from one pond to another and had to dive under a culvert with the baby in his mouth - this is just as they are breaking the surface of the water.

 

Dropping in to say hello - I was hoping to be back on flickr more regularly but it hasn't worked out - hopefully I'll be back soon. Miss you all and want you to know that I check your images every chance I get. Will catch up on your latest tonight.

 

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