Columbus Ohio

history transport hub industrial town breweries and historic villages named for explorer

Christopher Columbus it was founded in 1812 and became Ohio’s state capital in 1816. The city has a diverse economy based on education, government, insurance, banking, fashion, defense, aviation, food, clothes, logistics, steel, energy, medical research, health care, hospitality, retail, and technology.

Columbus is home to the Ohio State University

History the area including modern-day Columbus once comprised the Ohio Country under French control through the Viceroyalty of New France from 1663 until 1763 as Europeans engaged in the fur trade. In the 1740s, Pennsylvania traders overran the territory until the French regained control; the region routinely suffered turmoil, massacres and battles. Finally, the 1763 Treaty of Paris ceded the Ohio Country to the British.

Colonists from the East Coast moved in but encountered people of from several Indian nations, as well as European traders. The tribes resisted expansion by the fledgling United States, leading to years of bitter conflict. By 1797, a permanent settlement was founded on the west bank of the forks of the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers; the location was ideal for its proximity to navigable rivers.

Columbus became State Capital because of its Proximity to Major Transportation Routes

Transport Hub and a Major Industrial Town the National Road connected Columbus with Baltimore in 1831 in addition to the Ohio and Erie Canal facilitating the arrival of Irish and German immigrants by 1875 eight railroads served Columbus and its buggy factories steel producers and breweries. The American Federation of Labor was founded here in 1886 by Samuel Gompers, followed by the United Mine Workers in 1890.

Wooden Arches on High Street Provided Electricity for the New Streetcars

The Columbus Experiment was an internationally recognized environmental project in 1908, which involved construction of the first water plant in the world to apply filtration and softening, designed and invented by Clarence and Charles Hoover; an invention that reduced the incidence of typhus.

Port Columbus Airport was a Rail-to-Air Transcontinental System from the East to the West Coast

Neighborhoods and Villages modern interpretations of neighborhood borders vary significantly as historical neighborhoods, villages, towns and townships have been annexed and absorbed by the city.

The Italian Village is a mixed land use neighborhood that contains an array of residential, commercial, and industrial buildings. It is a designated historic district for its historical and cultural preservation. The building types and architecture reflect Italian influence. With its parks and preserved historic homes, Italian Village has the highest home value appreciation in Columbus. The neighboring Downtown District provides access to major employers, cultural and learning institutions, and entertainment venues.

The Victorian Village is in an older area with a fair number of established trees for an urban setting. Neil Avenue runs north/south and eventually crosses through the campus of The Ohio State University.

The Brewery District is located just south of the central business district with a history stretching nearly 200 years. The first brewery was opened by German immigrant Louis Hoster in 1836. At the height of its success, there were five breweries located in the area. Following Prohibition in 1920, the area become home to industry and warehouses. In recent years, redevelopment has taken place on a large scale, with restaurants and bars.

The German Village is a historic neighborhood settled German immigrants in the mid-19th century who constituted as much as a third of the population of the entire city. It has a commercial strip mainly centered along South Third Street, with mostly locally owned restaurants, as well as the tall-steepled St. Mary Catholic Church. The area is mostly a residential neighborhood of sturdy, red-brick homes with wrought iron fences along tree-lined, brick-paved streets.

Oxford Mississippi

Cultural Mecca of the South Small-Town Charm and Literary Destination

Oxford was founded in 1837, on land that had once belonged to the Chickasaw Indian Nation and named after Oxford, England. The Mississippi Legislature voted in 1841 to make Oxford the home of the state’s first University which opened its doors in 1848 to 80 students and has since become one of the nation’s finest public universities.

From the Civil War to Cultural Mecca in 1864 Union troops set fire to the Courthouse, most of the Square and many homes. During the Civil Rights movement, James Meredith entered the University of Mississippi as the first African American student. The city is now known as the home of Nobel Prize winning author William Faulkner and has been featured as a literary destination in publications such as Conde Nast Traveler, Southern Living and Garden and Gun.  Many writers have followed in Faulkner’s footsteps, making Oxford their home over the years adding to the literary reputation Oxford has become renowned for including: Larry Brown, Barry Hannah, Willie Morris, and John Grisham.

 

Geography the city is-located-in the North Central Hills region of Mississippi, known for its heavily forested hills and red clay. Downtown Oxford sits on one ridge and the University of Mississippi sits on another one, while the main commercial corridors on either side of the city sit in valleys.

The Square has remained the cultural and economic hub of the city and is home to a variety of shops, boutiques, the south’s oldest department store and a famous independent bookstore. Around the Historic Downtown Square there are restaurants ranging from down-home southern cooking to elegant haute cuisine.

The Circle Historic District is located at the center of the Ole Miss campus with eight academic buildings arranged on University Circle, including the Lyceum Building, Brevard Hall, the Croft Institute for International Studies, the Carrier, Shoemaker, Ventress, Bryant, and Peabody dormitory halls. The district also includes the flagpole, the Confederate Monument, and University Circle.

Paducah Kentucky

trade transportation arts and culture

Paducah is located at the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers, between St Louis and Nashville. The city is the hub of a micropolitan area comprising Kentucky and Illinois counties. First settled in 1821 and laid out by William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, it was named Padoucas, the word for Comanche from a Spanish transliteration.

Trade and Transportation

A River and Rail Economy was the key to Paducah’s development as a port, a red brick making factory, a foundry for making rail and locomotive components and dry dock facilities for steamboats and towboats comprised the town infrastructure. Thanks to its proximity to coal fields, Paducah was the home port for barge companies and an important railway hub connecting Chicago with the Gulf of Mexico.

The Paducah-McCraken County River Port Authority provides maritime services for the rural regions of Western Kentucky, Southern Illinois, Southeast Missouri, and Northwestern Tennessee. It specializes in bulk, agricultural and containerized cargoes. The agency specializes in bulk, agricultural, general and containerized cargoes, and operates a Foreign Trade Zone in the only Marine Highway Designation on the Ohio River and the only Marine Highway port on the river that is designated for container service.

Arts and Culture

The National Quilt Museum is a cultural destination that attracts quilters and art enthusiasts to the Paducah area. The museum features professional quilt and fiber art exhibits that are rotated throughout the year and is the largest single tourist attraction in the city.

Paducah is part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network

The Paducah Wall to Wall program was begun by mural artists on the downtown flood wall in 1996; over 50 murals address subjects ranging from Native American history, river barges, steamboats and local African-American heritage.

Gillette Wyoming

energy capital of the nation

Gillette is centrally located in an area involved with the development of vast quantities of American coal, oil and gas Over the last decade, the population has increased 48 percent. Founded in 1891 with the coming of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, it was named for Edward Gillette, who worked as a surveyor for the company.  

The Rockpile Museum documents life in early Gillette. After the railroad moved to Sheridan, Gillette survived in order to serve the ranchers, cowboys, and homesteaders who were trying to make a life in the countryside surrounding the town. Cattlemen drove their herds into the livestock yards at Gillette for sale and transportation to the markets back east. Industrious citizens set up businesses to cater to these people and any who passed through. Livery barns, stables, and blacksmiths popped up to house travelers’ horses and haulers’ draft teams. Bars and brothels catered to those who pursued that lifestyle.

Tourism Gillette's inclusion on the Black and Yellow Trail in 1912, a highway extending from the Black Hills to Yellowstone, brought many different travelers and tourists into town via automobile resulting in construction of tourist camps, cottages, and motels along with cafes and eateries.

The Gillette Syndrome is named for the social disruptions that occur in towns experiencing rapid growth; during the 1960s, Gillette doubled its population from 3,580 to 7,194 resulting in increased crime, high costs of living and weakened social and community bonds.

Geography Gillette Wyoming is situated between the Bighorn Mountains and the Black Hills in the Powder River Basin. Devils Tower rises 1,267 feet - 386 m - above the Belle Fourche River; the summit is 5,112 feet - 1,559 m - above sea level.

Wabash Indiana

the Wabash and Erie Canal

The name Wabash derives from the Miami-Illinois phrase water over white stones; the Miami name reflected the clarity of the river whose bottom is limestone.  

The Wabash Post Office has been Operating since 1839

The first electrically lighted city in the world was inaugurated on March 31, 1880. The Wabash courthouse grounds were lighted with four 3,000-candle power lamps suspended from the top of the courthouse. Two telegraph wires ran from the lamps to the courthouse basement, where they were connected to a threshing machine to provide power.

Wabash is Home to Several Historic Districts

The Wabash and Erie Canal provided traders with access from the Great Lakes to the Ohio River; 460 miles long, it was the longest canal ever built in North America. The waterway was a combination of four canals: the Miami and Erie, the original Wabash and Erie from Junction to Terre Haute, Indiana, the Cross-Cut Canal from Terre Haute to Point Commerce, and the Central Canal from Worthington to Evansville. 

The Interpretive Center is an open-air village located on the banks of the canal in Delphi, Indiana. The interpretive center includes a model canal with a miniature reservoir, aqueduct, lock, and gristmill. The model canal boat General Grant shows the type of boats that carried freight on the canal during its final years of full-scale operation from the 1860s to 1874.

The Wabash & Erie Canal Association is dedicated to Indiana's Canal Heritage

Travel along the canal was accomplished by canal freight and passenger packets. The passenger packet consisted of a series of rooms and a main saloon where meals were taken. This room was converted into a men's dorm for sleeping. The women’s saloon was towards the back of the boat.

The Packets were Pulled by Horses and Oxen

The Route was from Toledo on Lake Erie to Fort Wayne. From here, it follows the historic Indian portage to the Wabash River, then heads downstream to Delphi and, using several other riverways, it reaches the Ohio River.

Ardmore Oklahoma

business culture and tourism

Ardmore is the hub of a ten-county region known as Lake and Trail Country in South Central Oklahoma located 90 miles - 140 km - from both Oklahoma City and Dallas Forth Worth. It was named after the Philadelphia historic main line town and a town in County Waterford, Ireland.

Ardmore is the word for Hills or High Grounds in Irish

Founded in the summer of 1887 during construction of the Santa Fe Railroad, Ardmore grew over the years into a trading outpost with its cotton growing fields and the world's largest inland cotton port.

Oil Discovery nearby in 1913 led to entrepreneurs and wildcatters flooding the area, becoming the largest oil-producing county in Oklahoma and energy center for the region.

Geography Ardmore is located south of the Arbuckle Mountains, an ancient, eroded range spanning some 62 mi - 100 km - across southern Oklahoma. The geology includes uplifted and folded ridges visible within the shoreline of some of the surrounding lakes. The city of Ardmore is part of the Washita and Red River watersheds, just north of Lake Murray which flows into the western reaches of Lake Texoma.

Transport the historic Santa Fe depot in downtown Ardmore links the town with Chicago, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Dallas-Fort Worth and DFW Airport via the Heartland Flyer and Trinity Railway Express.

Southern Tech built a state-of-the-art Engineering Technology Building to house programs which directly address the employment needs of manufacturing companies. The Bio Technology Program is a hands-on opportunity to learn and experience biotechnology techniques and applications in human health, agriculture, environmental science, forensics and pharmaceutical production.

Wichita Kansas

trading post industrial hub and regional center of culture media and trade

Wichita lies on the Arkansas River in south-central Kansas, 157 mi (253 km) north of Oklahoma City, 181 mi (291 km) southwest of Kansas City, and 439 mi (707 km) east-southeast of Denver. The Arkansas follows a winding course, south-southeast through Wichita, roughly bisecting the city.

A Trading Post on the Chisholm Trail in the 1860s, it became a destination for cattle drives traveling north from Texas to Kansas railroads, earning it the nickname Cowtown.

Business opportunities attracted area hunters and traders, and a new settlement was organized as the Wichita Town Company, naming the settlement after the Wichita tribe. In the early 20^th century, oil and natural gas deposits were discovered nearby triggering an economic boom in Wichita as producers established refineries, fueling stations, and headquarters in the city. Resources generated by the oil boom enabled local entrepreneurs to invest in airplane manufacturing. Except for a slow period in the 1970s, Wichita has continued to grow steadily into the 21^st century as the city government and local organizations began collaborating to re-develop downtown Wichita and older neighborhoods in the city.

Neighborhoods include Old Town, a 50-acre area home to nightclubs, bars, restaurants, a movie theater, shops, apartments and condominiums, many of which make use of historical warehouse-type spaces. The two most notable residential areas of Wichita are Riverside and College Hill, along with Delano on the west side of the Arkansas River and Midtown in the north-central part of the city.

The Arts Wichita is a cultural center for Kansas and home to several art museums and performing arts groups. The Wichita Art Museum is the largest art museum in the state of Kansas with 7,000 works in permanent collections and the Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University is a modern and contemporary art museum with over 6,300 works. Small art galleries are scattered around the city with some clustered in the districts of Old Town, Delano and south Commerce street. The music hub of central Kansas draws major acts from around the world, performing at concert halls, arenas and stadiums around the area.

Wichita Transit operates 53 buses on 18 fixed bus routes within the city providing over 2 million trips per year as well as a demand response paratransit service with 320,800 passenger trips annually. Intercity bus services connect Wichita with other Kansas towns, Oklahoma and Colorado. Wichita's Bikeways cover 115 miles of which one third were added between 201 and 2018

Georgetown Texas

victorian architecture economic development energy and the environment

Georgetown is located 30 miles from Austin on the northeastern edge of Texas Hill Country. Portions of the town are located on either side of the Balcones Escarpment, a fault line characterized by black, fertile soils of the Black land Prairie, with the west side consisting of hilly, limestone karst formations.

The North and Middle Forks of the San Gabriel River run through the city, providing over 30 miles of hike and bike trails, parks and recreation for residents and visitors.  

History the earliest known historical occupants of the county, the Tonkawas, were a flint-working, hunting people who followed buffalo on foot and periodically set fire to the prairie to aid them in their hunts. During the 18th century, they made the transition to a horse culture and used firearms. The town was named for George Washington Glasscock who donated the land for the new community; the early American and Swedish pioneers were attracted to the area's abundance of timber and clear water.

Victorian Architecture in 1976, a local ordinance was passed t protect the historic central business district. Georgetown has three National Register Historic Districts: Williamson County Courthouse District, Belford National District and the University Avenue/Elm Street District.

Southwestern University the Oldest University in Texas is 1/2 Mile from the Historic Square

Economic Development Georgetown was an agrarian community for most of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The Shawnee Trail, a cattle trail that led from Texas to the rail centers in Kansas and Missouri, crossed through Georgetown. The establishment of Southwestern University and construction of a railroad contributed to the town's growth and importance. Cotton was the dominant crop in the area between the 1880s and the 1920s.

Population growth and industrial expansion continued modestly in the 20^th century until about 1960, when residential, commercial, and industrial development, due to major growth and urban expansion of nearby Austin, greatly accelerated. Currently, Georgetown is served by the appropriately named Georgetown Railroad, a short line railroad that connects with the Union Pacific Railroad at Round Rock and at Granger.

Energy and the Environment in March 2015, Georgetown announced that their municipal-owned utility, Georgetown Utility Systems, would buy 100% of its power for its customers from wind and solar farms, effectively making the city 100% green-powered.

Fort Wayne Indiana

architecture manufacturing the arts culture and river greenway

Located at the center of northeastern Indiana, Fort Wayne is located 18 miles (29 km) west of the Ohio border, 50 miles (80 km) south of the Michigan border and within a 300-mile (482 km) radius of Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Indianapolis, Louisville, Lexington, and Milwaukee. 

Origins Fort Wayne was built in 1794 by General Anthony Wayne as the last in a series of forts built near the Miami village of Kekionga, this European-American settlement developed at the confluence of the St. Joseph, St. Mary and Maumee rivers and later underwent growth with the Wabash and Erie Canal and the railroad. The term Summit City refers to the city's position at the highest elevation along the canal's route.

The Three Rivers Area was the Capital of the Miami Nation 

Geography the most important feature of the area is the short distance overland between the Three Rivers system, which flows to the Atlantic, and the Wabash system, which flows to the Gulf of Mexico; hence, the portage over which passengers and cargoes moved from one system to the next. This natural crossroads attracted the Native Americans for thousands of years. Chief Little Turtle of the Miami Nation called it "that glorious gate through which all the words of our chiefs had to pass through from north to south and from east to west." It later attracted explorers, traders and pioneer settlers who continued to develop the area as a transportation and communications center.

Recent History at the turn of the 20^th century, there was a large influx of Germans and Irish who formed Fort Wayne's urban working class in an economy based on manufacturing and many innovations such as the gasoline pump, the refrigerator, and even the first video games. Following a long period of economic decline, efforts by local leaders during the 1990s focused on crime reduction, economic diversification, and downtown redevelopment which continued in the 21ar century.

Architecture during the 19^th century, Fort Wayne was dominated by Greek and Gothic Revival as well as Italianate architecture. Popular early-20^thcentury architectural styles found in the city include Queen Anne, Romanesque, Neoclassical, Dutch Colonial Revival, Prairie, Tudor Revival and Art Deco.

Manufacturing is deeply rooted in Fort Wayne's economic history, dating to the earliest days of the city's growth as an important trade stop. From 1900 to 1930, Fort Wayne's industrial output expanded by 747 percent. Despite economic diversification, the city was significantly impacted by the early 21^st century financial crisis, losing nearly a quarter of its manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2014.

Arts and Culture since its establishment in 2010, the Cultural District has been home to several of the city's cultural institutions, including the Auer Center for Arts and Culture, the Arts United Center, and Hall Community Arts Center. The Embassy Theatre hosts over 200,000 patrons annually and Foellinger Theatre hosts seasonal acts and outdoor concerts during warmer months. Located west of downtown, Arena Dinner Theatre is a nonprofit community arts corporation with a focus on live theater production, annually hosting seven full-length theatrical productions. Established in 1921, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art specializes in the collection and exhibition of American art. 

The History Center Manages a Collection of 23,000 Artifacts Recalling the Region's History

River Greenway is a system of recreational trails along the riverbanks designed to beautify the riverfronts and promote an active lifestyle for Fort Wayne residents. It comprises 180 miles (290 km) in the city and county and has about 550,000 annual users. With the expansion of trails, cycling has also become an emerging mode of transportation for residents.

Transport Fort Wayne is connected by air with five airlines offering direct service to 13 domestic connections. Amtrak's Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited are the closest passenger rail services to Fort Wayne, with a stop located 25 miles (40 km) north in Waterloo. Mass Transit consists of 12 bus routes through the cities of Fort Wayne and New Haven via downtown's Central Station.

Evansville Indiana

history industry and a 21^st Century Economy

Evansville is the largest city and the commercial, medical, and cultural hub of Southwestern Indiana and the Illinois-Indiana-Kentucky tri-state area. Located along the banks of the Ohio River, it is often referred to as the Crescent Valley or River City.   

Early History the area has been inhabited by various indigenous cultures; archaeologists have identified several archaic and ancient sites in and near Evansville, with the most complex at Angel Mounds, built and occupied from about 900 A.D. to about 1600 A.D., just before the arrival of Europeans to North America. The European-American city was founded in 1812.  French hunters and trappers were among the first Europeans to come to the area, using Vincennes as a base of operations for fur trading. The land encompassing Evansville was formally relinquished by the Delaware in 1805 to General William Henry Harrison, then governor of the Indiana Territory.

Evansville became a thriving commercial town with a river trade, and the town began to expand outside of its original footprint. The economy received a boost in the early 1830s when Indiana unveiled plans to build the longest canal in the world, a 400-mile ditch to connect the Great Lakes at Toledo, Ohio with the inland rivers at Evansville. The project was intended to open Indiana to commerce and improve transportation from New Orleans to New York City.  

The main ethnic groups consisted of Protestant Scotch-Irish from the South, Catholic Irish coming for canal or railroad work, New England businessmen, Germans fleeing Europe after the 1848 revolutions, and freedmen from Western Kentucky.

The era of greatest growth occurred in the second half of the 19^th century as a major stop for steamboats along the Ohio River, and the home port for companies engaged in the river trade. Railroads eventually became more important and in 1887 the L&N Railroad constructed a bridge across the Ohio River along with a major rail yard southwest of Evansville.

Automobile and Refrigeration Manufacturing Became Important Early in the 20^th Century

In 1916, seeing the need for a dependable truck, the Graham brothers entered the truck chassis business. In 1921, after the death of both Dodge brothers, Graham Brothers started selling 1.5-ton pickups through Dodge dealers. These vehicles had Graham chassis and some Dodge parts. Dodge Brothers bought a controlling interest in Graham Brothers in 1925, picking up the rest in 1926.

The city saw exponential growth in the early twentieth century with the production of lumber and the manufacturing of furniture. By 1920, Evansville had more than two dozen furniture companies. In the decades of the 1920s and 1930s, city leaders attempted to improve Evansville's transportation position and successfully lobbied to be on the Chicago-to-Miami Dixie Bee Highway - U.S. Highway 41.

During World War II, Evansville was a major center of industrial production which helped revive the regional economy after the Great Depression. A huge, 45-acre shipyard complex was constructed on the riverfront east of St. Joseph Avenue for the production of oceangoing LSTs (Landing Ship-Tanks). After the war, Evansville's manufacturing base of automobiles, household appliances, and farm equipment benefited from growing post-war demand.

Tourism the business district and riverfront feature riverboat gambling, restaurants, bars, and shops that attract tens of thousands of visitors each year and the city's downtown district retains its early twentieth-century architectural style.

Evansville Has Thirteen Neighborhoods that Qualify as Historic Districts

A 21^st Century Economy Evansville is the regional center for a large trade area in Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois. The largest industry sectors in size in Evansville are healthcare, finance, education, and manufacturing. Other major industries by employment are energy, warehousing, distribution, and retail.

Evansville's strategic location on the Ohio River, strong rail and highway infrastructure, and its designation as a U.S. Customs Port of Entry, make it an ideal location for the transfer of cargo.

Tourism and Entertainment the business district and riverfront feature riverboat gambling, restaurants, bars, and shops that attract tens of thousands of visitors each year and the city's downtown district retains its early twentieth-century architectural style.

Bosse Field Baseball Stadium built in 1915 is the third-oldest Operating Ballpark in the United States

The Victory Theatre is a vintage 1,950-seat venue that is home to the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra. Each year, the orchestra presents a seven-concert classics series and special event concerts, as well as numerous educational and outreach performances. The theater also hosts local ballet and modern dance companies, theater companies, and touring productions.

The Evansville Civic Theatre is Southern Indiana's longest-running community theater, dating from the 1920s when the community theater movement swept across the country.

Museums Angel Mounds State Historic Site is nationally recognized as one of the best preserved prehistoric Native American sites in the country. The Evansville African American Museum was established to continually develop a resource and cultural center to collect, preserve, and educate the public on the history and traditions of African American families, organizations, and communities.

The Evansville Museum Transportation Center features transportation in southern Indiana from the latter part of the nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century.

The Reitz Home Museum is Evansville's only Victorian House Museum

Transportation the city boasts road, rail, water, and air transportation systems. Public transit includes the Metropolitan Evansville Transit System – METS - which provides bus transportation to all sections of the city. Evansville has several multi-use trails for bikes and pedestrians as well as on-road bike paths that help cyclists get around the city by bicycle.

Public and Private Port facilities receive year-round service from five major barge lines operating on the Ohio River. The river connects Evansville with all river markets in the central United States and on the Great Lakes and with international markets through the port of New Orleans.

Evansville has been a U.S. Customs Port of Entry for more than 125 years