In 1926, Carl G. Fisher purchased a chunk of land in Montauk from the US government after being sold as surplus government property at the end of WW1. He planned on creating an urban Montauk which could serve as “the Miami Beach of the North” where people could travel to the city and save a day's worth of travel. He built the Montauk Improvement Building, which is still the town's tallest occupied structure, the Montauk Manor hotel, and dredged Lake Montauk and opened it to the public. Fisher eventually lost his fortune during the Stock market crash of 1929 and these plans did not pan out.
East Hampton remained largely undeveloped until 1880 when Austin Corbin extended the Long Island Rail Road from Bridgehampton, New York to Montauk. In 1879, Arthur Benson would force an auction in order to purchase 10,000 acres around Montauk and evict the Montaukett native Americans who resided there.
In the early 1800s the first of many mills and foundries were built along the Walloomsac River, starting an industrial legacy lasting until the present day.
In 1923 the Lebanon Outing Club was founded and they began carving away at an alpine trail on Storrs Hill. Overtime a competitive ski jump was added to the trail and eventually in 1935 a rope tow was added to the lower portion of the trail, as well as a lodge at the base. The 86 years of continuous operation make Storrs Hill potentially the oldest continuously operating lift-served ski area in the United States
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a program implemented as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal. As discussed, Roosevelt was strongly influenced by naturalists during the conservation movement. Created in 1933, this New Deal aimed to help unemployed men get back in the workforce. The CCC program was about improving different natural resources as well as public parks. From 1933 to 1938, one CCC group was stationed at an Army camp in Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve in DuPage County. Here, they were tasked with making the property more suitable for recreational use. At this point, this forest preserve was in very poor condition and failed to attract visitors and also allow them to connect with nature similar to what Roosevelt did. Over the course of those 5 years, creeks were graded, trails were paved, and many structures were constructed. As a result, thanks to the veterans and young men in CCC, Fullersburg Woods has become a common attraction for visitors who like to hike and boat.
In 1831, Joseph Naper founded Naperville along the DuPage River. The downtown and other amenities were built around the river. Fishing, kayaking, and water boat sports commonly take place. It has been one of the main draws to the city. In 1996, the DuPage River completely flooded. The expected 100-year, 24-hour storm was exceeded. The state-wide record of 16.94 inches in 24 hours poured down upon DuPage county. As a result, a total of six people were killed in the flood
More than 35,000 houses were affected by the disaster while $600 million in damages were also caused. Towns in DuPage county were motivated to prevent another future occurrence. A few years later, in 2002, a county-wide Storm water Management ordinance was established.
In February 1941, a special town meeting took place to allow for the purchase of up to 750 acres on Slack Hill. This land was turned into an airport, to be operated by the town while owned by the federal government. In February 1941 a special town meeting took place to allow Selectmen to purchase a maximum of 750 acres on Slack Hill. In June 1944 the Federal government turned airport over to the town. The town of Lebanon promised that full rights would remain with the Federal government. Following World War II, many improvements were made to the airports infrastructure, but today it mostly does smaller flights to areas in the northeast due to its proximity to larger airports in Manchester and Boston.
Naperville was founded in 1831 by Vermont native Joseph Naper. By the next decade, many more people began moving from the Northeast. The key to the growth of Naperville can be attributed to its location. The town became a popular stop between the two major crossroads that came from Chicago. Its county was established eight years after the town was founded, and 3 years before Joe Naper made his first town map layout. Farming and agriculture played a huge role in expansion. The seemingly endless farm land helped power the economy and attract more residents. More and more people moved westward after WW2 into the suburbs. Now, Naperville is considered to be the fourth largest city in Illinois. However, due to the current rapid population growth and expansion, the rich 1800+ year old prairie soil has been constantly disappearing beneath the nearly 200 and counting residential subdivisions which are being constructed. This very soil has been the root to the overall growth of the town. In the present day, more and more farmland is being purchased from farmers and turned into residential neighborhoods and sports fields/parks.
At 4am on June 19th, 1964, Albert Healey set a rug on fire in an abandoned blacksmith shed near downtown Lebanon, NH. Conditions that day were particularly dry and windy, so the flames quickly spread to other buildings in the are, destroying more than 20 businesses and claiming two lives. The city's infrastructure changed considerably after this fire, as the old mill district which had been destroyed was never fully rebuilt
Stamford Manufacturing Company, established in 1844 on Cove island, a piece of land separated from the mainland. The area had been used for water mills since the 1790s. Henry J. Sanford and John C. Sanford converted the mills to a chemical industry, producing drugs and dyewood extracts. In later years the company extended to Westport, Port Chester and Rye, holding mills along the coast in those surrounding towns as well. From 1859-1870, Stamford Manufacturing Co Stamford's largest industry and the world's largest dye extract concern. The focus of the mills changed a few times throughout the company's existence, but the mills were almost completely destroyed by a fire in 1919.
Beginning in the 1840s, Spy Pond in Arlington became a popular destination for ice cutting in the wintertime. Many icehouses began to be built surrounding the pond. During the 1840s, the group Gage, Hittenger & Co. began to make great strides in their ice-cutting business. The ice that was being cut from Spy Pond was being sent all over the world and started causing the ice business in Arlington to boom. It was said that "the Spy Pond ice went all over the world- to the southern states of our country, to the East and West Indies, to China, to India, to South America, even to Australia". (Hurd, 198) This booming ice business was crucial for the residents of Arlington and the Greater Boston area because the 1840s was a time before everyone had a refrigerator and freezer. Ice would have been used as a way of keeping food or milk from going bad, similar to how a refrigerator is used today. The fact that the residents of Arlington had this business in their town gave them the ability to always have access to ice. The ice business at Spy Pond was overall very beneficial for Arlington, MA. It is great to see that people were using the resources around them, such as a giant frozen pond, to make ends meet while also benefitting the town, in the 1840s.
Based on data from 1999, the EPA called the air in New York State, the second dirtiest in the county, only after California. In an air quality report, it stated, "68 out of every million New Yorkers is at risk for getting cancer just from breathing the air."
Another wave of smog impacts the city over Thanksgiving as a result of a warmer than usual fall that trapped air above Manhattan, causing an official air-pollution emergency. Beginning on November 24, a dense smog blanketed the city, not moving until November 27 after a cold air mass swept it away. It was later discovered residents were affected by the smog for the following 4 days. In the end, over 10% of the city's population was harmed or had lasting effects.
Over a 6 day period in New York City, a dense smog lays over the city. This led to roughly 20-30 death a day as a result of lung and respiratory problems as well a automobile accidents due to lack of visibility. Residents suffered from "... dry, wheezing, watery-eyed coughs" that sent many to the hospital. This was even enough to shut down Times Square-- because you could barely see.
On August 22, 1851, a powerful tornado swept through parts of the Greater Boston area, leaving "West Cambridge (Arlington) a devastated swath which was, in most places, from thirty to fifty rods wide". (Hurd, 189) Although the tornado swept through Arlington for only a few minutes, a considerable amount of damage was done to the town. People lost homes, businesses, crop fields, and numerous other things in a matter of minutes. It was said that there was roughly $25,000 of damage in Arlington alone. Luckily, there were no casualties in Arlington as a result of this powerful storm. It was said that the people who witnessed this tornado described it "as a dark cloud sweeping over the surface of the country with frightful speed". (Hurd, 189) The residents of Arlington must have had no idea what this powerful storm was because there had never previously been a tornado in the Boston area prior to 1851. Tornados also do not usually occur in Massachusetts or the New England region. Tornados are likely to occur in the middle region of the United States, in places like Kansas. Following the storm, the residents of Arlington met in the town center and raised money for relief efforts to cover the cost of the damages.
Mohawk and Hudson Railroad was the first built in the state of NY (April 17th, 1826) and is one of the first railroads in the United States. The purpose of the company was to take passengers traveling using the Erie Canal from Schenectady to Albany. The reason was to bypass the Cohoes falls entirely and cut down the time needed to travel in between these two cities from a whole day to under one hour. The company changed to Albany and Schenectady Railroad (1847), then the New York Central Railroad (1853). Just as many parts of the Erie Canal were shut down the railroad companies also shifted throughout the years but many of the tracks still stay in the general area in which they were built many decades ago. These tracks go through the heavy industrial part of Schenectady which creates industrial pollution as a byproduct of the train running and the potential contaminants that it carries. This was another site where I collected dirt samples because of the potential contamination in the soil.
General Electric Company grows from a small plant in 1886 (Top picture shown) to 1914 plans (Bottom Picture).
The business grew to such an extent that offices were established in the principal cities in the US and foreign countries. The original plants at Schenectady, Lynn and Harrison, N. J., were retained and enlarged, while other plants were added. The principal manufacturing plants now are at Schenectady, N. Y., Lynn, Mass., Pittsfield, Mass., and Harrison, N. J. The company also has plants at Erie, Pa., Fort Wayne, Ind., Toledo. Ohio, Cleveland, Ohio, Newark, N. J., and East Boston, Mass.
This connects to a new age of manufacturing and a new age of polluting. I myself went to try and grab soil samples for my stats project near the main plant on 1 River Road and the security is airtight and there is no obvious soil samples to take.
The company covers the entire building grounds with grass covering and extra soil to keep contaminants out of the eyes of the public. There is a long history of super fund sites that surround this area and the general wealth of surrounding neighborhood that I collected samples from visibly show the deterioration that GE caused in the immediate area.
Schenectady struggles to maintain order as the city was newly built and public land was plentiful. One of the more prominent issues was the stealing of timber. The City Council had problems with individuals just ignoring fees and hired guards would just join in on the stealing of timber as well. All trespassers had to do was to fence off an area and start a farm then years later the city would sell the land to them for a tiny sum of money instead of getting into a costly lawsuit. The city would also try settle these disputes with "delinquents" by fining them to pay for their own prosecution.
After over six months of intense negotiations with GE with no common ground being found, the EPA announced an initial plan to remediate PCB contamination in the Housatonic River. While GE had expressed, "concern whether remedial actions — other than taking no action — are justified in light of engineering feasibility, environmental effectiveness, and cost considerations” , the EPA ordered General Electric to clean up the first two miles (out of the outstanding 12.5 miles of majorly contaminated river) of polluted land. The agency also announced its plans to designate the area a Superfund site. It would take another year of negotiations to produce an agreement on the remediation of the first half-mile of the river, with GE being given until 2005 to complete this initial cleanup.
During the 1930s General Electric Began using PCBs as a lubricant in their manufacturing process of electric transformers. In 1969, GE began dumping about 1,143 pounds per day of suspended solid waste directly into the Housatonic River which had become a popular waste removal method for local sewage and industry. Between 1932 and 1977, the company released a total of more than a million and a half pounds of PCBs into the Housatonic and the greater Pittsfield area including Silver Lake.
Martin Nelson Kimbell was the first white colonialist settler of the Logan Square area. He moved there from New York and bought 160 acres of land in 1836. This land is what would later become Logan Square. His buying up the land was important because it led to businesses and roads being built in the area and people began to be more attracted to the town as it developed. It didn’t get annexed into the city until 1889 which is what led to it developing and becoming an important neighborhood in the city. There is a road going through Logan Square named after him but they changed the spelling to Kimball instead of how his last name is actually spelled.
The great Chicago fire that happened in 1871 burned down a lot of the city and so afterwards restrictions on building intensified throughout a lot of the city. Jefferson Township which is what is now Logan Square was outside of the limits of these restrictions so the houses that were built in the neighborhood could be built more inexpensively. This made this place very appealing to immigrants who were looking for affordable housing, which led to the high populations of immigrants throughout the development of the city. This is an important part of Logan Square's history because it led to the array of immigrant populations in Logan Square even up until recent history.