Monthly Archives: January 2024

My Street Photography: U.S. 1970s-2000s.

Sonoma County, California (1987):

June 1987. St. Teresa of Avila Church, 17120 Bodega Rd., Bodega, California. The church was built by shipbuilders in 1860 on land donated by an Irish-American politician from San Francisco. In 1953 Ansel Adams (1902-1984) photographed the church in black and white. Film director Alfred Hitchock (1899-1980) attended Mass in the church during the filming of “The Birds.” The Bodega schoolhouse immediately behind the church was **used by Hitchcock for the schoolhouse scene in the 1963 horror-thriller film. An active schoolhouse in 1963, the church can also be seen in the classic film.** 93% 7.89mb

Montaña de Oro State Park, San Luis Obispo County, California (1994):

**September 1994. Montaña de Oro State Park. San Luis Obispo/Los Osos, CA. 80%**

Glacier National Park, Montana (1994):

**June 1994. Glacier National Park (Montana). 60%**

Coronado National Memorial, Cochise County, Arizona (U.S.- Mexico border) (1988):

October 1988. U.S.-Mexico border. Behind me is Mexico. Coronado National Memorial, Cochise County, Arizona. Here, at Montezuma’s pass at 6,700 feet, Spanish conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado (1510-1554) and his conquistadores first set foot in what is now Arizona in 1540 — less than 50 years after Columbus’ discovery of America and 67 years before the founding of Jamestown by the English. 1mb.

Rapidan River, near Chancellorsville, Virginia (2001):

June 2001. Rapidan River near Chancellorsville,VA, The Rapidan River is the largest tributary of the Rappahannock River. These two rivers in the state of Virginia converge just west of the city of Fredericksburg, VA. The Rapidan River was the scene of severe and significant fighting in the Civil War including at Ely’s Ford (August 1862 & April-May 1863), Kelly’s Ford (March 1863), Chancellorsville (May 1863), Brandy Station (June 1863), and the Battle of the Wilderness (May 1864). 75%

North Cascades Highway, Washington (1993):

September 1993. Washington Pass (Diablo Lake), WA. A popular spot, Diablo Lake is one of the scenic bodies of water in Washington Pass which, at over one mile above sea level, is the highest point on the North Cascades Highway in Washington State. On either side of the pass are glacier-carved valleys whose creeks eventually drain into the Columbia River. According to the Pacific Northwest National Parks and Forest Association and the U.S.D.A. Forest Service (Pacific Northwest Region), when the North Cascades Highway opened in 1972 more people could easily access the highest and wildest mountains in the state than ever before. Before 1972 Native Americans, prospectors, trappers, mountaineers and hearty backpackers were the only ones who explored a region that took about four days to cross on horseback. Diablo Lake’s distinctive color is caused by fine rock particles, or “glacial flour,” which refracts light. These particles are created as rocks erode and pour into the lake by wind and glacial streams. 60%.

**September 1993. Washington Pass, Pyramid Peak (7182 feet/2189 meters), North Cascades National Park, WA 60%**

September 1993. Washington Pass, State Route 20, WA. State Route 20, or the North Cascades Highway, cuts through mountain wilderness at Washington Pass. The highway is Washington State’s longest, winding its way over 400 miles traveling from U.S. Route 101 at Discovery Bay on the Olympic Peninsula to the state border with Idaho. 65% (10)

**September 1993. Washington Pass, Liberty Bell (7720 feet/2353 meters), North Cascades National Park, WA. 80%** (10)

Mount Rainier National Park, Washington (1991):

**July 1991. Mt Rainier National Park, WA.**

**July 13, 1991. Narada Falls, Mt Rainier National Park, WA**

Near Hollywood, Florida (1987):

Edison/Ford Museum, Fort Meyers, Florida (1999):

March 1999. Bust of Thomas Edison (1847-1931), Edison/Ford Museum, Fort Meyers, Florida, Completed in 1886, American inventor Edison had his winter home and botanical laboratory in Fort Meyers until his death in 1931. Edison and car manufacturer Henry Ford (1863-1947) lived next door to each other in Florida.

Cape Neddick Light (1879), York, Maine (1989):

July 1989. Cape Neddick Light, 1879, York, Maine. Seen from Sohier Park, Cape Neddick Light was built in 1879 on a “nubble” of land about a football field apart from the mainland, The light has been in continuous use since the presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes and still has it original Fresnel lens. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. As necessity is the mother of invention, the lamp was electrified in 1938 so that its oil-lit lamp didn’t blow out during “Down East” winter storms.

Kennebunkport, Maine (1989):

**July 1989. Ocean Avenue, Kennebunkport, Maine. 50%.**

Penobscot Bay, Camden, Maine (1989):

**July 1989. Penobscot Bay, off Camden, Maine. 5.27mb Scan_20250626 (21)**

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina (1989):

**September 1989. Harbour Town, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.**

Charleston, South Carolina (1989):

**September 1989. B&B Hosts, Charleston, South Carolina, South Carolina.**

Savannah, Georgia (1989):

September 1989. Savannah Theatre, Savannah, Georgia. Standing at 222 Bull Street across from Chippewa Square, a theatre has stood on this site since 1818. The Arte Moderne movie house was built in1948 by Robert E. Collins and Carl E. Helfrich, architects active in Georgia and Florida. It was owned by Weis Theatres who also had a movie house in Atlanta, Georgia. Since 1981 the nearly 1000-seat theatre has changed hands several times. When this photograph was taken in 1989 the theatre was downsized to about 350 seats and owned by the Savannah Theatre Company (STC) and used for live performances. SOURCE: https://visitsavannah.com/profile/chippewa-square/6117 and
https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/686. (20)

Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego, California (1999):

January 1999. San Diego, CA. The California Conservation Corps (CCC) at the end of its work day. The CCC was founded by Gov. Jerry Brown in 1976. It is a pay-as-you-go government agency that gives youth the opportunity to work in a job that is mostly outdoors as well as provides some scholarships. **75%**

Sunset Cliffs Natural Park, San Diego, California (2000):

**October 2000. Sunset Cliffs Natural Park, San Diego, California.**

Lake Cachuma, California (1994):

September 1994. Lake Cachuma, CA. Cachuma Lake is a reservoir in the Santa Ynez Valley of central Santa Barbara County, California on the Santa Ynez River along California State Route 154. The artificial lake was created to meet the water needs of this part of California. The Cachuma site for a new dam was formally approved in December 1947 with a referendum endorsing it overwhelmingly in November 1949. The dam began in 1950 and was completed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in 1953. Lake Cachuma finally spilled in April 1958. The final price tag of the project would amount to over $43 million. 80% see – https://www.independent.com/2017/11/02/history-lake-cachuma/ – retrieved February 20, 2024.

The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (1984):

September 1984. “Degas in the Art Institute of Chicago.” July 19- September 23, 1984 7.84mb **72%**

Chicago, Millennium Park construction site (1998):

December 1998. Chicago. Behind us is the construction site for Millennium Park. Ground was broken in 1997 for the project in a northwest corner of Grant Park and completed in 2004. In 1999 it was announced that Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate (“The Bean”) – a mirrored stainless steel object roughly 66 feet long – would be installed in the park with the expectation that it would attract foot traffic. The Bean was unveiled in 2006. By 2016 Millennium Park was the most-visited site In the Midwest as it boasted more than 13 million visitors that year and generated about 20,000 hospitality jobs. see -https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/millennium-park-midwest-tourism/ – retrieved February 19, 2024. (30)

Chicago, Daley Plaza, Clinton-Gore Rally, October 20, 1992:

October 20, 1992. Chicago. Clinton-Gore Rally, The Democratic ticket for U.S. president and vice president was joined by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Tipper Gore. Also on the platform was Democratic Senate candidate, Carol Moseley Braun. All these candidates won their respective races that year. Clinton-Gore served two terms and Moseley Braun who was the first Black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate and first female U.S. Senator from Illinois served one term. see – https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4090960/user-clip-clintongore-campaign-speech-1992 – retrieved June 20, 2023. **75%**

**Clinton-Gore campaign button. “Bill Clinton – Al Gore Union campaign button HERE” by Mpls55408 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.**

Olana State Historic Site (1872), Hudson, New York (2000):

June 2000. Olana, the home of artist Frederic Church (1826-1900) and his wife Isabel Mortimer Carnes, a young beauty from Dayton, Ohio, and their four children. Church, a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters, was born in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1860, by then a successful married artist, Church bought 126 acres of farmland on a south-facing hillside near the town of Hudson. The area had been a sketching place he visited in 1840 with his teacher, Thomas Cole (1801-1848). Calling it “the Farm,” the Churches built the Olana mansion between 1870 and 1872. Today Olana is part of 250-acre State Historic Site along the picturesque Hudson River across from Catskill, New York. 65% see – https://www.olana.org/ – retrieved February 19, 2024.

**Frederic Edwin Church, photograph by Mathew Brady. Library of Congress.**

Sedona, Arizona (1989):

May 1989. Sedona, Arizona. 1.14 mb. By way of the leadership of then-Gov. Bruce Babbitt (1978-1987), a 286 acre area of a vast red sandstone canyon was designated as Red Rock State Park. It opened and was dedicated in October 1991. 1.14mb

May 1989. Holy Cross Chapel (1957), Sedona, Arizona. It was inspired and commissioned by local rancher and sculptor Marguerite Brunswig Staude (1899-1988) and dedicated in 1957. Architects for the project were Richard Hein and August K. Strotz of Anshen & Allen. Since the chapel is built on Coconino National Forest land a special use permit was needed which was secured for the project by Senator Barry Goldwater. The construction supervisor was Fred Coukos who built the chapel for $300,000 (about $3.5 million in 2024 dollars) over about 18 months. see- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/212538307/marguerite-staude and https://www.chapeloftheholycross.com/history – retrieved February 20, 2014.

The author (left), as Communications Director of a national insurance association, was tasked to invite and facilitate the visit of Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt (center) to its annual meeting in May 1989. The former governor and 1988 presidential candidate gave the keynote address at The Registry Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. see – https://azstateparks.com/red-rock/explore/park-history – retrieved February 20, 2024. Fair use.

Tuzigoot National Monument (1,000 year old 110 room hilltop pueblo), Yavapai County, Arizona (1989):

May 1989. Tuzigoot National Monument, Yavapai County, Arizona. Tuzigoot which means “crooked creek” in Apache is a 1000 year old pueblo ruin which was home to about 200 Sinagua Native Americans. “If a person wants to build a house on a hill,” the park ranger opined, “it’ll be on a hill.” The complex commands a 360 degree view of the Camp Verde Valley. Sinagua built their dwellings on hills for protection as well as climate – it was breezier and 10 degrees cooler in summer and that much warmer in winter than if their homes were in the valley below. The people could also observe and manage their rich farmland below more effectively from their hilltop domiciles. President Franklin Roosevelt designated Tuzigoot Ruins as a U.S. National Monument on July 25, 1939. 1.86mb

Tuzigoot National Monument, Clarkdale, Arizona. The approximately 20×20 foot rooms were inter-connected and accessed by rooftop. Indoors, the people slept, ate, and weaved while they did the rest of their living outdoors. Tuzigoot was not the only such Sinagua complex in the area,

Robert F. Kennedy gravesite, Arlington National Cemetery, Washington, D.C. (2001):

**June 2001, The gravesite of Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968), Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia,**

**New York Democratic Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.** “Robert F. Kennedy, 1968 Presidential campaign” by ak245 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, Yorba Linda, California (1994):

**June 1994. Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, Yorba Linda, California. see- https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/** – retrieved February 21, 2024.

June 1994. Richard Nixon Birthplace on the grounds of the presidential library in Yorba Linda, Calif. In 1912 Frank and Hannah Nixon built this farmhouse on their citrus orchard ranch. The future 37th president was born here on January 9, 1913 and grew up in this house until he was 9 years old. 65%

**June 1994. Gravesite of “Pat” Nixon, First Lady of the U.S. Nixon Presidential Library, Yorba Linda, Calif.** (40)

“Richard Nixon” by tonynetone is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

“PatNixon” by Unknown authorUnknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

June 1994. Gravesite of Richard Milhous Nixon. Nixon had died at 81 years old less than two months before this photograph was taken. At his funeral here at the library on April 27, 1994, five U.S. presidents and their wives attended including Presidents Clinton, G. H. W. Bush, Reagan, Carter and Ford. 1.43mb

**June 1994. At the Nixon Library, Yorba Linda, Calif.**

Effigy Mounds National Monument, near Dubuque, Iowa (2000):

September 2000. The Mississippi River from the bluffs of Effigy Mounds National Monument near Dubuque, Iowa. It preserves hundreds of prehistoric mounds built by pre-Columbian Mound Builder cultures, mostly in the first millennium CE, during the later part of the Woodland period of pre-Columbian North America.

General Grant National Memorial, New York, New York (2000):

June 2000. Grant’s Tomb, New York City. The classical domed mausoleum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in Morningside Heights was completed in 1897. It was designed by American architect John Hemenway Duncan (1854-1929) and is situated in the middle of Riverside Drive at 122nd Street, adjacent to Riverside Park. Inside this grandiose stone structure are the graves of U.S. Grant, 18^th president of the U.S. and his wife, Julia Grant. The most popular man in the 19^th century, U.S. Grant served as Commanding General of the U.S. Army and, for a short time, Secretary of War, under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. General Grant brought victory to the Union cause during the Civil War as President Grant worked to bring to the nation a just and **peaceful resolution** to the war’s aftermath.

Hermitage (1804), Davidson Country, Tennessee (2004):

April 2004. The tomb of Andrew and Rachel Jackson is located in the Hermitage garden east of downtown Nashville, Tennessee. The 7th U.S. president owned the 1000-acre Hermitage home and plantation from 1804 until his death in 1845 (Rachel died in 1828). During the Civil War the area surrounding the tomb was described as “all together a dark and secluded spot.” (Pvt. Joseph C. Taylor, May 5, 1863). Enslaved men, women, and children worked at the Hermitage – 110 at Jackson’s death – and were principally involved in growing its major cash crop, cotton. The Hermitage is a National Historic Landmark.

**Andrew Jackson, 7th president of the United States, is the face on the $20 bill.** “One Jackson” by Carbon Arc is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Kinderhook, New York (2000):

June 2000. At the gravesite of Martin Van Buren (1782-1862), 8th president of the U,S., in Kinderhook, NY. Van Buren was attorney general and governor of New York, a U.S. senator from New York, and ambassador to England, secretary of state, and vice-president under Andrew Jackson. The 5’6″ Van Buren was the second shortest president after James Madison (5’4″), 4th president. Both shrewd lawyers and political practitioners Madison was known as “Father of the Constitution” while Van Buren was called “The Little Magician.” We had just come from a private tour of Lindenwald, the house Van Buren bought as president in 1839 and where he lived until his death in 1862. A widower since 1819, at the White House President Van Buren’s new daughter-in-law, Angelica Van Buren, née Singleton, became his hostess. In Washington, Angelica solicited the advice of former First Lady, Dolley Madison, who had moved back to Washington after her husband’s death. Soon after, the president’s parties “magically” livened up so that The Boston Post could rave: “Angelica Van Buren is a lady of rare accomplishments, very modest yet perfectly easy and graceful in her manners and free and vivacious in her conversation so that she is universally admired.” **June 2000.**

**Martin Van Buren in a photograph by Mathew B. Brady (1823-1896), c. 1855. Public Domain.** see- https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/269852

Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site, called “Springwood,” Hyde Park, New York (2000):

June 2000. We were the first ones there that morning to go on tour of the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site called Springwood in Hyde Park, New York. In this home and grounds Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945), 32nd president of the U.S., was born, lived his life as husband, father, and grandfather and, next to his wife Eleanor Roosevelt, is buried. The home witnessed many of the significant events of FDR’s life from his discovery, in 1921 at 39 years old, that he contracted polio as an adult and lost the full use of his legs thereafter and, in 1932, as the 50-year-old Democratic Governor of New York, was elected President of the United States as the country and world was in the throes of the Great Depression. In his presidency, which included the conducting of the massive U.S. involvement in World War II, Roosevelt would retreat to Springwood as he conducted the nation’s business, entertained, and enjoyed leisure time among family.

**June 2000. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) and Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) gravesite, Hyde Park, New York.**

**The Roosevelts.** “Franklin and Eleanor (FDR Bio, part 1)” by Tony Fischer Photography is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Manassas National Battlefield Park (established 1936), Prince William County, Virginia (2001):

June 2001. Manassas National Battlefield Park, VA. Monument to Brigadier General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson (1824-1863) commissioned by the Virginia Assembly in 1936 and dedicated in August 1940. It had been here on Henry Hill on July 21,1861, in the first months of the Civil War, that Jackson took a stand against the Union advance and where Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson acquired his nickname “Stonewall” from his men. 99% 6.82mb see – https://www.nps.gov/places/000/stonewall-jackson-monument.htm

Oak Grove Cemetery, Lexington, Virginia (2001):

June 2001. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson (1824-1863) gravesite, Oak Grove Cemetery, Lexington, Virginia. 75%. After the Confederate general’s eventual death following a “friendly fire” incident at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863, his body was taken to Richmond, Virginia, where it was placed in a casket and transported to Lexington, Virginia, where it lay in state at Virginia Military Institute. Before the Civil War, Jackson was a professor of Natural Philosophy (Sciences) and artillery tactics at VMI. He was funeralized at historic Lexington Presbyterian Church, Jackson’s parish, and buried in the family plot at Oak Grove Cemetery. Later his remains were disinterred and reburied beneath this statue. see- https://www.vmi.edu/archives/manuscripts/stonewall-jackson-resources/professor-jackson-at-vmi/ – retrieved February 22, 2024. (50)

**Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson (1824-1863). Public Domain.**

Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg, Pennslyvania (2006):

**April 2006. Brigadier General Gouverneur Kemble Warren, 1888, by Karl Gerhardt. Gettysburg National Military Park. Author’s photograph.**

UNITED STATES. My Art Photography: Gettysburg National Military Park, PA, 1888 bronze of Brigadier General Gouverneur Kemble Warren by Karl Gerhardt (1853-1940).

West Virginia State Capitol Building (1932), Charleston, West Virginia (2001):

June 2001. West Virginia State Capitol Building in Charleston, West Virginia, is on the Kanawha River. The Lincoln statue is by Fred Torrey (1884-1967) and was dedicated on the Capitol grounds in June 1974. It is known as “Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight.” The figure of a brooding and ethereal Lincoln is based on a famous poem by Springfield-Ill. poet Vachel Lindsay (1879-1931). Torrey was born in Fairmont, West Virginia, and attended The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he studied sculpture under Irish-born Charles J. Mulligan (1866-1916) who was head of the school’s sculpture department and apprenticed under sculptor Lorado Taft (1860-1936). Architect Cass Gilbert (1859-1934) designed the buff limestone Capitol Building that was dedicated in 1932. It houses the legislature and Governor’s offices. Gilbert’s other works include the Woolworth Building, the United States Supreme Court building, the state capitols of Minnesota and Arkansas, the Detroit Public Library, and the Saint Louis Art Museum and Public Library.

June 2001. The 293-foot height of the dome of the West Virginia Capitol Building in Charleston, West Virginia, is five feet taller than the dome of the United States Capitol. The dome is covered in copper and gold leaf. The dome was originally gilded by Mack Jenney and Tyler Company. see – https://generalservices.wv.gov/history-of-the-capitol/Pages/default.aspx – retrieved February 22, 2024.

National Mall, Washington, D.C. (2001):

**June 2001. On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. 75%**

Ford’s Theatre (1865), Washington, D.C. (2003):

October 2003. The first time I was in Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. was in the 1970’s. On Good Friday evening, April 14, 1865, the U.S. Civil War just ended, Lincoln was assassinated in the theatre’s presidential box while watching a comedy stage play, “Our American Cousin.” With him in the box was his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, Major Henry R. Rathbone and Clara Harris, Rathbone’s fiancée. With the play in progress, the assassin, the actor John Wilkes Booth, entered the box ((Lincoln famously does not have a bodyguard outside his door that evening) with a dagger and pistol and fired into the back of Lincoln’s head. Rathbone moved towards the shooter and was slashed in the arm by Booth’s dagger who then leapt onto the stage, uttering the Latin phrase: “Sic semper tyrannis.” In the leap down to the stage, the spur of Booth’s left boot got caught on the flag and he broke his leg on landing. Dragging himself to the theatre’s back door, 26-year-old Booth was able to flee on horseback. The bullet had entered at Lincoln’s left ear and lodged behind his right eye. Unconscious and barely breathing, the 16th U.S. president was carried across 10th Street to the Petersen House opposite the theater. Less than one mile from the White House, Cabinet members and military officers quickly gathered around the mortally wounded president where began a 9-hour vigil until at 7:22 a.m. on April 15, 1865, The Great Emancipator died. With Mary Todd Lincoln in shock and inconsolable, the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton (1818-1869), declared of President Lincoln: “Now he belongs to the ages.”

Thomas Circle (1792) and National City Christian Church (1930), Washington D.C. (2008):

June 2008. Thomas Circle and National City Christian Church (1930), Washington D.C. Thomas Circle is named for George Henry Thomas, a Union army general in the American Civil War. The equistrain statue of Thomas was dedicated in 1879.

John F. Kennedy Family House (1957), Georgetown, Washington, D.C. (2003):

October 2003. 3307 N Street, Georgetown, Washington, D.C. In June 1957 Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) bought this three story Federal-style house as a gift for his wife, Jackie, following the birth of their daughter, Caroline. John Jr. was also born while the Kennedys lived here. Jackie hosted teas in the house’s double living room after JFK’s 1958 Senate re-election campaign and during the 1960 presidential campaign. The front entrance became famous when President-elect Kennedy made regular announcements of national news such as cabinet appointments, including younger brother and campaign manager, Robert F. Kennedy as U.S. Attorney General. The house was sold when the Kennedys moved into the White House in 1961.

President-Elect John F. Kennedy and Chester Bowles emerge from a breakfast conference at Kennedy’s Georgetown home in Washington, on Nov. 29, 1960. Bowles was appointed Under Secretary of State and later was Kennedy and Johnson’s ambassador to India.

Carpenters’ Hall (1770-1774), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2001):

September 2001. Interior, Carpenters’ Hall (1770-1774), Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The two-story brick meeting hall was built for and is still privately owned by the Carpenters’ Company of the City and County of Philadelphia, the country’s oldest extant craft guild. The First Continental Congress met here from September 5 to October 26, 1774, including delegates from 12 of the 13 colonies, such as John Adams (1735-1826) and Samuel Adams (1722-1803) from Massachusetts and George Washington (1732-1799) and Patrick Henry (1736-1799) from Virginia. The First Continental Congress sent entreaties to King George III (1738-1820) to stop the Intolerable Acts. The Second Continental Congress began meeting in Philadelphia in May 1775 in Independence Hall. See – https://www.carpentershall.org/ – retrieved February 22, 2024

Beacon Hill, Boston (1989):

**July 1989. Branch Street, Boston, Massachusetts. 65%**

Old House at Peace field (Adams National Historical Park), Quincy, Massachusetts (1989):

**July 1989. John Adams Old House at Peacefield, 135 Adams Street, Quincy, Massachusetts. Home to four generations of the Adams family and the Stone Library. 70%.**

**John Q. Adams (1767-1848), 6th U.S. President. Portrait (detail) by Gilbert Stuart and Thomas Sully, 1828, Harvard University Portrait Collection, Public Domain.**

**John Adams (1735-1826), 2nd U.S. president and Abigail née Smith Adams (1765-1818). Public Domain.**

Union Oyster House, 1826, Boston, Massachusetts:

Exterior Ye Olde Union Oyster House, established 1826, Boston, MA. Everytime I visit Boston I come here and have been doing so since 1975. Located on the Freedom Trail near Faneuil Hall, Ye Olde Union Oyster House enjoys the unique distinction of being America’s oldest restaurant. The Boston fixture is housed in a Pre-Revolutionary War building and started serving food in 1826. It has been in continuous operation ever since, almost 200 years, with its stalls and oyster bar in their original positions where Massachusetts representative and U.S. Secretary of State Daniel Webster was a constant customer. “Ye Olde Oyster House” by ArthurBowes is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Did You Know That….

The Union Oyster House is the OLDEST restaurant in Boston and the OLDEST restaurant in continuous service in the U.S.

In 1742 the building housed importer Hopestill Capen’s fancy dress goods business, known as “At the Sign of the Cornfields.” For more than 250 years the building has stood sturdily on Union Street as a major local landmark.

In 1771 printer Isaiah Thomas published at this site his newspaper “The Massachusetts Spy,” the OLDEST such newspaper in the United States.

In 1775 Deputy Paymaster-General of the Continental Army Ebenezer Hancock used Capen’s dry goods store as headquarters for troops to receive their “war wages” in this official pay-station during the Revolutionary War. Hancock, the brother of John Hancock, lived at 10 Marshall Street just steps from what is now Union Oyster House in a red brick house built in 1767 and which John Hancock owned. For more on Ebenezer Hancock, see – https://www.bostonpreservation.org/news-item/tiny-story-ebenezer-hancock-house – retrieved July 12, 2025.

In 1796 Louis Philippe (1773-1850), the future King of the French (1830-1848), lived on the second floor of what is today the Union Oyster House. Exiled from his country, he earned his living by teaching French to Boston’s fashionable set.

In 1826 Capen’s dry goods store closed and Atwood and Bacon’s establishment opened. They installed the semi-circular oyster bar that still welcomes customers today. It is at the exact same oyster bar that Daniel Webster (1782-1852) was a constant customer. Webster had an illustrious political career as U.S. House member from Massachusetts and chairman of the Judiciary Committee (1823-1827), U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (1827-1841 and 1845-1850) and U.S. Secretary of State (1841-1843) under three presidents: William Henry Harrison (1841) and John Tyler (1841-1843) and Milliard Fillmore (1850-1852).

**Daniel Webster as a sitting U.S. senator, c. 1828, oil on canvas, Chester Harding (1792-1866), National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.**

September 1991. Union Oyster House (1826), **Oyster bar,** Boston MA. I was first in this Oyster bar in 1975 with my dad on a business trip – and have visited often since. It never gets old for me- the food is good and the ambiance terrific. The Union Oyster House building was built in 1704. It is just steps from the Ebenezer Hancock House built in 1767. In 1742 the building housed importer Hopestill Capen’s fancy dress goods business, known as “At the Sign of the Cornfields.” In 1771 printer Isaiah Thomas published his newspaper, “The Massachusetts Spy,” here. During the Revolutionary War Deputy Paymaster-General of the Continental Army, neighbor Ebenezer Hancock, used Capen’s dry goods store in 1775 as headquarters for troops to receive their “war wages” in this official pay-station. In 1826 Capen’s dry goods store closed and Atwood and Bacon’s establishment opened. They were the ones who installed the semi-circular oyster bar with the original bar in use today installed nearly 200 years ago. This is the same first-floor oyster bar where Daniel Webster (1782-1852) was a constant customer. Webster had an illustrious political career as U.S. House member from Massachusetts and chairman of the Judiciary Committee (1823-1827). He was U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (1827-1841 and 1845-1850) and U.S. Secretary of State under three presidents. When the wait for a table is long the oyster bar is a good alternative for a quick repast. The restaurant also dedicated JFK’s favorite booth in the upstairs dining room when the Kennedys patronized Boston’s – and one of America’s – oldest continuously operated eateries.70%. see – https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/massachusetts/articles/a-brief-history-of-union-oyster-house-americas-oldest-operating-restaurant – retrieved February 24, 2024.

**September 1991. Me sitting on the other side of the oyster bar, Union Oyster House (1826), Boston MA. 4.33mb**

**August 2005. With Debbie at Union Oyster House (1826), Boston, MA. This was one of many visits together through the years.**

John F. Kennedy Library, Columbia Point, Boston, Massachusetts (1989):

**July 1989. John F. Kennedy Library, Columbia Point, Boston, MA.**

BLOG JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY (May 29, 1917–November 22, 1963), 35th U.S. PRESIDENT.

Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts (1989):

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) gravesite, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Mass. Emerson has been called “the most iconoclastic thinker in nineteenth century America” (Geary’s Guide to the World’s Great Aphorists, p. 83). A minister by inkling and training, Emerson graduated from Harvard University in 1821 and became an ordained minister in 1829. He abandoned traditional Christianity and writing sermons after his first wife’s death in 1831 and, traveling to England and back, embraced Transcendentalism and writing essays exploring the nature of life and death. These he read aloud to enthusiastic audiences around the country. Emerson published his first book, Nature, in 1836 and a second and third volume of essays in 1841 and 1844. From 1842 to 1844, Emerson was editor of The Dial, a Transcendentalist journal. During his lifetime, Emerson gave thousands of lectures upsetting more than a few with his views on, for example, Native American policy (he wrote against Cherokee removal in the 1830’s) and slavery (he condemned the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and supported abolitionist political candidates in New England).

**Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1883).** Public Domain.

July 1989. Henry D. Thoreau (1817-1862) gravesite, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Mass. Thoreau, a naturalist and Transcendentalist writer, moved into his one-room cabin on Walden Pond in 1845. Thoreau had a close relationship with fellow Transcendentalist philosopher and writer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, who is also buried in this cemetery. Thoreau’s essay Civil Disobedience published in 1849 argued in favor of citizen disobedience against an unjust state.

**Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862).** Public Domain.

**Lexington Minuteman statue by H.H. Kitson, unveiled April 19, 1900.**

**Old Manse (1770), Concord, MA. While living at the Old Manse in the mid 1830’s, Ralph Waldo Emerson proposed to his future wife, Lydia Jackson (1802-1892).**

**Hancock-Clarke House (1738), Lexington, MA. olonial leaders John Hancock (1737-1793) and Samuel Adams (1722-1803) were both staying before the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.**

**The Minute Man statue of 1875 by Daniel Chester French (1850-1931). The Minute Man statue near North Bridge in Corcord was unveiled on April 19, 1875.**

**Buckman Tavern, lexington, MA. On April 19, 1775, local American militiamen emerged from here to Lexington common and formed two rows to face arriving British troops.**

250th Anniversary: The beginning of the American War for Independence started at the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, on the morning of April 19, 1775.

Long Trail, Middlebury, Vermont (1992):

June 1992. Middlebury, Vermont (Long Trail). **Built between 1910 and 1930 by the Green Mountain Club**, the Long Trail **at 275 miles in length** is the oldest long-distance trail in the U.S. 4.32 mb Scan_20250110 (2) (1)

U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C. (1975):

July 1975. U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. Author with longtime Sen. Edmund Muskie of Maine. Muskie was then-Senate Budget Committee chair. On that trip I also met Sen. Ted Kennedy who happened to sit right next to me as he gave his presentation in a Senate conference room to a roomful of senators and others. I was with my Dad who had business on the Hill. I wasn’t kidding either when I said I had one of those mid 1970’s disco shirts!

Thomas Jefferson Memorial (dedicated April 1943), Washington, D.C. (2003):

**October 2003. Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C.**

US Marine Corps War Memorial (dedicated November 1954), near Arlington National Cemetery, Washington, D.C. (2003):

October 2003. US Marine Corps War Memorial, Washington, D.C. 784mb. The centerpiece of the memorial is a colossal sculpture group by Felix Weihs de Weldon (1907-2003) depicting the six Marines who raised the second and larger of two U.S. flags atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945. The memorial was designed by Horace Whittier Peaslee, Jr. (1884-1959).

October 2003. US Marine Corps War Memorial, Washington, D.C. 883mb. The image of the memorial was based on an iconic AP photograph by Joe Rosenthal (1911-2006) taken on February 23, 1945 of the raising of the U.S. flag at the top of Mount Suribachi at the start of the 5-week Battle of Iwo Jima (February 19- March 26, 1945). The photograph was flashed around the world for the first time on Sunday, February 25, 1945, and instantly became a symbol of the American war effort in the Pacific Theatre during World War II.

80th Anniversary: Battle of Iwo Jima (Feb. 19-Mar. 26, 1945): American victory in the Pacific Theater which cost dearly and whose heroism was captured in photographs and color films, rallied a war-weary homefront to renewed resolve to finish the job in the last months of World War II.

October 2003. US Marine Corps War Memorial, Washington, D.C. 524mb. The six marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima have all been identified and include a sergeant, 2 corporals, and 3 privates first class. Unveiled in November 1954, the Marine Corps War Memorial was dedicated to all Marines who have given their lives in the defense of the U.S. since 1775. (70)

Baltimore, Maryland (2005):

**August 2005. Seawall, Baltimore, Maryland.**

Mary Todd House (c. 1803). Lexington, Kentucky (2004):

April 2004. Todd House. Lexington, Kentucky. Between 1832 and 1839 this was the home of Mary Todd (Lincoln) (1818-1882) as a teenager. Later, when Mary Todd married Abraham Lincoln, he and their children came to visit the in-laws here. The house was built between in the first decade of the 19th century between 1803 and 1806 or thereabouts, and was an inn and tavern until it was bought by Mary Todd’s father.

Mary Todd Lincoln in 1846. Public Domain. Mary Todd was 23 years old when she married 33-year-old Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois on November 4, 1842. Their four sons were all born in Springfield. see – https://www.mtlhouse.org/timeline – retrieved January 28, 2025.

Schaller’s Pump (1881-2017), Bridgeport, Chicago, Illinois (1996):

August 1996. Schaller’s Pump at 3714 South Halsted Street in the Bridgeport neighborhood in Chicago opened in 1881. In 2017, after 136 years in business, the restaurant-bar closed. Known into the 1960’s simply as The Pump, the bar also offered sit-down family dinners. Situated across the street from the Democratic 11th Ward headquarters of Bridgeport’s Chicago mayors, including Ed Kelly (1933–47), Martin Kennelly (1947–55), Richard J. Daley (1955–76), Michael Bilandic (1976-79), and Richard M. Daley (1989-2011), the bar hosted numerous political and Chicago White Sox rallies throughout the decades of Chicago history.

**August 1996. Schaller’s Pump, Bridgeport, Chicago opened in 1881 and closed in 2017.**

James A. Garfield National Historic Site (1876), Mentor, Ohio (2002):

June 2002. James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, Ohio. A professional teacher, Garfield’s natural curiosity and love for education and reading moved him out of poverty and eventually into the White House as the 20th President of the United States (1881).

June 2002. The front porch of the James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, Ohio. Called “Lawnfield” Garfield bought the house in 1876 and conducted his 1880 presidential campaign from here.

President Garfield and daughter. Four months into his term, Garfield was shot by a deranged office-seeker in Washington, D.C. at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station which stood on the site of today’s National Gallery of Art. After lingering for over two months, the 49-year-old Garfield succumbed to his wounds on September 19, 1881, leaving behind a wife and 5 children. Public domain.

Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum Chapel, Abilene, Kansas (2006):

May 2006. Author at Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum Chapel, Abilene, Kansas. Gravesite of Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) and Mamie Doud Eisenhower (1896-1979). An Eisenhower child who died in youth is also buried here. Eisenhower was 34^th U.S. President and, during World War II, U.S. General of the Army who liberated Europe and directed the campaign from D-Day to the surrender of Germany. After the war, he was appointed NATO’s first Supreme Commander. As president he ended the Korean War and oversaw a strong and expanding domestic economy, with little inflation and low unemployment. He expanded Social Security and increased the minimum wage. The Interstate Highway System and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) were created under Eisenhower. In 1959, Alaska and Hawaii became the 49th and 50th states.

Mamie and Dwight Eisenhower in 1916, the year they were married. The Doud family had a winter home in San Antonio, Texas. After completing her education at Miss Wolcott’s finishing school, Mamie, who was born and grew up in Iowa, met Dwight Eisenhower in San Antonio in October 1915. As a new 2nd Lieutenant, Ike had just graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York and was serving in his first assignment in Texas. They were married in July 1916 at her father’s home in Denver. Public Domain.

Mormon Temple (dedicated 2002), Nauvoo, Illinois (2006):

May 2006. Mormon Temple, Nauvoo Illinois. This rebuilt temple dedicated in 2002 has an attached tower with a statue of the angel Moroni atop blowing a horn. The temple’s architecture was designed to replicate the original Nauvoo Temple, which was designed by Joseph Smith (1805-1944), the founder of Mormonism.

The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum (1957) and Harry S. Truman National Historic Site (1919), Independence, Missouri (2006):

May 2006. The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum is the final resting place of the 33rd U.S. President and his wife Bess. It is located in Independence, Missouri. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Medicare Act here on July 30, 1965.

**Harry S Truman and Bess Wallace on their wedding day, June 28, 1919. Married 53 years, Truman famously called his wife, “The Boss.”**

**May 2006. Deb and me in the Truman Library, Independence, Missouri.** (80)

May 2006. Harry Truman, 33rd President of the United States, lived in this home from his marriage to Bess Wallace in June 1919 until his death at 88 years old in December 1972. It is located at 219 Delaware Street in Independence, Missouri. The house dates from 1867 to 1885 and was Bess Truman’s mother’s parents’ house built by George Porterfield Gates.

Rogue National Wild and Scenic River, Oregon (1992):

**June 1992. Rogue River (Copper Canyon), Agness OR**

Port Orford, Oregon (1991):

July 1991. Port Orford, Oregon. The Port Orford area was inhabited by Kwatami Tututni (Sixes band). In 1543 Spanish explorer Bartolomé Ferrelo (1499-1550) mapped Cape Blanco and it remained the farthest north point on the coastal map until 1778. When British Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver (1757-1798) sighted land in 1792 he named it Port Orford. In June 1851 Captain William Tichenor in command of the Seagull pulled into Port Orford and left behind nine men who established a U.S. Army fort. see- https://ndnhistoryresearch.com/2019/03/16/battle-rock-the-first-colonization-on-the-southern-oregon-coast/ – retrieved February 24, 2024.

Cape Perpetua, Oregon (1992):

June 1992. At its highest point, Cape Perpetua rises to over 800 feet (244 m) above sea level. From its crest, one can see for miles (113 km) along the Oregon coastline and out to sea. It was named by British naval officer, map-maker and explorer Captain Cook (1728-1779) during his Third Voyage in March 1778.

Portrait of Captain James Cook, 1775-1776, by Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland (1735-1811), oil on canvas, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. In 1772, Cook sailed for the second time to the fringes of the Antarctic and the Pacific, returning to England in 1775. He sat for this portrait, commissioned by Sir Joseph Banks, “for a few hours before dinner” on May 25, 1776 and may have before he left London on June 24, 1776 for his third voyage, never to return. The portrait is attested to be a true likeness by the surgeon who sailed with Cook on two voyages. Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, the artist, had worked with Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787) in Rome. When he returned to London in 1765 he began a successful career as a portrait and history painter. In 1768, Dance joined a group of artists who successfully petitioned George III to establish that year the Royal Academy. https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-14102 – retrieved January 6, 2025. Artist William Hodges’ portrait of Captain Cook – https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-15640

Bandon, Oregon (1992):

**June 1992. Bandon OR. Bandon is a city in Coos County, Oregon. It was named by George Bennet, an Irish peer, who settled nearby in 1873 and named the town after Bandon in Ireland, his hometown. 65%**

Emily Dickinson Homestead (1813) & Burial Site (1886), Amherst, Massachusetts (2005):

August 2005. Emily Dickinson Gravesite, West Cemetery, Amherst, Massachusetts. 2.08 mb. Since I was a kid I was interested in the life and work of this reclusive 19th century New England poet. We had the chance to visit Amherst, Massachusetts and toured both the Dickinson Homestead and the Evergreens, a house built next door in 1856 for the poet’s brother, Austin Dickinson and his new bride. Emily Dickinson was born in the Amherst homestead in 1830. Her grandfather built the house in 1813 and later founded Amherst College in 1821. Her poems are free-style, unconventional and idiosyncratic. Written in her upper floor bedroom, she published very little of her work in her lifetime. It was not until after her death in 1886 that Dickinson’s younger sister, Lavinia (who was, like Emily, a spinster), discovered Emily’s cache of poems in her desk drawer and the opus became public. In 1890 the first collection of her poems was published. A complete collection of her poetry first became available in 1955 when scholar Thomas H. Johnson published *The Poems of Emily Dickinson*, a classic of American literature. Though just in her early 50’s, Dickinson’s domestic world was upended in the early 1880’s following a spate of family member deaths – also buried in West Cemetery – and adversely affected her health.

**American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) in an 1847 daguerreotype.** “Emily Dickinson daguerreotype 1847” by Amherst College Archives is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.

The Soul selects her own Society —
Then — shuts the Door — see – https://poets.org/poem/soul-selects-her-own-society-303 – retrieved January 7, 2025.

Dickinson Homestead, Amherst, Massachusetts. Built in 1813, Emily Dickinson was born in this house in December 1830. She and her older brother Austin and younger sister Lavinia lived here until 1840 when her father bought another house in town. In 1855 they repurchased this house and lived in it again. It was in her adult years at the Homestead that Emily Dickinson began to write poetry in earnest. Her most productive period was from 1858 to 1865. After Emily’s death in 1886 at 55 years old, Lavinia lived on at the Homestead until her death in 1899. see- https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/the-museum/our-site/the-homestead/ – retrieved January 7, 2025. PHOTO: “Emily Dickinson Museum – Amherst” by Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.

Annapolis, Maryland (2008):

**August 2008. Annapolis, Maryland. 4.09mb**

John Marshall House (1790), Richmond, Virginia (2001):

**June 2001. John Marshall House, Richmond, Virginia.** (85)

Asher Brown Durand (American, Jefferson, New Jersey 1796–1886 Maplewood, New Jersey)
Chief Justice John Marshall, 1833
American, Engraving; third state of five; image: 4 5/8 x 3 3/4 in. (11.7 x 9.5 cm) plate: 9 5/16 x 6 7/16 in. (23.6 x 16.3 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Mrs. Frederic F. Durand, 1930 (30.15.33) http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/394421 – retrieved February 19, 2025.

St. John’s Church (1741), Richmond, Virginia (2001):

Currier & Ives print, 1870, “Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death!” depicts Patrick Henry in that stirring speech on March 23, 1775. It took place in the first days of the Second Virginia Convention which was held not in the majestic House of Burgesses in Williamsburg but in St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia. This was not Patrick Henry’s first memorable phrase in defense of American liberty and self-rule. Ten years earlier, before the Virginia House of Burgesses in Williamsburg, Virginia, Patrick Henry railed against The Stamp Act of 1765. That act of the British Parliament asserted royal authority over the American colonies by monitoring and taxing its documents. Not only railing against the act, Patrick Henry proposed resolutions to combat it. These included declaring American **colonists had the same rights and privileges as the British** and, more controversial, **denied the right of any other body but the General Assembly to tax Virginians. Further, one resolution branded anyone as an enemy of the colony who stated that Parliament had that right to tax.** When Patrick Henry stood to deliver his speech on these resolutions, the chamber erupted throughout with cries of “treason!” Thomas Jefferson, still studying at the College of William and Mary, was with John Tyler, Sr. (father of future President Tyler) watching the session. Tyler, Sr. said it was one of “the trying moments which is decisive of character” and both men recalled that Patrick Henry stood his ground and did not waver. Rather, Patrick Henry declared to his compatriots: “If this be treason, make the most of it!” The General Assembly adopted some of the resolutions, including those that affirmed colonists equal rights and privileges to the British and that there is no taxation without representation. But they did not pass resolutions that no other body but the General Assembly can tax Virginians or a branding of anyone as an enemy of the colony who stated Parliament had the right to tax. Thomas Jefferson recalled that Patrick Henry’s oratory was splendid and it was indeed ahead of its time as it foresaw the American Revolution with its Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 and adoption of a written Constitution on March 4, 1789 that remains the framework of U.S. government today.

June 2001. St. John’s Church, 2401 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia. It was here, on March 23, 1775, that Patrick Henry (1736-1799) rose to speak the immortal words: “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death.” Built in 1741 St. John Episcopal Church is the oldest in Richmond. St. John’s was the site of the Second Virginia Convention that convened on March 20, 1775. It was from here that Virginia delegates elected delegates to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, including Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) and Richard Henry Lee (1732-1794). At 39 years old Patrick Henry was the delegate who proposed arming the Virginia militia in defense against the British delivering a speech to rally support for the measure that included the now-famous phrase. A committee was established “to prepare a plan for the embodying arming and disciplining such a number of men as may be sufficient for that purpose” which contributed to the origins of the Continental Army. The Virginia defense committee included George Washington (1732-1799), Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, and Benjamin Harrison V (1726-1791), among others. When we visited, a funny story occurred (to me anyway) with the woman giving the tour who stands out front. At one point she asked me if I was familiar with the Byrds of Virginia. Not knowing she meant the prominent family name, I answered her with some certainty as I had just that day visited the Virginia Museum of History & Culture: “It’s the Northern Cardinal,” I replied, referring to the longtime state bird. She did not look amused, if a little surprised, and clarified to me exactly who she was talking about.

William Howard Taft National Historic Site (Birthplace, 1857), Cincinnati, Ohio (2005):

June 2005. William Howard Taft National Historic Site, 2038 Auburn Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio. The Greek Revival house was built in 1845. It was the birthplace and childhood home of the 27th U.S. president (1909-1913) and 10th Chief Justice of the United States (1921-1930). Taft was born on September 15, 1857, and grew up in this two-story brick home in the Mount Auburn Historic District. From 1874 to 1878 Taft attended Yale University where he graduated second in his class of 132 students. He returned to Ohio to attend the University of Cincinnati Law School while working part time as a courthouse reporter for the Cincinnati Commercial. Taft passed his bar exams in May 1880. Due to his proudly progressive father’s political connections, Taft worked as assistant prosecutor of Hamilton County, Ohio, in 1881 and as a lawyer until he was appointed a judge of the Cincinnati Superior Court in 1887. In the meantime, he married politically ambitious Helen “Nellie” Herron (1861-1943) in 1886. Her father had been a law partner of President Rutherford B. Hayes and Nellie had already visited the White House and liked what she saw. In Cincinnati the Taft’s lived in a house at 1763 East McMillan Street. In 1890 the five-foot-eleven-inch 340-pound Taft was appointed 6th U.S. Solicitor General which was the third highest position in the Department of Justice. Living in Washington D.C Taft got to know Theodore Roosevelt who tried to get Taft an appointment as assistant Secretary of the Navy under William McKinley. Taft, who loved the law above everything else, took a job as judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit with jurisdiction over Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee. From 1896 to 1900, while on the court, Taft also served as a law professor and dean of the University of Cincinnati Law School. Taft may have preferred a seat on the Supreme Court but President McKinley appointed him Governor-General of the Philippines (1900-1903) where Taft established a civilian government that drafted and executed laws, a constitution, the administration, and civil service bureaucracy. It was a big job on the other side of the world and Taft was at first reluctant to accept, but Republican leaders promised him it was an important stepping stone to higher office. Once Taft became involved in the job in the Philippines, he wanted to complete the task and even refused multiple offers from President Roosevelt of a Supreme Court appointment. Taft’s reputation among the Filipinos was one of even-handed and fair governance (the Philippines would achieve Taft’s ultimate objective of self-rule and independence only in 1946). In 1904 Taft accepted T.R.’s offer to become the 42nd United States Secretary of War (1904-1908). In the Cabinet, Taft became Roosevelt’s chief agent, confidant, and troubleshooter in foreign affairs. Taft supervised the construction of the Panama Canal and made many trips around the world for the President. Taft supervised affairs in the Philippines and functioned as the provisional governor of Cuba. In 1908 in Chicago Taft, among a field of several candidates, was nominated for president by the Republicans on the first ballot with 702 votes (only 491 votes were needed to win). In the general election Taft won both the popular and electoral votes. As president Taft continued the trust-busting reforms of his predecessor though he stumbled on tariff reform and alienated T.R. which split the Republican Party. After losing the election of 1912 to Democrat Woodrow Wilson, Taft returned to Yale to teach law from 1913 to 1918. In 1918, during World War I, ex-president Taft returned to Washington, DC, to be co-chair of the National War Labor Board and supported Wilson’s foreign policy including U.S. participation in the League of Nations. In 1919 Taft returned to his teaching post at Yale until his appointment as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1921. He wrote 253 opinions, most of which put constraints on government, mainly Congressional, power. Taft died on March 8, 1930 at 72 years old. William Howard Taft became the first president and first Supreme Court Justice to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Supreme Court of the United States – Taft Court – March 1925 to February 1930. Seated in the front row are justices James Clark McReynolds (Woodrow Wilson – Wilson’s AG, 1914-1946), Oliver Wendell Holmes (T.R. – Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1902-1932), William Howard Taft (Warren Harding, 1921-1930), Willis Van Devanter (Taft – Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 1911-1937) and Louis Brandeis (Wilson – “the people’s lawyer,” 1916-1939). Standing are justices Edward Terry Sanford (Harding – Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, 1923-1930), George Sutherland (Harding – Republican senator Utah, 1922-retired, 1938), Pierce Butler (Harding – railroad lawyer, 1923-1939), and Harlan F. Stone (Calvin Coolidge- Coolidge’s AG, 1925-1946). Public Domain.

Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, California (1992):

June 1992. Alcatraz Island. Alcatraz Island measures 1700 feet by 590 feet and covers 12 acres. It rises 135 feet from the bay with some drops of 75 feet. Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary opened in 1934 and closed in 1963. Most of the prisoners were notorious hard-core bank robbers and murderers.

**June 1992. Alcatraz Island. Cells of Byron W. Warren (145) and Andrew Ballew (147).** see – https://www.archives.gov/san-francisco/finding-aids/alcatraz-alpha – retrieved May 6, 2025.

**June 1992. Alcatraz Island. Alcatraz Island is 1¼ coppy sea miles from the mainland. Alcatraz is Spanish for pelicans or gannets.**

Al Capone, convicted of tax evasion, served 5 years (1934-1939) on Alcatraz. “Machine Gun” Kelly, who married fellow criminal Kathryn Thorne, was convicted of kidnapping and served 17 years (1934-1951) where he was known as “pop.” Alvin “Creepy” Karpis, the brains behind the Ma Barker gang, served 26 years (1936-1962) on Alcatraz, convicted of kidnapping. Along with John Dillinger and “Pretty Boy” Floyd, “Creepy” Karpis was the F.B.I.’s Public Enemy No. 1. The “Birdman of Alcatraz,” Robert Franklin Stroud, portrayed by Burt Lancaster in the 1962 film, was a murderer who served 17 years on Alcatraz (1942-1959). Political terrorists such as Rafael Cancel Miranda, whose Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, attempted to assassinate President Truman and fired 30 shots in an attack on the U.S. Capitol that wounded five Congressmen was imprisoned on Alcatraz as was Morton Sobell, Communist Party USA member, who spied on and relayed information about the Manhattan Project to the Rosenbergs (an allegation Sobell denied). Mickey Cohen was convicted of tax evasion and served two years (1961-1963) at Alcatraz which he called “a crumbling dungeon.” Other inmates included Henri Young convicted of bank robbery and murder; Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson, a notorious Harlem heroin drug trade boss; and bank robbers Frank Morris, and Clarence and John Anglin, who together planned their escape from Alcatraz in 1962 and were never captured or found.

Korean War Veterans National Memorial (1995), Washington, D.C. (2001):

June 2001. Washington, D.C. Korean War Veterans National Memorial. Dedicated in 1995. the triangular design by Cooper-Lecky Architects includes 19 larger-than-life stainless-steel statues representing all four branches of the U.S. military – Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps – in action through a natural landscape. Each statue weighs about one-half ton. A 164-foot granite wall of remembrance follows along one side of the statuary. Sandblasted on this wall is thousands of photographs of soldiers and frontline personnel and carries the phrase “FREEDOM IS NOT FREE” inscribed along it. A shorter U.N. wall on the opposite side lists the countries that provided troops, medical support, or supplies to help South Korea. The memorial leads to a tranquil pool of remembrance. The Korean War resulted in 33,686 U.S. battle deaths between 1950 and 1953. The memorial is located on the National Mall in Washington, DC, just south of the Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool. see – https://bensguide.gpo.gov/j-korean-war-vets-memorial – retrieved May 25, 2025

McKinley National Memorial (completed 1907), Canton, Ohio (2001):

June 2001. McKinley National Memorial, Canton, Ohio. William McKinley (1843-1901) was the 25th president of the United States from 1897 until his death by assassination on September 14, 1901. McKinley was the last Civil War veteran to serve as president. Construction of the memorial began on June 6, 1905 and completed in September 1907 President McKinley and his beloved wife Ida rest in the monument on an altar in the center of the rotunda in a pair of marble sarcophagi. Their young daughters rest in the wall directly behind them. The interior dome measures 50 feet in diameter and is 77 feet from the floor to the highest point. see – https://mckinleymuseum.org/mckinley-national-memorial/ – retrieved May 25, 2025.

President William McKinley in 1900. Before his successful “front porch” campaign in Canton, Ohio, for president in 1896, McKinley was a three-term Republican member of the U.S. House and the Governor of Ohio. After Abraham Lincoln in 1865 and James Garfield in 1881, McKinley was the third U.S. president to be felled by an assassin’s bullet in 1901. McKinley was the last president to be assassinated until John F. Kennedy in 1963. Public Domain.

Harding Tomb (dedicated 1931), Marion Ohio (2001):

June 2001. Visiting Harding Tomb in Marion, Ohio. The final resting place of Warren G. Harding (1865-1923), 29th President of the United States (1921-1923) and First Lady Florence Kling Harding (1860-1924) is located in Marion Cemetery. Following President Harding’s death on Aug. 2, 1923, and funeral, his body was placed in the Receiving Vault in Marion Cemetery until a memorial was built. Florence died in 1924, and her body was also placed in the vault. The Hardings were moved to the memorial in December 1927. In 1931 President Herbert Hoover officially dedicated the memorial. **60%** see – https://hardingpresidentialsites.org/harding-memorial/ – retrieved August 10, 2025.

Warren G. Harding in 1920 by Harris & Ewing. Public Domain. Elected in 1920 after World War I, Harding’s campaign promoted “Return to Normalcy.” Harding, who had movie star good looks and a sonorous voice, served from 1921 until his death in August 1923. The Republican president was popular. After Harding died at 57 years old, a number of scandals emerged, including Teapot Dome, which turned public opinion against his presidency.

Valley Forge Historical Park (1777), Valley Forge, Pennsylvania (2001):

June 2001. Valley Forge Historical Park, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. During the American Revolutionary War, the Continental Army encamped at Valley Forge between December 1777 and June 1778. This stone house erected between 1757 and 1773 by the family of Isaac Potts served as General George Washington’s headquarters. After Washington’s defeat to the British in the Battle of Brandywine in September 1777, the Second Continental Congress was forced to flee Philadelphia as Washington’s army of 12,000 soldiers and others withdrew near to the city at the strategic location of Valley Forge chosen by Washington. The army’s third winter encampment was marked by disruptions in the supply line. On December 23, 1777 Washington wrote the President of the Continental Congress telling him how his commanders barely quelled a “dangerous mutiny” because of the lack of provisions, such as food and clothing. Washington was well aware of these insufficient material conditions leading to malnutrition and disease that resulted in the deaths of 2,000 soldiers (more than 15%) during the encampment. Washington warned Congress: “Unless some great and capital change suddenly takes place in that [supply] line, this Army must inevitably be reduced to one or other of these three things, Starve, dissolve, or disperse, in order to obtain subsistence in the best manner they can.” While a lowpoint for the Continental Army, Washington’s communications resulted in a Congressional delegation visiting Valley Forge in late January 1778 which led to the establishment of the office of Quartermaster General in March 1778 with Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene appointed to head that vital administrative post.

**The March to Valley Forge. 1777. By William Trego, 1883.** **Museum of the American Revolution**, **Philadelphia**.

The John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site (Birthplace, 1917), Brookline, Massachusetts (2005):

August 2005. The John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb adjacent to Boston, is the birthplace and childhood home of President John F. Kennedy. The house on Beals Street was purchased by Kennedy’s father, Joseph Patrick Kennedy in August 1914 in anticipation of his marriage to Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald in October 1914. JFK’s father was a shrewd, opportunistic and driven bank president and businessman who started to make his fortune by building warships and transports in Quincy’ shipyards in World War I. Joe Kennedy was an affectionate father who instilled a spirited sense of competition in the Kennedy children starting in their years in Brookline.

August 2005. The John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site in Brookline, Massachusetts. John Kennedy was born in this upstairs master bedroom on May 29, 1917. The family lived here until 1920 when they moved a 5-minute walk away to a larger home on Abbottsford where they lived until 1927. Then the Kennedys moved to New York. Rose Fitzgerald, who was the daughter of Boston’s first American-born Irish mayor, had seven of her nine children in Brookline and was reluctant to leave. Joe’s father was a saloonkeeper and politician. While Joe instilled the competitive spirit in to his children, Rose, who as a young woman studied in Europe, taught her children an appreciation of the arts: music, painting, and history. A deeply religious person she would take her young children on walks with the family dog in tow, as they went to the weekday market and afterward to the church so they would know that their faith was not restricted to Sunday. After JFK’s assassination in 1963, Rose Kennedy established this house as a gift to the American people so that, as she said, “Future generations will be able to visit it and see how people lived in 1917 and thus get a better appreciation of the history of this wonderful country.” see – https://www.nps.gov/jofi/index.htm – retrieved May 29, 2025.

Providence (1636), Rhode Island (2005):

August 2005. Providence, Rhode Island. With Roger Williams (1603-1683), religious leader who founded the state of Rhode Island in 1636 and advocated for the separation of church and state in colonial America. We visited Brown University (founded 1764) and The First Baptist Meetinghous founded by Roger Williams in The First Baptist Meetinghouse (built 1775), the oldest Baptist church in the U.S. The church was founded in 1638 by Roger Williams.

Gunston Hall (1750‘s), Mason Neck, Virginia (2007):

June 2007, Gunston Hall in Mason Neck, Virginia, is the historic estate of Founding Father George Mason (1725-1792) built near the Potomac between 1755 and 1759. George Mason was the primary author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights in 1776 and the Virginia Constitution. Mason was a proponent of limiting government tyranny and protecting citizens’ rights. In 1776 fellow Virginian Thomas Jefferson paid homage to Mason by incorporating his ideas and language from the Virginia Declaration of Rights into the Declaration of Independence. George Mason was a leader in the constitutional convention in 1787 and its ratification debates. He declined to sign the Constitution without a Bill of Rights which fellow Virginian James Madison introduced in the First Congress in 1789 and that were ratified in 1791. In addition to being a shrewd political thinker and businessman, Mason was a family man and a slaveowner. George Mason inherited 35 people from his father’s estate and ultimately enslaved at least 300 people, many of whom lived on this property on Mason Neck. His will did not manumit, or bequeath freedom to, any of the people Mason kept in slavery though Mason’s writings reveal his intense dislike of the institution of slavery including, in 1774, his support to end the slave trade. The Mason family owned the mansion until 1867. In 1912 it was purchased by a Marshall Field & Company executive whose wife was a member of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America. The couple restored the mansion to its original plan and gifted it to the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1949 such that it would be administered by the Colonial Dames. The Mason family came to Virginia in the mid-17th century from Gunstone (and thus the Hall’s name) in South Staffordshire. Like many others in that area of England near Birmingham the Masons supported the Crown during the 1642-1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. When the Royalists were defeated, the Masons emigrated to Virginia. see – https://gunstonhall.org/visit/guide/ – retrieved June 7, 2025.

**George Mason (1725-1792) Founding Father of the Bill of Rights, 1750.** Public Domain.

Hancock Warehouse and Wharf, 1740s, York, Maine (1989):

July 1989. York, Maine. According to the Old York Historical Society, Hancock Warehouse and Wharf is an important historical building in the town. It was built in the 1740s and is the last remaining commercial building on the York River from the Colonial period and the oldest known commercial structures in the state of Maine. The York River reached a maritime and commercial zenith in 1810 when the town had 3,700 registered shipping tonnage. This prosperity afterwards faded away so that by 1840 the town had less than 1000 registered shipping tonnage. By 1880 the York River as a maritime hub was a distant memory. The railroads were the main culprit for the decline. There was at first a commercial appetite for finished goods but over time that changed focus to bulk materials. Massachusetts politician John Hancock owned this warehouse as well as the adjacent wharf and store as part of his extensive merchant empire that included warehouses up and down the Maine coast. It warehoused goods being shipped between York and the West Indies, and around the world. The John Hancock Warehouse has been on National Register of Historic Places since December 2, 1969. Located on its original foundations at 136 Lindsay Street in York, Maine, the warehouse is a short distance from Sewall Bridge built over the York River in 1761 (the same bridge structure was in use until 1934 and since rebuilt). Though it is not documented whether Hancock ever visited the warehouse it is likely he did as an active businessman. In 1791 it is known that Hancock visited York to see his longtime friend (and former Loyalist) York-native Jonathan Sayward (1713-1797) who lived a 15-minute walk to the warehouse. See – https://oldyork.org/historic-buildings-and-properties/ and https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/local/2017/07/18/the-legacy-jonathan-sayward-presented/20134306007/ and https://www.maine.gov/dot/programs-services/bridges/other-bridges/sewalls-bridge and https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g40989-d107202-Reviews-John_Hancock_Wharf_Warehouse-York_Maine.html#/media/107202/?albumid=-160&type=ALL_INCLUDING_RESTRICTED&category=-160 – retrieved July 20, 2025. **2.85mb**

**Jonathan Sayward (1713-1797), c. 1760. Leading entrepreneur, civic leader, and Loyalist, today the Sayward-Wheeler House in York, Maine, is one of the best-preserved colonial interiors in the country,**

John Hancock (1736-1793) by John Singleton Copley, c. 1770. John Hancock was, **as President of the Continental Congress**, the first signer of the Declaration of Independence, a prominent merchant, and Governor of Massachsetts.

Beetle Bailey (1992), bronze, University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri (2006):

May 2006. September 4, 2025 marked the 75th anniversary of the comic strip Beetle Bailey by Mort Walker. The life-sized bronze sculpture of Beetle Bailey known as “Beetle’s Booth” was designed by Mort Walker (with his son Neal) and unveiled at Walker’s alma mater, University of Missouri, in Columbia, on October 23, 1992. The sculpture is placed next to the site that was the original inspiration for the comic strip, a modest burger joint called “The Shack.” Though the strip’s characters were based on Walker’s Mizzou frat brothers, “The Shack,” which disappeared in the 1980’s, was first mentioned by name in Walker’s comic strip on September 14, 1950. This “participation” sculpture cost $40,000 (about $92,000 today) and depicts slacker Beetle Bailey sitting in his booth behind a table at “The Shack.” https://muarchives.missouri.edu/beetle-two.html and https://muarchives.missouri.edu/beetle-eight.html – retrieved September 4, 2025.

The American comic strip Beetle Bailey was first published September 4, 1950. Created by Mort Walker (1923-2018), he drew the strip for 67 years until a year before his death. The strip continues today with it written and drawn by his sons, Brian and Greg Walker, with Neal Walker also involved in the writing process. The strip’s characters originated among Walker’s frat brothers at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. On March 13, 1951, during the strip’s first year, Beetle quit school and enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he remained for the duration of the strip. His reason for leaving school and enlisting in the army was because he was running away from his girlfriend Buzz and another girl who was chasing after him. This sort of problem continued for Beetle, the enlisted slacker, at his arrival to Camp Swampy where Miss Buxley — a beautiful blonde buxom civilian secretary to General Halftrack — becomes Beetle’s girlfriend. Other characters in Beetle Bailey include Sergeant Snorkel, Otto, Lts. Fuzz and Flap, Killer, Zero, and Plato. see – https://muarchives.missouri.edu/beetle-eight.html – retrieved September 4, 2025.

My Architecture & Design Photography: LOEBL, SCHLOSSMAN & BENNETT, Chicago Loop Synagogue (1957), 16 N. Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois. (24 Photos).

Leave a reply

FEATURE image: Chicago Loop Synagogue with stained glass window, Let There Be Light (1960) by American Expressionist artist Abraham Rattner (1895-1978). The synagogue was built in 1957 with this wall of stained glass. The colorful and semi-abstract artwork contrasts and complements with the architectural minimalism of the rest of the sanctuary. Author’s photograph.

Text by John P. Walsh.

**Chicago Loop Synagogue, exterior. May 2024 97% 7.89 mb Author’s photograph.**

**Chicago Loop Synagogue on Clark Street in downtown Chicago,** “Chicago Loop Synagogue” by _jjph is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Chicago Loop Synagogue was a midcareer project for a pair of leading Chicago Jewish architects of Modernism — Jerrold Loebl (1899–1978) and Norman Schlossman (1901– 1990). Loeble was a son of Hungarian immigrants and Schlossman was the grandson of immigrants from Germany. Both graduated from the Armour Institute (today’s Illinois Institute of Technology) and became partners in 1925. The third partner changed over the decades and in 2024 the firm is Loebl, Schlossman, & Hackl. Following World War II, the firm was Loebl, Schlossman & Bennett and the team created influential examples of Chicago’s mid-century Modernism. Richard Marsh Bennett (1907-1996) had been chairman of the Yale Architecture Department and stayed with the firm until 1974 when he returned to teach at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. The architectural firm’s designs included Weiss Memorial Hospital (4646 N Marine Drive) and The Darien (3100 N. Lake Shore Drive ) also built in the 1950s.

“Hands of Peace | Chicago Loop Synagogue” by _jjph is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

**May 2014. 4.28mb DSC_0055 (3). Author’s photograph.**

**May 2014. 4.58mb DSC_0057 (1). Author’s photograph.**

**Glass doors with wooden handles define the main entrance into Loop Synagogue off busy Clark Street.** “Chicago Loop Synagogue” by _jjph is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

**Ten Commandments. 9/2015 4.73 mb Author’s photograph.**

The Ten Commandments meet the visitors in the foyer upon entering synagogue. For the Jews, the Ten Commandments (found in the Bible in Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5: 6-21) are a special set of spiritual laws that the LORD Himself wrote on two stone tablets (luchot) that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai. In the Scriptures these laws are called the “Aseret Ha Devarim,” the “ten words” or “ten utterances.” In rabbinical writings, they are usually referred to as “Aseret Ha Dibrot,” and in Christian theological writings they are called the Decalogue which is derived from the Greek name “dekalogos” (“ten statements”) found in the Septuagint (Exodus 34:28 and Deuteronomy 10:4), which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew name. To the Jews the Torah has a total of 613 commandments which includes the ten from the Decalogue. See – https://www.the-ten-commandments.org/the-ten-commandments.html – retrieved December 4, 2023).

**Chicago Loop Synagogue. Author’s photograph.**

“Chicago Loop Synagogue” by _jjph is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

**The limestone blocks of the North wall are cut at an angle to evoke the Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem.** **Author’s photograph.**

The Holy Ark is made by Israeli sculptor and ceramicist Henri Azaz (1923-2008). Jutting into the prayer space from the far-left corner of the window, Rattner incorporated the ark that would house the Torah scrolls. He surrounded it with flames – integrated into the glass – leaping up and out, drawing attention to the presence of God in the very heart of the sanctuary. “Chicago Loop Synagogue” by _jjph is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

**The House of Worship is 3 floors, 450 seats, 6 Torahs, and a 40-foot-tall stained-glass window that fills the Eastern façade and the congregation with filtered sunlight. Author’s photograph.**

**The Chicago Loop Synagogue was founded in 1929 to serve the religious needs of those whose business activities brought them downtown.** **Author’s photograph.**

**Visitors to the Chicago Loop Synagogue are guided by one of its members. Author’s photograph.**

Abraham Rattner, the Expressionist artist of the wall-filling colorful stained-glass window was born in Poughkeepsie, New York to a Russian-Jewish father and a Romanian-Jewish mother. Rattner studied to be architect, but turned to painting studying at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington D.C. and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Rattner served as a camouflage artist in France during World War I and, after the war, joined many of “the Lost Generation” that writer and critic Gertrude Stein spoke about when referencing the post- war Ernest Hemingway and many others who lived in Europe, mainly Paris, in the 1920s. Rattner lived in Paris for 20 years, from 1920 until late 1939 where, during that extensive time period, he met Claude Monet (1840-1926). To avoid the coming Nazi invasion of France, Rattner and his wife Bettina Bedwell (1889-1947), a journalist and fashion illustrator from Nebraska who studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and who married in 1924, returned to America, where they lived in New York City. Rattner was known for his rich use of color and abstraction in his artwork and whose subject matter often had to do with religion. In the post-World War II era he taught at several schools, including New York’s The New School (1947–55) and at Yale University (1952-1953). In 1949 Rattner married Esther Gentle (1899 – 1991), an artist and art dealer, and was a friend of writer Henry Miller (1891-1980) who wrote about their friendship in 1968 in A Word About Abraham Rattner.

**10/2015 7.77 mb 91%. **Author’s photograph.** .**

The colors and design elements of this 31 x 40-foot glass artwork signify God’s relationship with the cosmos, humanity, and the Jewish people. After two years working on conceptual and design schemes, the artist Abraham Rattner spent a year fabricating the window – a presentation of cool blues and warm red and yellows studded with purples that take on shapes of planets, trees, Hebrew letters and the Israelite tribes. It was made in Paris’s 15th arrondissement at Atelier Barillet, the house and workshop of master glassmaker Louis Barillet (1880-1948). The artwork was the subject of a 1976 exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and a 1978 exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. The window was made to fit inside the prayer space for which it was created. To create the stained glass work, Rattner drew inspiration from the opening passages of Genesis, honing in on the hidden meanings of the words “And there was light” to channel cosmic creative energies of the Divine.

The Tree of Life (above) is also visaged as the Menorah and is identified with the light of innermost perception – the spirit; thought; ideas; life; and of knowledge. This Primal Light, God’s light, radiates outward, extending and expanding throughout the universe.

The Menorah (above) poetically conceived as a tree of life and of light. The Menorah is the classic symbol of Judaism.

The Star of David (above right) and the palm branch used on the Sukkot (Feast of Booths) harvest festival.

The shofur or ram’s horn (above) is an ancient instrument used on High Holidays to call the people to repentance. In close proximity to the shofur is the etrog which is a fruit of the Holy Land which expresses earth’s bounty as well as the overflowing love of a human being’s heart for God.

**A view of the sanctuary from its balcony. The near perfect beauty of the Chicago Loop Synagogue is self-evident. Author’s photograph.**

**The prayer room on the first floor is used for daily prayer and other gatherings. Author’s photograph.**

SOURCES:

https://www.jbachrach.com/blog/2018/1/30/chicagos-jewish-architects-a-legacy-of-modernism – retrieved January 18, 2024.

https://americanart.si.edu/artist/abraham-rattner-3946 – retrieved January 18, 2024.

https://www.preservationchicago.org/threatened-chicago-loop-synagogue-faces-uncertain-future/ – retrieved January 18, 2024.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loebl_Schlossman_%26_Hackl – retrieved January 18, 2024.

https://www.chiloopsyn.org/ – retrieved January 18, 2024.

Chicago Churches and Synagogues: An Architectural Pilgrimage, George Lane, S.J., and Algimantas Kezys, Loyola University Press, Chicago, 1981,pp. 202-203.

AIA Guide to Chicago, 2nd Edition, Alice Sinkevitch, Harcourt, Inc., Orlando, 2004, p. 74.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Barillet – retrieved January 18, 2024.