FEATURE image: September 1994. Montaña de Oro State Park. San Luis Obispo/Los Osos, CA. 80%
June 1987. Jenner, CA. 868 kbJune 1987. Sonoma Co., CA. 205kbJune 1994. Glacier National Park (Montana). 60%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. September 1994. Montaña de Oro State Park. San Luis Obispo/Los Osos, CA. 80%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
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%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, 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%September 1993. Washington Pass, Liberty Bell (7720 feet/2353 meters), North Cascades National Park, WA. 80% (10)September 1993. Washington Pass, Pyramid Peak (7182 feet/2189 meters), North Cascades National Park, WA 60%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%June 1992. Rogue River (Copper Canyon), Agness ORJuly 1991. Mt Rainier National Park, WA. July 13, 1991. Narada Falls, Mt Rainier National Park, WADecember 1987. Hollywood, FL. September 1984. “Degas in the Art Institute of Chicago.” July 19- September 23, 1984 7.84mb 72%September 1989. Harbour Town, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. September 1989. B&B Hosts, Charleston, South Carolina, South Carolina.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)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%. 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.July 1989. Ocean Avenue, Kennebunkport, Maine. 50%. July 1989. Branch Street, Boston, Massachusetts. 65%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% October 2000. Sunset Cliffs Natural Park, San Diego, California. 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. 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%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. 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)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.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 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. May 1989. Holy Cross Chapel, 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. May 1989. Sedona, Arizona. 1.28mbMay 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, 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.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. 1.43mbJune 1994. At the Nixon Library, Yorba Linda, Calif. 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. 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, 18th president of the U.S. and his wife, Julia Grant. The most popular man in the 19th 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. U.S. Grant. Public Domain. Martin Van Buren (1782-1862), 8th president of the U,S., gravesite, 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. Though the shortest president of the U.S. at 5’6″ except for James Madison at 5’4″, Van Buren was a shrewd politician whose nickname was “The Little Magician.” Martin Van Buren in a photograph by Mathew B. Brady (1823-1896), c. 1855. Public Domain. see- https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/269852June 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.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 received the sobriquet “Stonewall” from his men. 99% 6.82mb see – https://www.nps.gov/places/000/stonewall-jackson-monument.htmJune 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. Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson (1824-1863). Public Domain. June 2001. The West Virginia State Capitol Building in Charleston, West Virginia, is on the Kanawha River. The Lincoln statue by Fred Torrey (1884-1967) was dedicated on the Capitol grounds in June 1974 and is known as “Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight.” The figure of a brooding ethereal Lincoln is based on a famous poem by Springfield-Ill. poet Vachel Lindsay (1879-1931). The sculptor 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 sculpture department at the school. Afterwards, Torrey apprenticed under sculptor Lorado Taft (1860-1936). Architect Cass Gilbert (1859-1934) designed the buff limestone structure that was dedicated in 1932. The building 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. June 2001. On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. 75% (50)June 2008. Thomas Circle and National City Christian Church (1930), Washington D.C. September 2001. Interior, Carpenters’ Hall (1770-1774), Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The two-story brick meeting hall was built for and 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 had sent entreaties to King George III (1738-1820) to stop the Intolerable Acts. The Second Continental Congress began meeting in Philadelphia in May 1775. See – https://www.carpentershall.org/ – retrieved February 22, 2024September 1991. Oyster bar, Union Oyster House (1826), Boston MA. The Union Oyster House building was built in 1704 where it was a dress goods store and then a newspaper office. In 1826, it became an Oyster House. The first floor semi-circular oyster bar is original. It is the same bar where Daniel Webster sat and imbibed brandy and oysters. When the wait times for a table are long the bar is a great alternative to immediatley enjoy a repast. The restaurant also dedicated JFK’s favorite booth located in the upstairs dining room that the Kennedy family patronized. 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. August 2005. Union Oyster House (1826), Boston, MA.
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. July 1989. JFK Library, Columbia Point, Boston, MA. 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!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. August 2005. Seawall, Baltimore, MD.
FEATURE image: High School band tuba players, July 4, 2023, Independence Day parade, Downers Grove, Illinois, Main Street.
Downers Grove, IL. 7/2023 6.90mb 99%Downers Grove, IL. 7/2023 7.73mb 87%Downers Grove, IL 7/2023 7.96mb 92%Downers Grove, IL. 7/2023 7.80mb 64%Downers Grove, IL. 7/2023 7.80mb 88%Downers Grove, IL. 7/2023 7.95mb 93%Downers Grove, IL. 7/2023 7.85mb 97%Downers Grove, IL. 7/2023 6.36mb 99%Downers Grove, IL 7/2023 6.54mb 99%Downers Grove, IL 7/2023 7.87 mb 87% Downers Grove, IL 7/2023 7.85mb 99%
FEATURE image: July 1984. Marienplatz, Munich, Germany. 7.91mb 91%
August 1978. Knappogue Castle, County Clare, Ireland. The castle tower was built in 1467. Author with Irish singer. 1.05mbJune 1979. Author studying at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
Opened in 1967, the Berkeley Library building is at Trinity College, Ireland’s oldest university founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), in the heart of Dublin, Ireland. The library building is an example of modern Brutalist architecture — exposed unpainted concrete, monochrome palette, steel, timber, and glass – a style that emerged in the United Kingdom in the 1950s as an alternative to nostalgic architecture. The library was named for George Berkeley (1685-1753), an 18th century scholar whose philosophical and scientific ideas on perception and reality presage the work of Albert Einstein (1879-1955). In 2023 Berkeley’s name was removed from the library by Trinity’s governing board because Berkeley had been a slave owner who actively defended slavery. Berkeley had been a Trinity fellow and, apt for the library building. its former librarian. George Berkeley is also the namesake of the University of California, Berkeley, and Berkeley College at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. – see https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2023/05/09/berkeley-name-dropped-trinity-college-library – retrieved October 5, 2023. In 1979 I was researching Irish History (13th to 16th centuries) at Trinity College and utilized the Berkeley and Old Library begun in 1712 as well as the National Library of Ireland (1877) around the corner on Kildare Street.
October 2002. Anne Fontaine, Paris (3rd arr.). 204 kb 65%October 2002. Au Petit Tonneau, 20, rue Surcouf, Paris (7th arr.). 65%October 2022. Paris. 400kb 75%June 1985. Tapas. Madrid, Spain.September 1993. Cathédrale Saint-Lazare d’Autun (1120). Statue St. Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879). Autun, France. 1.15 mbOctober 2002. La Pagode, 57 bis rue de Babylone and rue Monsieur, Paris, 7th arr., France. 65%
In 1895 M. Morin, an executive at Le Bon Marché, looked to give his wife a gift. Since the 1860s, Japanese art and its influences and practices (known as “japonisme”) had a profound impact on France’s own fine and popular arts, and this craze became even more popular by the 1890s. It was only natural for M. Morin to build a real pagoda as a lavish and fashionable statement next door to the couple’s house in Paris. Pieces were shipped from Asia and reassembled in Paris under the design and direction of Alexandre Marcel (1860-1928) at 57 bis, rue de Babylone on the corner with rue Monsieur in the 7th arrondissement. Built in the middle of a residential neighborhood it boasted all things Japanese including stone figures of dragons, lions, buddhas and birds as well as distinctive Asian-style rooflines. In 1930 it became a 400-seat cinema movie theatre that became an art-house cinema in the 1970s and, after 85 years of operation, closed its doors in 2015. SOURCE: 1000 Buildings of Paris, Kathy Borrus, Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, New York, 2003, p. 275 and http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/6906 – retrieved January 4, 2023.
June 1984. Eiffel Tower, Paris, 7th arr., France. 15%June 1984. Lucerne, Switzerland. 6.12mb 99% (10)March 2002. Château de Versailles, Versailles, France. 140kb 65%March 1992. Katschhof, Aachen, Germany 7.77mb 74%
A fruit and vegetable market on the Katschhof square (above) in Aachen, Germany, in March 1992 was held the day before Ash Wednesday. The historic square has Aachen Cathedral on one side and the town hall on the other side and is brought to life during its numerous festivals, markets, and events. In Carolingian history, the Katschhof represented the connection between Charlemagne’s palace hall and his St. Mary’s Church with his throne and tomb. In 2014 it was announced by a team of scientists who started to study the tomb’s bones and bone fragments in 1988 that if they are those of Charlemagne (747-814), the 66-year-old Holy Roman Emperor was tall and thin. See- https://www.archaeology.org/news/1782-140131-charlemagne-bones-sarcophagus – retrieved October 6, 2023.
March 2002. The Louvre (Statue of Winged Victory, c. 200 BCE), Paris. France. 660kb.June 1984. Vienna, Austria. 15%July 1984. Dachau Concentration Camp, Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany. 316 kbJuly 1984. Dachau Concentration Camp. Sculpture memorial to Dachau prisoners from 1933 to 1945 by Yugoslav artist Nandor Glid (1924-1997). Glid was a Holocaust survivor who had been a forced laborer and whose father and most of his family were murdered in Auschwitz. July 1984. Neuschwanstein Castle (1869-1886), Hohenschwangau, Germany. 62% 7.85 mbFebruary 1992. Wijde Heisteeg & Singel, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 22%February 1992. Tournai, Belgium 87% 7.94mb
Dating from the late 1100s, these houses in Belgium are among the oldest surviving domiciles in Europe.
February 1992. Rubens House, 1610. Antwerp, Belgium 7.39mb 99% (20)
A 10-minute walk from the city center, the Rubens House (Rubenshuis in Dutch) is an older Flemish house transformed into an Italian palazzo by the artist, Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) in 1610. Married that year to his first wife Isabella Brandt (1591-1626), Rubens purchased and renovated the house on today’s Wapper street whose layout included the couple’s home, the artist’s studio, a monumental portico and interior courtyard (pictured above). The courtyard also opens into the Baroque garden designed by Rubens. Isabella and Peter Paul Rubens had three children together when Isabella died of the plague at 34 years old. Centuries later, in 1937, Antwerp bought the house and opened it to the public in 1946.
July 1984. Munich Germany. Marienplatz. March 2002. Paris (9th arr.) 404 kb 65%June 1984. “Tresors de l’ancien Nigéria,” Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, May 16 – July 23, 1984. Paris. 15%June 1984. Grand’ Place, Brussels, Belgium. Buildings in the photograph include Le Roy d’Espagne, La Brouette, Le Sac, La Louve, Le Cornet and Le Renard. The construction of the Grand’ Place took place over 600 years from the 1000’s to the 1600’s. In 1695, during the Nine Years’ War (1688-1697), most of the square was destroyed during the bombardment of Brussels by French troops. The buildings were rebuilt in the 17th and 18th centuries giving the square its appearance today. In 1998 the Grand’ Place was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is considered one of the world’s most beautiful squares. 1.03mbJune 1984. Hotel Ambassador, Kärntner Straße 22, Neuer Markt 5, Wien (Vienna). January 1993. Red Square, Moscow, Russia. January 1993. View of upper hall of Belorusskaya (Belarus) Metro Station (Koltsevaya Line) (Moscow, Russia). Below ceiling’s molding in passageway, a statue of Belarussian partisans during World War II who opposed Nazi Germany from 1941 until 1944. In their military and political resistance, the partisans took direction from Moscow. 1/1993 35%January 1993. Lenin’s Tomb, Moscow, Russia. It is the mausoleum for Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) whose preserved body has been on public display since shortly after his death in January 1924. Just days after Lenin’s death, Soviet architect Alexey Shchusev (1873-1949) was given the task to build a structure suitable for viewing the body by mourners. In 1930, a new mausoleum was designed by Shchusev and is the structure seen today made of marble, porphyry, granite, and labradorite. From 1953 to 1961 the embalmed body of Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) was in this mausoleum next to Lenin but removed by Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971) and buried in the nearby Kremlin Wall national cemetery. While incorporating elements of various ancient world mausoleums, the tomb’s architectural style is an experiment in early 20th century Constructivism. 35%January 1993. GUM department store, Moscow, Russia. GUM is the main department store in cities of the former Soviet Union and during the Soviet period (until 1991) was known as the State Department Store with one vendor – the State. The most famous GUM is this store facing Red Square. Built in 1890-93 by architect Alexander Pomerantsev (1849-1918) and engineer Vladimir Shukhov (1853-1939) as the Upper Trading Rows, by the time of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the building contained some 1,200 stores. The trapezoid-shaped building with a steel framework and glass roof is Moscow’s Crystal Palace (London,1851) and, in turn, influenced parts of La Samaritaine department store (Paris, 1907). The site of GUM had been a designed trade area since the time of Catherine II of Russia (1729-1796) though its early structures by Italian architect Giacomo Quarenghi (1744-1817) were destroyed in the 1812 Fire of Moscow which accompanied Napoleon’s invasion. After the Revolution of 1917, GUM was nationalized but closed in 1928 and converted to office space by Stalin. It did not reopen as a consumer goods store until after 1953. 50%. January 1993. Novoslobodskaya station (Ring Line), Moscow, Russia. The station with its 32 stained glass panel decorations opened on January 30, 1952. It is on the Koltsevaya Line, between Belorusskaya and Prospekt Mira stations. Though the man in the middle is an American tourist, the others are Russians. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, there was a fire sale on its effects, including old uniforms. 55% (30)January 1993. Red Square, Moscow, Russia. Left to right: State Historical Museum. GUM store. 50%January 1993. Saint Basil’s Cathedral (1555-1561), Red Square, Moscow, Russia. The Orthodox church was constructed by order of Ivan the Terrible (1530-1584). January 1993. Church on the Spilled Blood (1883-1907), Saint Petersburg, Russia. The Church of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ in Saint Petersburg, Russia, stands on the site where Czar Alexander II (1818-1881) was assassinated in March 1881. The Russian Revival building was built between 1883 and 1907 by the Romanov Imperial family as a memorial to the slain czar. Though Alexander II freed the serfs in 1861 and abolished capital punishment, his government remained autocratic and repressed liberalizing political forces. Starting in 1879 the czar became the focus for a number of attacks when he was finally murdered in March 1881. That day Alexander II was riding close to the Griboyedov canal when a bomb was tossed beneath his carriage. One of the czar’s Cossack guards was killed and several others injured but the czar emerged unharmed. Immediately, a second, suicide bomber, Ignatiy Grinevitsky, threw a bomb at close range that landed at the czar’s feet and exploded. Mortally wounded, Alexander II was whisked to the Winter Palace (today’s Hermitage) about a mile away where he bled to death. The terrorist group called The People’s Will (“Narodnaya Volya”) claimed responsibility for the elaborate attack. They were a group of radicals and reformers seeking liberty and land reforms from the autocratic regime. Though Alexander II had signed an order creating a Duma, or parliament, his son and successor, Alexander III (1845-1894) withdrew it and began to suppress anew civil liberties using the Okhrana or Imperial Russian secret police. The church is a building rich in decoration and one of St. Petersburg’s best known landmarks. 50% see – See – http://www.saint-petersburg.com/rivers-and-canals/griboedov-canal/ – retrieved January 18, 2024.January 1993. Detsky Mir, Lubyanka Square, Moscow, Russia. On Lubyanka Square in central Moscow is “Detsky Mir” (“Children’s World”), Russia’s largest toy and children’s goods store. It took architect Alexey Nikolayevich Dushkin (1904-1977), Moscow Metro and railways architect, three years to build Detsky Mir in its eclectic mix of post-Stalin Soviet-era architectural styles. The children’s wonderland opened on June 6, 1957. Its neighbor was, curiously, a massive KGB headquarters that had its 15-ton monument to its Bolshevik revolutionary founder, Felix Dzerzhinsky (1877-1926), in the middle of the square. Dzerzhinsky was one of the architects of the Red Terror and de-Cossackization. In January 1993 the statue, sculpted in 1958 by Yevgeny Vuchetich (1908-1974), had been torn down leaving an empty pedestal. Today the pedestal, too, is gone. Detsky Mir was the first building in the Soviet Union to install escalators and in 2015, after nearly a decade-long reconstruction, reopened its doors as Russia’s central children’s store. 60% see – https://www.rbth.com/history/335795-soviet-children-store-detsky-mir http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2273462.stmJanuary 1993. Bolshoi Theatre (1825), Moscow, Russia. The Bolshoi (“Big”) Theatre opened on January 18, 1825. The main building of the theatre, rebuilt and renovated several times during its history, is a landmark of Moscow and Russia. It was originally designed by architect Joseph Bové (1784-1834) who supervised the Moscow reconstruction after the Fire of 1812 during the Napoleonic Wars. When Czar Alexander I (1777-1825) visited the city he decreed that Moscow buildings should be only in pale, limited colors, of which the Bolshoi Theatre building is one. The chariot drawn by four horses (“quadriga”) atop the portico pediment was sculpted by Russian sculptor Peter Clodt von Jürgensburg (1805-1867). Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake premiered at the Bolshoi in March 1877. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera in Moscow, Russia,is one of the oldest and most famous such theatre companies in the world. 50%May 2005. Chenonceau (16th century), France. The château was built in 1514–1522 on the foundations of an old mill and was extended over the river Cher in stages – first, its bridge (1556-59) and then its gallery (1570-76). These were designed, respectively, by architects Philibert de l’Orme (1514-1570) and Jean Bullant (1515-1578). The chateau was famously occupied by Diane de Poitiers (1500-1566), the mistress of the King of France, Henry II (1519-1559), who gifted it to the legendary beauty. Diane de Poitiers is the one who commissioned the bridge to be built across the river and planted its gardens. When the king was suddenly killed in a ceremonial jousting match, Queen Catherine de’ Medici (1519-1589) who married Henry II in 1533 and who would have three sons become of King of France in succession over the next 30 years, quickly took over Chenonceau and expelled Diane. 845 kb. May 2005. Musee d’Orsay, Paris. Going in to see Le néo-impressionnisme, de Seurat à Paul Klee, from March 15 to July 10, 2005. The large show made clear to me that there may be many disciples – here, painters of trendy 1890’s Pointillism – but few masters. 65%
May 2005. Pontlevoy Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey founded in the 11th century by a local knight in the town of Pontlevoy in the Loire Valley. The Gothic church was built at this time. In the early 17th century Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642) was named abbot. It was no honorary title for his “Red Eminence.” In the 1640’s Richelieu had the buildings updated and repaired and re-enforced the monks’ numbers. By the 1770s, a small monastery community was running a school when King Louis XVI (1754-1793) ascended the throne. The king made the school one of France’s royal military academies which lasted until the French Revolution. The huge cedar was planted in 1776 to honor the new King Louis XVI. 65%May 2005. Interior, St. Pierre Gothic Church, Pontlevoy, France. The church is over 1000 years old. 65%May 2005. Château de Versailles. Parterre du Midi. (40)May 2005. Debbie at Château de Versailles. Courtyard. 65%July 1985. The bridge above Nicosia, Italy was built by Arabs 1000 years ago during the Emirate of Sicily, an Islamic Kingdom, that ruled on the island of Sicily between 831 and 1091. I am with my cousin Filippo. July 1985. Torino (Turin), Italy.
September 1993. Gislebertus (active 1120-1135), Autun, France. The artist carried out the decoration of Autun cathedral including these capitals. The three kings sleep under their counterpane touched by an angel’s single finger. When the artist’s decoration of the cathedral of Autun was completed around 1135 church architecture was beginning its transition to the Gothic, a style that would mark the glory of medieval French architecture (including Notre Dame de Paris in 1163) for the next 250 years. 1.44mb
September 1993. German tourists. Cluny Abbey, Cluny, Saône-et-Loire. A highly influential Benedictine abbey started in 910 in Cluny, its third and final church was started in 1088 by abbot Hugh of Semur (1024–1109). It became the largest church building in Europe and remained so until the 16th century, when the new St. Peter’s Basilica was built in Rome. Hézelon de Liège was Cluny’s architect. 1.43mbSeptember 1993. Château de Bussy-Rabutin is in the commune of Bussy-le-Grand, in the Côte-d’Or department, Bourgogne, about 37 miles (one hour by car) northwest of Dijon. The castle was founded in the 12th century by Renaudin de Bussy and rebuilt in the 14th century, The Renaissance galleries were added in the 1520s. It was again altered during the reigns of Henri II (1547–1559) and Louis XIII (1610–1643). Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy (1618–1693) fell into disgrace at court and was ordered by Louis XIV to self-exile at this estate. Here Bussy-Rabutin wrote his Histoire amoureuse des Gaules, an account of various love affairs at court, which embroiled the author in more scandal. He was sent to the Bastille and released on condition that he return to self-exile and live there in silence which he did for the next 17 years. Bussy -Rabutin died at the chateau in 1693. His collection of portraits of historical and contemporary French figures are a highlight of a tour of the chateau as they serve to fuel the various stories he told. The chateau was restored in the 19th century and acquired by the French state in 1929.September 1993. Palais Jacques Coeur (completed 1453), Bourges, France. May 2005. Medici Fountain (1630), Luxembourg Gardens, Paris, France. Along with a Left Bank palace built for Marie de’ Medici (1575-1642) by French architect Salomon de Brosse (1571-1626) between 1623 and 1630, the fountain and grotto was also made at this time. It was likely the work of Tommaso Francini (1571-1651), a water works engineeer from Italy who emigrated to France in 1598 by invitation of Henry IV (1553-1610), the eventual husband (in 1600) of Marie de’ Medici. By the 19th century the fountain had had a series of owners and fell into disrepair hastened by the relocation of the court to Versailles and changing tastes as well as the eventual upheaval of the French Revolution. Attention began to paid to it again under Napoleon I (1769-1826) who had the grotto restored. By the mid 1850s the old orangerie behind the fountain was demolished as were its adjoining arcades. When Baron Haussmann (1809-1891) looked to put in Rue de Medicis in 1864 the fountain was moved about 90 feet further into the park. Its simple basin and water spout was replaced with an elongated basin and, in 1866, a sculpture of a giant Polyphemus surprising lovers Acis and Galatea by Auguste Ottin (1811-1890) was added to the fountain. A different fountain, the Fontaine de Léda, built in 1806 under Napoleon and relocated from another neighborhood, was placed directly behind the Medici Fountain that created mutually supporting walls of stone. 2.49 mbMarch 2002. Pont Marie (1635), Paris, France. Looking from the Île Saint-Louis to the Right Bank. It was the first bridge built after the aristocracy clamored for development of the island to expand their neighborhood in the early 17th century. The stone bridge is one of the oldest in Paris. The Pont-de-la-Tournelle which continued the Pont-Marie was completed in 1654 and connected the Île Saint-Louis to the Left Bank. Houses used to be built on the bridge. The structure is substantially the same since the 18th century. Each of the pedimented arches of the Pont Marie is unique with niches in abutments that have always stood empty.
June 1985. Beaune, France. The man in the middle told me he had been a French soldier in combat in World War I (1914-1918). (50)February 1992. Me in Prüm, Westeifel in far western Germany. It was the site of Prüm (Benedictine) Abbey founded in the 8th century. Behind me is Sankt-Salvator-Basilika built in 1721. The remaining monastery buildings adjacent to it are now a high school. Mentioned by Pepin (714-768) in the deed of 762, the church houses the relic of the sandals of Jesus Christ. Pepin received them as a gift from the pope. Over the next centuries, the monastery became wealthy though it had its ups and downs. While its abbot was a prince in the Holy Roman Empire and ruled over dozens of towns, villages and hamlets, outside secular powers increasingly looked to take it over. Despite the monastery’s internal strife and external pressures even from the pope, its more than 50 abbots through history refused to submit until the late 16th century. Controlled afterward by the archbishops-electors of Trier, the abbey once again flourished until the French Revolution. In 1794 Prümwas occupied by French troops and annexed to France. Soon after, the monastery was dissolved by Napoleon Bonaparte and its assets sold. In the course of the 19th century, Prüm became part of modern Germany in the State of Rhineland-Palatinate. During World War II, most of the town was destroyed by bombing and ground fighting. February 1992. Situated along the road to Lille is the chapel of the Ladrerie du Val d’Orcq in Tournai, Belgium, whose chevet (apse) was built in 1153. The church was enlarged in the 1690’s. Made of rubble stone and covered with a tiled roof resting on stone corbels, the chapel has retained its original appearance and is an active parish today. The charming Romanesque building bears witness to a large medieval leper colony called ‘Bonne Maison du Val’ that was dependent on the Tournai magistrate and cathedral chapter of canons and destroyed under Louis XIV (1638-1715). The small open portal in the west façade is characterized by its harped jambs and basket-handle arch and is surmounted by a niche of the same shape. The roof of the nave is crowned by a square bell tower with a pyramidal roof. The sanctuary was classified as an official historic monument in 1936.July 1984. Grand Canal from Rialto Bridge, Venice, Italy.
Chicago, The Loop. 6/2014 3.01 mbChicago. The Loop. 7/2016 2.61 mbChicago. Pilsen. 6/2018 3.23 mbChicago (Dinkel’s bakery). Dinkel’s bakery has been in business since 1922. 12/2016 25%.Chicago. 6/2018 2.41 mbChicago. 6/2018 4.0 mbChicago. 7/2016 360 kb 25%Chicago. Gold Coast. 12/2014 2.53mb8/2017 6.75 mb Chicago. 9/2015 4.92 mbChicago. 9/2013 4.28 mb (10)Chicago. 8/2015 3.40 mbLittle India Chicago. 6/2013 568 kbLittle India Chicago. 6/2013 3.17mbLittle India Chicago. 6/2013 4.27 mbLittle India Chicago 6/2013 4.30mbLittle India Chicago. 6/2013 40%Little India Chicago. 6/2013 3.22 mbLittle India Chicago. 62013 2.31mbLittle India Chicago. 6/2013 2.23mbChicago. The Loop. downtown, 7/2016 1.25 mb (20) Chicago. 9/2014 1.86 mb Chicago 9/2015 2.89 mbChicago. The Loop (Adams/Wabash). 8/2014 1.60 mbChicago. Millennium Station. 1/2018 4.69 mb Oakbrook, IL. 6/2019 1.79 mbOakbrook, IL. 6/2019 2.24 mb Oakbrook, IL. 6/2019 2.36 mb Oakbrook, IL. 6/2019 2.59 mb Oakbrook, IL. 6/2019 1.52 mbChicago. Michigan Avenue. 5/2016 1.04 mb (30)Chicago. Millennium Park, 12/2017 2.27 mbChicago. Millennium Park. 5/2016 4.32 mb Oakbrook, IL. 6/2019 1.34 mb Milwaukee, WI. 6/2018 748 kbMilwaukee, WI. 6/2016 2.94 mbChicago. Bridgeport. 10/2016 4.30 mbChicago. 5/2015 2.98 mbChicago. State/Washington. Reliance Building (1895). 7/2015 4.53 mbChicago. United Center Park. 6/2018 4.30 mbChicago. Goose Island. 8/2016 4.75 mb (40)Chicago. 10/2014 1.94 mbChicago. River North. 2/2018 765 kbDowners Grove, IL. 3/2020 2.74 mbDowners Grove, IL. 3/2020 3.10 mbDowners Grove, IL. 5/2020 772 kbWheaton, IL. 5/2018 4.11 mbChicago. New East Side. 9/2013 3.12 mb Oakbrook, IL. 6/2019 1.44 mbChicago. 6/2018 8.64 mbChicago. 6/2018 7.90 mb 97% Chicago. The Loop. 9/2015 1.76 mb Chicago. Rehearsal. 10/2015 862 kbChicago. 9/2016 1.80 mbChicago. 8/2017 4.07 mbChicago. 8/2015 3.23 mbChicago. Douglas Park (S. 16th Street/W. Kedzie Avenue). 8/2016 4.15 mb
William C. “Bill” Henry (1935-1992) for which this portion of 16th Street is named, was a 24th Ward Chicago alderman. Ald. Henry put together the coalition of Black and white aldermen to elect Eugene Sawyer (1934-2008) as mayor of the City of Chicago following the sudden death of Harold Washington (1922-1987), the first black mayor elected in Chicago.
Responding to accusations of deal cutting, Ald. Henry declared during the debate in the City Council chamber: “Deals? We was all making deals!” Henry’s constituents voted their alderman out of office for helping Sawyer in preference to Tim Evans, the reform candidate. Ald. Henry passed away from cancer in 1992 at 56 years old. In 2021 Timothy C. Evans is the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County.
FEATURE Image: Wedding party, Waukesha Co., Pewaukee, WI. June 2017.
LaSalle Co., IL. 7/2017 (60)
Introduction.
Here are some of my photographs featuring the people, places, and things I have seen on today’s U.S. Midwest roads.
I have a personal affinity and affection for the American Midwest. I grew up in Chicago and its suburbs, and went to school here and live here today. My family has been in Illinois since at least the 1830s.
Growing up in the Midwest, my experiences included family, friends, diverse outings, engaging jobs, and being married here. I love to explore this vast region that’s rightly called “The Heart of America.”
Memories of the Middle West — its sights, sounds, smells, and tastes — and mostly in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan — are the mother’s milk of my life. In steamy summers, multi-colored autumns, ice-bitten winters, and flowering, reawakening springs to get outside to walk and ride on Midwest roads are pure adventure, then and now.
The American Midwest is filled with human stories and diverse and awesome natural beauty. There is timeless nostalgia, and, if such things don’t entice for the moment, unexpected curiosities.
For those who love it, the Midwest terrain carries all Edgar Lee Masters (1868-1950) spoke on in his last major book, The Sangamon. There is “magic in that soil, in the plains, the borders of forest, the oak trees on the hills,” the poet wrote. Masters was sure that “if you should drive through (this region)…strange dreams would come to you, and moreover those dreams would tally with mine.”
The region continues to offer the sightseer magical things. This includes its primordial aspects, such as animals, birds, natural outcroppings and waterways, as well as impressive remnants of Native American mound-building culture from the Midwest’s southern to northern reaches.
Edgar Lee Masters understood that it is the Midwest’s people – often defined as individualistic, hospitable, diverse, industrious, good-willed, courageous and independent – who imbue the region its greatest distinction. It is a populace and setting that, despite various economic setbacks and pockets of unfortunate decline, build and display what is often photographed on Midwest roads: historic canals, roads, barns and farms, houses. In the 21st century new things of interest can be seen on Midwest roads such as cellphone towers and wind turbines as older things, like barns and even some towns, decay or disappear.
Many famous American and international figures have lived and traveled on Midwest roads such as U.S. presidents, writers, actors, artists, business people, etc. This includes James Monroe (in 1785), Charles Dickens (1842), John Muir (1849), Henry David Thoreau (1861), Antonín Dvořák (1893), Winston Churchill (1946). Midwest natives include Carl Sandburg, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Edison, Edgar Lee Masters, Walt Disney, Mark Twain, Jane Addams, Harry S Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Barack and Michelle Obama, Frank Lloyd Wright, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., John Wayne, Wyatt Earp, “Wild Bill” Hickok, Jesse James, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Dinah Washington (“Queen of the Blues”), and many, many more.
But It is Abraham Lincoln whose memory is most famously linked to Midwest Roads. Riding on his horse, “Old Bob,” Lincoln loved to travel the Eighth Judicial Circuit in central Illinois as a defense lawyer. It is to the 16th U.S. president and a Midwestern spirit he manifested to whom this photographic essay is dedicated.
SOURCES: E.L. Masters quotes from The Sangamon by Edgar Lee Masters with Introduction by Charles E. Burgess, University of Illinois Press, Urbana & Chicago, 1988 (first published 1942), p.6.
Willowbrook, IL. Chicken Basket. 4/2016 6.53 mb
Dell Rhea’s Chicken Basket (above in 2016) is 22 miles southwest of downtown Chicago, at 645 Joliet Road in Willowbrook, Illinois.
The Chicken Basket is a mandatory dine-in or carry-out stop on a “Midwest Roads” visit. Vintage roadhouse decor and family-oriented service is joined to the menu which features fresh, succulent fried chicken cooked-to-order.
Opened in 1926
The business first opened in 1926 as a gas station and lunch counter on the brand-new Route 66. U.S. Route 66 traveled from Chicago to Los Angeles, California —a distance of more than 2,000 miles.
In 1939, fried chicken was served for the first time by its original owner, Irv Kolarik.
In 1946 the present one-story brick commercial building was designed and built by architect Eugene F. Stoyke (1912-1993) next to the original building. It was during the post-World-War-II travel (and baby) boom that it became a full-service restaurant.
Original windows and signage
Dell Rhea’s bay of 9 single-light-glass-and-wood-canted windows is original where an immense fireplace anchored the dining area’s north wall. The neon-and-metal sign in the photograph was original when this photograph was taken. It was replaced in 2017 with an exact replica. In 1956, a cocktail lounge was added to the south.
Bluebird Bus stop to St. Louis
In 1962 Interstate 55 opened—the major expressway connecting Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis and New Orleans—and effectively retired U.S. Route 66 in this part of Illinois.
In front of the restaurant there was a Bluebird Bus stop (founded in 1927) which people could take to St. Louis or use to send packages across country.
New Owners
In 1963 the Chicken Basket was bought by Chicago businessman Delbert Francis “Dell” Rhea (1907-1992) who knew how to invigorate the eatery while maintaining its tradition for a new era.
The popular Chicken Basket was owned and managed by the Rhea family until 2019. The Lombardi family took over with the promise to keep intact the original recipe which is unchanged since 1946 and continue the same Chicken Basket tradition.
White Fence Farm (below in 2017) is 30 miles southwest of downtown Chicago at 1376 Joliet Road in Romeoville, Illinois.
Will Co. Romeoville, IL, White Fence Farm. 5/2017
In the 1920s Stuyvesant “Jack” Peabody (1888-1926), son of a wealthy coal baron, opened White Fence Farm to feed his personal guests who visited his 500-acre horse farm on the opposite side of the newly-opened U.S. Route 66.
In the mid1930s Peabody started to promote the domestic wine industry by featuring California wines at the Romeoville restaurant.
May Henderson Peabody Osborne (1891-1936) and Stuyvesant “Jack” Peabody (1888-1946) – children of coal magnate F.S. Peabody (1859-1922) – in a photograph from around 1910, When May died at 44 years in 1936 her estate was valued at around $500,000 – about $10 million in 2021. F.S. Peabody was the largest coal producer in the U.S.. He died in 1922 in Oakbrook, Illinois, at 63 years old after he suffered a heart attack at a house warming party he was giving to celebrate the completion of his new mansion.
Since 1954, the Hastert family has owned and operated White Fence Farm. Advertising itself as the “World’s Greatest Chicken,” the restaurant building has been expanded many times under the Hasterts. Within a country farm manor ambience, the popular restaurant boasts several dining rooms that can seat over 1,000 diners.
White Fence Farm continues to offer some of freshest and best-tasting fried chicken in and around historic U.S. Route 66. The restaurant is a perennially popular destination, especially on weekends and during the warm weather months, where people in the area as well as tourists arrive in droves.
Dari Fair at 2813 Kilburn Ave. Hwy. 70 in Rockford, Illinois. Since 2023 the old-fashioned walk-up ice cream window shop is under new ownership by Rockford natives and called Willyums Dari Fair.
Rich & Creamy at 920 N. Broadway Street in Joliet, Illinois.
Rich & Creamy with its figures of “Joliet” Jake and Elwood Blues (“The Blues Brothers”) atop its flat roof is an ice cream stand that is on the old Route 66 highway through Joliet, IL (Will Co.) 5/2017 7.15 mb 99% Ozaukee County, WI. 6/2018 7.69 mb
U.S. Route 20 at 3, 100 miles is the longest road in the country.
U.S. Route 20 is the longest road in the country. It stretches from Boston, Massachusetts to Newport, Oregon– about 3,100 miles. Route 20 began on the East coast in the early-mid1920’s. The road reached Illinois in 1938 and is mostly unchanged since that time. In 1955 the Illinois General Assembly designated the length of U.S. 20 in Illinois the U.S. Grant Memorial Highway. The sign was produced in late 2006. McHenry Co. Near Coral, IL. 5/2017
IL-Route 26 follows sites of interest associated with the 40th U.S. President who was born and grew up in this part of Illinois.
The Ronald Reagan Trail (IL-26) is a route in Illinois that follows sites of interest associated with the 40th president of The United States. Reagan grew up in Dixon, Illinois. Originally Route 26 ran north-south for about 25 miles from Freeport, Illinois to Polo, Illinois. In 1937, IL-26 was extended about 15 miles north to the Illinois-Wisconsin state line and about 15 miles south to Dixon, Illinois. In 1969, IL-26 was extended almost 100 miles from Dixon south to East Peoria, Illinois. Lee Co. Dixon, IL. Ronald Reagan Trail (IL-26). 6/2017 Lee Co. Dixon, IL, Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home. 6/2017Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the U.S. (1981-1989), is the only U.S. president who was born, grew up and received his education in the state of Illinois. Reagan was a Eureka College graduate, class of 1932. Woodford Co., Eureka, IL. Eureka College, Burrus Dickinson Hall (built 1858). 9/2016 3.87 mb (10) DuPage Co. 7/2021 DuPage Co., IL. 7/2018 246kb DuPage Co., IL. 7/2018 Waukesha Co., Pewaukee, WI. Wedding party, 6/2017 531 kb 50%Tazewell Co., IL. 9/2016 LaSalle/Grundy Cos. Seneca, IL. 2016 DeKalb Co., IL. 1992 Case IH 7150 10/2016 3.53mbKirkland, IL (DeKalb Co.) 7/2017 3.21mb (10)LaSalle Co., IL. 8/2016 (20)Ottawa IL 5.84mb 8/2016Ottawa IL 2.24mb 35% 8/2016Ottawa, IL. LaSalle Co. Bi-centennial mural (detail). 9/2016 Iroquois Co., Watseka, IL. 8/2017 DeKalb Co., IL. 9/2016 3.48 mbWalworth Co. Lake Geneva WI, 5/2017The Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, IL, is a popular 12-acre Japanese garden established in 1978. The gardens are on lands surrounding Rockford businessman John Anderson’s home. Anderson was inspired by gardens he visited in japan and other Japanese gardens in the U.S. Under the guidance of Hoichi Kurisu, renowned master craftsman and landscape designer, the Andersons’ land along Rockford’s Spring Creek was transformed into an outdoor space of water, wood, stone, and flora representative of 1,000 years of Japanese horticultural tradition. Winnebago Co. Rockford, IL, Anderson Japanese Gardens, 7/2017Winnebago Co., Rockford, IL, 7/2017 Iroquois Co., Watseka, IL. Corn for sale. 8/2017Kane Co., IL. Fox River. 8/2014Waukesha Co., WI. 6/2017 7.37 mb (30) DuPage Co., IL. 10/2017 11/2023 3.68mb DuPage Co., IL. 8/2015 DuPage Co. Downers Grove, IL. Farmer’s Market. 7/2021 DuPage Co. Downers Grove, IL. Farmer’s Market (cheese seller). 9/2017 The small frame house, c. 1860, was moved or demolished before November 2018. The candy store, in business in West Dundee since 1998, reopened in another location “around the corner” by March 2017. see – https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/elgin-courier-news/ct-ecn-west-dundee-around-corner-candy-moved-st-0312-20170310-story.html – retrieved July 2, 2021, Kane Co, West Dundee, IL. 8/2014DuPage Co., IL. Kline Creek Farm. 5/2016 Ozaukee County, WI. Cedarburg Wi 6/2018 LaSalle Co., Ottawa, IL. 8/2016 2.46 mbWoodford Co., Metamora, IL 9/2016 6.46 mbDuPage Co., 8/2023 5.89mb (40)In the early 1950’s, Alfred, Jr. (Mitch) and Norma Mitchell opened a small grocery store on the corner of Raynor and Curtis Avenues. In 1957, it was expanded to the present location adjacent to the original building. A short time later, Harley Mitchell joined his brother. Will Co. Joliet, IL. 5/2021. DuPage Co., 7/2023 7.93mb 79%In honor of ABRAHAM LINCOLN Who practiced law from 1851 to 1859 Before the Supreme Court of Illinois At its sessions then held in the old La Salle County Court House on this site Erected by the Illini Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution 1922 (70) LaSalle Co., Ottawa, IL. 8/2016 4.13 mb Cook Co. Des Plaines, IL. Santuario de Guadalupe. 5/2018Grundy Co., IL. 2016 Bureau Co., IL. 6/2017Walworth Co., WI. 5/20177/2017Walworth Co., WI. 6/2017 (50) Grundy Co., IL. 9/2016Lake Co. Wauconda, IL. 8/2016 Kendall Co., IL, 9/2016Grundy Co., IL. 9/2016(20)LaSalle Co., IL. 9/2016 LaSalle Co., IL, 8/2016 Grundy Co., IL. 8/2016Bureau Co., IL. 6/2017Kendall Co., Oswego, IL. 4/2016 DuPage Co. Downers Grove, IL. 4/2018 (60) DuPage Co. Wheaton, IL. 4/2018 DuPage Co. Wheaton, IL. 2016 DuPage Co., IL. 6/2020 McDonough Co. Uptown, Macomb, IL, 5/2006Lee Co., IL. 6/2017 DuPage Co. Converted barn house. 8/2017 Newton Co. Goodland, IN, 8/2017 DuPage Co., IL. 1/2021 Dane Co., WI 6/2017 5.69 mb (70)McHenry Co., IL. Barn. 5/2017 Dane Co., WI. Barn. 6/2017 4.48 mbMcHenry Co., IL Marengo IL 5/2017 4.60 mbIroquois Co., IL 8/2017 3.16 mbDuPage Co., IL Downers Grove IL 5/2023 7.95mb 97%DuPage Co., 6/2023 7.84 mb 73%DuPage Co., Wheaton, IL 6/2021 7.93mb 94%DuPage Co., Downers Grove, IL 8/2023 7.74mb 80%Iroquois Co., 8/2017 6.43 mb 10/2023 6.83mb 99% (80)1/2024 7.75 mb 97%
“(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” is a popular rhythm & blues standard composed in 1946 by American songwriter Bobby Troup (1918-1999). It was a hit that same year for Nat King Cole who, with the King Cole Trio, first recorded the song. Troup got the idea for the song when taking a ten-day cross country trip with his wife in a Buick from Pennsylvania to California on U.S. Routes 40 and 66. The lyrics include some of the popular cities and towns on the route. Troup, who later became a film and television actor, certainly drove by what is today Dell Rhea’s Chicken Basket on that historic road trip.
Video of same run of Metra Locomotive 185 (above), westbound BSNF Railway Line, August 2022.
Chicago. Loop. 11/2017Chicago. Brown Line. 10/2017
The Brown Line (also known as the Ravenswood Line) is part of the Chicago “El” or “L” rapid transit system. The Chicago public transportation train system offers a total of 8 color-named lines (Yellow, Red, Blue, Pink, Orange, Green, Purple, and Brown). All the lines begin in the downtown “Loop” and branch out from there in different directions throughout the city (except, of course, east into Lake Michigan).
The popular Brown Line travels over 11 miles from downtown Chicago to the north and west to the “Kimball” station in Chicago’s Albany Park. There are 27 stations on the Brown Line and the train runs entirely above ground. The Brown Line first opened in 1907.
Locomotive METX 183, EMD F40PH-2 was originally built for Metra by General Motors in September 1989 at their Electro-Motive Division (EMD) plant (now closed) in LaGrange, Illinois. see – http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/Locopicture.aspx?id=2727 – retrieved July 1, 2021.
Locomotive 183. BSNF Rail Line. 6/2023 7.77mb 91%
Video of same run of Locomotive 183 (above). BSNF Rail Line, westbound. June 9, 2023.
Locomotive 194. BNSF Railway Line. 6/2021
Locomotive 194 was the first Metra locomotive after 2015 to be completely rebuilt and repainted just outside Patterson, Georgia at the Progress Rail plant. The first F40(PHM) rebuilt “like new” engines were returned to Metra service in September 2016.
The F40PHM locomotives were originally built for Metra by General Motors in 1991 at their Electro-Motive Division plant (now closed) in LaGrange, Illinois.
This locomotive features a short nose and sloped cab improving engineer safety in the event of a crash. These rebuilt locomotives are essentially a brand-new locomotive in their original 1991 frame.
The paint scheme for the F40 was developed by a Metra engineer for earlier rebuilds of Metra F59PH and MP36PH locomotives with slight variations.
These rebuilds offer internal systems that are an improvement over the original—this includes better emissions. Locomotive 194 and the 40 other F40PH-2 and F40PHM-2 locomotives that were under contract to be rebuilt for Metra in 2015 are expected to be in service until around 2030.
The total cost for these 41 rebuilt locomotives was $91 million—that is, about $2.2 million for each locomotive. That is contrasted to the cost of a brand new locomotive (about $7 million each). These F40 rebuilds, which serve mainly on the BSNF line, are familiarly called “Winnebagos” for their sleek style reminiscent of the recreational vehicles of that well-known manufacturer.
