What's your local history?

[Zoid]

Originally posted by Colonâ„¢


You could at least have removed this in your copy&paste.

Did you expect a personally written 500 word essay?

[Locutus]

Great idea for a thread

My home town of Hengelo in the east of the Netherlands (near the German border) arose around the House of Hengel, a nobleman's mansion that was built in the early 16th century. Although the area has been inhabited for millennia, the present town of Hengelo was little more than an insignificant village of a handful of houses until 1802, when it became an official municipality (with at that point around 200 farms and houses). In the 19th century it grew rapidly as an industrial centre, initially focused on the textile industry (the area had been home to textile-based cottage industry since medieval times) until that moved to the neighbouring town of Enschede. After that Hengelo switched primarily to metallurgical industry, producing machinery, tools and electr(on)ic equipment. Later it also developed chemical industry and became an important centre for salt mining. During WWII the strategic industry made it a prime target for English and American bombers. While they usually targeted the industrial quarters the town centre was completely wiped out in October 1944, destroying thousands of residential houses, causing massive casualties and forever changing the face of the town (there's still a gaping hole in the heart of town where the ground is too unstable and saturated with unexploded bombs to build anything).

After the war major reconstruction projects were started and Hengelo continues to be a building pit until today: first the rubble of of the pre-WW2 town was replaced by 1940s-1960s architecture and later that was torn down again to be replaced by modern buildings (late 1970s and beyond); all the while the town was continuously expanding outward as well. The result is that Hengelo today is a strange mixture of many different styles of architecture from the late 1800s (what little survived WWII -- most notably a sizable basilica from the 1890s) to present-day. The town also became an major infrastructural centre as it is the last (major) Dutch town on the route Amsterdam/Rotterdam-Berlin/Moscow and it's at the centre of the region of Twente: several major highways, regional roads, railroads and a canal all meet each other in or around the town and there's a regional airport just outside the city boundaries.

Today Hengelo has a little over 80,000 inhabitants. Heavy industry isn't as important as it used to be (mostly moved to Eastern Europe or the Third World) but there are still a few major factories and a fair amount of light industry, as well as a lot of transportation-related businesses and cargo terminals. The rest of the town is focused on education (there are several institutions similar to American colleges and community colleges) and the service industry. In 2010 a World Trade Centre will be established in the town centre, which will be our first skyscraper (100+ meters/350+ feet high -- small by international standards but huge for a small town where currently the largest office building is not even half that size). For a town its size Hengelo is pretty rich in cultural activities and has a large shopping and nightlife district. Sports is also important: Hengelo is home to the FBK Games (an internationally renowned atletics event), several world-class sporters (though noone of great international fame), as well as the training facilities and youth academy of FC Twente, traditionally the 4th football team of the Netherlands (once UEFA Cup finalist). The club's stadium is on the border between Hengelo and Enschede, but just on Enschede's side. The same is true of the University of Twente -- today Hengelo and Enschede (and the large village of Borne) are effectively a twin (triplet?) town that have all but grown into a single city of 250,000+ inhabitants (but without losing the small-town atmosphere).

[Locutus]

Originally posted by Zoid
Did you expect a personally written 500 word essay?

Hey, I hand-wrote mine, I love writing up histories of places/civs/whatever (Which explains why it's more than twice as long as a town its size and importance warrants )

[Zoid]

Good for you

[Will9]

Evansville, Indiana was founded in 1817. It was named after Robert Morgen Evans, a founder and officer under William Henry Harrison. Much of the area was raveged by the confederates in the Civil War. Also Newburgh, a suberb of Evansville, was home to the Civil War battle won without a shot being fired. In World War II Evansville made 110 P-47 Thunderboltras and 167 LSTs. Evansville currently contains a toyota and Alcoa plant. On November 6, 2005 a F3 tornado killed 25 and destroyed areas south and east of Evansville (only missing my house by about 100 yards).

[lord of the mark]

I currently live in Vienna, Virginia, which was founded in the 1850s, I think, as a remote retreat from DC, surrounding a station of the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad (which is now a bicycle path). Some minor skirmish happened during the American Civil War, and towards the end of the century it developed into a little country town for RR commuters to DC. Nothing much happened, that I know of. eventually the auto and the growth of the DC metro area led to the town filling and surrounding area filling up with shopping centers and housing, mainly single family and low rise garden apartments. The construction of the metro, (circa 1985?) led to pressure for more medium rise housing, and more intense commercial development, mainly around the metro and elsewhere outside the town limits - the town itself continues to resist denser development.

Id have to google to see where the name comes from, or who grew up here.

[lord of the mark]

Ah, Robert Hannsen, the Soviet Spy, lived here.

[lord of the mark]

heres the official history

"In the 1760´s John Hunter, a native of Ayr County in Scotland, married Col. Broadwater's daughter. Partly by marriage and partly by purchase, he succeeded Col. Broadwater as the area's principal landowner. It was John Hunter who built the first house of record within the town in 1767 and called it Ayr Hill after his native land. As the village grew, it assumed the name Ayr Hill, by which it was known for a hundred years.

Large estates were gradually lessened by sale or gifts. However, few houses were built in the village, and for a hundred years after the building of Ayr Hill there were scarcely more than eight houses in the town itself.

Prior to the 1850´s, Moses Cummins, a prosperous northerner, brought to Ayr Hill a plow factory. These plows were the first iron-beamed plows made in the U.S. and were shipped far and wide before the Civil War. "

LOTM - well, then, the first iron beamed plows in the US, now THEREs something to be proud of.


"1849 was known as the "year without a summer." The unseasonable weather brought considerable migration from the north to the milder climate of the Ayr Hill area.

In the late 1850´s, a doctor named William Hendrick agreed to settle in Ayr Hill if its name were changed to that of Vienna, his hometown in upstate New York. The change was willingly made. "


LOTM - Naturally, the place wasnt named after Vienna Austria, but after Vienna, New York.


"The railroad reached Vienna in 1858 and provided impetus for growth into a real village. Known then as the Loudoun & Hampshire, it started at Alexandria and was planned to extend to the rich coal fields of Hampshire County, but natural barriers and the Civil War prevented the materialization of this plan. "


LOTM - Like i said, its great bike path.

"At this time, Vienna had one main road, known as the Old Georgetown Road, that twisted and turned to avoid mud holes and rocks. "

LOTM - Hmm, I guess thats rte 123, which is called Chain Bridge Road, after the Civil War era bridge over the Potomac, on either side of Vienna.

"When the Civil War broke out, Vienna became an alternate camping ground for the two contending forces. This was a confusing time for residents. It was hard to tell friend from foe, and the area changed hands so often that many families moved away for the duration of the war.

The fifth skirmish of the war, part of the First Battle of Manassas, took place near the Park Street railroad crossing where the Vienna Community Center now stands. This incident marked the first time in history a railroad was used tactically in battle. "

LOTM Well, how about that. Of course in the same battle the arrival of Joe Johnstons forces by rail at Manassas itself was rather more striking, and so has denied Vienna this bit of fame.

"A year or more after the war was over, troops were still encamped in the village and bugle calls awakened residents at an early hour.

Within the next three years, many northern families moved into and around Vienna. These new residents were not carpetbaggers or office seekers, but were attracted to make Vienna their permanent home because of its milder climate, the fertility of its soil, and its nearness to the nation's capital.

Among these came Major Orrin T. Hine, Freedmen´s Bureau agent, radical Republican, farmer and realtor, who settled in Vienna in 1866. By 1885, he owned almost 6,500 acres in the vicinity. In 1890, when the village of 300 persons became an incorporated town "in order to improve its public schools and streets," he was elected Vienna´s first mayor and remained in that post until his death in 1900. At the century´s end, he was widely acknowledged to have accomplished much in rebuilding and constructively guiding the county so torn by war decades earlier.

Maj. Hine was also a leading advocate of public education and testified in favor of the state public school law of 1870. In 1868 or 1869, the first black public school, which also served as a Baptist church, was established in Vienna. The first white public school was built in 1872. "

LOTM - Fairfax County still had seperate black schools right up to the civil rights era.


"The number of churches increased. The Presbyterian church was built in 1874, then the Methodist in 1890, and in 1896 the Episcopal church was organized. Citizens began to speak of "the street" as Church Street; so we know it today.

At this time town businesses included saw and grist mills, blacksmith shops, wheelwright shops, a tomato canning factory, a lime kiln, a wood and coal yard, and a broom factory. There were also dairy farms within the town limits. In 1881, Howard Money founded an undertaking business; today, Money and King Funeral Home is Vienna's oldest continuous business.

The Vienna Volunteer Fire Department is the oldest in Fairfax County. Fathered by Leon Freeman, it started in 1903 with a small hand-drawn chemical engine that was housed under Mr. Freeman´s porch to prevent it from freezing in cold weather.

The horse and buggy days were no more. A trolley line came in 1903, furnishing hourly transportation to and from Washington, D.C. This gave way to the automobile age. The first car owned in town was Mr. Freeman's Franklin in 1904. The speed limit was 12 mph.

Vienna in 1940 was still a small, quiet, rural town "population 1,237" virtually untouched by the metropolitan character of the nation's capital. The town began to take on a new look in the 1950´s when many businesses started to move from the old commercial section on Church Street to Maple Avenue. The post-World War II rush to the suburbs brought a burgeoning of population to Northern Virginia, almost 10,000 new residents to Vienna alone, their new houses blending with those of an earlier era.

In 1954, the first of Vienna's modern shopping centers was opened. More shopping centers followed in quick succession along a widened Maple Avenue in an attempt to keep up with the influx of newcomers who bought homes in the town's new subdivisions. Older residents recall with nostalgia the Victorian homes and the maple trees that lined Maple Avenue before it was widened in 1958. "

[Dis]

we were occupied by native americans most of our history. Anasazi (though I think that would be closer to the lake- river back then). Then the Southern Paiutes dominated the region.

The Spanish were the first ones to come through. They were looking to reduce travel time on the old spanish trail.

John C. Fremont is the first non-spanish explorer to discover the valley. He brought our area to the attention of the americans.

Brigham Young (mormon founder) builds a fort in the Las Vegas valley in the mid 1800's. It wasn't too successful, and the indians weren't real receptive to them. It was later abandoned.

The railway is the main start of my town. It had water to replenish the trains, so it was a major stop for the railroads.

My city was formed in 1905 when the railroad auctioned off some land. We are the largest city in the country (and I think the world) that was founded in the 20th century. Gambling was legalized several years later.

In 1931 the Boulder (now called Hoover) dam was started. This really increased the usefulness of my city.

In ww2 nellis air force base provided a training ground, and nearby Henderson provided war materials.

It was a few years later the strip hotels starting coming up. And that's when my city started emerging as a gambling center of the country.

[Blaupanzer]

IIRC, a large part of Henderson was flattened in WW II due to an explosion at an ammunition plant. This led to a reform in the construction of these plants. Henderson later became a place of manufacture for rocket fuel and the town benefitted from the earlier safety construction reforms when part of the rocket fuel plant blew up causing only limited damage, other than the breaking of an awful lot of windows.

Las Vegas was turned into a gambling center by a number of individuals associated with the Mafia as an alternative to Havana, where political instability was beginning to worry that crowd. The individuals with the vision to see a location in a hostile desert climate as a great gambling and entertainment center were quite amazing, whatever their background. It is the fastest growing city in the US and a very popular retirement center today.

Dis on the cutting edge out there.

[Bosh]

Let's see Seongnam...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seongnam

The largest of Seoul's satellite cities which grew up during the boom years in the 70's and 80's. The southern half is a yuppie-infested hell-hole full of forests of identifical shiny-new apartment-buildings, overpriced department stores and various high-tech thingies. The northern half sprawls over a bunch of hills and is full of crumbling brick buildings, sleazy motels, shamans, red light districts and places where the foreign factory workers live.

I live in the northern half. Apartment is almost double the size of my old Seoul apartment for almost half the price

[Blaupanzer]

So, Bosh, are you a "foreign worker," a yuppie-infestor, or both?

[Bosh]

Well the "foreign workers" are mostly Chinese with a smattering of Pakistanis and whatnot (which means that there are places to buy Chinese beer around, which sadly enough is vastly better than the local stuff).

I'm a whitey who commutes into the most yuppie-infested place in the country (Apgujeong) but there are hardly any of us here in Seognam, I can go a week without seeing another one.

[Wycoff]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
I currently live in Vienna, Virginia, which was founded in the 1850s, I think, as a remote retreat from DC, surrounding a station of the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad (which is now a bicycle path).

I lived there this summer, near the intersection of Park and Tappawango. It's a nice place as far as surburbs go.

[Wycoff]

I currently live in James City County, Virginia. I'm 2 miles from Jamestown settlement, the first permanent English settlement in the New World, and I'm a mile and a half away from Williamsburg, which was the capital of Virginia in during colonial days and, among other things, was the place where Patrick Henry gave his famous "Liberty or Death" speech.

There are major tourist attractions in Williamsburg. The first is Colonial Williamsburg, a restoration of the old town which is staffed with historians wearing historical costume. The second is the College of William in Mary, the second oldest university in the US (behind Harvard) and home of the nation's first law school. The final attraction is Busch Gardens Europe, a charming amusement park built adjacent to the Anheuser-Busch brewery.

Jamestown settlement has a large vistitors center, the remains of the actual settlement, and a recreated villiage simulating the daily life of the Jamestown settlers. The 400th anniversary of the establishment of the Jamestown settlement is coming up next May, and a big celebration is being planned.

Jamestown's Wikipedia entry

Williamsburg's Wikipedia entry