The Great Galveston hurricane of September 8, 1900 was the deadliest natural disaster in United States history. The hurricane left between 6,000 and 12,000 fatalities in the United States; the number most cited in official reports is 8,000. Most of these deaths occurred in and near Galveston, Texas, after the storm surge inundated the coastline with 8 to 12 ft of water
Three neighboring Texas counties; Galveston, Matagorda, and Brazoria; opted out of Social Security before the laws were changed in 1983. Instead, the county employees invest in savings accounts that guarantee at least 4% annual interest, but they can choose to invest in riskier options with no guarantees.
Matagorda TX is a town located near the mouth of the Colorado River. The source of this Colorado River is near Lamesa TX, a town near Tarzan TX located between Lubbock TX and Midland TX. This Colorado River is 862 miles long, is the US’s 18th longest river, and is the longest river wholly in Texas. Both the Llano River and the Pedernales River drain into the Colorado.
Although there is some dispute about how to measure the length of a river, the Nile, at 6,650 miles, is generally considered to be the world’s longest river. The Amazon is second at 6,400 miles. The Yangtze is the third-longest, followed by the Mississippi-Missouri.
Willie Nile was a critically acclaimed singer-songwriter of the early 80s. Legal problems slowed his output, but he started coming back in the 21st century.
Nile Rodgers is an American musician, songwriter, and music producer. He rose to prominence in the 1970s with his band Chic, which he co-founded with his musical partner, Bernard Edwards. Rodgers later produced songs and albums for a range of artists, including David Bowie, INXS, Duran Duran, Lady Gaga, and Daft Punk; he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.
The US in the 1970s had to deal with the ending of the Vietnam War, Watergate, the 1973 oil embargo and gas rationing, the 55 national speed limit, Hurricane Agnes, the 1974 super outbreak of tornadoes, the Edmund Fitzgerald loss, the Tenerife 747 crash (still the worst aviation disaster on record), two assassination attempts on Gerald Ford, and the Iranian hostage crisis.
The US in the 1970s also saw Stephen Hawking’s greater understanding of black holes, the Apollo 13 rescue, continued moon landings, Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz, the space shuttle development, Viking 1 and Voyager 1, the first MRIs in medicine, the first complete DNA genome sequencing, the Concorde, the IBM 8" floppy disks, microwave ovens, cell phones and car phones, PET imaging, hand held scientific calculators, the Sony Walkman, the first Honda Civic, the first Earth Day, women’s equality movements, Coretta Scott King’s leadership, Freddie Mercury and Andy Warhol coming out, Atari, and disco.
In regards to women’s equality movements, the largest in the world is the celebration of International Women’s Day every March 8th.
Captain James Buchanan Eads was a 19th century civil engineer and inventor. His 1874 Mississippi River Bridge at St. Louis was the first bridge across the mighty river south of the Missouri River. It connects Laclede’s Landing and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis MO to the west, to East St. Louis IL. James Buchanan Eads was born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana on May 23, 1820, and he died in Nassau in the Bahamas on March 8, 1887.
The Gateway Arch, of course, was not there when Eads Bridge was constructed in 1874.
The Gateway Arch is actually only a part of Gateway Arch National Park, which encompasses 91 acres and includes the historic “Old Courthouse”, site of the famous Dred Scott court case and decision, as well as a sub-surface museum located below the Arch itself. This area was created in 1935 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt designated property be developed along the river into the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.
A national competition in 1948 determined the design the memorial would take; however, difficulties in rerouting and otherwise dealing with existing rail lines in the immediate area meant delays until these could be resolved. It wasn’t until fifteen years later, in 1963, that actual construction of the Arch began, and was completed in 1965. The internal tram system, which takes people up to an (enclosed) viewing platform at the apex of the Arch, began operation two years later in 1967.
While the area had been commonly referred to as “The Gateway Arch” from the very beginning, it never was the ‘official’ name until 2018, when a bill was signed into law redesignating the site as the Gateway Arch National Park.
-“BB”-
Arches National Park is home to some of the most striking red rock formations in the world. It was established as Arches National Monument in 1929 and later as a national park in 1971. What is now a dry seabed was once a shallow inland sea. When the seawater retreated, it left behind sand that the wind formed into dunes. Those dunes petrified or turned into the rock that forms the park we know today.
Gateway Arch National Park, in St. Louis, is the smallest U.S. National Park, at 192.83 acres. The largest U.S. National Park is Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska, at over 13 million acres.
Acton State Historic Site is located in Hood County, Texas. This location is the site of the grave of Elizabeth Crockett, second wife of Davy Crockett, who died in 1805. With a total area of .006 acres, this is believe to be the smallest state park in the United States.
Where did you get your figure of 192.83 acres? Mine came directly from the Arch’s website:
While the National Park System is comprised of more than 400 sites, at a little over 90 acres, Gateway Arch National Park is the smallest designated “national park.”
-“BB”-
From this Wikipedia article. Then again, said article didn’t agree with the acreage for Wrangell-St. Elias when I went to that park’s web page, and I spaced out on you having a different acreage in your post on Gateway Arch – I should have looked up the official site for Gateway, too.
The largest state without a national park is Michigan.
Isn’t Isle Royale in Michigan?
Isle Royale is very close to Minnesota, near Grand Portage, MN but it is part of Michigan. It is completely surrounded by Lake Superior. The island is closed from November to April 15th.
You’re right. The source forgot to list it as in Michigan. So let’s change my state to “Kansas”. Yours still works with ‘national park’ as a link.
April 15th became tax day in the United States in 1955.
Gateway Arch National Park features the arch which, at 623’ high and 623’ wide, is the world’s tallest arch, Missouri’s tallest accessible building. Some sources consider it the tallest man-made monument in the Western Hemisphere. The arch is the tallest memorial in the United States and the tallest stainless steel monument in the world.
Each cross section of the arch is an equilateral triangle. The shape of the arch is not a parabola, and it is not a conic section. Its shape is an inverted weighted catenary, defined by the hyperbolic cosine function.
A hanging chain fixed at its two endpoints that supports only its own weight forms a catenary; the chain is purely in tension. There is no shear force along the entire length of the chain.
Likewise, an inverted catenary arch that supports only its own weight is purely in compression, with no shear. The catenary arch is the stablest of all arches since the thrust passes through the legs and is absorbed in the foundations, instead of forcing the legs apart.
In 1943, 20th Century Fox insured the legs of actress Betty Grable for $1 million. Other celebrities who have had their legs insured include Tina Turner, Heidi Klum, Mariah Carey, Rhianna and Taylor Swift.