1.
Fujita scale
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The Fujita scale, or Fujita–Pearson scale, is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation. The F-Scale was replaced with the Enhanced Fujita scale in the United States in February 2007, in April 2013, Canada adopted the EF-Scale over the Fujita scale, although tornado frequency is relatively low in the country. However, EC uses 31 Specific Damage Indicators in their ratings, the scale was introduced in 1971 by Tetsuya Fujita of the University of Chicago, in collaboration with Allen Pearson, head of the National Severe Storms Forecast Center/NSSFC. The scale was updated in 1973, taking into account path length and width, in the United States, starting in 1973, tornadoes were rated soon after occurrence. The Fujita scale was applied retroactively to tornadoes reported between 1950 and 1972 in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Tornado Database, Fujita rated tornadoes from 1916–1992 and Tom Grazulis of The Tornado Project retroactively rated all known significant tornadoes in the U. S. back to 1880. The Fujita scale was adopted in most areas outside of Great Britain, in 2007, the Fujita scale was updated, and the Enhanced Fujita Scale was introduced in the United States. The new scale more accurately matches wind speeds to the severity of damage caused by the tornado, though each damage level is associated with a wind speed, the Fujita scale is effectively a damage scale, and the wind speeds associated with the damage listed arent rigorously verified. The Enhanced Fujita Scale was formulated due to research which suggested that the speeds required to inflict damage by intense tornadoes on the Fujita scale are greatly overestimated. A process of expert elicitation with top engineers and meteorologists resulted in the EF scale wind speeds, however, the EF scale also improved damage parameter descriptions. The original scale as derived by Fujita was a theoretical 13-level scale designed to connect the Beaufort scale. F1 corresponds to the level of the Beaufort scale. F0 was placed at a position specifying no damage, in analogy to how the Beauforts zeroth level specifies little to no wind. From these wind speed numbers, qualitative descriptions of damage were made for each category of the Fujita scale, the diagram on the right illustrates the relationship between the Beaufort, Fujita, and Mach number scales. Fujita intended that only F0–F5 be used in practice, as this all possible levels of damage to frame homes as well as the expected estimated bounds of wind speeds. Furthermore, the wind speed numbers have since been found to be higher than the actual wind speeds required to incur the damage described at each category. The error manifests itself to a degree as the category increases. Precise wind speed numbers are actually guesses and have never been scientifically verified, different wind speeds may cause similar-looking damage from place to place—even from building to building. Without a thorough engineering analysis of damage in any event
2.
St. Louis
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St. Louis is an independent city and major U. S. port in the state of Missouri, built along the western bank of the Mississippi River, on the border with Illinois. Prior to European settlement, the area was a regional center of Native American Mississippian culture. The city of St. Louis was founded in 1764 by French fur traders Pierre Laclède and Auguste Chouteau, in 1764, following Frances defeat in the Seven Years War, the area was ceded to Spain and retroceded back to France in 1800. In 1803, the United States acquired the territory as part of the Louisiana Purchase, during the 19th century, St. Louis developed as a major port on the Mississippi River. In the 1870 Census, St. Louis was ranked as the 4th-largest city in the United States and it separated from St. Louis County in 1877, becoming an independent city and limiting its own political boundaries. In 1904, it hosted the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and the Summer Olympics, the economy of metro St. Louis relies on service, manufacturing, trade, transportation of goods, and tourism. This city has become known for its growing medical, pharmaceutical. St. Louis has 2 professional sports teams, the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball, the city is commonly identified with the 630-foot tall Gateway Arch in Downtown St. Louis. The area that would become St. Louis was a center of the Native American Mississippian culture and their major regional center was at Cahokia Mounds, active from 900 AD to 1500 AD. Due to numerous major earthworks within St. Louis boundaries, the city was nicknamed as the Mound City and these mounds were mostly demolished during the citys development. Historic Native American tribes in the area included the Siouan-speaking Osage people, whose territory extended west, European exploration of the area was first recorded in 1673, when French explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette traveled through the Mississippi River valley. Five years later, La Salle claimed the region for France as part of La Louisiane. The earliest European settlements in the area were built in Illinois Country on the east side of the Mississippi River during the 1690s and early 1700s at Cahokia, Kaskaskia, migrants from the French villages on the opposite side of the Mississippi River founded Ste. In early 1764, after France lost the 7 Years War, Pierre Laclède, the early French families built the citys economy on the fur trade with the Osage, as well as with more distant tribes along the Missouri River. The Chouteau brothers gained a monopoly from Spain on the fur trade with Santa Fe, French colonists used African slaves as domestic servants and workers in the city. In 1780 during the American Revolutionary War, St. Louis was attacked by British forces, mostly Native American allies, the founding of St. Louis began in 1763. Pierre Laclede led an expedition to set up a fur-trading post farther up the Mississippi River, before then, Laclede had been a very successful merchant. For this reason, he and his trading partner Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent were offered monopolies for six years of the fur trading in that area
3.
Tornado
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A tornado is a rapidly rotating column of air that spins while in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. Most tornadoes have wind speeds less than 110 miles per hour, are about 250 feet across, the most extreme tornadoes can attain wind speeds of more than 300 miles per hour, are more than two miles in diameter, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles. Various types of tornadoes include the multiple vortex tornado, landspout and waterspout, waterspouts are characterized by a spiraling funnel-shaped wind current, connecting to a large cumulus or cumulonimbus cloud. They are generally classified as non-supercellular tornadoes that develop over bodies of water and these spiraling columns of air frequently develop in tropical areas close to the equator, and are less common at high latitudes. Other tornado-like phenomena that exist in nature include the gustnado, dust devil, fire whirls, downbursts are frequently confused with tornadoes, though their action is dissimilar. Tornadoes have been observed and documented on every continent except Antarctica, however, the vast majority of tornadoes occur in the Tornado Alley region of the United States, although they can occur nearly anywhere in North America. There are several scales for rating the strength of tornadoes, the Fujita scale rates tornadoes by damage caused and has been replaced in some countries by the updated Enhanced Fujita Scale. An F0 or EF0 tornado, the weakest category, damages trees, an F5 or EF5 tornado, the strongest category, rips buildings off their foundations and can deform large skyscrapers. The similar TORRO scale ranges from a T0 for extremely weak tornadoes to T11 for the most powerful known tornadoes, Doppler radar data, photogrammetry, and ground swirl patterns may also be analyzed to determine intensity and assign a rating. The word tornado is a form of the Spanish word tronada. This in turn was taken from the Latin tonare, meaning to thunder and it most likely reached its present form through a combination of the Spanish tronada and tornar, however, this may be a folk etymology. A tornado is also referred to as a twister, and is also sometimes referred to by the old-fashioned colloquial term cyclone. The term cyclone is used as a synonym for tornado in the often-aired 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, the term twister is also used in that film, along with being the title of the 1996 tornado-related film Twister. A tornado is a rotating column of air, in contact with the ground, either pendant from a cumuliform cloud or underneath a cumuliform cloud. For a vortex to be classified as a tornado, it must be in contact with both the ground and the cloud base. Scientists have not yet created a definition of the word, for example. Tornado refers to the vortex of wind, not the condensation cloud and this results in the formation of a visible funnel cloud or condensation funnel. There is some disagreement over the definition of cloud and condensation funnel
4.
Supercell
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A supercell is a thunderstorm that is characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone, a deep, persistently rotating updraft. For this reason, these storms are referred to as rotating thunderstorms. Of the four classifications of thunderstorms, supercells are the overall least common and have the potential to be the most severe, supercells are often isolated from other thunderstorms, and can dominate the local weather up to 32 kilometres away. Supercells are often put into three types, Classic, Low-precipitation, and High-precipitation. LP supercells are found in climates that are more arid, such as the high plains of the United States. Supercells are usually isolated from other thunderstorms, although they can sometimes be embedded in a squall line. Typically, supercells are found in the sector of a low pressure system propagating generally in a north easterly direction in line with the cold front of the low pressure system. Because they can last for hours, they are known as quasi-steady-state storms, supercells have the capability to deviate from the mean wind. If they track to the right or left of the wind, they are said to be right-movers or left-movers. Supercells can sometimes develop two separate updrafts with opposing rotations, which splits the storm into two supercells, one left-mover and one right-mover, supercells can be any size – large or small, low or high topped. They usually produce copious amounts of hail, torrential rainfall, strong winds, supercells are one of the few types of clouds that typically spawn tornadoes within the mesocyclone, although only 30% or fewer do so. Supercells can occur anywhere in the world under the weather conditions. The first storm to be identified as the type was the Wokingham storm over England. Browning did the work that was followed up by Lemon. Supercells occur occasionally in many other regions, including eastern China. The areas with highest frequencies of supercells are similar to those with the most occurrences of tornadoes, see tornado climatology and Tornado Alley. The current conceptual model of a supercell was described in Severe Thunderstorm Evolution and Mesocyclone Structure as Related to Tornadogenesis by Leslie R. Lemon, supercells derive their rotation through tilting of horizontal vorticity caused by wind shear. Strong updrafts lift the air turning about an axis and cause this air to turn about a vertical axis
5.
Thunderstorm
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Thunderstorms occur in association with a type of cloud known as a cumulonimbus. They are usually accompanied by winds, heavy rain, and sometimes snow, sleet, hail, or, in contrast. Thunderstorms may line up in a series or become a rainband, strong or severe thunderstorms, known as supercells, rotate as do cyclones. Thunderstorms result from the upward movement of warm, moist air. As the warm, moist air moves upward, it cools, condenses, as the rising air reaches its dew point temperature, water vapor condenses into water droplets or ice, reducing pressure locally within the thunderstorm cell. Any precipitation falls the long distance through the clouds towards the Earths surface, as the droplets fall, they collide with other droplets and become larger. Thunderstorms can form and develop in any location but most frequently within the mid-latitude. Thunderstorms are responsible for the development and formation of many weather phenomena. Thunderstorms, and the phenomena that occur along them, pose great hazards. Damage that results from thunderstorms is mainly inflicted by downburst winds, large hailstones, stronger thunderstorm cells are capable of producing tornadoes and waterspouts. There are four types of thunderstorms, single-cell, multi-cell cluster, multi-cell lines, supercell thunderstorms are the strongest and the most associated with severe weather phenomena. Mesoscale convective systems formed by vertical wind shear within the tropics and subtropics can be responsible for the development of hurricanes. Dry thunderstorms, with no precipitation, can cause the outbreak of wildfires from the heat generated from the lightning that accompanies them. Several means are used to study thunderstorms, weather radar, weather stations, past civilizations held various myths concerning thunderstorms and their development as late as the 18th century. Beyond the Earths atmosphere, thunderstorms have also observed on the planets of Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune. Warm air has a lower density than air, so warmer air rises upwards. Clouds form as relatively warmer air, carrying moisture, rises within cooler air, the moist air rises, and, as it does so, it cools and some of the water vapor in that rising air condenses. If enough instability is present in the atmosphere, this process will continue long enough for cumulonimbus clouds to form and produce lightning, Meteorological indices such as convective available potential energy and the lifted index can be used to assist in determining potential upward vertical development of clouds
6.
Illinois
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Illinois is a state in the midwestern region of the United States, achieving statehood in 1818. It is the 6th most populous state and 25th largest state in terms of land area, the word Illinois comes from a French rendering of a native Algonquin word. For decades, OHare International Airport has been ranked as one of the worlds busiest airports, Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and politics. With the War of 1812 Illinois growth slowed as both Native Americans and Canadian forces often raided the American Frontier, mineral finds and timber stands also had spurred immigration—by the 1810s, the Eastern U. S. Railroads arose and matured in the 1840s, and soon carried immigrants to new homes in Illinois, as well as being a resource to ship their commodity crops out to markets. Railroads freed most of the land of Illinois and other states from the tyranny of water transport. By 1900, the growth of jobs in the northern cities and coal mining in the central and southern areas attracted a new group of immigrants. Illinois was an important manufacturing center during both world wars, the Great Migration from the South established a large community of African Americans in Chicago, who created the citys famous jazz and blues cultures. Three U. S. presidents have been elected while living in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, additionally, Ronald Reagan, whose political career was based in California, was the only U. S. president born and raised in Illinois. Today, Illinois honors Lincoln with its official slogan, Land of Lincoln. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is located in the capital of Springfield. Illinois is the spelling for the early French Catholic missionaries and explorers name for the Illinois Native Americans. American scholars previously thought the name Illinois meant man or men in the Miami-Illinois language and this etymology is not supported by the Illinois language, as the word for man is ireniwa and plural men is ireniwaki. The name Illiniwek has also said to mean tribe of superior men. The name Illinois derives from the Miami-Illinois verb irenwe·wa he speaks the regular way and this was taken into the Ojibwe language, perhaps in the Ottawa dialect, and modified into ilinwe·. The French borrowed these forms, changing the ending to spell it as -ois. The current spelling form, Illinois, began to appear in the early 1670s, the Illinois name for themselves, as attested in all three of the French missionary-period dictionaries of Illinois, was Inoka, of unknown meaning and unrelated to the other terms. American Indians of successive cultures lived along the waterways of the Illinois area for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, the Koster Site has been excavated and demonstrates 7,000 years of continuous habitation
7.
Missouri
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Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, achieving statehood in 1821. With over six million residents, it is the eighteenth most populous state, the largest urban areas are St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia. The capitol is in Jefferson City on the Missouri River, the state is the twenty-first most extensive by area and is geographically diverse. The Northern Plains were once covered by glaciers, then tallgrass prairie, in the South are the Ozarks, a forested highland, providing timber, minerals, and recreation. The Mississippi River forms the border of the state, eventually flowing into the swampy Missouri Bootheel. Humans have inhabited the land now known as Missouri for at least 12,000 years, the Mississippian culture built cities and mounds, before declining in the 1300s. When European explorers arrived in the 1600s they encountered the Osage, the French established Louisiana, a part of New France, and founded Ste. Genevieve in 1735 and St. Louis in 1764, after a brief period of Spanish rule, the United States acquired the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Americans from the Upland South, including enslaved African Americans, rushed into the new Missouri Territory, many from Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee settled in the Boonslick area of Mid-Missouri. Soon after, heavy German immigration formed the Missouri Rhineland, Missouri played a central role in the westward expansion of the United States, as memorialized by the Gateway Arch. The Pony Express, Oregon Trail, Santa Fe Trail, as a border state, Missouris role in the American Civil War was complex and there were many conflicts within. After the war, both Greater St. Louis and the Kansas City metropolitan area became centers of industrialization and business, today, the state is divided into 114 counties and the independent city of St. Louis. Missouris culture blends elements from the Midwestern and Southern United States, the musical styles of ragtime, Kansas City jazz, and St. Louis Blues, developed in Missouri. The well-known Kansas City-style barbecue, and lesser known St. Louis-style barbecue can be found across the state, St. Louis is also a major center of beer brewing, Anheuser-Busch is the largest producer in the world. Missouri wine is produced in the nearby Missouri Rhineland and Ozarks, Missouris alcohol laws are among the most permissive in the United States. Outside of the large cities popular tourist destinations include the Lake of the Ozarks, U. S. President Harry S. Truman is from Missouri. Other well known Missourians include Mark Twain, Walt Disney, Chuck Berry, some of the largest companies based in the state include Express Scripts, Monsanto, Emerson Electric, Edward Jones, and OReilly Auto Parts. Missouri has been called the Mother of the West and the Cave State, however, Missouris most famous nickname is the Show Me State, the state is named for the Missouri River, which was named after the indigenous Missouri Indians, a Siouan-language tribe
8.
Lafayette Square, St. Louis
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It surrounds Lafayette Park, which is the citys oldest public park — created by local ordinance in 1836. The neighborhood is one of the oldest in St. Louis, when it was developed, it was one of the most fashionable places to live. It declined after a tornado devastated the area in 1896, later, industrial encroachment and highway construction further weakened the neighborhood. Since the 1970s, St. Louis residents have been buying and renovating the homes in Lafayette Square. As of 2006, most of the homes have been restored and there are many shops, since St. Louis’s beginning as a French village in 1764, the land which is now Lafayette Square had been a common pasture for village livestock and had never been privately owned. These commons became encampments for bands of criminals who would attack, in 1835, now under American rule, Mayor Darby gained permission from the state legislature to begin selling the commons to drive the criminals out. When the city began to sell the pasture, the Board of Aldermen set aside about 30 acres for community recreation. In 1837 a real estate panic forced many who had bought land surrounding the Square to cease their payments, in the early 1850s, after courts had adjudicated the ownership of these properties, several prominent Saint Louisans bought most of the land bordering the southern end of the Park. These families built homes along on Lafayette Avenue and secured state legislation preventing “any nuisance within a distance of 600 feet from the Park. ”On November 12,1851. By 1856, real estate developers had begun to sell lots on the edge of the park—along Missouri Avenue—and by 1858 lots on the east side—Mississippi Avenue—were being sold. On Park Avenue—running along the edge of the Square—the lots were developed by the 1870s. From the 1850s to the 1870s money from residents and city coffers went toward improvements of the Square. These included “trees, shrubbery, graveling, fencing” and outdoor concerts. One newspaper called for funds for improvement, writing that the Square “only needs to be properly improved to be one of the most attractive places in the United States. ”During the American Civil War. With the end of the war, martial law also ended, the first bandstand was constructed in 1867 coinciding with the opening of Benton Place—a private street off Park Avenue. In 1868, a crowd of 25,000 to 40,000 gathered to witness the unveiling of a bronze statue of Senator Thomas Hart Benton. The next year the park received one of the six casts of Houdon’s life-size marble sculpture of George Washington, in the late 1860s, architect Francis Tunica’s design won a competition to build an iron fence—completed in 1869—around the Square. The newspaper the DAILY DEMOCRAT, June 27,1870 wrote, In looking about the city and noting its improvements, within two years some of the finest residences in the city have been erected and the work is still going on
9.
Mississippi River
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The Mississippi River is the chief river of the largest drainage system on the North American continent. Flowing entirely in the United States, it rises in northern Minnesota, with its many tributaries, the Mississippis watershed drains all or parts of 31 U. S. states and 2 Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains. The Mississippi ranks as the fourth longest and fifteenth largest river in the world by discharge, the river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Native Americans long lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries, most were hunter-gatherers, but some, such as the Mound Builders, formed prolific agricultural societies. The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century changed the way of life as first explorers, then settlers. The river served first as a barrier, forming borders for New Spain, New France, and the early United States, and then as a vital transportation artery and communications link. Formed from thick layers of the silt deposits, the Mississippi embayment is one of the most fertile agricultural regions of the country. In recent years, the river has shown a shift towards the Atchafalaya River channel in the Delta. The word itself comes from Messipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe name for the river, see below in the History section for additional information. In addition to historical traditions shown by names, there are at least two measures of a rivers identity, one being the largest branch, and the other being the longest branch. Using the largest-branch criterion, the Ohio would be the branch of the Lower Mississippi. Using the longest-branch criterion, the Middle Mississippi-Missouri-Jefferson-Beaverhead-Red Rock-Hellroaring Creek River would be the main branch and its length of at least 3,745 mi is exceeded only by the Nile, the Amazon, and perhaps the Yangtze River among the longest rivers in the world. The source of this waterway is at Browers Spring,8,800 feet above sea level in southwestern Montana and this is exemplified by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the phrase Trans-Mississippi as used in the name of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. It is common to qualify a regionally superlative landmark in relation to it, the New Madrid Seismic Zone along the river is also noteworthy. These various basic geographical aspects of the river in turn underlie its human history and present uses of the waterway, the Upper Mississippi runs from its headwaters to its confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis, Missouri. The source of the Upper Mississippi branch is traditionally accepted as Lake Itasca,1,475 feet above sea level in Itasca State Park in Clearwater County, however, the lake is in turn fed by a number of smaller streams. From its origin at Lake Itasca to St. Louis, Missouri, fourteen of these dams are located above Minneapolis in the headwaters region and serve multiple purposes, including power generation and recreation. The remaining 29 dams, beginning in downtown Minneapolis, all locks and were constructed to improve commercial navigation of the upper river
10.
Eads Bridge
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Eads Bridge is a steel technology combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis, connecting St. Louis and East St. Louis, Illinois. Opened in 1874, it was one of the earliest long bridges built across the Mississippi, the worlds first all steel construction, as such, the St. Louis Landmark is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, as a National Historic Landmark. As of April 2014, it carries about 8,100 vehicles daily, the bridge is named for its designer and builder, James B. When completed in 1874, the Eads Bridge was the longest arch bridge in the world, with an overall length of 6,442 feet. The ribbed steel arch spans were considered daring, as was the use of steel as a structural material. The cost of building the bridge was nearly $10 million, the Eads Bridge was also the first bridge to be built using cantilever support methods exclusively, and one of the first to make use of pneumatic caissons. The Eads Bridge caissons, still among the deepest ever sunk, were responsible for one of the first major outbreaks of caisson disease, fifteen workers died, two other workers were permanently disabled, and 77 were severely afflicted. On June 14,1874, John Robinson led a test elephant on a stroll across the new Eads Bridge to prove it was safe, a big crowd cheered as the elephant from a traveling circus lumbered towards Illinois. It was believed that elephants had instincts that would keep them from setting foot on unsafe structures, two weeks later, Eads sent 14 locomotives back and forth across the bridge at one time. The opening day celebration on July 4,1874, featured a parade that stretched 15 miles through the streets of St. Louis. The Eads Bridge, which became an image of the city of St. Louis. The bridge crosses the St. Louis riverfront between Lacledes Landing, to the north, and the grounds of the Gateway Arch, to the south, today the road deck has been restored, allowing vehicular and pedestrian traffic to cross the river. The St. Louis MetroLink light rail system has used the rail deck since 1993, the Eads Bridge was built by the Illinois and St. Louis Bridge Company, with the Keystone Bridge Company serving as subcontractor for superstructure erection. The domination of the trade was no longer as important as before the American Civil War. The bridge was conceived as a solution for St. Louis to regain eminence by connecting transportation across the river, although he had no prior experience in bridge building, James Eads was chosen as chief engineer for the bridge. In an attempt to secure their future, steamboat interests successfully lobbied to place restrictions on construction, requiring spans. Ostensibly this would maintain sufficient operating room for steamboats beneath the base for the then foreseeable future. The unproclaimed purpose was to require a bridge so grand and lofty that it would be impossible to erect according to building techniques
11.
East St. Louis, Illinois
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East St. Louis is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois. Once a bustling industrial center like many cities in the Rust Belt, in 1950, East St. Louis was the fourth largest city in Illinois when population peaked at 82,366. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 27,006, one of the highlights of the citys waterfront is the Gateway Geyser. Located on the grounds of Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park, designed to complement the Gateway Arch across the river in St. Louis, it shoots water to a height of 630 feet, the same height as the Arch. Native Americans had long inhabited both sides of the Mississippi River, before the Civil War, settlers reported up to 50 mounds in the area that became East St. Louis, but most were lost to 19th-century development and later roadbuilding. East St. Louis lies within the American Bottom area of the present day Metro-East area of St. Louis and this name was given after the United States acquired the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and European Americans began to settle in the area. The village was first named Illinoistown, East St. Louis was founded in 1797 by Captain James Piggott, a Revolutionary War veteran. In that year Piggott began operating a service across the Mississippi River. When Piggott died in 1799, his widow sold the business, moved to St. Louis County. Famed actress Virginia Mayo was a great granddaughter of Captain Piggott. The municipality called East St. Louis was established on April 1,1861, Illinoistown residents voted on a new name that day, and 183 voted to rename the town East St. Louis. Though it started as a town, East St. Louis soon grew to a larger city at the center of a growing economy in St. Louis. A period of industrial growth followed the American Civil War. Industries in East St. Louis made use of the availability of Illinois coal as fuel. Another early industry was meatpacking and stockyards, concentrated in one area to limit their nuisance to other jurisdictions, in the expansion, many businessmen became overextended in credit, and a major economic collapse followed the Panic of 1873. This was due to railroad and other manufacturing expansion, land speculation, the economic recession began in the East and steadily moved west, severely crippling the railroads, the main system of transportation. In response, railroad companies began dramatically lowering workers wages, forcing employees to work without pay and these wage cuts and additional money-saving tactics prompted strikes and massive unrest. While most of the strikes in the cities during 1877 were accompanied by violence
12.
1896 Republican National Convention
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The 1896 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States was held in a temporary structure south of the St. Louis City Hall in Saint Louis, Missouri, from June 16 to June 18,1896. New Jersey banker Garret A. Hobart was nominated for Vice President over Henry Clay Evans of Tennessee, foraker of Ohio placed McKinleys name in nomination. The convention was originally slated for the St. Louis Exposition, at the conclusion of the convention, both the temporary building as well as the original Exposition Hall were torn down and a new Coliseum was built. The 1896 Convention was held in St. Louis less than a month after the infamous 1896 tornado that devastated a swath of the city. There was speculation that it might be unfeasible to hold the convention in the city, but, after a cleanup effort was undertaken. It also supported creation of a National Board of Arbitration, coming into the convention, former Vice President Levi P. Morton had strong support to re-take his former office from delegates who favored the gold standard. However, McKinleys manager, Mark Hanna opposed Mortons addition to the ticket, Hanna was ultimately successful at keeping Morton off the ticket, but many silver Republicans nonetheless supported the Democratic ticket led by William Jennings Bryan. United States presidential election,18961896 Democratic National Convention Republican Party platform of 1896 at The American Presidency Project
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