1.
Edward O'Hare
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Even though he had a limited amount of ammunition, he managed to shoot down or damage several enemy bombers. On April 21,1942, he became the first naval recipient of the Medal of Honor in World War II. O’Hare’s final action took place on the night of November 26,1943, during this encounter with a group of Japanese torpedo bombers, OHares Grumman F6F Hellcat was shot down, his aircraft was never found. In 1945, the U. S. Navy destroyer USS OHare was named in his honor. A few years later, Colonel Robert R. McCormick, publisher of the Chicago Tribune, on September 19,1949, the Chicago, Illinois airport was renamed OHare International Airport to honor OHares bravery. The airport displays a Grumman F4F-3 museum aircraft replicating the one flown by Butch OHare during his Medal of Honor flight, in 2001, the Air Classics Museum remodeled the aircraft to replicate the F4F-3 Wildcat that OHare flew on his Medal of Honor flight. The restored Wildcat is exhibited in the west end of Terminal 2 behind the security checkpoint to honor OHare International Airports namesake, Edward Henry Butch OHare was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Selma Anna and Edward Joseph OHare. He was of Irish and German descent, Butch had two sisters, Patricia and Marilyn. When their parents divorced in 1927, Butch and his sisters stayed with their mother Selma in St. Louis while their father Edward moved to Chicago, Butchs father was a lawyer who worked closely with Al Capone before turning against him and helping convict Capone of tax evasion. Butch OHare graduated from the Western Military Academy in 1932, the following year, he went on to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. Graduated and appointed an Ensign on June 3,1937, he served two years on board the battleship USS New Mexico, on the nimble Boeing F4B-4A, he trained in aerobatics as well as aerial gunnery. He also flew the SBU Corsair and the TBD Devastator, in November 1939, his father was shot to death, most likely by Al Capones gunmen. During Capones tax evasion trial in 1931 and 1932, OHares father had provided incriminating evidence which helped finally put Capone away, whatever the motivation, the elder OHare was shot down in his car, a week before Capone was released from incarceration. When Butch finished his aviation training on May 2,1940. OHare now trained on the Grumman F3F and then graduated to the Brewster F2A Buffalo, Lieutenant John Thach, then executive officer of VF-3, discovered OHares exceptional flying abilities and closely mentored the promising young pilot. Thach, who would develop the Thach Weave aerial combat tactic. In 1941, more than half of all VF-3 pilots, including OHare, in early 1941, VF-3 transferred to USS Enterprise, while carrier USS Saratoga underwent maintenance and overhaul work at Bremerton Navy Yard. On Monday morning, July 21, OHare made his first flight in a Grumman F4F Wildcat, following stops in Washington and Dayton, he landed in St. Louis on Tuesday
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.
Chicago
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Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago also has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language. The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad, manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage
4.
Al Capone
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Alphonse Gabriel Al Capone, sometimes known by the nickname Scarface, was an American gangster who attained fame during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the Chicago Outfit. His seven-year reign as crime boss ended when he was 33 years old, Capone was born in Brooklyn in New York City to Italian immigrants. He was considered a Five Points Gang member who became a bouncer in organized crime such as brothels. A conflict with the North Side Gang was instrumental in Capones rise, Torrio went into retirement after North Side gunmen almost killed him, handing control to Capone. Capone apparently reveled in attention, such as the cheers from spectators when he appeared at ball games and he made donations to various charities and was viewed by many to be a modern-day Robin Hood. The federal authorities became intent on jailing Capone, and they prosecuted him for tax evasion in 1931, a federal crime and a novel strategy during the era. During the highly publicized case, the judge admitted as evidence Capones admissions of his income, Capone was convicted and sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. After conviction, he replaced his old team with experts in tax law, and his grounds for appeal were strengthened by a Supreme Court ruling. He was already showing signs of syphilitic dementia early in his sentence, on January 25,1947, Capone died of cardiac arrest after suffering a stroke. Al Capone was born in Brooklyn in New York City on January 17,1899 and his parents were Italian immigrants Gabriele Capone and Teresa Capone. His father was a barber and his mother was a seamstress, ralph and Frank worked with him in his criminal empire. Frank did so until his death on April 1,1924, ralph ran the bottling companies early on, and was also the front man for the Chicago Outfit for some time until he was imprisoned for tax evasion in 1932. Gabriele Capone worked at a barber shop at 29 Park Avenue. When Al was 11, the Capone family moved to 38 Garfield Place in Park Slope, Capone showed promise as a student, but had trouble with the rules at his strict parochial Catholic school. His schooling ended at the age of 14, after he was expelled for hitting a teacher in the face. He worked at odd jobs around Brooklyn, including a candy store, during this time, Capone was influenced by gangster Johnny Torrio, whom he came to regard as a mentor. Capone initially became involved with gangs that included the Junior Forty Thieves. He then joined the Brooklyn Rippers, and then the powerful Five Points Gang based in Lower Manhattan, during this time, he was employed and mentored by fellow racketeer Frankie Yale, a bartender in a Coney Island dance hall and saloon called the Harvard Inn
5.
Alcatraz Island
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Alcatraz Island is located in San Francisco Bay,1.25 miles offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. The small island was developed with facilities for a lighthouse, a fortification, a military prison. In 1972, Alcatraz became part of a recreation area. Today, the facilities are managed by the National Park Service as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Visitors can reach the island by ferry ride from Pier 33, near Fishermans Wharf, hornblower Cruises and Events, operating under the name Alcatraz Cruises, is the official ferry provider to and from the island. According to a 1971 documentary on the history of Alcatraz, the island measures 1,675 feet by 590 feet and is 135 feet at highest point during mean tide, however, the total area of the island is reported to be 22 acres. Over the years, the Spanish version Alcatraz became popular and is now widely used, in August 1827, French Captain Auguste Bernard Duhaut-Cilly wrote. Covered with a number of these birds. A gun fired over the feathered legions caused them to fly up in a great cloud, the California brown pelican is not known to nest on the island today. The Spanish built several buildings on the island and other minor structures. Julian Workman is the name of William Workman, co-owner of Rancho La Puente. Later in 1846, acting in his capacity as Military Governor of California, frémont, champion of Manifest Destiny and leader of the Bear Flag Republic, bought the island for $5,000 in the name of the United States government from Francis Temple. Frémont and his heirs sued for compensation during protracted but unsuccessful legal battles that extended into the 1890s. S, Army began studying the suitability of Alcatraz Island for the positioning of coastal batteries to protect the approaches to San Francisco Bay. In 1853, under the direction of Zealous B, tower, the United States Army Corps of Engineers began fortifying the island, work which continued until 1858, eventuating in Fortress Alcatraz. The islands first garrison at Camp Alcatraz, numbering about 200 soldiers and 11 cannons, at this time it also served as the San Francisco Arsenal for storage of firearms to prevent them falling into the hands of Confederate sympathizers. Alcatraz, built as a fortified military site on the West Coast, formed a triangle of defense along with Fort Point and Lime Point. The island was also the site of the first operational lighthouse on the West Coast of the United States, Alcatraz never fired its guns offensively, though during the war it was used to imprison Confederate sympathizers and privateers on the west coast. Because of its isolation from the outside by the cold, strong, hazardous currents of the waters of San Francisco Bay, following the war in 1866, the army determined that the fortifications and guns were being rapidly rendered obsolete by advances in military technology
6.
Medal of Honor
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The medal is normally awarded by the President of the United States in the name of the U. S. Congress. There are three versions of the medal, one for the Army, one for the Navy, personnel of the Marine Corps and Coast Guard receive the Navy version. U. S. awards including the Medal of Honor do not have titles and while there is no official abbreviation. The Medal of Honor is the oldest continuously issued combat decoration of the United States armed forces, because the medal is presented in the name of Congress, it is often referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor. However, the name is Medal of Honor, which began with the U. S. Armys version. Within United States Code the medal is referred to as the Medal of Honor, in 1990, Congress designated March 25 annually as National Medal of Honor Day. The capture saved the fort of West Point from the British Army, although the Badge of Military Merit fell into disuse after the American Revolutionary War, the concept of a military award for individual gallantry by members of the U. S. 539 Certificates were approved for this period and this medal was later replaced by the Army Distinguished Service Medal which was established on January 2,1918. Those Army members who held the Distinguished Service Medal in place of the Certificate of Merit could apply for the Army Distinguished Service Cross effective March 5,1934. There were no awards or medals at the beginning of the Civil War except for the Certificate of Merit which was awarded for the Mexican-American War. Scott however, was strictly against medals being awarded which was the European tradition, after Scott retired in October 1861, the Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, adopted the idea of a decoration to recognize and honor distinguished naval service. Senator James W. Secretary Wells directed the Philadelphia Mint to design the new military decoration, on May 15,1862, the United States Navy Department ordered 175 medals with the words Personal Valor on the back from the U. S. Mint in Philadelphia. Senator Henry Wilson, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, the resolution was approved by Congress and signed into law on July 12,1862. During the war, Townsend would have some medals delivered to recipients with a letter requesting acknowledgement of the Medal of Honor. By mid-November the War Department contracted with Philadelphia silversmith William Wilson and Son, the Army version had The Congress to written on the back of the medal. Both versions were made of copper and coated with bronze, which gave them a reddish tint,1863, Congress made the Medal of Honor a permanent decoration. On March 3, Medals of Honor were authorized for officers of the Army, the Secretary of War first presented the Medal of Honor to six Union Army volunteers on March 25,1863 in his office. 1890, On April 23, the Medal of Honor Legion is established in Washington,1896, The ribbon of the Army version Medal of Honor was redesigned with all stripes being vertical
7.
O'Hare International Airport
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It is the primary airport serving the Chicago metropolitan area, with Midway International Airport, about 10 miles closer to the Loop, serving as a secondary airport. It is operated by the City of Chicago Department of Aviation, OHare was the busiest airport in the world by number of takeoffs and landings in 2014, topping Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, however, it lost the title to Atlanta a year later. Until 1998, OHare was also the worlds busiest airport in number of passengers and it was surpassed mainly due to limits the federal government imposed on the airport to reduce flight delays. As of 2016, OHare is the sixth-busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic, the third-busiest airport in the United States, OHare also has eight runways, more than any major international airport. OHare is a hub for American Airlines and United Airlines, as well as a hub for regional carrier Air Choice One. OHare was voted the Best Airport in North America for 10 years by two sources, Readers of the U. S. Edition of Business Traveler Magazine and Global Traveler Magazine, in contrast, Travel and Leisure magazines 2009 Americas Favorite Cities ranked Chicagos Airport System the second-worst for delays, behind the New York City airport system. OHare accounts for nearly 20% of the flight cancellations and delays. OHare was constructed in 1942–43 as part of a plant for Douglas C-54s during World War II. The site was chosen for its proximity to the city and transportation, the two-million-square-foot factory needed easy access to the workforce of the nations then-second-largest city, as well as its extensive railroad infrastructure. Orchard Place was a small farming community. Douglas Companys contract ended in 1945 and though plans were proposed to build commercial aircraft, with the departure of Douglas, the airfield took the name of Orchard Field Airport, the source of its three-letter IATA code ORD. In 1945, the city of Chicago chose Orchard Field as the site for a facility to meet future aviation demands, Matthew Laflin Rockwell was the director of planning for the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and responsible for the site selection and design. He was the great-grandson of Matthew Laflin, a founder and pioneer of Chicago, in 1949, the airport was renamed OHare International Airport to honor Edward OHare, the U. S. Navys first flying ace and Medal of Honor recipient in World War II. (This is similar to, sourced from McCoy Air Force Base, being used for todays Orlando International Airport, by the early 1950s Midway Airport, Chicagos main airport since 1931, was the worlds busiest airport and was too crowded despite multiple expansions. Midways runways were known to be too short for the planned first generation of jets, so the city of Chicago, traveling with him, LT Whitey Feightner was redirected to land at OHare. The runway had just been completed and was covered with peach baskets to prevent aircraft from landing until it was opened, LT Feightner was told to ignore the baskets and land on the new runway, and his F7U became the first aircraft to land there. OHare opened a $1 million Skymotive terminal for corporate aircraft in 1955, the April 1957 Official Airline Guide shows 10 weekday departures on United,9 on American,6 on Capital,3 Eastern,3 TWA,2 Delta,2 North Central, and 1 Braniff
8.
Soulard, St. Louis
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Soulard is a historic French neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri. It is named for Antoine Soulard, who first began to develop the land, Soulard was a surveyor for the Spanish government and a refugee from the French Revolution in the 1790s. Half of the north of Lynch Street is composed mostly of row homes and small apartments with the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. Many of its houses date to the mid- to late-19th century, Soulard also has several historic churches. Many of its bars host live music, especially the blues, the barrelhouse blues piano player James Crutchfield lived in the neighborhood from 1984 until his death in 2001, and performed in many of the nightclubs. The district hosts regular pub crawls and it is home to the oldest Farmers market west of the Mississippi. More than 100 vendors include farmers, produce vendors, meat shops, spice shop, florist shops, Soulard Market is featured in the opening scene of Alan Schroeders picture book Ragtime Tumpie. Soulard hosts many events throughout the year, including celebrations of Mardi Gras, Soulard hosts the St. Louis Mardi Gras festival, which sometimes attracts hundreds of thousands of revelers, largely depending on weather. It has been said St. Louis hosts the second-largest Mardi Gras party in the country, like the New Orleans celebration, the Soulard version features several parades during the Mardi Gras season. On the second Sunday before Mardi Gras, there is a pet parade dubbed Krewe of Barkus. The parade is followed by the informal Wiener dog races, on the Saturday evening before Fat Tuesday, the more adult-oriented flesh-for-beads parade occurs, although there have been various attempts to reserve a family section at one end of the route. The east-west streets of Soulard, Geyer, Allen and Russell, several VIP tents are available for admission by fee and usually a national recording artist performs for free on a main stage, usually on 7th St. In recent years, the parade has been moved just north of Soulard to downtown St. Louis. In 2010, Soulards population was 82. 6% White,13. 3% Black,0. 2% Native American,1. 0% Asian, 0% Pacific Islander,0. 5% from other races,2. 7% of the population was of Hispanic origin. Organizers of St. Louis Mardi Gras Soulard Farmers Market Soulard Market Official Site The Lemp Mansion iLoveSoulard. com
9.
Boston
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Boston is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Boston is also the seat of Suffolk County, although the county government was disbanded on July 1,1999. The city proper covers 48 square miles with a population of 667,137 in 2015, making it the largest city in New England. Alternately, as a Combined Statistical Area, this wider commuting region is home to some 8.1 million people, One of the oldest cities in the United States, Boston was founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan settlers from England. It was the scene of several key events of the American Revolution, such as the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston. Upon U. S. independence from Great Britain, it continued to be an important port and manufacturing hub as well as a center for education, through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the original peninsula. Its rich history attracts many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone drawing over 20 million visitors per year, Bostons many firsts include the United States first public school, Boston Latin School, first subway system, the Tremont Street Subway, and first public park, Boston Common. Bostons economic base also includes finance, professional and business services, biotechnology, information technology, the city has one of the highest costs of living in the United States as it has undergone gentrification, though it remains high on world livability rankings. Bostons early European settlers had first called the area Trimountaine but later renamed it Boston after Boston, Lincolnshire, England, the renaming on September 7,1630 was by Puritan colonists from England who had moved over from Charlestown earlier that year in quest of fresh water. Their settlement was limited to the Shawmut Peninsula, at that time surrounded by the Massachusetts Bay and Charles River. The peninsula is thought to have been inhabited as early as 5000 BC, in 1629, the Massachusetts Bay Colonys first governor John Winthrop led the signing of the Cambridge Agreement, a key founding document of the city. Puritan ethics and their focus on education influenced its early history, over the next 130 years, the city participated in four French and Indian Wars, until the British defeated the French and their Indian allies in North America. Boston was the largest town in British America until Philadelphia grew larger in the mid-18th century, Bostons harbor activity was significantly curtailed by the Embargo Act of 1807 and the War of 1812. Foreign trade returned after these hostilities, but Bostons merchants had found alternatives for their investments in the interim. Manufacturing became an important component of the economy, and the citys industrial manufacturing overtook international trade in economic importance by the mid-19th century. Boston remained one of the nations largest manufacturing centers until the early 20th century, a network of small rivers bordering the city and connecting it to the surrounding region facilitated shipment of goods and led to a proliferation of mills and factories. Later, a network of railroads furthered the regions industry. Boston was a port of the Atlantic triangular slave trade in the New England colonies
10.
Miami
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Miami is a seaport city at the southeastern corner of the U. S. state of Florida and its Atlantic coast. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, Miamis metro area is the eighth-most populous, Miami is a major center, and a leader in finance, commerce, culture, media, entertainment, the arts, and international trade. In 2012, Miami was classified as an Alpha−World City in the World Cities Study Groups inventory, in 2010, Miami ranked seventh in the United States in terms of finance, commerce, culture, entertainment, fashion, education, and other sectors. It ranked 33rd among global cities, in 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Miami Americas Cleanest City, for its year-round good air quality, vast green spaces, clean drinking water, clean streets, and citywide recycling programs. According to a 2009 UBS study of 73 world cities, Miami was ranked as the richest city in the United States, Miami is nicknamed the Capital of Latin America and is the largest city with a Cuban-American plurality. Miami has the third tallest skyline in the U. S. with over 300 high-rises, Downtown Miami is home to the largest concentration of international banks in the United States, and many large national and international companies. The Civic Center is a center for hospitals, research institutes, medical centers. For more than two decades, the Port of Miami, known as the Cruise Capital of the World, has been the number one cruise port in the world. It accommodates some of the worlds largest cruise ships and operations, Metropolitan Miami is the major tourism hub in the American South, number two in the U. S. after New York City and number 13 in the world, including the popular destination of Miami Beach. The Miami area was inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous Native American tribes, the Tequestas occupied the area for a thousand years before encountering Europeans. An Indian village of hundreds of people dating to 500–600 B. C. was located at the mouth of the Miami River, in 1566 the explorer, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, claimed it for Spain. A Spanish mission was constructed one year later in 1567, Spain and Great Britain successively controlled Florida, and Spain ceded it to the United States in 1821. In 1836, the US built Fort Dallas as part of its development of the Florida Territory and attempt to suppress, the Miami area subsequently became a site of fighting during the Second Seminole War. Miami is noted as the major city in the United States conceived by a woman, Julia Tuttle, a local citrus grower. The Miami area was known as Biscayne Bay Country in the early years of its growth. In the late 19th century, reports described the area as a promising wilderness, the area was also characterized as one of the finest building sites in Florida. The Great Freeze of 1894–95 hastened Miamis growth, as the crops of the Miami area were the ones in Florida that survived. Julia Tuttle subsequently convinced Henry Flagler, a tycoon, to expand his Florida East Coast Railway to the region
