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New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year
2.
National Register of Historic Places
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The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
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National Park Service
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It was created on August 25,1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior. As of 2014, the NPS employs 21,651 employees who oversee 417 units, the National Park Service celebrated its centennial in 2016. National parks and national monuments in the United States were originally individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior, the movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather, as well as J. Horace McFarland. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior and they wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic and historic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational, inspirational, and recreational benefits. This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service, Mather became the first director of the newly formed NPS. On March 3,1933, President Herbert Hoover signed the Reorganization Act of 1933, the act would allow the President to reorganize the executive branch of the United States government. It wasnt until later that summer when the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Roosevelt agreed and issued two Executive orders to make it happen. In 1951, Conrad Wirth became director of the National Park Service, the demand for parks after the end of the World War II had left the parks overburdened with demands that could not be met. In 1952, with the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, he began Mission 66, New parks were added to preserve unique resources and existing park facilities were upgraded and expanded. In 1966, as the Park Service turned 50 years old, emphasis began to turn from just saving great and wonderful scenery, Director George Hartzog began the process with the creation of the National Lakeshores and then National Recreation Areas. Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service has managed each of the United States national parks, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States. In 1872, there was no government to manage it. Yosemite National Park began as a park, the land for the park was donated by the federal government to the state of California in 1864 for perpetual conservation. Yosemite was later returned to federal ownership, at first, each national park was managed independently, with varying degrees of success. In Yellowstone, the staff was replaced by the U. S. Army in 1886. Due to the irregularities in managing these national treasures, Stephen Mather petitioned the government to improve the situation. In response, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane challenged him to lobby for creating a new agency, Mather was successful with the ratification of the National Park Service Organic Act in 1916. Later, the agency was given authority over other protected areas, the National Park System includes all properties managed by the National Park Service
4.
New York State Capitol
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The New York State Capitol, the seat of New York State government, is located in Albany, the capital city of the U. S. state of New York. The capitol building is part of the Empire State Plaza complex on State Street in Capitol Park, housing the New York State Legislature, the building was completed in 1899 at a cost of US$25 million, making it the most expensive government building of its time. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, the New York State Capitol was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1979. Legislative sessions had been held at different buildings in different places before Albany was declared the State capital in 1797, from that time until 1811, the State Legislature met at the Old Albany City Hall. The first State Capitol was inaugurated in 1812 and remained in use until 1879 when the current building was inaugurated, the present Capitol was built between 1867 and 1899. Three teams of architects worked on the design of the Capitol during the 32 years of its construction and they were managed by, 1867-75, Thomas Fuller, 1875–83, Leopold Eidlitz and Henry Hobson Richardson, 1883-99, Isaac G. Perry. Fuller, the architect, was an Englishman who also designed the Canadian Parliament buildings of Parliament Hill. The ground floor of the capitol was built in the Classical/Romanesque style. The increasing construction costs became a source of conflict in the legislature. Eidlitz and Richardson, were dismissed by Grover Cleveland upon his election to governorship and he hired Perry to complete the project. The legislative chambers, the floor and roof work were all finished in Victorian-modified Romanesque that was distinctively Richardsons design. It was Richardson who dominated the final outcome of the grand building and it is claimed that Richardson was imitating the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, France. The Chazy limestone for its construction was quarried at the Clark Quarry in Essex County, the central open court is dominated by a shaft intended to support a massive dome. The dome and tower were never completed, as it was found that the weight of the building was already causing stress fractures, to stop this movement, a very large, 166-foot long exterior Eastern Staircase was added to support the front facade. The Capitol exterior is made of granite from Hallowell, Maine. The granite structure is 220 feet tall at its highest point, underground tunnels connect it to the Empire State Plaza and Alfred E. Smith Building. The buildings exterior underwent restoration from 2000 until fall 2014, the Assembly Chamber was built with the largest open arched span in the world. However, this produced very inconvenient acoustic results, a more serious problem was that the shifting foundations of the whole structure made the vaults unstable
5.
Empire State Building
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The Empire State Building is a 102-story skyscraper located on Fifth Avenue between West 33rd and 34th Streets in Midtown, Manhattan, New York City. It has a height of 1,250 feet, and with its antenna included. Its name is derived from the nickname for New York, the Empire State and it stood as the worlds tallest building for nearly 40 years, from its completion in early 1931 until the topping out of the original World Trade Centers North Tower in late 1970. Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Empire State Building was again the tallest building in New York, the Empire State Building is currently the fifth-tallest completed skyscraper in the United States and the 34th-tallest in the world. It is also the fifth-tallest freestanding structure in the Americas, when measured by pinnacle height, it is the fourth-tallest building in the United States. The Empire State Building is an American cultural icon and it is designed in the distinctive Art Deco style and has been named as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The building and its street floor interior are designated landmarks of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and it was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. In 2007, it was ranked number one on the AIAs List of Americas Favorite Architecture, the site of the Empire State Building was first developed as the John Thompson Farm in the late 18th century. At the time, a stream ran across the site, emptying into Sunfish Pond, beginning in the late 19th century, the block was occupied by the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, frequented by The Four Hundred, the social elite of New York. The limestone for the Empire State Building came from the Empire Mill in Sanders, Indiana which is a town adjacent to Bloomington. The Empire Mill Land office is near State Road 37 and Old State Road 37 just south of Bloomington, the Bloomington, Bedford, and Oolitic area is known locally as the limestone capital of the world. The Empire State Building was designed by William F, the building was designed from the top down. The general contractors were The Starrett Brothers and Eken, and the project was financed primarily by John J. Raskob, the construction company was chaired by Alfred E. Smith, a former Governor of New York and James Farleys General Builders Supply Corporation supplied the building materials. John W. Bowser was project construction superintendent, excavation of the site began on January 22,1930, and construction on the building itself started on March 17—St. Patricks Day—per Al Smiths influence as Empire State, Inc. president, the project involved 3,400 workers, mostly immigrants from Europe, along with hundreds of Mohawk iron workers, many from the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal. According to official accounts, five died during the construction. Governor Smiths grandchildren cut the ribbon on May 1,1931, lewis Wickes Hines photography of the construction provides not only invaluable documentation of the construction, but also a glimpse into common day life of workers in that era. The construction was part of a competition in New York for the title of worlds tallest building
6.
Buffalo City Hall
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Buffalo City Hall is the seat for municipal government in the City of Buffalo, New York. Located at 65 Niagara Square, the 32-story Art Deco building was completed in 1931 by Dietel, the 378-foot-tall building is one of the largest and tallest municipal buildings in the United States and is also one of the tallest buildings in Western New York. It was designed by chief architect John Wade with the assistance of George Dietel, the friezes were sculpted by Albert Stewart and the sculpture executed by Rene Paul Chambellan. Buffalo City Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999, in 1851, the city bought the property at the northwest corner of Church and Franklin streets in Buffalo to be used for the Mayors office and other city offices. On this site, and constructed between 1871 and 1875, the city built a granite structure designed by Rochester architect Andrew Jackson Warner. The building, now known as the County and City Hall and it held offices for the City of Buffalo and Erie County. Niagara Square was chosen as it is one of the components of Joseph Ellicotts plan of 1804 for the city of Buffalo. From this location, one can see the waterways of Lake Erie, when the new City Hall opened and the city offices moved to the present building, the former County and City Hall became Erie County court offices and was used to hold important city records. The former city hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, City Hall was built by the John W. Cowper Company, the same firm who built the Statler Hotel and the Buffalo Athletic Club, also on Niagara Square. The cost of building City Hall was $6,851,546.85 including the architects fees, City Hall was Buffalos tallest building from its construction until 1970 when One Seneca Tower was built. City Hall has 32 stories,26 of which offer usable office space, the total floor area is 566,313 square feet and the footprint of the site on Niagara Square is 71,700 square feet. There are 1,520 windows from the first to the 25th floor, a practical design feature is that all of them open inward, making window washers unnecessary. There are eight elevators to the 13th floor and four to the 25th floor, curtis Elevator Company furnished the first elevators, with additional elevators supplied later by Otis Elevator Company. There are 5,000 electrical outlets,5,400 electrical switches and 21 motor driven ventilation fans. Approximately 110 miles of copper wire weighing 43 tons, and 47 miles or 180 tons of pipe, serve the building. There are either 138 or 143 clocks regulated by a clock in the basement and 37 fire alarm stations distributed throughout the building. It was originally equipped with 375 telephones and a master switchboard, external illumination was provided from dusk to midnight by 369 flood lights with an average candlepower of 350. City Hall was designed and built with a non-powered air-conditioning system, large vents were placed on the west side of the building to catch wind, which would then travel down ducts to beneath the basement, to be cooled by the ground
