1.
Stanislaus Kostka
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Stanisław Kostka S. J. was a Polish novice of the Society of Jesus. In the Catholic Church he is venerated as Saint Stanislaus Kostka and he was born at Rostkowo, Przasnysz County, Poland, on 28 October 1550, died at Rome during the night of 14–15 August 1568. He entered the Society of Jesus in Rome on his 17th birthday and he was the second of seven children. His older brother Paweł survived to be present at beatification ceremony of Stanislaus in 1605, at home, the two brothers were taught with firmness, even severity, its results were their piety, modesty, temperance, and submission. On 25 July 1564, they arrived at Vienna with their tutor to attend the Jesuit college that had opened four years before. It is true, added the witness, that this had happened at home to my brother at Easter when he was seated at table with our parents and other persons. Among other practices of devotion he joined while at Vienna the Congregation of St. Barbara, so much piety, however, did not please the older brother Paul, his exasperation led him to treat the innocent Stanislaus with violence. Pauls sole reply was to swear violently at him, meantime the thought of joining the Society of Jesus had already entered his mind. It was six months, however, before he ventured to speak of this to the superiors of the Society. At Vienna they hesitated to receive him, fearing the tempest that would probably be raised by his father against the Society, Stanislaus quickly grasped the situation and formed the plan of applying to the general of the Society at Rome. The distance was five hundred leagues, which had to be made on foot, without equipment, or guide, or any other resources, the prospective dangers and humiliations of such a journey, however, did not deter him. Then he started, exchanging the dress of gentleman for that of a mendicant, by nightfall Paul and the tutor comprehended that Stanislaus had fled as he had threatened. They were seized with an anger, and as the day was ended the fugitive had gained a day over them. It is noticeable that in his testimony Paul gives no explanation of his ill-luck, Stanislaus stayed for a month at Dillingen, where the provincial of that time, the Saint Peter Canisius, put the young aspirants vocation to the test by employing him in the boarding-school. He arrived 25 October 1567 in Rome, as he was greatly exhausted by the journey, the general of the order, Saint Francis Borgia, would not permit him to enter the novitiate of Saint Andrew until several days later. During the ten remaining months of his life, according to the testimony of the master of novices, Father Giulio Fazio, he was a model, notwithstanding his very delicate constitution he did not spare himself the slightest penance. He had such a burning fever his chest that he was obliged to apply cold compresses. On the eve of the feast of Saint Lawrence, Stanislaus felt a mortal weakness made worse by a high fever and he wrote a letter to the Blessed Virgin begging her to call him to the skies there to celebrate with her the glorious anniversary of her Assumption
2.
Patrick Keely
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Patrick Charles Keely was an Irish-American architect based in Brooklyn, New York, and Providence, Rhode Island. He designed every 19th-century Catholic cathedral in New England, several other church and institutional architects began their careers in his firm. Keely was born in Thurles, County Tipperary, then a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, on August 9,1816, Keely emigrated to the United States, landing at Castle Gardens in Manhattan in 1842, and settling in Brooklyn. He arrived at a time when Catholicism in the United States was expanding from its footholds in Baltimore, New York City. Initially, he worked as a carpenter and builder since there were few trained architects practicing and most structures were erected with the assistance of the client. Common practice held that the builder, whether trained as mason or carpenter, crafted his own plans, for a number of years Keely worked at his trade without attracting attention. During this time, he met the Rev. Sylvester Malone, in 1846 Malone was sent to form a parish near the Brooklyn waterfront in the Williamsburg neighborhood. Together with Keely, he worked out a plan for a Gothic church possessing pointed arches, pinnacles, working as a carpenter, Keely produced designs from which was built the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul was considered an epoch in Catholic building in America, in Brooklyn alone there was a great wave of Catholic settlers for whom churches were urgently needed and Keely was the only one thought of to do the work. Among his work were several cathedrals in the Northeast and many of the substantial parish churches later elevated to cathedral status during the twentieth century. He designed a few churches for Protestant congregations…, Keely died in 1896 after a long illness, while still directing the completion of several churches with his son-in-law, Thomas Houghton. He was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn, under an inauspicious polished granite block embossed KEELY, patrick Charles Keely, Architect, A Record of His Life and Work
3.
Sacred architecture
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Many cultures devoted considerable resources to their sacred architecture and places of worship. Religious and sacred spaces are amongst the most impressive and permanent monolithic buildings created by humanity, conversely, sacred architecture as a locale for meta-intimacy may also be non-monolithic, ephemeral and intensely private, personal and non-public. Sacred, religious and holy structures often evolved over centuries and were the largest buildings in the world, while the various styles employed in sacred architecture sometimes reflected trends in other structures, these styles also remained unique from the contemporary architecture used in other structures. With the rise of Abrahamic monotheisms, religious buildings increasingly became centres of worship, prayer, the Western scholarly discipline of the history of architecture itself closely follows the history of religious architecture from ancient times until the Baroque period, at least. Sacred geometry, iconography, and the use of sophisticated semiotics such as signs, symbols, Sacred and/or religious architecture is sometimes called sacred space. Architect Norman L. Koonce has suggested that the goal of sacred architecture is to make transparent the boundary between matter and mind, flesh and the spirit, meanwhile, Richard Kieckhefer suggests that entering into a religious building is a metaphor for entering into spiritual relationship. Sacred architecture spans a number of ancient architectural styles including Neolithic architecture, ancient Egyptian architecture, ancient religious buildings, particularly temples, were often viewed as the dwelling place, the temenos, of the gods and were used as the site of various kinds of sacrifice. Ancient tombs and burial structures are examples of architectural structures reflecting religious beliefs of their various societies. The Temple of Karnak at Thebes, Egypt was constructed across a period of 1300 years, ancient Egyptian religious architecture has fascinated archaeologists and captured the public imagination for millennia. Around 600 BCE the wooden columns of the Temple of Hera at Olympia were replaced by stone columns, with the spread of this process to other sanctuary structures a few stone buildings have survived through the ages. Greek architecture preceded Hellenistic and Roman periods, since temples are the only buildings which survive in numbers, most of our concept of classical architecture is based on religious structures. The Parthenon which served as a building as well as a place for veneration of deity, is widely regarded as the greatest example of classical architecture. Indian architecture is related to the history and religions of the time periods as well as to the geography, the diversity of Indian culture is represented in its architecture. Indian architecture comprises a blend of ancient and varied native traditions, with building types, forms and technologies from West, Central Asia, buddhist architecture developed in South Asia beginning in the third century BCE. Two types of structures are associated with early Buddhism, viharas and stupas, an existing example is at Nalanda. The initial function of the stupa was the veneration and safe-guarding of the relics of the Buddha, the earliest existing example of a stupa is in Sanchi. In accordance with changes in practice, stupas were gradually incorporated into chaitya-grihas. These reached their highpoint in the first century BCE, exemplified by the cave complexes of Ajanta, the pagoda is an evolution of the Indian stupa that is marked by a tiered tower with multiple eaves common in China, Japan, Korea, Nepal and other parts of Asia
4.
Polish Cathedral style
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The Polish Cathedral architectural style is a North American genre of Catholic church architecture found throughout the Great Lakes and Middle Atlantic regions as well as in parts of New England. These monumentally grand churches are not necessarily cathedrals, defined as seats of bishops or of their dioceses, Polish Cathedral churches generally have large amounts of ornamentation in the exterior and interior, comparable only to the more famous Churrigueresque or Spanish Baroque style. The decorations used reflect the tastes of the Polish immigrants to regions in both the symbols and statuary of saints prominently displayed throughout. Additionally there is a proclivity towards ornamentation drawn from the Renaissance. These churches exhibit a mixture of traits from numerous past eras characteristic of Europe. Skerrett says Polish churches surpassed other immigrants’ churches in size and their style promoted the immigrants vision of Polish identity. Kantowicz writes in The Archdiocese of Chicago, A Journey of Faith, The preference of the Polish League for Renaissance, stanislaus Kostka in Chicago now serve African-American or Latino constituencies while others have been closed by their Archbishops as no longer economically viable. The churches are major tourist attractions in Chicago, with tours devoted exclusively to them, in May 1980 the Chicago Architecture Foundations ArchiCenter held an exhibit on these treasures titled Chicagos Polish Churches. These ornate temples were built by the working poor in these regions in the era spanning the period from the end of the American Civil War until the end of World War II. These stylistically exaggerated churches were criticized by many of Chicagos Protestant elites as ostentatious in comparison with the style in vogue for Protestant houses of worship. Catholic Church authorities such as John Lancaster Spalding, the first Bishop of Peoria, the need for identity was evident in the unique architecture of the Polish Cathedral Style. It was often associated with the order of the Congregation of the Resurrection, in addition to the architectural stylings of the Renaissance. Both in scale and scope, these edifices were attempts to contradict the marginal status in which the Polish immigrants found themselves, the construction of these churches greatly influenced the development of neighborhoods that surrounded them. Eclecticism Eclecticism in art Jozef Mazur, Polish-American painter and stained-glass artist Tadeusz Żukotyński, Polish Catholic fine art painter and mural artist Sr
5.
Building material
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Building material is any material which is used for construction purposes. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rocks, sand, apart from naturally occurring materials, many man-made products are in use, some more and some less synthetic. They provide the make-up of habitats and structures including homes and these trends tend to increase the initial and long term economic, ecological, energy, and social costs of building materials. The initial economic cost of building materials is the purchase price and this is often what governs decision making about what materials to use. Sometimes people take into consideration the energy savings or durability of the materials, for example, an asphalt shingle roof costs less than a metal roof to install, but the metal roof will last longer so the lifetime cost is less per year. Some materials may require more care than others, maintaining costs specific to some materials may also influence the final decision. Risks when considering lifetime cost of a material is if the building is damaged such as by fire or wind, the cost of materials should be taken into consideration to bear the risk to buy combustive materials to enlarge the lifetime. It is said that, if it must be done, it must be done well, pollution costs can be macro and micro. An example of the aspect of pollution is the off-gassing of the building materials in the building or indoor air pollution. Red List building materials are found to be harmful. Also the carbon footprint, the set of greenhouse gas emissions produced in the life of the material. A life-cycle analysis also includes the reuse, recycling, or disposal of construction waste, two concepts in building which account for the ecological economics of building materials are green building and sustainable development. Initial energy costs include the amount of energy consumed to produce, deliver, the long term energy cost is the economic, ecological, and social costs of continuing to produce and deliver energy to the building for its use, maintenance, and eventual removal. The initial embodied energy of a structure is the energy consumed to extract, manufacture, deliver, install, social costs are injury and health of the people producing and transporting the materials and potential health problems of the building occupants if there are problems with the building biology. Aspects of fair trade and labor rights are social costs of building material manufacturing. These were variously named wikiups, lean-tos, and so forth, an extension on the brush building idea is the wattle and daub process in which clay soils or dung, usually cow, are used to fill in and cover a woven brush structure. This gives the more thermal mass and strength. Wattle and daub is one of the oldest building techniques, many older timber frame buildings incorporate wattle and daub as non load bearing walls between the timber frames
6.
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago
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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago was established as a diocese in 1843 and elevated to an archdiocese in 1880. It serves the more than 2.3 million Catholics in Cook and Lake counties in Northeastern Illinois, the archdiocese is divided into six vicariates and 31 deaneries. His Eminence Blase Joseph Cupich is the Cardinal, Archbishop of Chicago, and is assisted by six episcopal vicars, the cathedral parish for the archdiocese, Holy Name Cathedral, is in the Near North Side area of the see city for the diocese, Chicago. The Archdiocese of Chicago is the see of the Province of Chicago. Its suffragan dioceses are the other Catholic dioceses in Illinois, Belleville, Joliet, Peoria, Rockford, a French Jesuit missionary, the Rev. Jacques Marquette, SJ first explored the area that is now Chicago in the mid-17th century. On December 4,1674, Father Marquette arrived at the mouth of the Chicago River where he built a cabin to recuperate from his travels and his cabin became the first European settlement in the area now known as Chicago. Marquette published his survey of the new territories and soon more French missionaries, in 1795, the Potawatomi tribe signed the Treaty of Greenville that ceded to the United States a tract of land at the mouth of the Chicago River. There in 1804, Fort Dearborn was erected and protected newly arrived Catholic pioneers, in 1822, Alexander Beaubien became the first person to be baptized in Chicago. Rosati appointed a diocesan priest, the Rev. John Mary Irenaeus Saint Cyr, Saint Cyr celebrated his first Mass in a log cabin owned by the Beaubien family on Lake Street, near Market Street, in 1833. At the cost of four hundred dollars, Father Saint Cyr purchased a plot of land at what is now the intersection of Lake and State Streets and it was dedicated in October 1833. The following year, the Bishop of Vincennes visited Chicago, where he found over 400 Catholics with only one priest to serve them. The bishop asked permission from Bishop Rosati to send Fathers Fischer, Shaefer, Saint Palais, Dupontavice, Saint Cyr was allowed to retire and was replaced by Chicagos first English-speaking priest, the Rev. James Timothy OMeara. Father OMeara moved the church built by Fr, Saint Cyr to what is now the intersection of Wabash Avenue and Madison Street. OMeara left Chicago, Saint Palais demolished the church and replaced it with a new brick structure, the First Plenary Council of Baltimore concluded that the Roman Catholic population of Chicago was growing exponentially and was in dire need of an episcopal see of its own. With the consent of Pope Gregory XVI, the Diocese of Chicago was canonically erected on November 28,1843, in 1844, William Quarter of Ireland was appointed as the first Bishop of Chicago. Upon his arrival, Quarter summoned a synod of 32 Chicago priests to begin the organization of the diocese and this allowed the bishop to pursue large-scale construction of new churches, colleges and universities to serve the needs of Chicagos Roman Catholic faithful. After four years of service as Bishop of Chicago, Bishop Quarter died on April 10,1848, the church lost nearly a million dollars in church property in the Chicago fire of 1871, leading to administrative instability for decades. The southern section of the state of Illinois split from Chicago diocese in 1853, the Quincy diocese was renamed the Diocese of Alton in 1857, and eventually became Diocese of Springfield
7.
West Town, Chicago
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West Town, located in Chicago, in the U. S. state of Illinois, northwest of the Loop, on Chicagos West Side is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas. Then, as now, West Town was a collection of distinct neighborhoods. Humboldt Park is also the name of the community area to West Towns west, Logan Square is to the north, Near North Side to the east, Pulaski Park is a neighborhood directly west of Goose Island and east of Wicker Park. The generally accepted boundaries of Pulaski Park are Ashland to the west, the Chicago River and Elston Avenue to the east, the Bloomingdale Line on the north, Pulaski Park derives its name from the historic park and fieldhouse that was designed by Jens Jensen between 1912 and 1914. 1,200 people were displaced, leading to the razing of a number of buildings while others were moved to locations in the neighborhood. The park and fieldhouse were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 13,1981 and it became an official Chicago Landmark on July 29,2003. Pulaski Park is listed within Polonia Triangle as one of the 11 neighborhoods included in The Labor Trail which chronicles Chicagos history of working class life, the neighborhood is also home to two of Chicagos Polish Cathedrals, St. Stanislaus Kostka and Holy Trinity Polish Mission. Pulaski Park was the area of West Town that served as Chicago Congressman Dan Rostenkowskis base of operations, the family still owns the building opposite St. Stanislaus Kostka church at 1372 Evergreen from which he ran his operations. Although Pulaski Park has declined from its days as part of the citys Polish Downtown. This areas higher population density gave it a more working-class population than Wicker Park, as opposed to other areas of West Town, much of the original housing stock of Pulaski Park has not been torn down for new construction in recent years. Wicker Park is a Chicago neighborhood northwest of the Loop, south of Bucktown, charles and Joel Wicker purchased 80 acres of land along Milwaukee Avenue in 1870 and laid out a subdivision with a mix of lot sizes surrounding a 4-acre park. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 spurred the first wave of development, before the turn of the twentieth century, Germans and Scandinavians tended to live in the areas north and northwestern sections. Wicker Park became the abode of Chicagos wealthy Northern European immigrants, hoyne was known as Beer Baron Row, as many of Chicagos wealthiest brewers built mansions there. The area around Division, Milwaukee, and Ashland was once known as Kostkaville, the provisional government of Poland met in Wicker Park during World War I. The near Northwest Side is home to many of the most opulent churches in the Archdiocese of Chicago, Polish immigration into the area accelerated during and after World War II when as many as 150,000 Poles are estimated to have arrived between 1939 and 1959 as Displaced Persons. Like the Ukrainians in neighboring Ukrainian Village, they clustered in established ethnic enclaves like this one that offered shops, restaurants, Division Street was referred to as Polish Broadway. Later controversies to commemorate Algren would bring these old wounds back to surface, beginning in the 1960s, Wicker Park began to change radically. Additionally Puerto Ricans and other Latinos displaced by urban renewal in Old Town, in 1960 Latinos comprised less than 1 percent of West Towns population, but by 1970 that number was up to 39 percent
8.
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
9.
Poles
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The Poles are a nation and West Slavic ethnic group native to Poland who share a common ancestry, culture, history and are native speakers of the Polish language. The population of Poles in Poland is estimated at 37,394,000 out of a population of 38,538,000. Polands population inhabits several historic regions, including Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Mazovia, Silesia, Pomerania, Kuyavia, Warmia, Masuria, a wide-ranging Polish diaspora exists throughout Europe, the Americas and in Australasia. Today the largest urban concentration of Poles is the Katowice urban agglomeration of 2.7 million inhabitants, Poland was also for centuries a refuge for many Jews from all over Europe, a large number emigrated in the twentieth century to Israel. Several prominent Israeli statesmen were born in Poland, including Israels founder David Ben-Gurion, former President of Israel Shimon Peres, the Slavic people have been in the territory of modern Poland for over 1500 years. In the 9th and 10th centuries the tribes gave rise to developed regions along the upper Vistula, the last tribal undertaking resulted in the 10th century in a lasting political structure and state, Poland, one of the West Slavic nations. After 1945 the so-called autochthonous or aboriginal school of Polish prehistory received official backing in Poland, Polish people are the sixth largest national group in the European Union. Estimates vary depending on source, though available data suggest a number of around 60 million people worldwide. There are almost 38 million Poles in Poland alone, there are also Polish minorities in the surrounding countries including Germany, and indigenous minorities in the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Belarus. There are some smaller indigenous minorities in nearby countries such as Moldova, the term Polonia is usually used in Poland to refer to people of Polish origin who live outside Polish borders, officially estimated at around 10 to 20 million. There is a notable Polish diaspora in the United States, Brazil, France has a historic relationship with Poland and has a relatively large Polish-descendant population. Poles have lived in France since the 18th century, in the early 20th century, over a million Polish people settled in France, mostly during world wars, among them Polish émigrés fleeing either Nazi occupation or later Soviet rule. In the United States, a significant number of Polish immigrants settled in Chicago, Ohio, Detroit, New York City, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, the highest concentration of Polish Americans in a single New England municipality is in New Britain, Connecticut. The majority of Polish Canadians have arrived in Canada since World War II, the number of Polish immigrants increased between 1945 and 1970, and again after the end of Communism in Poland in 1989. In Brazil the majority of Polish immigrants settled in Paraná State, smaller, but significant numbers settled in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Espírito Santo and São Paulo. The city of Curitiba has the second largest Polish diaspora in the world and Polish music, dishes and it is estimated that over half a million Polish people have come to work in the United Kingdom from Poland. Since 2011, Poles have been able to work throughout the EU and not just in the United Kingdom, Ireland. The Polish community in Norway has increased substantially and has grown to a number of 120,000
10.
Kennedy Expressway
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The highway is named for the 35th U. S. President, John F. Kennedy, and conforms to the Chicago-area convention of using the term Expressway for an Interstate Highway without tolls. The Interstate 90 portion of the Kennedy is a part of the much longer I-90, the Kennedys official endpoints are the Circle Interchange with Interstate 290 and the Dan Ryan Expressway at the east end, and the OHare Airport terminals at the west end. The Interstate 190 portion of the Kennedy is 3.07 miles long and is meant to serve airport traffic, Interstate 90 picks up the Kennedy destination and runs a further 6.29 miles, before joining with I-94 for the final 8.44 miles. With up to 327,000 vehicles traveling on some portions of the Kennedy daily, the Kennedy and its South Side extension, the Dan Ryan, are the busiest roads in Illinois. The Kennedy was originally constructed along the route of Avondale Avenue, a diagonal street. Until 1978, the Kennedy Expressway was marked as I-94 and Illinois Route 194, I-90 and I-190 replaced IL194, the express portion of the freeway was last reconstructed from 1992 through 1994, when the existing express lanes, which previously were reversed by hand, were modernized. In addition, all aspects of the express lanes system were computerized, at least once a day, however, IDOT crews still examine the express lanes for debris while the lanes are closed. In 2005, the Washington Street bridge over the expressway was reconstructed, the same was done in 2006 for the Monroe Street bridge. This left a portion of each ramp remaining on the expressway, to be removed. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided the funding for the construction between Hubbard Street and the Circle Interchange, commencing in summer 2009. The only remaining short, limited-sight, left-side suicide ramp entrance is from Lake Street to the eastbound expressway, as part of the project, eastbound traffic patterns were adjusted. For example, the changes increased the taper for the Randolph Street entrance headed eastbound from 160 to 583 feet, in the westbound direction, the exit ramp to Monroe Street was permanently removed. In 2015, the American Highway Users Alliance named the 12 miles of the Kennedy between the Circle Interchange and Edens junction the worst traffic bottleneck in the country. The Blue Line operates in the median of the Kennedy Expressway for about 10 miles from OHare International Airport to just south of Addison Street and this had been done previously in the early 1950s within the medians of the Eisenhower Expressway, and for the Dan Ryan Expressway in 1969. The decision proved to be wise, as the line is heavily traveled by commuters and travelers during the rush hour. The second distinct features of the Kennedy Expressway are its reversible express lanes where I-94 merges into I-90, the reversible lanes lie in the median of the highway from the Kennedy Expressway/Edens Expressway junction until just north of the Loop, a distance of about eight miles. These reversible lanes allow two lanes of traffic to flow towards or away from the city, depending on the time of the day, the lanes are controlled by computers and verified by humans at a separate control center. Steel mesh barriers and breakaway gates prevent traffic from entering oncoming lanes, on January 25,2014, a drunk driver broke through the safety gates and drove in the express lanes in the wrong direction, but was stopped by a snow plow, no injuries were reported
11.
Great Chicago Fire
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The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from Sunday, October 8, to early Tuesday, October 10,1871. The fire killed up to 300 people, destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles of Chicago, Illinois, and left more than 100,000 residents homeless. The fire started at about 9,00 p. m. on October 8, the shed next to the barn was the first building to be consumed by the fire, but city officials never determined the exact cause of the blaze. There has, however, been much speculation over the years, the most popular tale blames Mrs. OLearys cow, who allegedly knocked over a lantern, others state that a group of men were gambling inside the barn and knocked over a lantern. Still other speculation suggests that the blaze was related to fires in the Midwest that day. The fires spread was aided by the use of wood as the predominant building material in a style called balloon frame. More than two thirds of the structures in Chicago at the time of the fire were made entirely of wood, with most of the houses, all of the citys sidewalks and many roads were also made of wood. In 1871, the Chicago Fire Department had 185 firefighters with just 17 horse-drawn steam engines to protect the entire city. The initial response by the department was quick, but due to an error by the watchman, Matthias Schaffer. These factors combined to turn a small barn fire into a conflagration, when firefighters finally arrived at DeKoven Street, the fire had grown and spread to neighboring buildings and was progressing towards the central business district. Firefighters had hoped that the South Branch of the Chicago River, all along the river, however, were lumber yards, warehouses, and coal yards, and barges and numerous bridges across the river. As the fire grew, the southwest wind intensified and became superheated, causing structures to catch fire from the heat, around 11,30 p. m. flaming debris blew across the river and landed on roofs and the South Side Gas Works. With the fire across the river and moving rapidly towards the heart of the city, about this time, Mayor Roswell B. Mason sent messages to nearby towns asking for help. When the courthouse caught fire, he ordered the building to be evacuated, at 2,30 a. m. on the 9th, the cupola of the courthouse collapsed, sending the great bell crashing down. Some witnesses reported hearing the sound from a mile away, as more buildings succumbed to the flames, a major contributing factor to the fire’s spread was a meteorological phenomenon known as a fire whirl. As overheated air rises, it comes into contact with cooler air and these fire whirls are likely what drove flaming debris so high and so far. Such debris was blown across the branch of the Chicago River to a railroad car carrying kerosene. The fire had jumped the river a second time and was now raging across the north side
12.
Irish people
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The Irish people are a nation and ethnic group native to the island of Ireland, who share a common Irish ancestry, identity and culture. Ireland has been inhabited for about 9,000 years according to archaeological studies, for most of Irelands recorded history, the Irish have been primarily a Gaelic people. Today, Ireland is made up of the Republic of Ireland, the people of Northern Ireland hold various national identities, including Irish, Northern Irish, British, or some combination thereof. The Irish have their own customs, language, music, dance, sports, cuisine, although Irish was their main language in the past, today the huge majority of Irish people speak English as their first language. Historically, the Irish nation was made up of kin groups or clans, there have been many notable Irish people throughout history. After Irelands conversion to Christianity, Irish missionaries and scholars exerted great influence on Western Europe, the 6th-century Irish monk and missionary Columbanus is regarded as one of the fathers of Europe, followed by saints Cillian and Fergal. The scientist Robert Boyle is considered the father of chemistry, famous Irish writers include Oscar Wilde, W. B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Bram Stoker and James Joyce, notable Irish explorers include Brendan the Navigator, Robert McClure, Ernest Shackleton and Tom Crean. By some accounts, the first European child born in North America had Irish descent on both sides, many presidents of the United States have had some Irish ancestry. The population of Ireland is about 6.3 million, but it is estimated that 50 to 80 million people around the world have Irish forebears, historically, emigration from Ireland has been the result of conflict, famine and economic issues. People of Irish descent are mainly in English-speaking countries, especially the United Kingdom. There are also significant numbers in Argentina, Mexico and New Zealand, the United States has the most people of Irish descent, while in Australia those of Irish descent are a higher percentage of the population than in any other country. Many Icelanders have Irish and Scottish Gaelic forebears, in its summary of their article Who were the Celts. The National Museum Wales notes It is possible that genetic studies of ancient. However, early studies have, so far, tended to produce implausible conclusions from very small numbers of people and using outdated assumptions about linguistics, nineteenth century anthropology studied the physical characteristics of Irish people in minute detail. During the past 10,000 years of inhabitation, Ireland has witnessed some different peoples arrive on its shores, the ancient peoples of Ireland—such as the creators of the Céide Fields and Newgrange—are almost unknown. Neither their languages nor terms they used to describe themselves have survived, as late as the middle centuries of the 1st millennium the inhabitants of Ireland did not appear to have a collective name for themselves. Ireland itself was known by a number of different names, including Banba, Fódla, Ériu by the islanders, Iouerne and Hiverne to the Greeks, other Latin names for people from Ireland in Classic and Mediaeval sources include Attacotti and Gael
