Washington, D.C.
Washington, D. C. formally the District of Columbia and referred to as Washington or D. C. is the capital of the United States. Founded after the American Revolution as the seat of government of the newly independent country, Washington was named after George Washington, first President of the United States and Founding Father; as the seat of the United States federal government and several international organizations, Washington is an important world political capital. The city is one of the most visited cities in the world, with more than 20 million tourists annually; the signing of the Residence Act on July 16, 1790, approved the creation of a capital district located along the Potomac River on the country's East Coast. The U. S. Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the U. S. Congress, the District is therefore not a part of any state; the states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, which included the pre-existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria.
The City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land ceded by Virginia. Washington had an estimated population of 702,455 as of July 2018, making it the 20th most populous city in the United States. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city's daytime population to more than one million during the workweek. Washington's metropolitan area, the country's sixth largest, had a 2017 estimated population of 6.2 million residents. All three branches of the U. S. federal government are centered in the District: Congress and the U. S. Supreme Court. Washington is home to many national monuments, museums situated on or around the National Mall; the city hosts 177 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of many international organizations, trade unions, non-profit, lobbying groups, professional associations, including the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization of American States, AARP, the National Geographic Society, the Human Rights Campaign, the International Finance Corporation, the American Red Cross.
A locally elected mayor and a 13‑member council have governed the District since 1973. However, Congress may overturn local laws. D. C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives, but the District has no representation in the Senate. The District receives three electoral votes in presidential elections as permitted by the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961. Various tribes of the Algonquian-speaking Piscataway people inhabited the lands around the Potomac River when Europeans first visited the area in the early 17th century. One group known as the Nacotchtank maintained settlements around the Anacostia River within the present-day District of Columbia. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes forced the relocation of the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland. In his Federalist No. 43, published January 23, 1788, James Madison argued that the new federal government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance and safety.
Five years earlier, a band of unpaid soldiers besieged Congress while its members were meeting in Philadelphia. Known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the event emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. Article One, Section Eight, of the Constitution permits the establishment of a "District as may, by cession of particular states, the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States". However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital. In what is now known as the Compromise of 1790, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson came to an agreement that the federal government would pay each state's remaining Revolutionary War debts in exchange for establishing the new national capital in the southern United States. On July 9, 1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River; the exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, who signed the bill into law on July 16.
Formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles on each side, totaling 100 square miles. Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory: the port of Georgetown, founded in 1751, the city of Alexandria, founded in 1749. During 1791–92, Andrew Ellicott and several assistants, including a free African American astronomer named Benjamin Banneker, surveyed the borders of the federal district and placed boundary stones at every mile point. Many of the stones are still standing. A new federal city was constructed on the north bank of the Potomac, to the east of Georgetown. On September 9, 1791, the three commissioners overseeing the capital's construction named the city in honor of President Washington; the federal district was named Columbia, a poetic name for the United States in use at that time. Congress held its first session in Washington on November 17, 1800. Congress passed the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801 that organized the District and placed the entire territory under the exclusive control of the federal
Art Deco
Art Deco, sometimes referred to as Deco, is a style of visual arts and design that first appeared in France just before World War I. Art Deco influenced the design of buildings, jewelry, cars, movie theatres, ocean liners, everyday objects such as radios and vacuum cleaners, it took its name, short for Arts Décoratifs, from the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes held in Paris in 1925. It combined modern styles with rich materials. During its heyday, Art Deco represented luxury, glamour and faith in social and technological progress. Art Deco was a pastiche of many different styles, sometimes contradictory, united by a desire to be modern. From its outset, Art Deco was influenced by the bold geometric forms of Cubism, it featured rare and expensive materials, such as ebony and ivory, exquisite craftsmanship. The Chrysler Building and other skyscrapers of New York built during the 1920s and 1930s are monuments of the Art Deco style. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the Art Deco style became more subdued.
New materials arrived, including chrome plating, stainless steel, plastic. A sleeker form of the style, called Streamline Moderne, appeared in the 1930s. Art Deco is one of the first international styles, but its dominance ended with the beginning of World War II and the rise of the functional and unadorned styles of modern architecture and the International Style of architecture that followed. Art Deco took its name, short for Arts Décoratifs, from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925, though the diverse styles that characterize Art Deco had appeared in Paris and Brussels before World War I; the term arts décoratifs was first used in France in 1858. In 1868, Le Figaro newspaper used the term objets d'art décoratifs with respect to objects for stage scenery created for the Théâtre de l'Opéra. In 1875, furniture designers, textile and glass designers, other craftsmen were given the status of artists by the French government. In response to this, the École royale gratuite de dessin founded in 1766 under King Louis XVI to train artists and artisans in crafts relating to the fine arts, was renamed the National School of Decorative Arts.
It took its present name of ENSAD in 1927. During the 1925 Exposition the architect Le Corbusier wrote a series of articles about the exhibition for his magazine L'Esprit Nouveau under the title, "1925 EXPO. ARTS. DÉCO." which were combined into a book, "L'art décoratif d'aujourd'hui". The book was a spirited attack on the excesses of the lavish objects at the Exposition; the actual phrase "Art déco" did not appear in print until 1966, when it featured in the title of the first modern exhibit on the subject, called Les Années 25: Art déco, Stijl, Esprit nouveau, which covered the variety of major styles in the 1920s and 1930s. The term Art déco was used in a 1966 newspaper article by Hillary Gelson in the Times, describing the different styles at the exhibit. Art Deco gained currency as a broadly applied stylistic label in 1968 when historian Bevis Hillier published the first major academic book on the style: Art Deco of the 20s and 30s. Hillier noted that the term was being used by art dealers and cites The Times and an essay named "Les Arts Déco" in Elle magazine as examples of prior usage.
In 1971, Hillier organized an exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, which he details in his book about it, The World of Art Deco. The emergence of Art Deco was connected with the rise in status of decorative artists, who until late in the 19th century had been considered as artisans; the term "arts décoratifs" had been invented in 1875, giving the designers of furniture and other decoration official status. The Société des artistes décorateurs, or SAD, was founded in 1901, decorative artists were given the same rights of authorship as painters and sculptors. A similar movement developed in Italy; the first international exhibition devoted to the decorative arts, the Esposizione international d'Arte decorative moderna, was held in Turin in 1902. Several new magazines devoted to decorative arts were founded in Paris, including Arts et décoration and L'Art décoratif moderne. Decorative arts sections were introduced into the annual salons of the Sociéte des artistes français, in the Salon d'automne.
French nationalism played a part in the resurgence of decorative arts. In 1911, the SAD proposed the holding of a major new international exposition of decorative arts in 1912. No copies of old styles were to be permitted; the exhibit was postponed until 1914 because of the war, postponed until 1925, when it gave its name to the whole family of styles known as Déco. Parisian department stores and fashion designers played an important
Art Tatum
Arthur Tatum Jr. was an American jazz pianist. Tatum is considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, his performances were hailed for their technical proficiency and creativity, which set a new standard for jazz piano virtuosity. Critic Scott Yanow wrote, "Tatum's quick reflexes and boundless imagination kept his improvisations filled with fresh ideas that put him way ahead of his contemporaries." Tatum's mother, Mildred Hoskins, was born in Martinsville, around 1890, in Toledo was a domestic worker. His father, Arthur Tatum Sr. was born in Statesville, North Carolina, had steady employment as "a mechanic of some sort". In 1909, they made their way from North Carolina to begin a new life in Ohio; the couple had four children. He was followed by Arline nine years and by Karl after another two years. Karl became a social worker; the Tatum family was regarded as church-going. From infancy, Tatum had impaired vision. Several explanations for this have been posited, he had eye operations, which meant that at the age of eleven he could see things that were close to him, could distinguish colors.
Any benefits from these procedures were reversed, when he was assaulted in his early twenties. As a result, he was blind in his left eye and had limited vision in his right. Despite this, there are multiple accounts of him enjoying playing cards and pool. Accounts vary on whether Tatum's parents played any musical instruments, but it is that he was exposed at an early age to church music, including through the Grace Presbyterian Church that his parents attended, he began playing the piano from a young age, playing by ear and aided by an excellent memory and sense of pitch. Other musicians reported, he learned tunes from the radio, by copying piano roll recordings. In an interview as an adult, Tatum rejected the story that his playing style had developed because he had found ways to reproduce piano roll recordings made by two pianists; as a child he was very sensitive to the piano's intonation and insisted it be tuned often. Although piano was the most obvious application of his mental and physical skills, he had an encyclopedic memory for Major League Baseball statistics.
Tatum first attended Jefferson School in Toledo moved to the School for the Blind in Columbus, Ohio late in 1924. He was there for less than a year before transferring to the Toledo School of Music, he had formal piano lessons with Overton G. Rainey at either the Jefferson School or the Toledo School of Music. Rainey, visually impaired taught the classical tradition, as he did not improvise and discouraged his students from playing jazz. Based on this history, it is reasonable to assume that Tatum was self-taught as a pianist. By the time he was a teenager, Tatum was asked to play at various social events. Tatum drew inspiration from the pianists James P. Johnson and Fats Waller, who exemplified the stride piano style, from the more modern Earl Hines, six years Tatum's senior. Tatum identified Waller as his biggest influence, while pianist Teddy Wilson and saxophonist Eddie Barefield suggested that one of his favorite jazz pianists was Hines. Another influence was pianist Lee Sims, who did not play jazz, but did use chord voicings and an orchestral approach that appeared in Tatum's playing.
In 1927, Tatum began playing on Toledo radio station WSPD as'Arthur Tatum, Toledo's Blind Pianist', during interludes in Ellen Kay's shopping chat program and soon had his own program. During 1928–29, his radio program was re-broadcast nationwide. After regular club dates, Tatum would decamp to after-hours clubs to hang out with other musicians, he played for hours on end into the dawn. From near the start of the pianist's career, "his accomplishment was of a different order from what most people, from what musicians, had heard, it made musicians reconsider their definitions of excellence, of what was possible." As word of Tatum spread, national performers passing through Toledo, including Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Joe Turner, Fletcher Henderson dropped in to hear him play. In 1932, vocalist Adelaide Hall was touring the United States with two pianists. After arriving in Toledo, she heard Tatum play, recruited him; this provided him with the opportunity to go to New York, which many other musicians had encouraged him to do, as it was the centre of the jazz world at that time.
On August 5 that year and her band recorded two sides. Two more sides with Hall followed five days as did a solo piano test-pressing of "Tea for Two", not released for several decades. Tatum's only known child, was born when Tatum was twenty-four; the mother was a waitress in Toledo. It is that neither had a major role in raising their son, who pursued a military career and died in the 1980s. Tatum and Jackson were not married. After his arrival in New York, Tatum participated in a cutting contest at Morgan's bar in Harlem, with the established stride piano masters – Johnson and Willie "The Lion" Smith. Standard contest pieces included Johnson's "Harlem Strut" and "Carolina Shout" and Waller's "Handful of Keys". Tatum played his arrangements of "Tea for Two" and "Tiger Rag". Reminiscing about Tatum's debut, Jo
DVD
DVD is a digital optical disc storage format invented and developed in 1995. The medium can store any kind of digital data and is used for software and other computer files as well as video programs watched using DVD players. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than compact discs. Prerecorded DVDs are mass-produced using molding machines that physically stamp data onto the DVD; such discs are a form of DVD-ROM because data can only be not written or erased. Blank recordable DVD discs can be recorded once using a DVD recorder and function as a DVD-ROM. Rewritable DVDs can be erased many times. DVDs are used in DVD-Video consumer digital video format and in DVD-Audio consumer digital audio format as well as for authoring DVD discs written in a special AVCHD format to hold high definition material. DVDs containing other types of information may be referred to as DVD data discs; the Oxford English Dictionary comments that, "In 1995 rival manufacturers of the product named digital video disc agreed that, in order to emphasize the flexibility of the format for multimedia applications, the preferred abbreviation DVD would be understood to denote digital versatile disc."
The OED states that in 1995, "The companies said the official name of the format will be DVD. Toshiba had been using the name ‘digital video disc’, but, switched to ‘digital versatile disc’ after computer companies complained that it left out their applications.""Digital versatile disc" is the explanation provided in a DVD Forum Primer from 2000 and in the DVD Forum's mission statement. There were several formats developed for recording video on optical discs before the DVD. Optical recording technology was invented by David Paul Gregg and James Russell in 1958 and first patented in 1961. A consumer optical disc data format known as LaserDisc was developed in the United States, first came to market in Atlanta, Georgia in 1978, it used much larger discs than the formats. Due to the high cost of players and discs, consumer adoption of LaserDisc was low in both North America and Europe, was not used anywhere outside Japan and the more affluent areas of Southeast Asia, such as Hong-Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.
CD Video released in 1987 used analog video encoding on optical discs matching the established standard 120 mm size of audio CDs. Video CD became one of the first formats for distributing digitally encoded films in this format, in 1993. In the same year, two new optical disc storage formats were being developed. One was the Multimedia Compact Disc, backed by Philips and Sony, the other was the Super Density disc, supported by Toshiba, Time Warner, Matsushita Electric, Mitsubishi Electric, Thomson, JVC. By the time of the press launches for both formats in January 1995, the MMCD nomenclature had been dropped, Philips and Sony were referring to their format as Digital Video Disc. Representatives from the SD camp asked IBM for advice on the file system to use for their disc, sought support for their format for storing computer data. Alan E. Bell, a researcher from IBM's Almaden Research Center, got that request, learned of the MMCD development project. Wary of being caught in a repeat of the costly videotape format war between VHS and Betamax in the 1980s, he convened a group of computer industry experts, including representatives from Apple, Sun Microsystems and many others.
This group was referred to as the Technical Working Group, or TWG. On August 14, 1995, an ad hoc group formed from five computer companies issued a press release stating that they would only accept a single format; the TWG voted to boycott both formats unless the two camps agreed on a converged standard. They recruited president of IBM, to pressure the executives of the warring factions. In one significant compromise, the MMCD and SD groups agreed to adopt proposal SD 9, which specified that both layers of the dual-layered disc be read from the same side—instead of proposal SD 10, which would have created a two-sided disc that users would have to turn over; as a result, the DVD specification provided a storage capacity of 4.7 GB for a single-layered, single-sided disc and 8.5 GB for a dual-layered, single-sided disc. The DVD specification ended up similar to Toshiba and Matsushita's Super Density Disc, except for the dual-layer option and EFMPlus modulation designed by Kees Schouhamer Immink.
Philips and Sony decided that it was in their best interests to end the format war, agreed to unify with companies backing the Super Density Disc to release a single format, with technologies from both. After other compromises between MMCD and SD, the computer companies through TWG won the day, a single format was agreed upon; the TWG collaborated with the Optical Storage Technology Association on the use of their implementation of the ISO-13346 file system for use on the new DVDs. Movie and home entertainment distributors adopted the DVD format to replace the ubiquitous VHS tape as the primary consumer digital video distribution format, they embraced DVD as it produced higher quality video and sound, provided superior data lifespan, could be interactive. Interactivity on LaserDiscs had proven desirable to consumers collectors; when LaserDisc prices dropped from $100 per
Toledo metropolitan area
The Toledo, metropolitan area is a metropolitan area centered on the American city of Toledo, Ohio. As of the 2010 census, the metropolitan statistical area had a population of 651,429, it is the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the state of Ohio, behind Cincinnati–Northern Kentucky, Columbus and Akron. Located on the border with Michigan, the metropolitan area includes the counties of Fulton and Wood; the Toledo metro area has strong ties to Metro Detroit, located 40 miles north. Toledo is part of the Great Lakes Megalopolis; the separate micropolitan area of Port Clinton, Ohio, is included in the Toledo–Port Clinton combined statistical area, which includes Ottawa County. The wider region of Northwest Ohio adds Defiance, Henry, Putnam, Seneca, Van Wert, Williams counties. There are several institutions of higher education; some of the larger schools include The University of Toledo, Mercy College of Ohio, Davis College in Toledo. Lourdes University in Sylvania, Stautzenberger College in Maumee, Owens Community College in Perrysburg Township, Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green.
According to a 2015 article, there were three Toledo companies. # 399 is Owens-Illinois, which specializes in glass packaging. #410 was Dana Corporation, a global leader in the supply of thermal-management technologies among many other specialties. Lastly, at #498, Owens Corning is the world leading provider of glass fiber technology. Just outside of the Toledo metropolitan in neighboring Findlay, Ohio, #25 Marathon Petroleum Corporation is headquartered; the economy of Toledo has been influenced by both the economy of nearby Detroit and agriculture. Health care and technology firms have tried to make their way into the metropolitan, though growth in those sectors has been slow. Instead and its suburbs are still home to several manufacturing and construction businesses and factories; the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported, in 2015, that manufacturing employment in Toledo had grown by 4.1% between December 2013 and December 2014. More so, construction job growth grew by nearly 10% in the same time period.
In 2014, manufacturing added 1,700 jobs to the Toledo area, but it saw losses in the business services. In 2014, the US Census Estimated there were 285,000 people employed in the Toledo metropolitan area. In August 2015, it was reported that Toledo's unemployment rate reached a 10-year low, in June 2015 just 5% of the regional population was unemployed, whereas the United States average unemployment was at 5.3% during the same period. As of the census of 2010, there were 659,188 people, 259,973 households, 169,384 families residing within the MSA; the racial makeup of the MSA was 83.03% White, 12.01% African American, 0.25% Native American, 1.07% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 1.79% from other races, 1.83% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.35% of the population. The median income for a household in the MSA was $42,686, the median income for a family was $51,882. Males had a median income of $38,959 versus $25,738 for females; the per capita income for the MSA was $20,694.
The Toledo–Port Clinton combined statistical area includes the Port Clinton micropolitan area. The population of the CSA in 2010 was 651,429. Since the 2000 Census, the Toledo-Fremont CSA has seen a decline in population of 14,468. Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments
Marcy Kaptur
Marcia Carolyn Kaptur is the U. S. Representative for Ohio's 9th congressional district and a Democrat; the district stretches from Kaptur's hometown of Toledo to Cleveland. It includes all of Ottawa and Erie counties, parts of Lucas and Cuyahoga counties. Serving her 19th term in the House of Representatives, Kaptur is the dean of Ohio's congressional delegation and the longest-serving woman in the House. In Congress, she is currently the longest-serving woman in congress and the second longest-serving woman ever, she serves on the House Appropriations Committee. Kaptur was born on June 17, 1946 in Toledo, the daughter of Anastasia Delores and Stephen Jacob Kaptur, both Polish Americans, her mother was an automobile union organizer and her family operated a small grocery. Kaptur started volunteering with the Ohio Democratic Party when she was 13. Kaptur graduated from St. Ursula Academy in 1964 and became the first member in her family to attend college, she received her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1968 and a Master of Urban Planning from the University of Michigan in 1974.
She did doctoral studies in urban planning development finance at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981. Kaptur served on the Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions from 1969 to 1975, she was director of planning for the National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs founded by the late Msgr. Geno Baroni, she served as a domestic policy advisor during President Jimmy Carter's Administration. While at MIT, Kaptur was recruited to run for Congress in 1982 against freshman Republican Ed Weber, who had upset 26-year incumbent Lud Ashley two years earlier. Despite being outspent by 3-1, she defeated Weber 58%-39%. In 1984, Kaptur faced a strong challenge from Republican Frank Venner, longtime anchorman and weatherman at WTVG, but defeated him 55%-44% as Ronald Reagan carried the district; the district reverted to form, from 1986 to 2002, she won every election with at least 74% of the vote. In 2004, she faced her strongest challenger in 20 years in Lucas County auditor Larry Kaczala. However, Kaptur dispatched him easily, winning by 68%-32%.
2006 Kaptur won her 13th term with 74% of the vote. 2008Kaptur won her 14th term with 74% of the vote. 2010Shortly after achieving fame during the 2008 election, conservative figure Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher announced that he was considering challenging Kaptur in the 2010 election. However, he chose not to run. Kaptur was instead challenged by a Tea Party movement favorite. Kaptur won re-election to her 15th term with 59% of the vote, her closest election since 1984. 2012For her first three decades in Congress, Kaptur represented a compact district centered around Toledo. Redistricting after the 2010 census extended the 9th District all the way to western Cleveland; the new map put the home of incumbent 10th District congressman Dennis Kucinich into the 9th as well, so they ran against each other in the Democratic primary. Graham Veysey, a small-business owner from Cleveland ran in the primary. Kaptur won the primary with 56% of the vote, while Kucinich received 40%. In the general election, she won a 16th term against Republican Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher and Libertarian Sean Stipe.
However, the reconfigured 9th was no less Democratic than its predecessor, Kaptur had clinched reelection by defeating Kucinich in the primary. 2014Kaptur's 2014 opponent was Richard May, a longtime Republican activist from west Cleveland, who beat Lakewood resident Robert C. Horrocks, Jr. in the May 6 primary. Kaptur won 68%-32%. 2016Kaptur's 2016 opponent was Donald Larson, who defeated Steven Kraus and Joel Lieske in the Republican primary on March 15. Kaptur won 68%-31%. Kaptur is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, she was once named "Most Valuable Member" of the House by The Nation. In 1996, Kaptur was asked by Ross Perot to be his vice-presidential running mate, she declined. Kaptur was a dedicated opponent of the America Invents Act that passed into law and changed the U. S. Patent System. Kaptur opposed changing from a "first to invent system" to a "first to file system," claiming it hurt small businesses. Kaptur stated "Our patent system is the finest in the world... the proposed solutions are special fixes that benefit these few giants at the expense of everyone else."Kaptur is a co-sponsor of The Restoring America’s Leadership in Innovation Act which claims to strengthen inventors' property rights.
The bill would remove the administrative review process which allows the public to challenge the validity of patent filings. Responding to Roger Durbin, a World War II veteran and constituent, Kaptur first suggested the creation of a National World War II Memorial in Washington, D. C. On December 10, 1987, Kaptur introduced the World War II Memorial Act to the House of Representatives; the legislation authorized the American Battle Monuments Commission to establish a World War II memorial, however, as the bill was not voted on before the end of the session it failed to be enacted into law. Kaptur introduced similar legislation in 1989 and 1991 but these bills failed to become law. Kaptur introduced legislation for the fourth time on January 27, 1993; this time the legislation was voted on and passed in the House on May 10, 1993. After a companion bill was passed in the United States Senate, President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law on May 25, 1993. Durbin died before the memorial was built, but Kaptur spoke at the memorial dedication ceremony, along with Durbin's granddaughter, on May 29, 2004.
Kaptur said that she
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, business magnate, philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and is identified as one of the richest people in history, he became a leading philanthropist in the British Empire. During the last 18 years of his life, he gave away about $350 million to charities and universities – 90 percent of his fortune, his 1889 article proclaiming "The Gospel of Wealth" called on the rich to use their wealth to improve society, stimulated a wave of philanthropy. Carnegie was born in Dunfermline and immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1848. Carnegie started work as a telegrapher, by the 1860s had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars and oil derricks, he accumulated further wealth as a bond salesman. He built Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company, which he sold to J. P. Morgan in 1901 for $303,450,000, it became the U. S. Steel Corporation. After selling Carnegie Steel, he surpassed John D. Rockefeller as the richest American for the next couple of years.
Carnegie devoted the remainder of his life to large-scale philanthropy, with special emphasis on local libraries, world peace and scientific research. With the fortune he made from business, he built Carnegie Hall in New York, NY, the Peace Palace and founded the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Carnegie Hero Fund, Carnegie Mellon University, the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, among others. Andrew Carnegie was born to Margaret Morrison Carnegie and William Carnegie in Dunfermline, Scotland in 1835, in a typical weaver's cottage with only one main room, consisting of half the ground floor, shared with the neighboring weaver's family; the main room served as a living room, dining bedroom. He was named after his legal grandfather. In 1836, the family moved to a larger house in Edgar Street, following the demand for more heavy damask, from which his father benefited, he was educated at the Free School in Dunfermline, a gift to the town by the philanthropist Adam Rolland of Gask.
Carnegie's uncle, George Lauder, Sr. a Scottish political leader influenced him as a boy by introducing him to the writings of Robert Burns and historical Scottish heroes such as Robert the Bruce, William Wallace, Rob Roy. Lauder's son named George Lauder, grew up with Carnegie and would become his business partner; when Carnegie was thirteen, his father had fallen on hard times as a handloom weaver. His mother helped support the family by assisting her brother, by selling potted meats at her "sweetie shop", leaving her as the primary breadwinner. Struggling to make ends meet, the Carnegies decided to borrow money from George Lauder, Sr. and move to Allegheny, Pennsylvania, in the United States in 1848 for the prospect of a better life. Carnegie's migration to America would be his second journey outside Dunfermline – the first being an outing to Edinburgh to see Queen Victoria. In September 1848, Carnegie arrived with his family at their new prosperous home. Allegheny was populating in the 1840s, growing from around 10,000 to 21,262 residents.
The city was industrial and produced many products including wool and cotton cloth. The "Made in Allegheny" label used on these and other diversified products was becoming more and more popular. For his father, the promising circumstances still did not provide him any good fortune. Dealers were not interested in selling his product, he himself struggled to sell it on his own; the father and son both received job offers at the same Scottish-owned cotton mill, Anchor Cotton Mills. Carnegie's first job in 1848 was as a bobbin boy, changing spools of thread in a cotton mill 12 hours a day, 6 days a week in a Pittsburgh cotton factory, his starting wage was $1.20 per week. His father quit his position at the cotton mill soon after, returning to his loom and removing him as breadwinner once again, but Carnegie attracted the attention of John Hay, a Scottish manufacturer of bobbins, who offered him a job for $2.00 per week. In his autobiography, Carnegie speaks of his past hardships. Soon after this Mr. John Hay, a fellow Scotch manufacturer of bobbins in Allegheny City, needed a boy, asked whether I would not go into his service.
I went, received two dollars per week. I had to fire the boiler in the cellar of the bobbin factory, it was too much for me. I found myself night after night, sitting up in bed trying the steam gauges, fearing at one time that the steam was too low and that the workers above would complain that they had not power enough, at another time that the steam was too high and that the boiler might burst. In 1849, Carnegie became a telegraph messenger boy in the Pittsburgh Office of the Ohio Telegraph Company, at $2.50 per week following the recommendation of his uncle. He was a hard worker and would memorize all of the locations of Pittsburgh's businesses and the faces of important men, he made many connections this way. He paid close attention to his work, learned to distinguish the differing sounds the incoming telegraph signals produced, he developed the ability to translate signals by ear, withou
