1.
Moline, Illinois
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Moline is a city located in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. With a population of 43,977 in 2010, it is the largest city in Rock Island County, Moline is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring East Moline and Rock Island in Illinois and the cities of Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa. The Quad Cities has an estimate of 381,342. The city is the ninth-most populated city in Illinois outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area. S, Quad City International Airport, Niabi Zoo, Black Hawk College, and the Quad Cities campus of Western Illinois University-Quad Cities. Moline is a hub for the Illinois Quad Cities, as South Park Mall. In the mid-1990s, the city undertook major efforts to revitalize its central business district, today, Molines downtown again serves as one of the civic and recreational hubs of the Quad Cities, many events take place at the 12, 000-seat iWireless Center and at John Deere Commons. Downtown Moline features hotels such as Radisson and Stoney Creek Inn, and commercial areas such as Bass Street Landing, the city of Moline is nestled beside and on a broad bluff situated between the banks of the Mississippi River and Rock River in Rock Island County, Illinois. The citys highland areas are cut across by many ravines that break up the city into natural neighborhoods. The city is bounded to the east by East Moline and to the west by Rock Island, Moline is located approximately 165 miles west of Chicago and approximately 164 miles northwest of Springfield, Illinois. The area is served by four highways, Interstate 74, Interstate 280, Interstate 80. This airport is the third busiest one in the state of Illinois, following Chicagos OHare International Airport and Midway Airport. According to the 2010 census, the city has an area of 16.66 square miles. Temperatures reach 100 °F only several years per decade, and −20 °F readings are even rarer, the average window for freezing temperatures is October 10 thru April 24, allowing a growing season of 168 days. Snowfall averages 31.6 inches per season, but has ranged as low as 11.1 in in 1901–02 to 69.7 in in 1974–75, on average, measurable snow occurs from November 21 to March 26, and rarely in October. Unlike much of the Midwest, measurable snow has never occurred in May. Indigenous peoples of varying cultures inhabited areas along the river over thousands of years, using it for transportation, water and this tribe saw the land between the Rock and Mississippi rivers as ideal for farming and fishing. In 1832 Chief Black Hawk declared war on the United States, when the war ended later that year, Black Hawk and his people were forced to leave the area and go north, paving the way for more European-American settlers to enter the Mississippi Valley. Sears and a group of associates built a 600-foot stone-and-brush dam across Sylvan Slough, thereby connecting the southern bank of the Mississippi River to what is today called Arsenal Island
2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
3.
Phillips Academy
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Phillips Academy Andover is a co-educational university-preparatory school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year. The school is located in Andover, Massachusetts, United States,25 miles north of Boston, Phillips Academy has 1,122 students, and is a selective school, accepting 13% of applicants. It is part of the Ten Schools Admissions Organization as well as the G20 Schools Group, originally a boarding school for boys, it turned coeducational in 1973, the year in which it merged with its neighbor girls school Abbot Academy. Phillips Academys endowment stood around $800 million in June 2011, the fourth-highest of any American secondary school. On November 14,2012, John G. Palfrey, Jr. Henry N. Ess III Professor of Law and Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources at Harvard Law School, was named the 15th Head of School. Phillips Academy admitted only boys until the school coeducational in 1973, the year of Phillips Academys merger with Abbot Academy. Abbot Academy, founded in 1828, was the first incorporated school for girls in New England, then-headmaster Theodore Sizer oversaw the merger. Andover traditionally educated its students for Yale, just as Phillips Exeter Academy educated its students for Harvard, the Phillipian was first published on July 28,1857, and has been published regularly since 1878. It retains financial and editorial independence from Phillips Academy, having completed a $500,000 endowment drive in 2014, students comprise the editorial board and make all decisions for the paper, consulting with two faculty advisors at their own discretion. The Philomathean Society is the oldest high school debate society in the nation, Phillips Academy also runs a five-week summer session for approximately 600 students entering grades 8 through 12. The two schools maintain a rivalry. The football teams have met every year since 1878, making it the oldest high school rivalry in the country. In 1882, the first high school teams were formed at Phillips Academy, Phillips Exeter Academy. Several figures from the period are associated with the school. George Washington spoke at the school in its first year, John Hancock signed the schools articles of incorporation. The great seal of the school was designed by Paul Revere, the Andover Theological Seminary was independent from Phillips Academy but shared the same board of directors. In 1908, the seminary departed Phillips Academy, leaving behind its key buildings, academic building Pearson Hall, small portions of Andovers campus were laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of Central Park and himself a graduate of the school. Reveres design of the seal incorporated bees, a beehive
4.
Yale University
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Yale University is an American private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 in Saybrook Colony to train Congregationalist ministers, it is the third-oldest institution of education in the United States. The Collegiate School moved to New Haven in 1716, and shortly after was renamed Yale College in recognition of a gift from British East India Company governor Elihu Yale. Originally restricted to theology and sacred languages, the curriculum began to incorporate humanities and sciences by the time of the American Revolution. In the 19th century the school introduced graduate and professional instruction, awarding the first Ph. D. in the United States in 1861 and organizing as a university in 1887. Yale is organized into fourteen constituent schools, the undergraduate college, the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. While the university is governed by the Yale Corporation, each schools faculty oversees its curriculum, the universitys assets include an endowment valued at $25.4 billion as of June 2016, the second largest of any U. S. educational institution. The Yale University Library, serving all constituent schools, holds more than 15 million volumes and is the third-largest academic library in the United States, Yale College undergraduates follow a liberal arts curriculum with departmental majors and are organized into a social system of residential colleges. Almost all faculty teach courses, more than 2,000 of which are offered annually. Students compete intercollegiately as the Yale Bulldogs in the NCAA Division I – Ivy League, Yale has graduated many notable alumni, including five U. S. Presidents,19 U. S. Supreme Court Justices,20 living billionaires, and many heads of state. In addition, Yale has graduated hundreds of members of Congress,57 Nobel laureates,5 Fields Medalists,247 Rhodes Scholars, and 119 Marshall Scholars have been affiliated with the University. Yale traces its beginnings to An Act for Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School, passed by the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut on October 9,1701, the Act was an effort to create an institution to train ministers and lay leadership for Connecticut. Soon thereafter, a group of ten Congregationalist ministers, Samuel Andrew, Thomas Buckingham, Israel Chauncy, Samuel Mather, the group, led by James Pierpont, is now known as The Founders. Originally known as the Collegiate School, the institution opened in the home of its first rector, Abraham Pierson, the school moved to Saybrook, and then Wethersfield. In 1716 the college moved to New Haven, Connecticut, the feud caused the Mathers to champion the success of the Collegiate School in the hope that it would maintain the Puritan religious orthodoxy in a way that Harvard had not. Cotton Mather suggested that the school change its name to Yale College, meanwhile, a Harvard graduate working in England convinced some 180 prominent intellectuals that they should donate books to Yale. The 1714 shipment of 500 books represented the best of modern English literature, science, philosophy and it had a profound effect on intellectuals at Yale. Undergraduate Jonathan Edwards discovered John Lockes works and developed his original theology known as the new divinity
5.
John Deere
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Deere & Company is an American corporation that manufactures agricultural, construction, and forestry machinery, diesel engines, drivetrains used in heavy equipment, and lawn care equipment. In 2016, it was listed as 97th in the Fortune 500 Americas ranking and was ranked 364th in the Fortune Global 500 ranking in 2016, John Deere also provides financial services and other related activities. Deere is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols DE, the companys slogan is Nothing Runs Like a Deere, and its logo is a leaping deer, with the words JOHN DEERE under it. The logo of the deer has been used by this company for over 155 years. Over the years, the logo has had changes and pieces removed. Some of the older style logos have the deer leaping over a log, the company uses different logo colors for agricultural vs. construction products. The companys agricultural products are identifiable by a shade of green paint. While the construction products are identifiable by a shade of black with the deer being yellow, and the inside border also being yellow. Deere & Company began when John Deere, born in Rutland, Vermont, USA on February 7,1804, moved to Grand Detour, Illinois in 1836 in order to escape bankruptcy in Vermont. Small tools was just a start, the item that set him apart, was the steel plow. Prior to Deeres steel plow, most farmers used iron or wooden plows that the rich Midwestern soil stuck to and had to be cleaned frequently. The smooth sided steel plow solved this problem, and greatly aided migration into the American Great Plains in the 19th, the traditional way of doing business was to make the product as and when it was ordered. Word of his products began to spread quickly, in 1842, Deere entered a business partnership with Leonard Andrus and purchased land for the construction of a new two-story factory along the Rock River in Illinois. This factory, named the L. Andrus Plough Manufacturer, produced about 100 plows in 1842, Deeres partnership with Andrus ended in 1848, and Deere relocated to Moline, Illinois in order to have access to the railroad and the Mississippi River. There, Deere formed a partnership with Robert Tate and John Gould, Production rose quickly, and by 1849, the Deere, Tate & Gould Company was producing over 200 plows a month. A two story addition to the plant was built, allowing further production, Deere bought out Tate and Goulds interests in the company in 1853, and was joined in the business by his son Charles Deere. At that time, the company was manufacturing a variety of farm equipment products in addition to plows, including wagons, in 1857, the companys production totals reached almost 1,120 implements per month. In 1858, a financial recession took a toll on the company
6.
John Deere (inventor)
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John Deere was an American blacksmith and manufacturer who founded Deere & Company, one of the largest and leading agricultural and construction equipment manufacturers in the world. Born in Rutland, Vermont, Deere moved to Illinois and invented the first commercially successful steel plow in 1837, John Deere was born on February 7th 1804, in Rutland, Vermont. He married Demarius Lamb in 1827 and fathered nine children, John Deere settled in Grand Detour, Illinois. At the time, Deere had no difficulty finding work due to a lack of working in the area. There are varying versions of the inspiration for Deeres famous steel plow, in another version he recalled the way the polished steel pitchfork tines moved through hay and soil and thought that same effect could be obtained for a plow. In 1837, Deere developed and manufactured the first commercially successful cast-steel plow, the wrought-iron framed plow had a polished steel share. This made it ideal for the soil of the Midwest. By early 1838, Deere completed his first steel plow and sold it to a farmer, Lewis Crandall. Subsequently two neighbors soon placed orders with Deere, by 1841, Deere was manufacturing 75-100 plows per year. In 1843, Deere partnered with Leonard Andrus to produce more plows to keep up with demand, in 1848, Deere dissolved the partnership with Andrus and moved to Moline, Illinois, because the city was a transportation hub on the Mississippi River. By 1855, Deeres factory sold more than 10,000 such plows and it became known as The Plow that Broke the Plains and is commemorated as such in a historic place marker in Vermont. Deere insisted on making high-quality equipment and he once said, I will never put my name on a product that does not have in it the best that is in me. Following the Panic of 1857, as business improved, Deere left the operations to his son Charles. In 1868, Deere incorporated his business as Deere & Company, later in life Deere focused most of his attention on civil and political affairs. He served as President of the National Bank of Moline, a director of the Moline Free Public Library, Deere also served as Molines mayor for two years but due to chest pains and dysentery Deere refused to run for a second term. He died at home on May 17,1886, wayne G. Broehl, Jr. John Deeres Company Neil Dahlstrom and Jeremy Dahlstrom. The John Deere Story, A Biography of Plowmakers John and Charles Deere, Deere, John, American National Biography Online Access Date, Thu May 152014 John Deere at Find a Grave
7.
Rock Island, Illinois
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Rock Island is a city in and the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The original Rock Island, from which the city name is derived, is the largest island on the Mississippi River and it is now called Arsenal Island. The population was 39,018 at the 2010 census, located on the Mississippi River, it is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring Moline, East Moline, and the Iowa cities of Davenport and Bettendorf. The Quad Cities has a population of about 380,000, the city is home to Rock Island Arsenal, the largest government-owned weapons manufacturing arsenal in the US, which employs 6,000 people. Theres a wide variety of housing available in Rock Island including historic homes, new downtown condos, new construction in the heart of the city, the Rock Island-Milan School District, Rockridge School District along with private schools, serve the city. The District has art galleries and theaters, nightclubs and coffee shops, golf courses, parks, a casino, botanical center, marina, historic tours, bike paths, and festivals offer entertainment opportunities. In 2015 Rock Island was ranked the 32nd Best Small City in the based on economic health, affordability. Rock Island made the list of the nations 25 Most Affordable Housing Markets and this area has been a fortuitous place first for settlement and then for steamboat traffic, bridges, and railroads. Various Native American tribes occupied this area for thousands of years before settlement, by the early nineteenth century, it was occupied chiefly by the historic Sauk tribe. Their major village of Saukenuk was located on the side of Rock Island. After the War of 1812, the United States built Fort Armstrong on the island for defensive reasons in 1816, Saukenuk was the birthplace of the Sauk war chief Black Hawk, for whom the Black Hawk War of 1831–1832 was named. Fort Armstrong served as the US militarys headquarters for the war, today the Black Hawk State Historic Site, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, includes much of the site of the original village of Saukenuk. The park includes a museum and a number of hiking trails along the Rock River, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad was founded here in 1851. It was informally known as the Rock Island Line, as part of later nineteenth-century development, two first-class hotels, the Harper House and the Rock Island House were built in town. Rock Island Arsenal has manufactured military equipment and ordnance for the U. S. Army since the 1880s, the railroad was liquidated in bankruptcy in 1980. The first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River was built between Arsenal Island and Davenport in 1856, two weeks after the bridge opened, the steamboat Effie Afton collided with the bridge, caught fire, and damaged the bridge. The owner of the Effie Afton sued the company for damages. This test case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court, although the original bridge is long gone, a monument exists on Arsenal Island marking the Illinois side
8.
Andover, Massachusetts
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Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and later incorporated in 1646, as of the 2010 census, the population was 33,201. It is part of the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Massachusetts-New Hampshire metropolitan statistical area, part of the town comprises the census-designated place of Andover. In order to encourage settlement, early colonists were offered three years immunity from taxes, levies and services, the first permanent settlement in the Andover area was established in 1642 by John Woodbridge and a group of settlers from Newbury and Ipswich. Rogers Brook, a stream which cuts through the eastern part of town, is named in his honor. In May 1646 the settlement was incorporated as a town and was named Andover and this name was likely chosen in honor of the town of Andover in England, which was near the original home of some of the first residents. The first recorded meeting was held in 1656 in the home of settler John Osgood in what is now the town of North Andover. The old burying ground in what is now North Andover marks the center of the early town, contrary to popular belief, the towns split due to the location of the Old North Church, also located in what is now North Andover. King Philip was an Indian who organized a revolt against the white settlers throughout most of New England, six Indian raids occurred between 1676 and 1698 until ever-increasing numbers of white settlers established control of the land. Brown was arrested in Andover, Massachusetts but because he could not afford the $4,000 bail, brown was tried in June 1799. Brown wanted to plead guilty but Justice Samuel Chase wanted him to everybody who had helped him or who subscribed to his writings. Brown refused, was fined $480, and sentenced to eighteen months in prison, during the Salem witch trials in 1692, Andover resident Joseph Ballard asked for help for his wife from several girls in the neighboring Salem Village who were already identifying witches there. After visiting Elizabeth Ballard, the claimed that several people in Andover had bewitched her, Ann Foster, her daughter Mary Lacey Sr. During the course of the proceedings, more than 40 Andover citizens, mostly women. Three Andover residents, Martha Carrier, Mary Parker, and Samuel Wardwell, were convicted and executed and those who were not executed were granted reprieves by Gov. William Phips, but the convictions remained on their records. By 1705, Andovers population had begun to move southward and the idea of a new meeting house in the end of town was proposed. But despite this split, the town remained politically one unit, in 1854, a measure was passed to divide the town into two separate political units according to the old parish boundaries. The name Andover was assumed by the populous and wealthy West and South parishes
9.
Montana
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Montana /mɒnˈtænə/ is a state in the Western region of the United States. The states name is derived from the Spanish word montaña, Montana has several nicknames, although none official, including Big Sky Country and The Treasure State, and slogans that include Land of the Shining Mountains and more recently The Last Best Place. Montana has a 545-mile border with three Canadian provinces, British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, the state to do so. It also borders North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, Montana is ranked 4th in size, but 44th in population and 48th in population density of the 50 United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges, smaller island ranges are found throughout the state. In total,77 named ranges are part of the Rocky Mountains, the eastern half of Montana is characterized by western prairie terrain and badlands. The economy is based on agriculture, including ranching and cereal grain farming. Other significant economic activities include oil, gas, coal and hard rock mining, lumber, the health care, service, and government sectors also are significant to the states economy. Millions of tourists annually visit Glacier National Park, the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, the name Montana comes from the Spanish word Montaña and the Latin word Montana, meaning mountain, or more broadly, mountainous country. Montaña del Norte was the name given by early Spanish explorers to the mountainous region of the west. The name was changed by Representatives Henry Wilson and Benjamin F. Harding, when Ashley presented a bill to establish a temporary government in 1864 for a new territory to be carved out of Idaho, he again chose Montana Territory. This time Rep. Samuel Cox, also of Ohio, objected to the name, Cox complained that the name was a misnomer given most of the territory was not mountainous and that a Native American name would be more appropriate than a Spanish one. Other names such as Shoshone were suggested, but it was decided that the Committee on Territories could name it whatever they wanted, with an area of 147,040 square miles, Montana is slightly larger than Japan. It is the fourth largest state in the United States after Alaska, Texas, and California, the largest landlocked U. S. state, and the worlds 56th largest national state/province subdivision. To the north, Montana shares a 545-mile border with three Canadian provinces, British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, the state to do so. It borders North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, the states topography is roughly defined by the Continental Divide, which splits much of the state into distinct eastern and western regions. Most of Montanas 100 or more named mountain ranges are in the western half. The Absaroka and Beartooth ranges in the states south-central part are part of the Central Rocky Mountains
10.
Quad Cities
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The Quad Cities is a region of four counties in northwest Illinois and Southeastern Iowa. The urban core consists of four cities, Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa. These cities are the center of the Quad Cities Metropolitan Area, which as of 2013 had an estimate of 383,781. At the time of European encounter, it was a home and principal trading place of the Sauk, Saukenuk was the principal village of the Sauk tribe and birthplace of its 19th-century war chief, Black Hawk. In 1832, Sauk chief Keokuk and General Winfield Scott signed a treaty in Davenport after the US defeated the Sauk, the treaty resulted in the Native Americans ceding six million acres of land to the United States in exchange for a much smaller reservation elsewhere. Black Hawk State Historic Site in Rock Island preserves part of historic Saukenuk and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the history of urban settlements in the Quad-Cities was stimulated by riverboat traffic. For 14 miles between LeClaire, Iowa, and Rock Island, the Mississippi River flowed across a series of finger-like rock projections protruding from either bank and these rapids were difficult for steamboats to traverse. As demand for river-based transportation increased along the upper Mississippi, the navigability of the river throughout the Rock Island Rapids became a greater concern, over time, a minor industry grew up in the area to meet the steamboats needs. Today, the rocks are submerged six feet underwater by a formed by two locks and dams. As the Industrial Revolution developed in the United States, many enterprising industrialists looked to the Mississippi River as a source of water power. The combination of energy and easy access to river transportation attracted entrepreneurs, in 1848, John Deere moved his plough business to Moline. His business was incorporated as Deere & Company in 1868, Deere & Company is the largest employer today in the Quad Cities. The first railroad built across the Mississippi River connected Davenport. It was built by the Rock Island Railroad Company, and replaced the seasonal ferry service. Steamboaters saw the nationwide railroads as a threat to their business, on May 6,1856, just weeks after completion of the bridge, an angry steamboater crashed the Effie Afton into it. John Hurd, the owner of the Effie Afton, filed a lawsuit against the Rock Island Railroad Company, the Rock Island Railroad Company selected Abraham Lincoln as their trial lawyer and won after he took the case to the US Supreme Court. Phillip Suiter was one of his expert witnesses and it was a pivotal trial in Lincolns career. After the civil war, the region began to gain a common identity, the river towns that were thoughtfully planned and competently led flourished, while other settlements, usually get-rich-quick schemes for speculators, failed to pan out
