Author: Timothy Starr
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1614235929
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 187

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Book Description
New York's railroads were born of the cutthroat conflict of rate wars, bloody strikes and even federal graft. The railroad wars began as soon as the first line was chartered between Albany and Schenectady when supporters of the Erie Canal tried to block the new technology that would render their waterway obsolete. After the first primitive railroads overcame that hurdle, they began battling with one another in a series of rate wars to gain market share. Attracted by the success of the rails, the most powerful and cunning capitalists in the country--Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, Daniel Drew and other robber barons--joined the fray. Timothy Starr's account of New York's railroad wars steams through the nineteenth century with stories of rate pools, labor strikes, stock corners, legislative bribery and treasury plundering the likes of which the world had never seen.

Author: Timothy Starr
Publisher: History Press Library Editions
ISBN: 9781540217592
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description

Author: Lisa Goff
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674968980
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
The word “shantytown” conjures images of crowded slums in developing nations. Though their history is largely forgotten, shantytowns were a prominent feature of one developing nation in particular: the United States. Lisa Goff restores shantytowns to the central place they once occupied in America’s urban landscape, showing how the basic but resourcefully constructed dwellings of America’s working poor were not merely the byproducts of economic hardship but potent assertions of self-reliance. In the nineteenth century, poor workers built shantytowns across America’s frontiers and its booming industrial cities. Settlements covered large swaths of urban property, including a twenty-block stretch of Manhattan, much of Brooklyn’s waterfront, and present-day Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. Names like Tinkersville and Hayti evoked the occupations and ethnicities of shantytown residents, who were most often European immigrants and African Americans. These inhabitants defended their civil rights and went to court to protect their property and resist eviction, claiming the benefits of middle-class citizenship without its bourgeois trappings. Over time, middle-class contempt for shantytowns increased. When veterans erected an encampment near the U.S. Capitol in the 1930s President Hoover ordered the army to destroy it, thus inspiring the Depression-era slang “Hoovervilles.” Twentieth-century reforms in urban zoning and public housing, introduced as progressive efforts to provide better dwellings, curtailed the growth of shantytowns. Yet their legacy is still felt in sites of political activism, from shanties on college campuses protesting South African apartheid to the tent cities of Occupy Wall Street demonstrations.

Author: Timothy Starr
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1467105600
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
New York's Capital District was ideally situated to become one of the nation's earliest and most important transportation crossroads. The Mohawk River was the only water level gap in the Appalachian range to the west, which led to the construction of the Erie Canal. Soon after its completion, the state's first railroad began operating between Albany and Schenectady in 1831. Other pioneer railroads followed, heading north to Canada, south to New York City, west to Chicago, and east to Boston. Over the next century, railroads like the New York Central, Boston & Albany, Boston & Maine, and Delaware & Hudson built extensive passenger stations, freight and classification yards, and repair shops in the tri-city region. Passenger operations continue today at the Schenectady and Albany-Rensselaer Amtrak stations, while the Selkirk Yard is still an important classification point for CSX Transportation.

Author: Historical Publishing Company
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Industries
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description

Author: Arthur P. Molella
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1935623699
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
The companion book to an upcoming museum exhibition of the same name, Places of Invention seeks to answer timely questions about the nature of invention and innovation: What is it about some places that sparks invention and innovation? Is it simply being at the right place at the right time, or is it more than that? How does “place”—whether physical, social, or cultural—support, constrain, and shape innovation? Why does invention flourish in one spot but struggle in another, even very similar location? In short: Why there? Why then? Places of Invention frames current and historic conversation on the relationship between place and creativity, citing extensive scholarship in the area and two decades of investigation and study from the National Museum of American History’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. The book is built around six place case studies: Hartford, CT, late 1800s; Hollywood, CA, 1930s; Medical Alley, MN, 1950s; Bronx, NY,1970s; Silicon Valley, CA, 1970s–1980s; and Fort Collins, CO, 2010s. Interspersed with these case studies are dispatches from three “learning labs” detailing Smithsonian Affiliate museums’ work using Places of Invention as a model for documenting local invention and innovation. Written by exhibition curators, each part of the book focuses on the central thesis that invention is everywhere and fueled by unique combinations of creative people, ready resources, and inspiring surroundings. Like the locations it explores, Places of Invention shows how the history of invention can be a transformative lens for understanding local history and cultivating creativity on scales of place ranging from the personal to the national and beyond.

Author: Francis Paton Kimball
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : New York (State)
Languages : en
Pages : 858

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Book Description

Author: Fodor's
Publisher: Fodors Travel Publications
ISBN: 140001378X
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 706

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Book Description
Presents information on points of interest, accommodations, restaurants, nightlife, outdoor activities, and shopping in New York State.

Author: Christine M. Garretson-Persans
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 143846360X
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
A quirky, fun guide to New York’s Capital District. With new and updated entries on everything from food, shopping, and the arts to people, history, and places to visit, The Smalbanac 2.0 is a wry, affectionate, and practical guide to New York State’s capital city and surrounding area. Packed with information, this guide is perfect not only for visitors, new students, and those relocating to the area but also for long-term residents who want to get out of their comfort zones and explore the many hidden—and some not-so-hidden—treasures the area has to offer. Praise for the First Edition “An eclectic and affectionate look at the quirks of our region and its many hidden treasures.” — Albany Times Union “The Smalbanac is a delightful, informative guide to history, culture, cuisine and shopping in Albany, Schenectady, and Troy Whether you like to travel, dine out, or learn local history, this is an exceptional book, worth reading and keeping on hand for when someone laments, ‘I’m so bored.’” — Schenectady Daily Gazette

Author: Deborah Williams
Publisher: The Countryman Press
ISBN: 1581579195
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
The Erie Canal: Great Destinations is the first comprehensive travel guide to New York State Canals and the communities and attractions found along them. Each chapter covers one canal, providing historical background as well as information on wineries, canal museums, restaurants, lodging, canal cruises and bike paths in all the major cities, many of the small towns and villages, and the two biggest Finger Lakes. The guide offers separate sections on Buffalo, Albany, Syracuse, Utica, and Rochester and their outlying areas, as well as a chapter on Niagara Falls. With coverage of three smaller canals in the region (the Oswego, Champlain, and Cayuga-Seneca) this is undoubtedly the most extensive guide to the canalways of the state.