Baxter Park’s location in the heart of the industrial district might not seem out of the ordinary; after all, most residents have grown up with the park and the name conjures up a treasure trove of images- ice skating on Bottom Pond in the winter, perusing the wares of street artists in the spring,...
When people move here, especially those with young children, a top question on their minds around this time of year is “When exactly is the mandated trick-or-treat time?” (Another popular query is “When the hell is the leaf collection time, as my bags of leaves have been sitting out for two goddamn weeks?” But...
Throughout the history of civic planning, there have been countless grand ideas and concepts which have never been carried out for various reasons- expense, impracticality, that sort of thing. If one were to go through the planning archives of this city alone, you’d see many plans which never came to fruition- the Northwest Expressway,...
:: Number of businesses that still offer hat blocking: 3 :: Television pilots shot here: 11 :: How many of these which were picked up for a series: 1, “Colt & Hammer,” a police drama that ran as a midseason replacement in 1978 on ABC. :: Mayors who have shot someone while in office:...
:: Best views in town… the top of the World War One Memorial tower in Baxter Park… the WKVD-AM hot air balloon at the zoo… the West Side Highway… from U-City park across the river into the Downtown… 22nd floor of the City Hall Annex… any others? E-mail or comment and let us know....
This Friday, the Typesetters Club will once again be holding its annual banquet/dance at the downtown Hyatt, the first one they’ve held in six years. The club was founded in 1897 as a place for newspapermen to get together and drink, smoke cigars and eat badly cooked steak. At the time, and for a...
:: Number of light bulbs used in the 30-foot-tall “YOU ARE NOW ALMOST HOME” sign on the Wendell Willkie Bridge: 20,016 :: Number of workers killed in construction of the massive sign in 1949: 3 :: Number of ex-Nazis given the key to the city: 1 :: Percentage of sixth-grade students who read below...
After years of deterioration, the Samson Heights area has seen a resurgence in recent years, as people move father down river, after having been priced out of the Downtown and surrounding areas. What in the mid-eighties was a run-down collection of crumbling buildings and abandoned storefronts has become a thriving neighborhood where families and...
The American Society of Professional Industrial Chemists has a problem. No, it’s not that they’ll soon be observing their 100th anniversary; they’re rather happy about that. It’s just that they don’t know exactly where they should be celebrating the occasion. You see, the national trade group was founded here in 1907, but no one...
Shortly after its construction in 1936, the Fleming Tower (800 block of Bradburn Street) became rather infamous for a rush of people repeatedly attempting to commit suicide from the top of its sixteen stories. Newspaper records show that, between the building’s opening in May 1936 and November of that year, twenty-eight people attempted the...
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