Remembrances
Winter – Spring 2021
War changes societies, and few wars changed the world as much as World War II. With fronts in both Europe and the Pacific, America supported the Allied nations in an attempt to end the totalitarian regimes in both Germany and Italy, as they joined with the Japanese Empire to envelope the world dictatorial control. In 1945, war on both fronts came to an end with the Allies as the victors. Come see the paths that led the world to its last great war as we celebrate the 75th anniversary of its end.
Illumination: The History of Electricity
Spring – Summer 2021
We are proud to join with PPL in their celebration of a century of serving the community. Come join us in the summer of 2021 as we showcase PPL. Our exhibit will highlight where they’ve been. Who they are today. And what they aspire to become as the future unfolds. This spring and summer join us in this celebration of 100 years of PPL lighting up our neighborhoods!
This Week in History
May 17, 1954: In Brown V. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court voted unanimously that segregating public schools “solely on the basis of race” denied non-white children “equal educational opportunity”. The case was argued by civil rights attorney Thurgood Marshall, who would later become the first African-American Supreme Court justice.
May 18, 1980: Mt. St. Helens, an active volcano in southwest Washington State, erupted explosively, throwing ash and steam over 11 miles into the air. The eruption killed 57 people and destroyed several hundred square miles of land.
May 19, 1857: William Channing and Moses Farmer patented the first electric fire alarm system.
May 19, 1921: The U.S. Congress passed the Emergency Quota Law, which established strict national quotas for immigrants.
May 20, 1862: President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, which sold government-owned land in the West for $1.25 per acre to anyone who would live on it and cultivate it for five years.
May 21, 1881: The American Red Cross was founded by Clara Barton in Washington, D.C.
May 22, 1859: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, physician, author, and creator of the most famous fictional detective of all time – Sherlock Holmes – was born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
May 22, 1972: Richard M. Nixon became the first U.S. President to visit Moscow when he arrived for an historic summit with Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev. It was actually Nixon’s second visit to Moscow – he had been there in 1959 when he was Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Vice-President.
May 23, 1788: South Carolina became the 8th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.