On This Day in History 2

Who knew the Statue of Liberty is modelled after someone's mama?  You do now.  

The French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, with a bit of assistance from Gustave Eiffel (YES the guy who designed the Eiffel Tower), used his own mother as a model for the more than 305-foot tall statue that has welcomed immigrants for 126 years.  Just goes to show ya, mothers shape the world.  

Anyway, June 17th, 1885 saw the dissassembled Lady Liberty arrive in New York City Harbor in 350 individual pieces, packed away in more than 200 cases.  The following year it was reassembled and dedicated by US President Grover Cleveland, who says of it, "We will not forget that Liberty has here made her home, nor shall her chosen altar be neglected." 

The French gifted the statue to the US in commemoration of the American Revolution and a century of friendship between France and the US.  It cost France an estimated $250,000 - more than $5.5 million in today's money.

  The copper and iron figure, originally copper-colored but changed by natural processes in time to be greenish-blue, was the tallest structure in New York City at the time.  It stood on Bedloe Island, whose name changed to Liberty Island after the iconic statue came to rest on it.

On This Day In History

So, I'm not even going to mention the fact that this is my first blog post in months.  Sorry.  Instead, let's skip directly to the purpose of this post. xD

I have always loved history.  It's fantastic. So interesting and rich....and I especially delight in discovering what was happening some day past whose anniversary is today.  

"On this day in history" (June 16th), 130 years ago in 1884, the very first rollercoaster of America was established on Coney Island.  

It was built by LaMarcus Thompson and it was called "The Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway".  It ran an invigorating six miles per hour and was compsed of a few gentle, wavy hills.  It cost a nickel to ride and was an instant success.  

The Switchback got its name from the way the cars would reach the end of the track, which ran 600 miles along West Tenth Street from Surf Avenue to the ocean, and get switched back to return to the beginning after the passengers had left the car.  It had the capacity for 1,600 riders an hour!  Thompson seems to have in a few ways based his design on the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway, a coal-mining train that had begun to offer its services as a thrill ride in 1827. 

LaMarcus Adna Thompson (March 8th, 1848 - May 8th, 1919) worked as a carpenter and then a grocery store owner before his eventual rollercoaster-designing career earned him the name "The father of gravity".  He patented nearly thirty designs for gravity rides in his lifetime.  He also became the managing director for the L. A. Thompson Scenic Railway Company, 220 West 42nd St., founded in 1895.  L.A.T.A.R.C. manufactured rollercoasters and other instruments for amusement park rides for parks all over the world. 

Thompson died at his home in Thompson Park, Glen Cove, Long Island having led a fairly successful life.  

I don't particularly like rollercoasters, but this was still cool to learn about :D It's so cool to realize - sometimes I look at time like a cabinet.  You pull a drawer open and inside William Wallace is fighting for freedom.  You pull open another one and the  Wright brothers are making history with the first airplanes.  Inside each drawer in the cabinet, history is happening.  It's exciting to think of me sitting here typing this up in the June 16th, 2014 drawer, while in another drawer labelled June 16th, The Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway has finished construction and become open to the public in 1884! (And nobody better try to lecture me on how time works.  Hushhhh.) 

I think I might be posting On This Day In Historys every day, because it's awesome and I should post more often xD