What made me look at these photos? A question on Jeopardy and I knew the answer!! Pennsylvania problems: The players missed three clues about the commonwealth, including ones about its nickname, the Keystone State, and the town named after a 1912 Olympian, Jim Thorpe.
The town changed its name in 1954 from Mauch Chunk to Jim Thorpe, a story that has to rank as one of the most unusual in American history. (Mauch Chunk means Bear Place in the native Munsee-Lenape Native American language).
Reading (like the railroad in Monopoly) Blue Mountain and Northern.
The Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad is a regional railroad operating in eastern Pennsylvania, with headquarters located in Port Clinton. In addition to freight service, passenger excursions also run along the RBMN system. The Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway (LGSR) is a tourist railroad that operates passenger excursions along the RBMN between Jim Thorpe and Lehigh Gorge State Park. The RBMN also operates passenger excursions from Reading and Port Clinton to Jim Thorpe.
It was designed by Wilson Brothers & Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and built in 1888 by the Central Railroad of New Jersey. It is a 1 1/2-story, five bay, red brick building in the Queen Anne style. It features a 3 1/2-story, cylindrical corner tower with a cylindrical roof. It is owned by the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway and served as a visitor center.
The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 1, 1976.
First fire company in Carbon County PA.
Volunteer department, established 1866.
Present building built 1885.
Now a bar, the Marion Hose Co. No. 1., located next to the Opera House.
The Mauch Chunk Opera House also called the Capitol Theater at one time. The theatre was built in 1881 by architect Addison Hutton. Officially opening in 1882 and located in what was known as millionaires row in old Mauch Chunk, as the town was then called.
Asa Packer Mansion
Built in 1861, this Italianate mansion was the crown jewel of the Packer family and home to Asa Packer. This 20-room mansion has an ornate interior with original furnishings. It stands elevated above Broadway and is a reminder of the wealth that the city had during the 19th century. During that time it is said 19 of the country's 26 millionaires had homes in Mauch Chunk.
Asa Packer founded the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and like many wealthy robber-barons of this age, went on to become a philanthropist. He also founded Lehigh University in 1865.
Jim Thorpe is also known as the Switzerland of Pennsylvania.
Established in 1830 the Hotel Switzerland is the oldest commercial building operating in Jim Thorpe.
The Old Mauch Chunk Historic District (National Register of Historic Places) contains an incredible blend of public and private buildings of exceptional architectural merit, scattered among a background of typical 19th Century commercial and residential structures; all located in spectacular natural setting.
"Stone Row" — This range of 16 houses was built by Asa Packer for the engineers and foreman working on the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The exact date is not known but the predate was the 1849 fire.
And the town's relationship to Jim Thorpe?
Who was he?
An Olympic hero controversially stripped of his medals is buried in a town he never visited, that took his name after his death.
Our old car!
NO OTHER ATHLETE HAS COME close to Jim Thorpe in all-around versatility. Born in 1887 in Prague, Oklahoma, Thorpe grew up in the Sac and Fox Nation and suffered the loss of his twin brother and both his parents early in life. His incredible skill with every sport he tried propelled him beyond his humble origins and the racial prejudice he faced as an American Indian to a legendary status as one of the 20th century’s most notable athletes.
As a student at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, he was an All-American in football, playing halfback, defender, punter, and place-kicker. He mastered nearly every sport offered at Carlisle, including basketball, lacrosse, tennis, handball, bowling, golf, swimming, hockey, boxing, and gymnastics. He even won a ballroom dancing contest. However, it was in track and field where he really excelled.
At the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, Thorpe won both the pentathlon and the decathlon, and finished tied in fourth for the high jump and seventh in the long jump. King Gustav V of Sweden congratulated Thorpe by saying “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.” To which Thorpe replied: “Thanks, King.”
Impoverished at his death, his third wife struck an agreement with two Pennsylvania towns desperate for tourism to create a memorial and bury his remains. Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk merged under the new town name of “Jim Thorpe,” and the athlete’s body now rests under a monument in a landscape he never saw, in a town he never visited.
I just want to say upfront, that none of this music was known by me.
But it is a piece of Canadian trivia and I like the murals!
I did enjoy the Jeff Burke video, Jeff Healy, Handsome Ned.
Artists were invited to paint murals on 8 Bell Canada outdoor utility boxes in 2018 and 2019 as part of the Bell Box Murals Project. The murals celebrate the iconic Queen Street West musicians of the 1970s, 80s and 90s. The artists were Adrian Hayles, Julii McMillan, Naz Nahidi, Curtia Wright, Leanna Gennuso, Glen Guerin & Natalia Bonczek. The Legends of Queen West Murals were a partnership between the Queen Street West BIA, West Queen West BIA, Art West Studios, Community Matters Toronto and Bell Canada.
Naz Nahidi's tribute to the Parachute Club on Duncan at Queen St.
The Parachute Club was a Canadian band formed in Toronto in 1982. They released three top 40 hits in Canada between 1983 and 1987, including "Rise Up", "At the Feet of the Moon" and "Love Is Fire" (which featured guest duet vocals from John Oates). The band was well known for being one of the first mainstream pop acts in Canada to integrate world music influences, particularly Caribbean styles such as reggae and soca, into their sound.
Curtia Wright's tribute to Lillian Allen on Peter St at Queen St W
Lillian Allen (born 5 February 1951) is a Canadian dub poet, reggae musician, writer and Juno Award winner.
Adrian Hayles tribute Jeff Burke on Augusta south of Queen St. Finally found on a return visit.
A busker in Toronto by the name of Jeff Burke recently made headlines (Feb 2019) after his bassoon was stolen, breaking the hearts of many who know the joy that musicians can bring to your terrible subway commute.
Burke's bassoon has been returned to him after over a month without it, and after $14,000 was raised for a replacement.
The musician had temporarily set the instrument and some other belongings down to use the washroom near Delaware and Bloor, and when he came back, it had all been stolen, along with an an amp and other belongings.
The belongings were turned in to the TTC's lost and found system after being left at Ossington station. From there, a TTC staff member saw the GoFundMe page and connected the dots.
Leanna Gennuso's tribute to Handsome Ned on Vanauley north of Queen.
Handsome Ned was the stage name of Robin David Masyk (June 4, 1957 - January 10, 1987), a Canadian country singer and songwriter. Although he only released a small number of singles and was never widely known outside of Toronto during his lifetime, he has been credited as the catalyst for an early-1980s country music and roots rock revival in Toronto which paved the way for acts such as Blue Rodeo, Prairie Oyster, Skydiggers and Cowboy Junkies to break through to greater fame, and as one of the key figures in the transformation of the city's Queen Street West district into a cultural hotspot.
Natalia Bonczek's tribute to the Pursuit of Happiness on Ryerson at Queen St W. @nataliabonczek_art
Led by Edmonton, Alberta, singer and songwriter Moe Berg, The Pursuit of Happiness were launched in 1985 when he and drummer Dave Gilby moved to Toronto, Ontario. They soon met bassist Johnny Sinclair and formed the band, adding sisters Tamara and Natasha Amabile as backing vocalists. Their debut single, "I'm an Adult Now", quickly became a smash hit across Canada in 1986, sparked by a low-budget video which made it onto the Canadian music video channel MuchMusic.
Adrian Hayles' tribute to Jeff Healey on Tecumseth at Queen St West.
Norman Jeffrey "Jeff" Healey (March 25, 1966 – March 2, 2008) was a Canadian jazz and blues-rock vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter who attained musical and personal popularity, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. He hit Number 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart with "Angel Eyes" and reached the Top 10 in Canada with the songs "I Think I Love You Too Much" and "How Long Can a Man Be Strong".
Glen Guerin's tribute to Carol Pope and Nash the Slash on Markham St at Queen St West
Rough Trade was a Canadian new wave rock band in the 1970s and 1980s, centred on singer Carole Pope and multi-instrumentalist Kevan Staples. The band was noted for their provocative lyrics and stage antics; singer Pope often performed in bondage attire, and their 1981 hit "High School Confidential" was one of the first explicitly lesbian-themed Top 40 hits in the world.
And a bonus that wasn't mentioned in the article that I found on my second hunt.
Julii McMillan's tribute to Martha & the Muffins on McCaul at Queen West.
@julii_mcmillo
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Martha and the Muffins are a Canadian rock band, active from 1977 to the present. Although they only had one major international hit single "Echo Beach" under their original band name, they had a number of hits in their native Canada, and the core members of the band also charted in Canada and internationally as M + M.