A New York Central Mercury train is dwarfed by Cleveland’s Union Station, November 1936.Photograph by J. Baylor Roberts

Song Review: My Bluegrass Heart with Jerry Douglas - “Boulderdash” (Live, 2022)

Packing a 15-string punch with a triple-banjo attack and a guesting Dobro master Jerry Douglas, Béla Fleck’s My Bluegrass Heart wasn’t messing around when it rolled out “Boulderdash” at the 2022 Grey Fox Bluegrass festival.

An instrumental played with wildfire intensity, it features solos from fiddler Michael Cleveland, Douglas, Fleck, guitarist Bryan Sutton and others all packed into six minutes of lighting-fast sawing, sliding and picking.

And while such sonic shenanigans might be too much of a good thing in lesser hands, Fleck’s Bluegrass Heart pumps just enough oxygen to keep up the pace without risking palpitations. No balderdash in this “Boulderdash,” which was just released on video.

Grade card: My Bluegrass Heart with Jerry Douglas - “Boulderdash” (Live, 2022) - A

4/3/24

A New York Central Mercury train in front of Cleveland’s Union Station.

A New York Central Mercury train departing Cleveland’s Union Station, Ohio, 1936 - by J. Baylor Roberts (1902 - 1994), American

did you guys know that um. there is a train. it leaves the station at a quarter after five and it’s direct from union terminal right there at public square a quarter after five and where does it arrive at grand central station the cleveland limited of new york central railroad has first class pullman cars for big time movie stars and we’re gonna take one!!!!!!

Do you think Spencer is more of an apartment person or a house person when starting a family?

when i was a kid, i was obsessed with train and plane schedules and floor plans (then i got diagnosed with Asperger's (now ASD) at 10 lmao) Besides the point, but i thoroughly enjoyed this so thank you. i thought about this for far too long so y'all better read and appreciate/j

Short answer: an apartment with a baby, and then a townhouse or house when that baby grows up to be a child and/or he has more than 1 kid. here's my long answer analysis on the big question:

So, where does Spencer Reid live?

2x11 he's seen walking up some form of steps from a train station and he says he commutes on the DC metro

He has DC plates 3x02

for the tiniest second, you can see the Van Ness- UDC metro station sign in 6x16

he mentions to Rossi in 10x14 that he's waiting for the metro traffic to be less busy

And at least Hotch, Blake, JJ, Emily, Luke, and Morgan live in DC

ASIDE: I'm going to sound incredibly pedantic now but can we all agree none of them live in Quantico? it literally has a population of 480 according to Google, it's basically an area designed for the Marine Corp and the FBI building. while I'm ranting, there's a 40+ travel time from DC to Quantico, so none of them are getting to work in 10 minutes

^^ Overall, Spencer Reid lives in DC and he commutes to Quantico by train.

Into the Quantico train station, runs the Carolinian Amtrack line, the Northeast Regional Amtrack line, and the Fredericksburg line.

The Carolinian Amtrack line only runs once a day, and it wouldn't get to Quantico until 12pm so he's not taking that to get to work.

The Northeast Regional Amtrack line runs multiple times a day, but they get into Quantico at 3:30, 4:40, 6:30, and 8pm so he's not taking that train either.

The Fredricksburg line (going southbound) stops at Quantico at 8 am and goes through Union Station at 7:20 am and Alexandria at 7:43 am so it's totally plausible he takes the Fredricksburg line each day.

I believe the Van Ness clue is important since he's on his commute at the start of Coda 6x16 and he mentions taking the metro. So his commute starts by taking the Red line from Van Ness to Union Station so he can then take the Fredricksburg line to Quantico. This means he has to get on the Red Line at or after the Van Ness metro station

Now, I know what you're thinking, Cate, why is this important? How does his morning commute relate to anything? Because I'm acting under the assumption Spencer would live near his train station. I promise I'm getting to the answer of the question soon, I'm just determined to give some Zillow examples of where he could live.

So, Spencer lives in North Cleveland Park, Forest Hills, or Van Ness.

Let's get into the actual question: what type of dwelling does he live with his family in?

When his family is just starting, I think it's in an apartment. A baby doesn't really need a backyard and in my head, Spencer and his s/o have lived in a 2 bedroom place since they got married. They like that apartment, it's a good price, and Spencer doesn't want any unnecessary stress on his s/o before the baby is born. So, they stay living in the same place.

These are the Zillow links I found of potential apartments on the market right now

here. (the two-bedroom apartment) it's right next to a park, and there's an in-unit laundry which, hello, you're going to need with a baby here. near the station, a park, and it's a bigger area than the other place here (two-bedroom apartment) pretty much all the same things as above or here

Now, when there are more kids and they start growing up, I don't think Spencer would want to live in an apartment. He wants his kids to grow up with a back or front yard, where they can play.

So, the family are moving into a townhouse or a house, but where? Well, the Fredricksburg line is the best way to get to Quantico, but lots of metro lines connect to it.

So, I implore you to think about this what's important to Spencer? Education. So, I hopped on Google are lots of the good elementary schools are in the triangle formed from Dupont Circle -> Le Droit Park -> Chinatown. This means Spencer would take either the Red line and Fredricksburg or Green line, Red line, and Fredricksburg trains.

Although, I think he would compromise his travel time to Union Station so his family had a nicer place near better schools

here good yard which is important for his kids to have here great yard, good nearby elementary school here I think this one's really cute. it's kind of modern, but it's nicer than an old house here more character and it's got a front yard like JJ and Will's here I would literally live here right now, like it's got a rock climbing wall?? who wouldn't love that

Now, families get bigger and we know Spencer wants kids so- as long as his s/o agreed- I think he would have more than two kids, considering he was an only child. I also think they would have enough of an age gap that it's not one after the other and they all get the right amount of love and attention

but, the houses outside of DC are better value for money and as mentioned before, the Fredricksburg line runs through Alexandria and Arlington in VA

this one actually has a home theatre !! and a yard this one just looks cool, it's on its own little street, not a main road this one is cute and i think darker wood floors are more Spencer because you can always paint white walls this one is the winner. it has built-in library shelves and a community pool and park

Let's talk about another question that could alter where they live: what if Spencer stops taking the train and drives to work?

I think he has a car. And I think he's had a car since he started at the BAU because sometimes they get called in in the middle of the night- when the train isn't running- and newly recruited Spencer Reid isn't going to just ask one of his colleagues for a ride. When he has kids, the car gets an upgrade to a super safe, possibly American-made, midsized SUV (Volvo XC90, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Chevrolet Traverse, Buick Enclave) And when you have kids, you need a car to take them to appointments, friends houses, Saturday morning sports, etc. Spencer just rides the train to work, when he can, because he likes it.

If you've made it this far, thanks for listening, and hopefully, not finding me too weird for spending hours on this.

JIM BROWN (1936-Died May 18th 2023,at 87). American football fullback, civil rights activist, and actor. He played for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) from 1957 through 1965. Considered to be one of the greatest running backs of all time, as well as one of the greatest players in NFL history,Brown was a Pro Bowl invitee every season he was in the league, was recognized as the AP NFL Most Valuable Player three times, and won an NFL championship with the Browns in 1964. He led the league in rushing yards in eight out of his nine seasons, and by the time he retired, he held most major rushing records. In 2002, he was named by The Sporting News as the greatest professional football player ever.. Brown was one of the few athletes, and among the most prominent African Americans, to speak out on racial issues as the civil rights movement was growing in the 1950s. He participated in the Cleveland Summit after Muhammad Ali faced imprisonment for refusing to enter the draft for the Vietnam War, and he founded the Black Economic Union to help promote economic opportunities for minority-owned businesses. Brown later launched a foundation focused on diverting at-risk youth from violence through teaching them life skills, through which he facilitated the Watts truce between rival street gangs in Los Angeles.Brown was also an actor,appearing in films such as Ice Station Zebra,Mars Attacks,and leads in films such as 100 Rifles,and The Split.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Brown

The year 1936: A New York Central Mercury train is dwarfed by Cleveland’s Union Station.

One Hundred Years Ago, Cincinnati's New Year Began With . . . A Fox Hunt?

Bright and early on New Year’s Day 1923, several hundred residents of Milford, Ohio, gathered on Tealtown Road for a fox hunt. The hunters were not decked out in full regalia for an English-style romp, once described by Oscar Wilde as “the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.” No, these were sturdy township yeomen, farmers out to protect their poultry. According to the Enquirer [28 December 1922]:

“Union Township is thickly infested with foxes and some real sport is assured. Foxes to be taken alive.”

Only the hunt captains were allowed to ride horses; the rest of the hunters marched on foot. No firearms were permitted, only clubs used to beat the bushes, and there were no dogs baying at the scent. Still, the Milford hunt netted six foxes captured alive and auctioned (for fur? pets?) at prices ranging from $9.50 to $18.75.

The remainder of Cincinnati’s residents were apparently nursing hangovers. Despite the imposition, two years previously, of Prohibition, and despite the ubiquitous presence of liquor-control agents, it is obvious that the flowing bowl ran unimpeded. The whole of Downtown was an outdoor party, according to the Cincinnati Post [1 January 1923]:

“The New Year was given a tremendous ovation, so to speak. Clanging of bells, blowing of whistles and discharging of firearms seemed louder than ever before. Automobile horns added to the din. Long before midnight those unlucky ones who had failed to make table reservations at hotels started to parade the streets. Theater crowds added to the throng.”

Police reported multiple incidents of people shooting pistols, rifles and shotguns. One of the few arrests that night was Charles Nichols, apprehended at Fifth and John streets firing a handgun loaded with blanks. Mary Daugherty, a widow living at 1715 Vine Street, suffered a mysterious wound in her right hand that police believe was caused by a falling bullet.

Adding to the din was a massive explosion on Vine Street at Fourteenth, which sent a sewer lid thirty feet into the air, returning to earth with a resounding clang. Investigators rushed to the scene and determined that fumes in the subterranean tunnels had ignited to create the blast.

With all the obviously lubricated revelry surrounding them, it is surprising that police made very few arrests for liquor violations. A twelve-year-old boy was found unconsciously inebriated in a vacant lot in the West End. Police transported him to the hospital and initiated a search for his supplier and for his mother, who was nowhere to be found. William Rockey, the village smithy of Loveland, was hauled in on charges that he was supplementing his ironmongering by distributing moonshine by the gallon. Norwood’s arrests amounted to a single tosspot, who was provided with a cell in which to sleep it off.

There was less liquor to go around on New Year’s Eve 1922 because prohibition agents had raided two 100-gallon stills, one in Mount Airy and one in Avondale. It appeared that both stills were operated by the same gang of bootleggers. In addition to the stills, agents confiscated 35 barrels of mash and 50 gallons of finished product.

The big excitement in town on New Year’s Eve was out in Price Hill, where a gang of Cleveland auto thieves raised a ruckus at the Warsaw Avenue police station. Harry Forthoffer and Harry Legoy robbed a Cleveland clubman and drove to Cincinnati to meet up with Forthoffer’s brother, John. The trio were arrested for speeding in Price Hill and taken to the station (the old District Three building).

There, the Forthoffers were brought inside for booking while Legoy sat in the stolen vehicle under police guard. In the lobby, Harry Forthoffer pulled a gun from under his coat and waved it at the officers, who backed away. Abandoning his brother, held by police at gunpoint, Forthoffer burst through the front doors. As he made his break, Legoy saw that the police guarding him were distracted. He punched the gas and sped off. Forthoffer, now on foot, made a dash for Dempsey Park where he was able to evade his pursuers. Legoy was stopped a few blocks away and hauled into the station where, under questioning, he revealed the address of the flophouse in which the trio were hanging out. Police forced Legoy to drive to that address and hid themselves in the hallway and alleys. When Forthoffer saw Legoy sitting in the getaway car, he ran outside and jumped into the vehicle. Immediately surrounded by lawmen, his only complaint to the police was, “You got us too soon.”

Judge Charles W. Hoffman, of Cincinnati’s divorce court, reported a significant drop in marriage dissolutions during 1922. Judge Hoffman heard only 1,057 divorce cases in 1922, compared to 1,201 in 1921. Of the 1,057 cases in 1922, women won 608 decrees while husbands won only 289. Most of the remainder were denied and a few were suits for alimony only.

Amid all this excitement, the Cincinnati Post predicted brighter days ahead, illuminated by psychic energy. In an editorial [1 January 1923] the paper forecast interplanetary telepathy in language that would fit right into any pulp science fiction novel of that decade:

“Shall we, in 1923, talk with Mars or Venus by radio or mental waves? Shall we discover new psychic powers that have been lying dormant in us, waiting until Destiny is ready for us to use them? All of us have been vaguely conscious that such latent powers exist. Occasionally they are manifested by mysterious happenings that no one can satisfactorily explain. The World War, titanic struggle, was the forerunner of something new and tremendous. Great spiritual or psychic forces shook civilization to its foundations. Leading up to – what? We may know, before the end of 1923. Forward, across the threshold of the unknown.”

Cleveland Mall           

Lakeside Ave. E.

Cleveland, OH 44114

The Cleveland Mall, a roughly T-shaped mall area between E. 9th and W. 3rd Sts., is a landscaped public park in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. One of the most complete examples of City Beautiful design in the United States, the park is a historic site listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The Mall was conceived as part of the 1903 Group Plan by Daniel Burnham, John Carrère, and Arnold Brunner as a vast public space flanked by the city's major civic and governmental buildings, all built in the neoclassical style. Many of those buildings were built over the following three decades, including the Metzenbaum Courthouse (1910), Cuyahoga County Courthouse (1912), Cleveland City Hall (1916), Public Auditorium (1922), the Cleveland Public Library main building (1925), and the Cleveland Public Schools Board of Education building (1931). Other buildings include Key Tower, the Global Center for Health Innovation, the Hilton Cleveland Downtown Hotel, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

     In the spirit of the City Beautiful movement, formerly seedy areas were transformed into a "magnificent civic center," which was supposed to be crowned by the Union Terminal at the north end of the mall, on the shores of Lake Erie. However, the location of the station was eventually moved south and west, to Public Square, where it was finally born as the Terminal Tower.  Even though the plan was never fully carried out, it was one of the few City Beautiful plans to be realized to a large extent, and remains one of the most complete examples in the country. The Mall is divided into three sections, known as Malls A, B, and C. Mall A, the southernmost, is officially named Veterans' Memorial Plaza, and Mall C was dedicated as Strawbridge Plaza in 2003. The Memorial Plaza, between Rockwell and St. Clair Avenues, is the site of Marshall Fredericks' Fountain of Eternal Life, also known as the War Memorial Fountain. The Cleveland Convention Center was built underneath Malls B and C in 1964.  The Mall was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 10, 1975.

   Cleveland Public Art sponsored a series of temporary public art installations on Mall B. In 2004, New York artist Brian Tolle installed For the gentle wind doth move Silently, invisibly. The work featured eight nine-foot-tall styrofoam neoclassical urns standing atop pedestals, warped to reflect actual wind data collected from Lake Erie. The sculptures were taken down in 2006. In May 2008, Peter North and Alissa North of North Design Office in Toronto installed a work titled The Verdant Walk. It featured plantings of native grasses and seven fabric-covered sculptures. The sculptures were illuminated at night via a solar-powered LED system. They remained in place until 2010.

     In 2010 the county purchased the underground convention center from the city as part of a project to completely rebuild it in conjunction with constructing the Global Center for Health Innovation and the Hilton Cleveland Downtown Hotel on the former site of the Cuyahoga County Administration Building across from Mall B. After the reconstruction of the Mall, Stephen Manka's sculpture City of Light was installed on Mall B. The illuminated steel sculpture was created for the 2013 National Senior Games. Manka described it as intended to "simulate the flames of the classic games with a wash of programmable light" and "part petal of a flower, part heavy duty turbine."  The new Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland opened in 2013 and has underground connections to Public Auditorium and the Global Center for Health Innovation. The Hilton officially opened in June 2016. Mall B and Mall C reopened after construction as predominantly grassy areas, with Mall B reaching 27 feet above sidewalk level over the entrance to the Cleveland Convention Center along Lakeside Avenue.

Album Review: Michael Cleveland - Lovin’ of the Game

If respect can be measured by friendships, then Michael Cleveland is the Aretha Franklin of bluegrass.

The liner notes of Cleveland’s Lovin’ of the Game must’ve drained several ink jars for such bold-face names as the Travelin’ McCourys, Billy Strings, Vince Gill, Béla Fleck, Dan Tyminski, Charlie Starr, Tim O’ Brien and others who appear on various tracks when Cleveland isn’t jamming with his own band, Flame Keeper.

The guests are both the strength and relative weakness of the Game. For while the playing is beyond reproach, the diversity of players makes for a lack of cohesion as the album zigs across the jamgrass of “For Your Love” (Strings) before zagging to the country waltz of Gill’s “I Wish I Knew Now What I Knew Then” and the clichéd, new-country balladry of Starr’s re-recording of Blackberry Smoke’s “One Horse Town.”

On Lovin’ of the Game, the hottest tracks are instrumentals like “Thousand Dollar Holler” and “Contact,” with Fleck, Barry Bales and Cody Kilby.

At the center of it all is Cleveland, the blind, partially deaf fiddler who never fails to heat up any collaboration in which he’s involved.

Grade card: Michael Cleveland - Lovin’ of the Game - B

A New York Central Mercury train is dwarfed by Cleveland’s Union Station, November 1936.Photograph by J. Baylor Roberts, National Geographic

An essay on the American civil war.

By Tophran Flipgus

The American civil war was the division of the union. Brother against brother. Tall hat against shorter hats. In 1976 grover Cleveland gave the Gettysburg address which would embroil the union in the rodent invasion for twenty six groovy groovy years. Abraham Lincoln lived to be six hundred and forty five times and would bear forty nine children from his own womb, which he crafted from a stove pipe and all the pennies that would fit in his hat. Slavery is often cited as the primary cause for the civil war. This is because that's literally what they were fighting about. That was the whole bit.

Are you dense? Were you raised in Florida? Is Mickey mouse burrowed so deep in your sinus cavity that you hear naught but the dulcet tones of the song of the south? Evidence shows that splash mountain is extremely overrated, but in 18312, Robert e Lee accidently shot himself while trying to do that one trick from that movie where they curve the bullets. It had Angelina Jolie in it I think. I wanted to see if. The trailer looked pretty impressive. Experts later agreed the film was middling at best and probably a sign of a stark downturn in Angelina Jolie's career. Thankfully it did at least spawn one very good episode of Myth busters. Robert e Lee left behind a loaf of bread as his sole heir. Sadly it would be burnt in an uncleaned toaster mere days later. Ulysses s Grant declared the bread slices "good enough for the union" and made an extremely mediocre peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the smoldering remains. Harriet Tubman is a national treasure deserving of a final resting place on the 20 dollar bill. When asked about where we would put Andrew Jackson, judges gave us a zero out of ten. Trail of tears? More like Snail of tears. I no longer remember where I was going with this. In this essay I will convince you to give me at least an a. Mla citation. Gettysburg. Little grey hats that look like they have been sat on. Emancipation station what's your facion picking up adverbs and adjectives and conjugation.

The rest of the world waited with baited breath as the great American asparagus seemed to by prolapsing inward less then a centennial after is revolutionary birth on the formth of July. Hamilton covers the events leading up to the founding of such a nation, and so too does the musical 1776. Both biopics are musicals focusing on a founding father and the one thing they have in common is they're both bizarrely horny. Hamilton famously features a song about the petticoat candle in which American politician Lin Manuel Hernandez makes moves on a lady and feels a little bad about it. Factually the real Hamilton felt no guilt at all due to being in actuallity three geckos in a trenchcoat. All hail gecko Rushmore, the one true heir of the backingham lincler. 1776 has that song Jefferson's wife sings about how much she adopted Jefferson's violin playing when in actuality she is definitely singing about bed gymnastics. It was not subtle. no song exist about him forcing himself on one of their slaves though. Wonder why that is. Wild. It's an excellent musical if you haven't seen it. Ben Franklin is played by that guy from Mary Poppins. The ceiling guy. You know the one. Fat snagglepuss.

I'm conclusion, Texas was never actually allowed to legally secede from the union. The whole point of the civil war was to stop states from doing that. Why would they let them have a stipulation like that in their constitution right after getting them annexed again. That's an urban legend and not a very convincing one.

Florida however can succede at any time for any reason on grounds that wes all be better off if it drifted off to the Bermuda triangle were it belongs and let decent folk be

Thank you for reading my essay on the civil war. I hope you enjoyed grading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Citations and foot notes are a hearty party of any blanched burka fest and viewers like you.

A typical Traveller subsector:

40 planets, in descending order of population:

[Note that 97% of the population lives on the first three worlds, which dominate the politics and economy of the other 37. A full 80% of the subsector lives on 'Trantor'.]

Trantor/Coruscant, but written by Orwell instead of Asimov.

Earth.

Earth, but it's just China and India, and it's 1870.

A second United States, circa 1950.

A second Europe, but it's all fucking cyberpunk, and everyone's in the EU.

Indonesia-Malaysia union, with Hong Kong and Singapore as off-world megacorp enclaves.

California.

Also California.

Viking-era Scandinavia

Mexico City, but on the Moon

1908 Germany.

Oregon, "Ecotopia" AU.

The South Pacific; Polynesia, Micronesia, etc. Maybe New Guinea. Everything else is ocean. Somehow, they build half the starships in the sector.

Ecuador, but so high up, you need bottled oxygen to breathe.

Estonia.

Cleveland.

California, but post-apocalypse.

Iceland.

North Dakota

Soviet-Era Arctic factory town.

As above, but it's also a Gulag.

Caribbean tourist trap dictatorship.

Oxford. (England or Mississippi, your choice. Possibly both.)

Long Island NY, but only the suburban bits.

Fort Stewart, Georgia.

Puyallup, Washington State.

Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks.

Small Russian peasant village, circa 1845.

Small rural Southern US township, circa 1930.

Modern mega cruise ship, ran aground on uninhabited jungle coastline and left to rot for 250 years.

RAF Mildenhall.

Classic European baronial manor, with associated village, circa 1925.

Moonbase Alpha, from Space: 1999.

The Falkland Islands.

Whittier, Alaska.

As #32, above, but without the village, circa 1990.

Three farms, a church, a tavern, a gas station, and a dozen or so Fish & Wildlife guys.

One farm, run by an elderly religious fanatic, his three wives, 17 children, and 43 grandchildren..

Jamestown Base, from For All Mankind.

Pre-contact Antarctica.

Events 2.21 (before 1950)

1076 – Having received a letter during the Lenten synod of 14–20 February demanding that he abdicate, Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. 1316 – The Battle of Picotin, between Ferdinand of Majorca and the forces of Matilda of Hainaut, ends in victory for Ferdinand. 1371 – Robert II becomes King of Scotland, beginning the Stuart dynasty. 1495 – King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne. 1632 – Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, the dedicatee, receives the first printed copy of Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. 1651 – St. Peter's Flood: A storm surge floods the Frisian coast, drowning 15,000 people. 1744 – War of the Austrian Succession: The Battle of Toulon causes several Royal Navy captains to be court-martialed, and the Articles of War to be amended. 1770 – British customs officer Ebenezer Richardson fires blindly into a crowd during a protest in North End, Boston, fatally wounding 11-year-old Christopher Seider; the first American fatality of the American Revolution 1797 – The last Invasion of Britain begins near Fishguard, Wales. 1819 – By the Adams–Onís Treaty, Spain sells Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars. 1847 – Mexican–American War: The Battle of Buena Vista: Five thousand American troops defeat 15,000 Mexican troops. 1848 – The French Revolution of 1848, which would lead to the establishment of the French Second Republic, begins. 1856 – The United States Republican Party opens its first national convention in Pittsburgh. 1862 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861. 1872 – The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee. 1879 – In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of five-and-dime Woolworth stores. 1881 – Cleopatra's Needle, a 3,500-year-old Ancient Egyptian obelisk is erected in Central Park, New York. 1889 – President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states. 1899 – Filipino forces led by General Antonio Luna launch counterattacks for the first time against the American forces during the Philippine–American War. The Filipinos fail to regain Manila from the Americans. 1904 – The United Kingdom sells a meteorological station on the South Orkney Islands to Argentina; the islands are subsequently claimed by the United Kingdom in 1908. 1909 – The sixteen battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by USS Connecticut, return to the United States after a voyage around the world. 1921 – After Russian forces under Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg drive the Chinese out, the Bogd Khan is reinstalled as the emperor of Mongolia. 1942 – World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as the Japanese victory becomes inevitable. 1943 – World War II: Members of the White Rose resistance, Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst are executed in Nazi Germany. 1944 – World War II: American aircraft mistakenly bomb the Dutch towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Enschede and Deventer, resulting in 800 dead in Nijmegen alone.[ 1944 – World War II: The Soviet Red Army recaptures Krivoi Rog. 1946 – The "Long Telegram", proposing how the United States should deal with the Soviet Union, arrives from the US embassy in Moscow.

St. Marie, Montana: Past, Present, Future

By: Ryan Gamboa

Posted at 5:59 PM, Jan 30, 2023

and last updated 8:27 AM, Jan 31, 2023

Spectral, uncanny, abandoned. Only those who reside or visited St. Marie, Montana would know the feeling.

For those that occupy the dilapidated Glasgow Air Force Base, home would be a better description. “I had a friend come visit and she said that it was so quiet here that you could hear the worms pass gas… we’ve always enjoyed our life here.”

When the snow flies, an estimated 250 people reside in St. Marie. Around the Ides of March, 500 flock and there is no “Beware” sign.

Elinor Lindsay, a resident of 33 years lives on the base year-round.

“Your friend’s, kind of, become your family, because you're usually not going to be stationed where your family is.” The wife of a retired United States airman, originates from Long Island, New York. Spending time stationed throughout the south and southern Great Plains, moving to St. Marie was perfect, for the pair.

“It was marketed to military veterans.” she explained.

A once thriving and prominent military base – sits as a curiosity to those who hear the stories.

It’s tough to know what an important role the base played in the Soviet Cold War. Much of the history, vanished, along with the service members who were stationed there. Historian for the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Troy Hallsell, has a brief understanding of its placement during World War II.

“The Army Corps of Engineers came in to build Malmstrom Air Force Base. It also built smaller bases in Cut Bank, Lewistown, and Glasgow.”

The United States Air Force was founded in 1947, almost exactly two years after the end of the second world war. The Glasgow site was an Army Air Base, a bomber training site along with other bases in Cut Bank and Lewistown. “The bombers would take off from their respective locations… if their destination was Cleveland that day, they would take off, form up and fly to their destination and turn around… and land back at their bases,” Hallsell said. The combination of Cutbank, Lewistown, Great Falls, and Glasgow helped support the B-17 bomber training mission that lasted in Montana for under a year time period. Between the heyday of the Glasgow Base, the United States was going through a transitional period of enemies; between the Korean War and the Vietnam Conflict. Command Historian, Brian Laslie from the United States Air Force Academy explains, “The Western powers versus the Soviet Union. The United States, Britain, France, and Canada versus the Soviet Union. We end up with that that bipolar world, with the United States and the Soviet Union.”

MTN NewsSt. Marie, Montana

A new threat was ahead for the allies, especially from the north. From the bases inception in 1957 to is decommission in the late 1960’s, St. Marie was imperative to fending off a Soviet Attack. “The alarm goes out. They would launch from Glasgow across the border, heading into Canada, and they would intercept Soviet bombers as they came across the poles.” Laslie said. As the Cold War clash progressed the 476 Fighter Group and 13th Fighter Interceptor Squadron was disbanded from Glasgow Air Force Base. The 13th Fighter Interceptor Squadron flew F101 and F101B Voodoo aircraft, single or double seater planes. The Air Force then commissioned a bombardment wing, which equipped B-52 bombers and KC-135 refuelers. What the Air Force would call “detach and disperse” which places bombing fleets at numerous bases rather than at one.

“If there was a World War three scenario in Fairchild (Washington state) was destroyed. Not all of its bombers would be destroyed, right? There would still be 15 at Glasgow. 15 at another base or 15 at another base.” Glasgow Air Force base had a short tenure in its commission. Leta Godwin, Historian at the Valley County Museum gave a tour of the dilapidated homes on the west side of the base. “This is one of the old houses for the military people. Some live in fourplexes and duplexes around. Some of them have sold and people live in them, and others are just, abandoned.” The base was built to last, even in its disarray. Laslie explained that many of the airmen station at Glasgow were high ranking officers. The homes and amenities were top of the line. If an attack from the Soviets over the poles were to carry out, it would surely be a one-way mission. The Air Force wanted to ensure that those risking their life for the betterment of their country, had a comfortable set up.

Residents of St. Marie and surrounding areas have speculated the current use of the airfield. Some say its home to “nukes,” others say, “aliens,” and the more plausible reason, testing and training for aircraft unreleased to the public.

What we do know, is that Boeing purchased the airfield and is operated 24/7 by MARCO, Montana Aviation Research Company. Guarding restricted areas throughout the property and keeping trespassers from advancing past posted markers. “There was a couple times they allowed people to come, and they were practicing parachuting and stuff.” Elinor Lindsay said.

For those that reside on the property, the term, “ghost town” doesn’t take away from the fact that St. Marie is home.

“You know someone who can remember Glasgow Air Force Base as a child, to them, you know, ‘Hey, I lived on Glasgow Air Force Base. This was something for me. It's always been home.’” Laslie said

Lindsay adding laughing, “As long as my house lasts as long as I do, that’s all I can ask for.”