“Costumes of all Nations”

And all without having to come into contact with a single pesky foreigner!

Costumes of all Nations. W. Duke, Sons & Co., 1888.

(Source: openlibrary.org)

Hinga dinga durgen! Happy Leif Erikson Day!

Not sure why some of tumblr seems fixated on insisting that Leif Erikson day was on the 8th, but it wasn’t…it’s October 9th of every year, whether or not that coincides with Columbus Day.

October 9th was the day of the arrival of the Restauration in New York Harbor, which was the start of the mass immigration from the Nordic countries.

Speaking of Leif Erikson, he was a real guy, and there are both contemporary and later sources documenting his landing in “Vinland” (likely on the northern tip of Newfoundland), after being blown off course while attempting to return home to Greenland from Norway. While Leif overwintered in Newfoundland and returned to Greenland late the next spring, with boats full of timber and grapes, some of his men are said to have stayed behind, or to have returned after Leif arrived home. The Saga of the Greenlanders and the Book of Icelanders (written in the 1200s and 1000s, respectively - the latter prior to Leif’s death) both speak of a permanent settlement in the Western lands, but the ultimate fate of the Vinland colonizers was unknown - it’s likely that many of them abandoned their own camps and intermingled with the local First Nations tribes in the area.

In 1962, Helge and Anne Ingstad uncovered the settlement now known as L’Anse aux Meadows. While there is speculation this may not have been the primary settlement site, and rather a small ship-repair station used by the fleet, carbon dating and tree-ring analysis has dated the structure foundations to around 990 C.E.

Images:

Top: Discovery of America by Leiv Eriksson. Painting by Christian Krohg, 1893.
Bottom: Leif Ericson statue in Juneau Park (Veterans Park), Milwaukee, WI. Cast in 1888 from the Boston, MA., original (1893, Anne Whitney)

Today in History - April 22

Unassigned Lands, Oklahoma District, 1889

Rome wasn’t built in a day, but Guthrie and Oklahoma City sure were. The Homestead Act of 1862 provided for 160 acres of unoccupied lands to settlers in the west, but it wasn’t until after the battles of the Civil War and a later re-settlement of some Amerindian tribes that the lands of Oklahoma were opened up.

But! they weren’t uneventedly opened up with a trickle of people coming here and there, like the beginning of the settlements in Oregon. Before the ink had even dried on the Homestead Act amendment, people were gathering at the borders of the territory, with bikes, horses, and wagons, ready to rush in and stake their claim. A bugle call and cannon fire sounded the opening of the territories at meridian noon, and by sundown that same day, the towns of Guthrie and Oklahoma City had over 10,000 residents, and the beginnings of city governments had been seeded.

Though they may have only been a tent city the first few days of their existence, groundwork was finalized within days, schools opened up by the second week (with volunteer schoolteachers teaching classes of children outside, even before buildings were erected), and within a month, there were five banks and six newspapers in Oklahoma City alone.

Guthrie was known as the “most modern town in the West” for many years, and served as the original capital of Oklahoma Territory and State. It was also one of the most integrated - though African-Americans weren’t allowed to rush in with the first whites, both Northerners and freed slaves followed shortly after the initial settlement, and played an integral part in the growth of both Guthrie and Oklahoma. Since the early 1900s, he city has since been by Oklahoma City, which became the State capital in 1911.

But don’t write Guthrie off as just some has-been - the city has retained its original Victorian architecture downtown (which the faster-growing cities did not bother to do), and has one of the best Westward Expansion-focused museums in the country. Guided tours and self-tours of historical landmarks as well as a rich rodeo and Bluegrass culture, have led to Guthrie becoming one of the must-see cities of the United States for any history buff.

Images:

Top: “The Oklahoma Land Rush” by John Steuart Curry
Bottom Left: A more rural settlement, following additional land being opened up in 1893.
Bottom Right: Guthrie as a booming tent city, 1889.

(Source: digital.library.okstate.edu)

Today in History - April 18

Marshfield, Missouri, 1888

On April 18, 1888, an F4 tornado touched down in Marshfield, MO, at 6:30 pm. It screamed through the center of the city, leaving only 14 out of an original 200 buildings standing. Seventy-eight people were killed on first count, but several severely-injured people passed away in the days after the tornado. Two hundred people were injured enough to require medical care, and trains full of relief nurses, doctors, and supplies, were sent in from neighboring towns.

One of the buildings left standing was the school building, which was used as a hospital for the next several weeks. School did not resume in proper until the following fall.

Much like after the tornadoes in Joplin, St. Louis, and St. Charles, MO, Marshfield rebuilt, and grew over the years. And, like Joplin, Marshfield was also hit by a massive tornado just under 120 years later. Luckily, the tornado touched down outside of town, and casualties were kept to a minimum, though damage was significant. Joplin, as we all know, was not so lucky.

(Source: gendisasters.com)