As a young girl, living in the Nixon - Edison area of New Jersey off Route 1 until I was 14, I remember passing the Edison Memorial when we were on our way to visit my Aunt, and on many other occasions. This was a teaching moment for my Dad, an Electrical Engineer, an opportunity to tell me about the great man, Thomas Edison, that invented the light bulb and many other things that we still depend on today.
Today commemorates the introduction of the first Stock Market Ticker in New York City in 1867. When you look at pictures of the activity and technology involved with the Stock Market today…literally tracking and investing from our laptop if you use a laptop computer… it’s hard to imagine a day when the latest upswings or downturns had to travel by mail or messager.
While Edison didn’t invent the ticker, that credit goes to an Edward Calahan, Edison is noted for improving on the ticker, and patenting his model. Edison made enough money through the use and sale of this invention to be able to construct his laboratory in Menlo Park, NJ, very close to where I grew up, and it was there that many of the inventions he was noted for were developed, including the light bulb.
Mechanical tickers of one sort or another were used into the 1960’s, and in our baby boomer lifetimes, were replaced by what we have become accustomed to seeing today.
The Edison ticker image above is taken from SparkMuseum website, an interesting site.
When we went on our trip a bit over a week ago, from a distance, I was able to capture the Twin Lights that are situated in the Navesink Highlands. These historic lights were originally built in 1828, and then rebuilt of area brownstone in 1862. Today they are much like they were when rebuilt, but are no longer operating lighthouses.
Sitting about 200 feet above sea level, when in operation, one light remained stationary while the other flashed. The lights brought cargo and other ships safely into New York Harbor on the Atlantic Coast.
It was interesting to me to see two lights, as most of us are more accustomed to seeing just one. These were built with the light house keepers area, and rooms for storage built between, and connecting the two towers.
Twin Lights was decommissioned in 1949, then purchased by the State of New Jersey as a historic monument and is a museum today. If you visit, you can climb one of the towers and view the beautiful Atlantic Ocean. Enjoy the exhibits showing the history while your there.
We just got home from our local commemoration of this great day in the center of our town of West Milford at our war memorial. I am sure, at least hope, this is being repeated in many towns across the USA. Sitting in front of me was a frail but wonderful WWII Veteran. Sitting front and center were 2 families of our most recent casualties…I don’t like that word, I mean our most recent heroes to give their lives in Iraq. It was special to simply be able to shake a hand, give a hug to a tearful family member, to say “thank you” knowing that there were no words that could take away the pain. We thank those who have served our Nation and paid the ultimate price. Also remembered were local heroes who died in the attack on 911, names that many know nationwide from our area, like Father Mychael F. Judge who left our local catholic church to be a Chaplain for the NY City Fire Department, the image of his body being carried from the World Trade Center ruins now impressed in the minds of many, among the first if not the first victim we heard about after the attack. And Jeremy Glick, a hero of United Airlines Flight 93. So many more names that we must never forget. My son took a few pictures, one shown above.
Now, what has become my favorite patriotic song with wonderful images to stir the heart to remember, and thank you not just to NJ heroes, but all of our heroes all over the USA:
As a boomer, I remember well the draft during the Viet Nam war. I remember that when friends were drafted, they usually went to Fort Dix in south Jersey. Fort Dix has a great history dating back to the early 1900’s, you can go to their website and read the history here. They are now a training and mobilization center for the Army Reserve and National Guard.
It is the largest military base in NJ, and one of the largest if not the largest on the East Coast. Coming up the last weekend of May into June is the 2008 Air Show & Expo, I love air shows and we have been to this one. It take place at McGuire AFB very close by. There is nothing like the powerful sound of those military jets when they fly by, excellent!
Women’s History Month is slipping away, and I don’t want it to finish without giving some attention to another New Jersey woman who made history. Anne Morrow was born in 1906 in Englewood, NJ. Her parents achievements would fill a blog post nicely, but keeping focus on Anne, she was to meet Charles Lindbergh, already an accomplished pilot, when her father invited him to visit in Mexico (her father had been the US Ambassador to Mexico, and eventually a Senator in NJ).
Charles loved Anne’s quiet and thoughtful personality, and would marry her at her parents home in Englewood, NJ, which is actually less than an hours drive from where I live now. Charles’ love and encouragement built Anne’s confidence in herself. Charles taught her to fly, through him, she discovered abilities within herself she never knew she had. It is a rare person who has not heard of Anne and Charles Lindbergh. Ann would go on to be the first woman to receive a glider’s pilot license, and her husband the first to fly from NY to Paris (before they met). They went on to fly together, Anne as Charles’ co-pilot, recording flight routes and playing a great role in the history of flight as they traveled all over the world.
Their first child, Charles Lindbergh III was kidnapped from their then Hopewell, NJ home, and murdered, leading to the famous Lindbergh Trial that lead to so much media coverage that the couple had to leave the country for Europe. There are writings about how the Lindbergh’s were drawn in a bit by the thinking of Nazi Germany at the time, something that Anne would regret in later times.
For Anne, writing was an even greater passion than flying, and her husband, Charles, wrote as well, after the war in order to regain respect of the people who turned against him because of his thinking during the war.
Anne died in 2001 at the age of 94, 27 years after her husband’s death in 1974.
As I was typing the post yesterday about Clara Barton, and how she started the first public school in the US right here in New Jersey, then went on to start and oversee The Red Cross, it didn’t occur to me that this month is considered American Red Cross month. We do have much to thank the Red Cross for, if you haven’t visited their website to see all that they have accomplished, you may want to do so today.
If you listen to the news, you know that it seems like disasters are happening more, and whenever they happen, the Red Cross is there.
As we honor Women’s History Month, I thought a post or two honoring New Jersey women who have made it into the history books for their influence in American history would be appropriate.
All of you, boomers and non-boomers alike will remember reading about Clara Barton. I have to admit I wasn’t much for history class, no matter what grade I was in, the teachers made it so boring to listen too, but it fascinates me today, I guess I’m making up for lost time.
Clara Barton is best known as the founder of the American Red Cross, but she began her working career in education. In 1852 she opened the first public school in Bordentown, NJ (pictured), a school that grew from humble beginnings to 600+ students. Sadly, she left the school when they would not allow her the position of head of the school because she was a woman. It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it, when you consider that she opened the school. But history shows us that she had a greater destiny.
Her real fame was realized as a nurse during the Civil War. It was then that she founded the Red Cross. She oversaw the leadership of the Red Cross for over 20 years.
Looking back at her life, I can see that it is a good example of how, when God ends something that we think is important to us in our life, perhaps it’s because He has something greater in store for us.
Women’s History Month is slipping away, and I don’t want it to finish without giving some attention to another New Jersey woman who made history. Anne Morrow was born in 1906 in Englewood, NJ. Her parents achievements would fill a blog post nicely, but keeping focus on Anne, she was to meet Charles Lindbergh, already an accomplished pilot, when her father invited him to visit in Mexico (her father had been the US Ambassador to Mexico, and eventually a Senator in NJ).
