JCHC Fun Fact: Charles Bowdish

Hello everybody!

Tomorrow marks the opening of our new Civil War exhibit, Drumbeat to War.  It also happens to be the date of our annual Charlie Bowdish Birthday Celebration.  I thought I'd share a little local history with a brief story about Bowdish.

A Brief History of Charles Bowdish...

Charles Bowdish (1896-1988), famous for his miniature railroad displays, called Brookville his hometown.  After being released from service in World War I due to exposure to mustard gas, Bowdish began building models of real buildings in Brookville while he recovered.  Every Christmas, he would assemble his models into a display that featured Lionel trains running throughout.  

On Christmas Eve, 1920, Charles played host to his brother's wedding and reception.  Guests were entertained by his miniature railroad display.  One guest enjoyed it so much that he asked if he could invite friends over to see the display.  Word quickly spread and close to 600 people showed up to see Bowdish's work.

Every Christmas season to follow, Charles began constructing his display with a new theme (White Christmas, Indian Summer, etc.).  The railroad grew so big that it took up the entire second floor of his house.  Thousands of guests would come annually to see his creation, and Bowdish never charged a fee to view his work.

Flooding that would nearly destroy his models and an insurance company that would not cover the amount of people coming to view the displays forced Bowdish to look for a new home for his railroad.  Eventually, Charles chose the Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science in Pittsburgh to house his work in 1954.

In 1987, Buhl officially became part of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.  Joining with Carnegie allowed Buhl to expand, and in 1991, under a new name, the Carnegie Science Center was opened.  This new building allowed enough room for Bowdish's railroad to be displayed year-round.

Today, Bowdish's Miniature Railroad and Village display can be viewed at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh from Thanksgiving through mid-September.  The railroad goes into a two-month shut down period for maintenance, cleaning, and the construction of new features on the railroad.

To view some old photographs of Bowdish's creation, follow this link.

-Nathan

JCHC Fun Fact: Thanksgiving During the Civil War

Hello everybody.  Since this is probably going to be my last post until after the Thanksgiving holiday, I figured I would make it holiday related.  I did a little searching as to what Thanksgiving was like during the Civil War.  I came across a lot of great links and information, but there are a few things that were really neat that I would like to share.

First, I found a transcription of a proclamation by Abraham Lincoln dealing with his thoughts and feelings about the war and the USA in general around the time of the holiday.  Have a look...

Thanksgiving In The Civil War

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

        The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.
        In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
        Needful diversions of wealth and strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battle-field, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
        No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
        It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.
        In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
        Done at the city of Washington this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
Secretary of State.

I found this document at this URL: www.civilwarhome.com/thanksgiving.htm

Second, I found a really neat picture of a Civil War camp during Thanksgiving...

We all can be thankful for the service of all the people involved in the Civil War.  Many of them risked everything to make a stand for what they believed was right.  Without them, our freedoms that we take for granted today would be non-existent.  Take a moment this holiday season to reflect on all the great men and women who made huge sacrifices to get us where we are today, not just during the Civil War, but during every day that our great country has been independent.

I hope everybody has an enjoyable Thanksgiving!

JCHC Fun Fact: Brookville's "Bird Man"

LEWIS EARLE SANDT (1888-1913)

A local to the Brookville area, Earle Sandt would become better known as Brookville's "Bird Man."  This wasn't because of an obsession with winged creatures.  Rather, Earle got his nickname from his love for flying and aviation.

At the age of 20, Earle first learned how to fly, and he would soon take the aviation world on by surprise; after purchasing his first airplane for about $4,000.00 Sandt accomplished aviation feats that no other had before.  Flying in his "pusher," a biplane where the pilot sat in the front of the plane while an engine and propellor mounted on the back provided the power to the vehicle, Earle would set two new records on February 20, 1912.  On this day, Earle became the first aviator to fly over Lake Erie as well as the first American pilot to ever land in a foreign country upon landing in Ontario, Canada on the other side of the lake.  Later that year, on June 15, Earle accomplished another first when he became the first pilot to fly over the city of Pittsburgh.  No other aviator had done any of these three things prior to Sandt.

Just as Earle Sandt was about to reach his prime as a pilot, his career would suddenly come crashing to a halt, literally.  On June 12, 1913, Earle was flying in an acrobatic air show in Grove City, PA.  During one of his stunts while flying low to the ground, something went wrong, and Sandt was forced to jump from his plane before it crashed into the ground below.  Since parachutes wouldn't become regularly used until about the time of WWI, sand hit the ground hard.  Luckily, he was flying low enough to only suffer a broken leg from the fall.  However, 10 days later, on June 22, Sandt would die due to an infection while in the hospital.

Earle Sandt was a pioneer in the aviation world.  He is honored for his feats and accomplishments in both the DuBois and Pittsburgh airports.  Next time you are at one of these places, try to find his plaque/picture hanging on the wall.

We also have a section of our main gallery devoted to sharing some of Earle Sandt's story with our guests.  These include newspaper clippings and photos, as well as a model of his biplane.  Be sure to come and check out the exhibit if you are interested.

I hope you all found this story of a local legend to be interesting.  Look for more updates in the days to come.  Right now, my focus is on designing us a few new brochures for the JCHC, a general one and one for students.  Feel free to leave any questions or comments.

-Nathan

JCHC Fun Fact: Behind the Name "Wild Cats"

If you have been following my progress on the 105th PA regiment project, you have probably noticed that this group of soldiers was sometimes known by their nickname, the "Wild Cat Regiment."  Today, I thought I would take some time to explain why these men got their nickname.

Historically, in the Jefferson-Clarion-Clearfield area, there were many operations on the exploration of oil.  Most of these operations were individual operations where drilling was done in an areas where there were no known deposits of oil.  This process of oil exploration and drilling became known as "wildcat" drilling. This type of drilling is very high risk for investors due to the uncertainty of striking the "black gold."  A "wildcat well" would be the result if a driller got lucky.  The definition of a "wildcat well" is one drilled outside of and not in the vicinity of known oil or gas fields.  Because these "wildcat" drilling operations were common in the area in which the 105th regiment was mustered out of, they received the nickname "Wild Cats."

References:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/tcreynolds/tcrfamily.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_well
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/wildcatdrilling.asp

So, there you have it, the history behind the name.

Today, my work at the JCHC has consisted of browsing the internet looking for different listings for our organization.  I am doing this to find any errors in contact information, hours of operation, and any other mistakes.  So far, I have contacted a handful of various sites that had the History Center listed with the necessary changes.  Hopefully things will be fixed and help us connect to more interested people.

Next week, we are having Kid Day #2 here at the JCHC.  I plan on, this time, taking the morning walking tour and documenting more of the experience.  Hopefully I will get to play with my new toy that day, a Flip UltraHD camcorder.  I'll definitely work on sharing some of the videos in order to give everyone an idea of what we offer here at the History Center.  Hopefully, I can put together something similar to a movie trailer that would sum up what a trip to the JCHC entails for a classroom.  Maybe it will allow us to get more interested parties into the building in the future.

As always, don't hesitate to contact me for questions or comments.

-Nathan

JCHC Fun Fact: Civil War Music

While editing and piecing together video today, I realized this project is lacking music.  I normally work with Pandora Radio playing in the background, so I never really noticed until I paused it to record some narration.  Sure, I could have the narration drive the videos, but that would be boring.  I would definitely be bored watching it, and I'm sure our patrons would also lose interest quickly.  To find a solution to this problem, I did what anybody would do; I searched for "civil war era music" on Google.  I figure putting authentic music in the video would be much more meaningful and appropriate.  On my search, I came across the "Music of the American Civil War" article on Wikipedia.  Reading through the article I found a very interesting fact that struck me.  Take a look at this passage from the article:

"Musical duels between the two sides were common, as they heard each other as the music traveled across the countryside. The night before the Battle of Stones River, bands from both sides dueled with separate songs, until both sides started playing Home! Sweet Home!, at which time soldiers on both sides started singing together as one.^[15] A similar situation occurred in Fredericksburg, Virginia in the winter of 1862–3. On a cold afternoon a Union band started playing Northern patriotic tunes; a Southern band responded by playing Southern patriotic tunes. This back and forth continued into the night, until at the end both sides played Home! Sweet Home! simultaneously, to the cheers of both sides' forces.^[16] In a third instance, in the spring of 1863, the opposing armies were on the opposite sides of the Rappahannock River in Virginia, when the different sides played their patriotic tunes, and at taps one side played Home! Sweet Home!, and the other joined in, creating "cheers" from both sides that echoed throughout the hilly countryside.^[17]"

This amazes me!  Just think, two armies fighting each other by day, both sides suffering numerous casualties and wounds at the hands of one another, and by night, they are engaged in a friendly music competition that ends in a unity.  This, to me, represents the American Civil War very well.  A war fought between brothers, united on many fronts, yet divided and separated by differing views.  It's very poetic.

That Wiki article is also nice because it shows some key songs during the war, arranged by year.  So, I did a search on Amazon.com to see if I could find some of these songs in a compilation, and I found two that I'm going to further look into.  They are:

and

Both look like they'd be useful resources for this project.  I'll have to listen to some samples of the compilations to see what will be the best for my needs.

I hope you enjoyed learning a new bit of information about Civil War music.  I know I did!

-Nathan