History/Culture

A great editorial from today's New York Daily News: It was 123 years ago today that Manhattan office boys first rained ticker tape down on a parade, creating what became a grand New York celebratory tradition.The occasion was the dedication of the Statue of Liberty, Oct. 28, 1886, President Grover Cleveland presiding. The city, reported The World newspaper, "was one vast cheer."

Cliff Hansen is known throughout Wyoming for his achievements as governor and U.S. senator. But recently, Hansen was in the national spotlight when he was featured in Ken Burns' popular PBS documentary series on America's national parks for his opposition to - and, later, his support of - the expansion of Grand Teton National Park.

Yellowstone National Park Lodges will offer “Lodging & Learning” packages this winter in Yellowstone National Park. The park’s winter season begins Dec. 18, 2009 with the opening of the Old Faithful Snow Lodge. The Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel opens Dec. 21, 2009. The lodges provide the only wintertime accommodations within the park. Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel will close for the season March 8, 2010, and Old Faithful Snow Lodge will close March 7, 2010. 

The Truman Home in Independence closed Monday for the winter.Officials with the National Park Service, which administers the property, hope to reopen the home to visitors next spring. Until then workers will install new heating, cooling and fire suppression equipment, and also will make interior plaster repairs.

Repair work was under way Wednesday at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall as a private memorial fund took over landscaping and maintenance of 13 acres from the National Park Service.Over the next two weeks, workers are restoring the flagpole's bronze finish and its decorative base with five military branch insignias. They will also restore the bronze finish for five stands that hold directories that help people find names on famous V-shaped memorial wall, which draws millions of visitors each year.

Getting the Black Canyon designated as a national park was a long and difficult journey, but many of those who fought to protect the canyon were on hand Saturday to mark the tenth anniversary of that achievement.A leading champion of the bill that created the park, former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, joined former Rep. Scott McInnis and others in an outdoor ceremony overlooking the canyon.

The Bill Clinton First Home Museum will soon be a part of the National Park system, a designation that will give the modest structure on a busy street more visibility as a tourist destination. The two-story, wood frame house on Hervey Street in Hope, Ark., was where Clinton lived from his birth in 1946 at Julia Chester Hospital until age 4. The home was occupied until it was acquired by the Clinton Birthplace Foundation during Clinton's presidency.

There are not many people who find a place of employment that calls to them after they have quit working, especially after 50 or 60 years, but those who have worked in Zion National Park have. Park employees enjoyed their jobs so much that they've actually been holding reunions Friday and Saturday in the very places they used to serve as waitresses, bell hops and tour guides.

Events honoring the 150th anniversary of John Brown's raid in Harpers Ferry began this month and will last through November. Harpers Ferry National Park is commemorating the life of John Brown and his men who led a raid to free the slaves 150 years ago. Activities include musical performances, lectures, signings, and a whole tent devoted to youth and family activities. There will also be living history presentations, story telling and puppetry. All of them will be free to the public.

For the four teams presenting ideas for a landscaped bridge over Interstate 5 in Vancouver, Wash., winning the design competition might seem like the easy part. The hard part will be healing a city that has been cut off from its history. An immeasurable added weight from the hope of planners and city leaders piles onto the project. They've described I-5 as a "wound" or "scar" on the city and called for healing it in dozens of reports and position papers over the last decade.