TEoAThe Eye of Argon (TEoA) is an infamously bad heroic fantasy novella, written in 1970 by Jim Theis and circulated anonymously in science fiction fandom since then. The story subsequently came into use as part of a common SF convention party game, as described by SF critic Dave Langford in SFX magazine:
History
The story was written in 1970 by Jim Theis, a Saint Louis, Missouri science fiction fan, at age 16. The work was first published in 1970 in OSFAN (the journal of the Ozark SF Society) #7. Langford described Theis in SFX as
:a malaprop genius, a McGonagall of prose with an eerie gift for choosing the wrong word and then misapplying it.
Some time in the 1970s author Thomas Scortia obtained a copy, which he mailed to Californian SF writer Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. She showed it to other fans, and it met with a tremendous and incredulous reaction. The work was copied and distributed widely around science fiction fandom. Readings quickly became a common item on science fiction convention programmes.
The version which currently circulates on the Internet was manually transcribed by Don Simpson from a mimeograph of Theis' original, and bears his note at the bottom:
:No mere transcription can give the true flavor of the original printing of The Eye of Argon. It was mimeographed with stencils cut on an elite manual typewriter. Many letters were so faint as to be barely readable, others were overstruck, and some that were to be removed never got painted out with correction fluid. Usually, only one space separated sentences, while paragraphs were separated by a blank line and were indented ten spaces. Many words were grotesquely hyphenated. And there were illustrations — I cannot do them justice in mere words, but they were a match for the text. These are the major losses of this version (#02) of TEoA.
:Otherwise, all effort has been made to retain the full and correct text, preserving even mis-spellings and dropped spaces. An excellent proofreader has checked it for errors both omitted [sic] and committed. What mis-matches remain are mine.
The Internet text does contain typos not in the original [http://www.infinitematrix.net/columns/langford/langford99.html] and is incomplete, although a complete copy of the original fanzine was discovered in January 2005 [http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/Ansible/a211.html].
Reading the "The Eye of Argon" aloud is sometimes made into a game. "The challenge of death," as it is called at some SF conventions, is to read the novella aloud, straight-faced, without choking and falling over. The grandmaster challenge is to read it with a squeaky voice after inhaling helium.
Theis was reportedly aware of the cult infamy his work latterly gained, and of its use as a party game. His attitude about these was that he was a bit annoyed at being mocked thirty years later for something he had written at age sixteen. A copy of a 1995 reprinting was sent to him, with no response. Jim Theis died in 2002 aged 48. [http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&threadm=4198sv%24ilb%241%40mhadg.production.compuserve.com&rnum=5&prev=/groups%3Fq%3D%2522the%2Beye%2Bof%2Bargon%2522%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3Dutf-8%26selm%3D4198sv%2524ilb%25241%2540mhadg.production.compuserve.com%26rnum%3D5]
The Lost Ending
The version usually found on the Internet is incomplete, ending with the phrase "-END OF AVAILABLE COPY-". The website "http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~susan/sf/eyeargon/eyeargon.htm"
claims to have the missing ending section, including information on how the lost ending was discovered. Quoting from that page: For the history of this great work, including the eventual discovery of the legendary lost ending, see New York Review of Science Fiction #195, November 2004, and #198, February 2005.
The ending paragraphs are as follows:
With a sloshing plop the thing fell to the ground, evaporating in a thick scarlet cloud until it reatained its original size. It remained thus for a moment as the puckered maw took the shape of a protruding red eyeball, the pupil of which seemed to unravel before it the tale of creation. How a shapeless mass slithered from the quagmires of the stygmatic pool of time, only to degenerate into a leprosy of avaricious lust. In that fleeting moment the grim mystery of life was revealed before Grignr's ensnared gaze.
The eyeballs glare turned to a sudden plea of mercy, a plea for the whole of humanity. Then the blob began to quiver with violent convulsions; the eyeball shattered into a thousand tiny fragments and evaporated in a curling wisp of scarlet mist. The very ground below the thing began to vibrate and swallow it up with a belch.
The thing was gone forever. All that remained was a dark red blotch upon the face of the earth, blotching things up. Shaking his head, his shaggy mane to clear the jumbled fragments of his mind, Grignr tossed the limp female over his shoulder. Mounting one of the disgruntled mares, and leading the other; the weary, scarred barbarian trooted slowly off into the horizon to become a tiny pinpoint in a filtered filed of swirling blue mists, leaving the Nobles, soldiers and peasants to replace the missing monarch. Long leave the king!!!
:By Jim Theis
:winner of the Jay T. Rikosh award for excellence.
Other attributed authors
Many readers have found it hard to believe the story was not a collaborative effort, a satire on bad writing or both. Langford reported the following, sent in by author Michael Swanwick, in Ansible #193:
:I had a surprising conversation at Readercon with literary superstar Samuel R. Delany, who told me of how at an early Clarion the students and teachers had decided to see exactly how bad a story they could write if they put their minds to it. Chip himself contributed a paragraph to the round robin effort. Its title? "The Eye of Argon". [http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/SF-Archives/Ansible/a193.html]
Langford considers it well known that Theis is the author, and surmises that Delany misremembered the event.
The 1995 reprint was attributed to "G. Ecordian," after the hero, Grignr the Ecordian.
Plot summary
; Chapter 1 : The story starts with a violent swordfight between the barbarian Grignr and some soldiers. Grignr is on his way to Gorzom in search of wenches and plunder.
; Chapter 2 : Grignr arrives in Gorzom and goes to a tavern, where he picks up a local wench (with a "lithe, opaque nose"). A drunk challenges him over the woman; he kills the drunk, but is arrested by the man's companions and brought before the local prince, who (on the advice of his advisor) condemns him to a life of forced labour in the mines.
; Chapter 3 : Grignr sits despondent in his cell, thinking of his homeland.
; Chapter 3½ : A scene of a pagan ritual involving a group of shamans, a young woman to be sacrificed and a jade idol with one eye: a "many fauceted scarlet emerald", the Eye of Argon.
; Chapter 4 : Grignr sits bored and anguished in his cell and is losing track of time. He battles a large rat and it inspires him with a plan, involving the corpse of the rat.
; Chapter 5 : The pagan ritual proceeds, with a priest ordering the young woman up to the altar. When she fails to proceed, he attempts to grope her. She disables him with a good kick in the nuts, but the other shamans grab and molest her.
; Chapter 6 : Grignr is taken from his cell by two soldiers. He takes the rat pelvis he has fashioned into a dagger and slits one soldier's throat. He then strangles the second and takes his clothes. He wanders the catacombs for a time, finding a storeroom protected by a booby-trap. Below this room he finds the palace mausoleum. He resets the booby-trap in case he is being pursued.
:He hears a scream apparently coming from a sarcophagus. He opens it to find the scream is coming from below. He opens a trap door and sees a shaman about to sacrifice the young woman. He ploughs into the group of shamans with an axe and takes the Eye. The young woman, Carthena, turns out to be the tavern wench. They depart.
; Chapter 7 : One young priest, who had been suffering an epileptic fit during Grignr's attack, recovers, draws a scimitar and follows Grignr and Carthena through the trap door in the ceiling.
; Chapter 7½ : The priest strikes at Grignr but he triggers, and is killed by, the reset booby-trap before his sword can connect. Carthena tells Grignr of the prince, Agaphim, who had condemned him to the mines. They encounter Agaphim and kill him, as well as his advisor Agafnd.
:They emerge into the sunlight. Grignr pulls the Eye of Argon out of his pouch to admire. The jewel melts and turns into a writhing blob with a leechlike mouth. The blob attacks him and begins sucking his blood. Carthena faints. Grignr, beginning to lose consciousness, grabs a torch and thrusts it into the blob's mouth.
Traditional photocopied and Internet versions end at this point, incomplete since page 49 of the fanzine had been lost. The ending was rediscovered in 2004 and published in The New York Review of Science Fiction #198, February 2005.
; The Lost Ending (Remainder of Ch. 7½) : The blob explodes into a thousand pieces, leaving nothing behind except "a dark red blotch upon the face of the earth, blotching things up." Grignr and the still-unconscious Carthena ride off into the distance.
Spoofs
Computer role-playing game Ultima VIII has books that include excerpts from "Ear of Arricorn", a story quite similar to The Eye of Argon and employing equally rich metaphoral language, but regrettably containing fewer typos.
External links
- [http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/SF-Archives/Misc/Eye_Of_The_Argon The Eye of Argon] — full text
- [http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/SF-Archives/Misc/eyeargon.html The Eye of Argon] — full text (HTML) including the long-lost ending
- [http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=30mac7%249jd%40panix2.panix.com&oe=utf-8 Interview with Jim Theis] — OSFAN #13, November 21, 1970
- [http://www.ansible.co.uk/sfx/sfx043.html Bottom of the barrel] — Dave Langford on The Eye of Argon, SFX #43, October 1998
- [http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~susan/sf/argnrule.htm The Eye Of Argon — Rules for a Reading] by Mary Mason
- [http://www.keithpalmer.ca/msting-mine/ The MSTing Mine] — contains Adam Cadre's MSTing of The Eye of Argon
- [http://www.bmsc.washington.edu/people/merritt/books/Eye_of_Argon.html Another copy] of the Cadre's MSTing, nicely formatted in HTML
Eye of Argon, The
Eye of Argon, The
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of art, literature, film, television, and music that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of either plot, theme, setting, or all three. The genre is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by overall look, feel, and theme of the individual work, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three (collectively known as speculative fiction). In its broadest sense, fantasy covers works by many writers, artists, and musicians, from ancient myths and legends, to many recent works embraced by a wide audience today.
As with other forms of speculative fiction, actions and events in fantasy very often differ from those possible in consensus reality. In many cases, especially in older works of fantasy but in many modern works as well, this is explained by means of divine intervention, magic, or other supernatural forces. In other cases, most frequently in works of modern fantasy in the high fantasy subgenre, the story might take place in a fantasy world that is wholly different from our own, complete with distinct laws of nature that permit magic.
Definition
Characteristics of fantasy fiction and its many overlapping sub-genres are the subjects of debate among some fans and writers.
A critical characteristic is that the world features some difference from Earth that is not a result of science or technology, but rather the result of magic or other anomalous phenomena. But, again, definitions and opinions on the proper classification differ.
As a genre, fantasy is both associated and contrasted with science fiction and horror fiction. All three genres feature elements of the fantastic, of making radical departures from reality or radical speculations about what reality might be like, or might have been like. Some writers and critics prefer the term speculative fiction due to the frequent crossover from one genre to another.
Further blurring the definition, some suggest there is a distinction between the fantasy genre and "the fantastic", the latter being a fantasy-like element in other fiction.
History
Though the genre in its modern sense is less than two centuries old, its antecedents have a long and distinguished history.
Beginning perhaps with the Epic of Gilgamesh and the earliest written documents known to humankind, elements that would eventually come to define fantasy and its various subgenres have been a part of some of the grandest and most celebrated works in all of history. From The Odyssey to Beowulf, from Arthurian Legend and medieval romance to the epic Divine Comedy, in every known culture the world over, fantastical adventures featuring brave heroes and heroines, deadly monsters, and secret arcane realms have stirred the mind and inspired the soul for as long as we've had the ability to tell of them. In this way, fantasy has been so intimate a part of the history of our species, one might say that it's part of what makes us human.
The history of modern imaginary-world fantasy begins with William Morris, who pioneered the genre in the late 19th century with The Well at the World's End and other novels, and Lord Dunsany, who continued the tradition into the 20th.
In the early to mid 20th century, much fantasy was published in the same magazines as science fiction (and often written by the same authors).
In the mid-1900's, two subgenres of fantasy became very popular and influential: high fantasy and sword and sorcery. J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are milestones; other important works include C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia and Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series. Fantasy writing saw renewed popularity, often influenced by these seminal works and, like them, borrowing from myth, epic, and medieval romance.
Media
:For more details on this topic, see fantasy art, fantasy film, fantasy literature
Fantasy is a popular genre, having found a home for itself in almost every medium. While fantasy art and fantasy films have been hugely successful, it is fantasy literature which has always been the most expansive and diverse.
Fantasy role-playing games cross several different media. The 'pen & paper' role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons was the first and is arguably the most successful and influential, though the science fantasy role-playing game series Final Fantasy has been an icon of the video-role-playing game genre. Role-playing games have in turn spawned much new art, literature, and even music in the genre. Game companies have published fantasy novels set in their own fictional game universes; the Forgotten Realms, and Dragonlance series are some of the more popular.
Similarly, series of novels based on fantasy films and TV series have found their own niche.
Subgenres
Modern fantasy, including early modern fantasy, has also spawned many new subgenres with no clear counterpart in mythology or folklore, although inspiration from mythology and folklore remains a consistent theme. Fantasy subgenres are numerous and diverse, frequently overlapping with other forms of speculative fiction in almost every medium in which they're produced. Noteworthy in this regard are the science fantasy and dark fantasy subgenres, which the fantasy genre shares with science fiction and horror, respectively.
Subculture
Fans of fantasy get together yearly at the World Fantasy Convention. The first was held in 1975 and it has occurred every year since. The convention is held at a different city each year.
See also
- Anime
- List of fantasy authors
- List of fantasy worlds
- List of high fantasy fiction
- Fairy tales
- Horror fiction
- Internet Speculative Fiction DataBase
- Science fiction
- Speculative fiction
- Supernatural fiction
- Themes in Fantasy
External links
- [http://www.thedistantstar.com The Distant Star]: Amateur Sci-Fi and Fantasy Literature Community
- Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America website: http://www.sfwa.org/
- [http://www.geocities.com/pastorkeith/fantastic.html Internet Dictionary of Fantastic Places]
- [http://book.awardannals.com/genre/fantasy/ Most Honored Fantasy Books] at the [http://book.awardannals.com/ Book Award Annals]
- [http://greatsfandf.com/ Great Science-Fiction & Fantasy Works] speculative fiction considered as literature
Category:Speculative fiction
-
Category: Literary genres
ko:판타지
ja:ファンタジー
Novella: For the French commune, see Novella, Haute-Corse.
A novella is a short, narrative, prose fiction work. Like the English word "novel", the English word "novella" derives from the Italian word "novella" (plural: "novelle" or "novellas"), for a tale, a piece of news. As the etymology suggests, novellas originally were news of town and country life worth repeating for amusement and edification.
As a literary genre, the novella's origin lay in the early Renaissance literary work of the Italians and the French. Principally, by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), author of The Decameron (1353)—one hundred novelle told by ten people, seven women and three men, fleeing the Black Death by escaping from Florence to the Fiesole hills, in 1348; and by the French Queen, Marguerite de Navarre (1492–1549), [aka Marguerite de Valois, et. alii.], author of Heptaméron (1559)—seventy-two original French tales (structured like The Decameron). Her psychological acuity and didactic purpose out-weigh the unfinished collection's weak literary style.
Not until the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth- centuries did writers fashion the novella into a literary genre structured by precepts and rules. Contemporaneously, the Germans were the most active writers of the Novelle (German: "Novelle"; plural: "Novellen"). For the German writer, a novella is a fictional narrative of indeterminate length—a few pages to hundreds—restricted to a single, suspenseful event, situation, or conflict leading to an unexpected turning point (Wendepunkt), provoking a logical, but surprising end; Novellen tend to contain a concrete symbol, which is the narration's steady point.
In German, the English word novella is Novelle, and the English word novel is the German Roman; this etymological distinction avoids confusion of the literatures and the forms, with the novel being the more important, established fictional form. The Austrian writer Stefan Zweig's (1881–1942) Die Schachnovelle (1942) (English: The Chess Novella), translated (1944) as The Royal Game, is an example of a title naming its genre.
In English, a novella is a story mid-way—in length (15,000–40,000 words) and structural complexity—between a short story (500–15,000 words) and a novel (60,000 words, minimum). A novella focuses upon a single chain of events with a psychologically surprising turning point, e.g. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94); and Heart of Darkness (1902), by Joseph Conrad (1857–1924).
Commonly, longer novellas are addressed as novels; though incorrectly, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Heart of Darkness are called novels, as are many science fiction works such as The War of the Worlds and Armageddon 2419 A.D.. Occasionally, longer works are addressed as novellas, with some academics positing 100,000 words as the novella–novel threshold. In the science fiction genre, the Hugo and Nebula literary awards define the novella as: "A…story of between seventeen thousand, five hundred (17,500) and forty thousand (40,000) words."
Stephen King, in his introduction to Different Seasons, an anthology of four of his novellas, has called the novella "an ill-defined and disreputable literary banana republic"; King notes the difficulties of selling a novella in the commercial publishing world, since it does not fit the typical length requirements of either magazine or book publishers.
See also
- List of Novellas
- Literature
- Novel
- Novelette
Category:Fiction
Category:Literature
Jim TheisJames F. (Jim) Theis (August 9, 1953 – March 26, 2002) was a science fiction fan who published the notoriously bad fantasy novella The Eye of Argon in a fanzine in 1970. While the writing is comically inept, readers should remember that the author was just 16 years old at the time. Whether later examples of his writing were published is not known, or at least not widely known.
The author was once interviewed on Hour 25, a talk show on KPFK, the presenters of which would periodically stage a reading of The Eye of Argon: he was hurt that his story was being mocked and said he would never write anything again.
External links
- [http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/SF-Archives/Misc/eyeargon.html The Eye of Argon] — full text (OSFAN #7)
- [http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=30mac7%249jd%40panix2.panix.com&oe=utf-8 Interview with Jim Theis] — OSFAN #13, November 21, 1970
- [http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~susan/sf/eyeargon/argnmail.htm More recent interview information, 1980s, and some in 2000]
Theis, Jim
Theis, Jim
Theis, Jim
Theis, Jim
Dave LangfordDavid Langford.
SFX magazine
SFX is a British magazine devoted to science fiction and fantasy subjects, especially media-related topics, but not containing fiction. It is published every four weeks.
It was launched in 1995 by Dave Golder and Matt Bielby, as an alternative to the increasingly unfashionable likes of Starburst and TV Zone. In common with other magazines in the Future Publishing stable, it has a glossy cover, extensive features and interviews, and a witty, self-referential writing style. SFX takes its name from the popular abbreviation for special effects
Matt Bielby was the founding editor for the first 13 issues, moving on to found sister publication, Total Film. Dave Golder took over as the magazine's editor from the 14th issue, but in 2005 handed over to David Bradley. Since its launch, SFX has gone on to become a market and industry leader, and is one of the most well-recognised titles in the UK magazine industry.
SFX managed to beat its critics with a smart and wide ranging team, high production values and an independent stance, coupled with a strong vein of humour. Its stance allows the expression of strong opinion on topics, sometimes printing criticism of things before it is popular to do so. It has also printed the opposite of earlier opinions on occasion - for instance, comments damning the original years of Stargate SG1 as awful trash were counter-balanced by relenting opinons of the series a few years later. Note, however, the magazine is a collaboration of many different reviewers and journalists and therefore cannot be said to have a "view" of its own.
The magazine has a rotating staff policy, which means that after a few issues, people are moved horizontally in order to keep the magazine fresh. There are few changes in personnel, with the newest teammate, Leah Holmes, replacing Jayne Dearsley as 'token woman'. Dearsley continues to contribute to the magazine by writing a regular column, though as of issue 138 she has taken the name Jayne Nelson. Well-known SF writer Dave Langford has also had a column since issue 1.
Noted science fiction writer J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5) specifically denies them permission to reprint his words in his internet communications.
SFX also had a tendency to place the cover picture over the bottom of the F in SFX thereby making the logo look like it may read SEX. However, in 2005 the magazine underwent a redesign and, so far, this has not happened.
See also
- Total Film
- Future Publishing
Category:Science fiction related magazines
Category:British magazines
1970
1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday.
1970 is the Unix epoch time.
Events
January-February
- January 1 - Construction begins on Arcosanti, by Paolo Soleri, in Mayer, Arizona, located 65 miles north of Phoenix, Arizona.
- January 1 - Unix epoch at 00:00:00 UTC.
- January 12 - Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian civil war.
- January 15 - After a 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria, Biafran forces under General Effiong formally surrender to General Yakubu Gowon.
- January 15 - Muammar al-Qaddafi is proclaimed premier of Libya.
- January 16 - Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects.
- February 11 - Launch of Japan's first satellite Osumi with a Lamba-4 Rocket.
- February 17 - MacDonald family massacre at Fort Bragg, North Carolina - Jeffrey MacDonald kills his wife and children and tries to claim that "hippies" did it
March
- March 1 - Rhodesia severs its last tie with the British crown and declares itself a racially segregated republic.
- March 4 - Nigerian Francis Okechukwu Ohanyido, Poet/Philosopher born in Jos.
- March 5 - A nuclear non-proliferation treaty goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations.
- March 11 - Henry "Dickie" Marrow is murdered in a violent hate crime in Oxford, N.C..
- March 16 - The Expo '70 world's fair opens in Suita, Osaka, Japan.
- March 16 - Publication of complete New English Bible.
- March 16 - Birth of Stephen Martin.
- March 17 - My Lai massacre: The United States Army charges 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident.
- March 18 - Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
- March 18 - Post Office strike in USA - 210,000 out of 750,000 US postal employees walk out. President Nixon assigns military units to New York City post offices. Strike lasts two weeks.
- March 21 The first Earth Day proclamation is issued by San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto.
- March 25 - The Concorde makes its 1st supersonic flight (700 mph /1,127 km/h).
- March 31 - Explorer I spacefract re-enters atmosphere, after twelve years in orbit.
April
- April 1 - President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law banning cigarette television advertisements in the United States starting on January 1, 1971.
- April 1 - American Motors introduces the Gremlin.
- April 10 - Paul McCartney announces that the Beatles have disbanded.
- April 11 - US spaceflight Apollo 13 launches for the moon, carrying James Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert. On April 13, an oxygen tank in the spacecraft explodes, forcing the crew to abort the mission. The crew returns to earth safely on April 17
- April 22 - First Earth Day celebrated.
- April 29 - U.S. invades Cambodia to hunt out Viet Cong. Massive protests against the war continue in the U.S.
May-June
Viet Cong
- May 4 - The Kent State shootings: Four students at Kent State University in Ohio are killed and 9 wounded by National Guardsmen at a demonstration protesting against the incursion into Cambodia.
- May 5 - Earthquake in Yungay, Peru below Hauscaran Mountain buries the city
- May 6 - Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney are dismissed as members of the Irish Government due to accusations of their involvement in a plot to import arms for use in Northern Ireland.
- May 9 - 100,000 people demonstrate in Washington DC against the Vietnam War.
- May 14 - Ulrike Meinhof helps Andreas Baader escape.
- May 17 - Thor Heyerdahl sets sail from Morocco on the papyrus boat Ra II to sail the Atlantic Ocean.
- May 26 - The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
- May 27 - British expedition climbs south face of Annapurna I.
- May 31 - The Ancash earthquake causes a landslide that buries the town of Yungay, Peru; more than 47,000 people are killed.
- June 2 - Norway announces that it has rich oil deposits off its North Sea coast.
- June 4 - Tonga gains independence from the United Kingdom.
- June 10 - President Nixon signed a measure lowering the voting age to 18.
- June 11 - The United States gets its first female Generals: Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington.
- June 18 - Edward Heath is elected Prime Minister of United Kingdom.
- June 21 - Brazil defeats Italy 4-1 to win the Football World Cup 1970
- June 24 - The United States Senate repeals the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
- June 28 - US ground troops withdraw from Cambodia.
July-August
- July 4 - Chartered Dan-Air Comet crashes into mountains north of Barcelona - at least 112 dead.
- July 11 - The first tunnel under the Pyrenees links the Basque towns of Aranoutes and Biesma.
- July 21 - Aswan High Dam in Egypt completed.
- July 30 - Damages awarded to Thalidomide victims,
- August 7 - Harold Haley, Marin County Superior Court Judge taken hostage and murdered in an effort to free George Jackson from police custody.
- August 17-18 - US sinks 418 containers of nerve gas into the Gulf Stream near the Bahamas
- August 17 - Venera program: Venera 7 is launched. It will later becomes the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from another planet.
- August 26- The Women's Strike For Equality takes place down Fifth Avenue in New York City.
- August 26- August 30- The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 takes place on East Afton Farm off the coast of England. 600,000 people attend the largest rock festival of all time. Artists include Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Doors, Chicago, Richie Havens, John Sebastian, Joan Baez, Ten Years After, Emerson Lake & Palmer and Jethro Tull.
September
- September 1 - Assassination attempt against king Hussein of Jordan
- September 3-6 - Israeli forces fight Palestinian guerillas in southern Lebanon.
- September 5 - Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins - The United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thua Thien Province (operation ends in October 1971).
- September 7 - An anti-war rally is held at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, attended by John Kerry, Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.
- September 7 - Fighting between Arabic guerillas and government forces in Amman, Jordan
- September 8-10 - Jordanian government and Palestinian guerillas make truces that keep breaking.
- September 9 – Guinea recognizes East Germany.
- September 10 – Cambodian government forces break the blockage around Kompong Tho after a 3-month siege.
- September 11 - The Ford Pinto is introduced.
- September 13 - First running of the New York City Marathon.
- September 15 - King Hussein of Jordan forms a military government with Muhammad Daoud as the prime minister.
- September 18 - Jimi Hendrix dies of barbiturate overdose in London
- September 20 - End of term for Ismail Nasiruddin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Zainal Abidin III as the 4th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- September 20 - Syrian armored forces cross Jordanian border.
- September 20-21 - Luna 16 lands on the Moon and lifts off the day later with samples. Lands on Earth September 24.
- September 21 - Palestinian armored forces reinforce Palestinian guerillas in Irbidi, Jordan.
- September 21 - Tuanku Al-Mutassimu Billahi Muhibbudin Sultan Abdul Halim Al-Muadzam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah, Sultan of Kedah becomes the 5th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- September 26 - Laguna Fire starts in San Diego County burning 175,425 acres (710 km²).
- September 27 - Richard Nixon begins a tour in Europe and visits Italy, Yugoslavia, Spain, United Kingdom and Ireland.
- September 28 - Gamal Abdal Nasser dies - vice president Anwar Sadat is named temporary president of Egypt.
- September 29 - US Congress gives president Richard Nixon authority to sell arms to Israel.
- September 29 - In Berlin, Baader-Meinhof Gang members rob three banks, loot totaling over DM200.000.
October
- October 2 - Wichita State University loses most of its football team in a plane crash.
- October 3 - In Lebanon, government of the prime minister Rashid Karami resigns.
- October 4 - In Bolivia, army commander general Rogelio Miranda and group of officers rebel and demand resignation of the president Alfredo Ovando Candía – president fires him.
- October 4 - Janis Joplin dies of a heroin overdose inside her hotel room in Los Angeles, California
- October 5 - Nixon's European tour ends.
- October 5 - The Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnap James Cross in Montreal and demands release of all its imprisoned members. The next day the Canadian government announces it won't accept the demand - first stirrings of Quebec's October Crisis.
- October 6 - Bolivian president Alfredo Ovando Candía resigns – general Rogelio Miranda takes over but resigns soon after.
- October 6 - French president Georges Pompidou visits Soviet Union.
- October 7 - General Juan José Torres becomes the new president of Bolivia.
- October 7 - Anwar Sadat accepted as Egyptian president.
- October 8 - US foreign office announces that it renews its arms sales to Pakistan.
- October 8 - Soviet author Alexander Solzhenitsyn is awarded Nobel Prize for Literature.
- October 8 - Vietnam War: In Paris, a Communist delegation rejects US President Richard Nixon's October 7 peace proposal as "a maneuver to deceive world opinion."
- October 9 - The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.
- October 9 - Divorce law in Italy.
- October 10 - Fiji becomes independent.
- October 10 - October Crisis: In Montreal, Quebec, a national crisis hits Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte becomes the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
- October 11 - 11 French soldiers are killed in a shootout with rebels in Chad.
- October 12 - Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas.
- October 13 - Canada and the People's Republic of China established diplomatic relations.
- October 13 - Saeb Salam's government forms in Lebanon.
- October 14 - Chinese nuclear test in Lop Nor.
- October 15 - In Egypt, referendum supports Anwar Sadat 90.04%.
- October 15 - 35 construction workers are killed when a section of the new West Gate Bridge in Melbourne collapses into the river below.
- October 16 - Canadian government declares state of emergency and outlaws Quebec Liberation Front.
- October 17 - Pierre Laporte is found killed in south of Montreal.
- October 17 - Cholera epidemic in Istanbul.
- October 17 - Anwar Sadat becomes officially president of Egypt.
- October 20 - Soviet Union launches Zond 8 lunar probe.
- October 20 - Algerian ex-minister Krim Belkacem is found strangled in his hotel room in Frankfurt.
- October 20 - Egyptian president Anwar Sadat names Mahmoud Fawzi as his prime minister.
- October 21 - US Air Force plane makes an emergency landing near Leninakan, Soviet Union. Soviets release the American officers, including two generals, November 10.
- October 22 - Chilean army commander Rene Schneider is shot in Santiago – government declares state of emergency. Schneider dies October 25.
- October 24 - Salvador Allende is elected President of Chile.
- October 26 - US and Soviet space researchers meet in Moscow.
- October 26 - Garry Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury, debuts in approximately two dozen newspapers in the United States.
- October 28 - In Jordan, government of Ahmed Toukan resigns – next prime minister is Wasfi Al-Tal.
- October 28 - Cholera outbreak in eastern Slovakia – Hungary closes its border with Czechoslovakia.
- October 28 - Gary Gabelich drives the rocket-powered Blue Flame to an official world land speed record of 622.287 mph (1,001.452863 km/h) on the dry lake bed of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The record, the first above 1,000 km/h, stands for nearly 13 years.
- October 30 - In Vietnam, the worst monsoon to hit the area in six years causes large floods, kills 293, leaves 200,000 homeless and virtually halts the Vietnam War.
November
- November 1 - Fire destroys Le Cinq Sept dance hall in St. Laurent Du Pont, France – 144 dead.
- November 4 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The United States turns control of the air base in the Mekong Delta to South Vietnam. Genie "the Wild Child" discovered in her house at the age of 13 after being in complete isolation for 10 years with no language skills.
- November 4 - Social authorities in California, USA, take custody of Genie, a girl who had been kept in solitary confinement since her birth
- November 5 - Vietnam War: United States Military Assistance Command in Vietnam reports the lowest weekly American soldier death toll in five years (24 soldiers died that week, which was the fifth consecutive week the death toll was below 50; 431 were reported wounded that week, however).
- November 8 - Egypt, Sudan and Libya announce their intentions to form a federation.
- November 9 - Charles de Gaulle dies – he is buried November 13.
- November 9 - Soviet Union launches Luna 17.
- November 9 - Vietnam War: The Supreme Court of the United States votes 6 to 3 to not hear a case by the state of Massachusetts asking to allow the state the ability to enforce its law granting Massachusetts residents the right to refuse military service in an undeclared war.
- November 10 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - For the first time in five years, an entire week ended with no reports of American combat fatalities in Southeast Asia.
- November 12 - Soviet author Andrei Amalrik sentenced for three years for anti-Soviet writings.
- November 12 - The Oregon Highway Division (now known as the Oregon Department of Transportation) is given the task of removing a rotting beached Grey whale, leading to the now infamous exploding whale incident.
- November 13 - Military coup in Syria – Hafez al-Assad takes the power.
- November 13 - 1970 Bhola cyclone: A 120-mph tropical cyclone hits the densely populated Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), killing an estimated 500,000 people (this is regarded as the 20th century's worst cyclone disaster).
- November 14 - fatal airplane accident in Wayne County, West Virginia, claims the lives of the entire Marshall University football team.
- November 17 - Vietnam War: Lieutenant William Calley goes on trial for the My Lai massacre.
- November 17 - Luna program: The Soviet Union lands Lunokhod 1 on Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) on the Moon. This is the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another world and was released by the orbiting Luna 17 spacecraft.
- November 18 - US President Richard Nixon asks the U.S. Congress for US$155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government (US$85 million was for military assistance in order to help prevent the overthrow of the government of Premier Lon Nol by the Khmer Rouge and North Vietnam).
- November 18 - United Nations Security Council demands that no government should recognize Rhodesia.
- November 19 - EEC prime minister meeting in Munich.
- November 21 - Syrian Prime Minister Hafez al-Assad forms a new government but retains the post of defense minister.
- November 21 - in Ethiopia, Eritrea Liberation Front kills an Ethiopian general.
- November 21 - Vietnam War: Operation Ivory Coast - A joint Air Force and Army team raids the Son Tay prison camp in an attempt to free American POWs thought to be held there (there were zero Americans killed, but the prisoners had already moved to another camp; All US POWs were moved to a handful of central prison complexes as a result of this raid).
- November 22 - Guinean president Sekou Toure accuses Portugal of an attack when hundreds of mercenaries land near capital Conakry. Guinean army repels the landing attempts in November 23-24. November 25-29 UN delegation arrives to investigate the situation. In December 4 UN announces that Portuguese navy and army units are responsible.
- November 25 - In Japan, world-famous author and Tatenokai militia leader Yukio Mishima and his followers take over Inchigaya HQ of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and take general Kanetoshi Mashita hostage. When Mishima's speech fails to sway public opinion towards his right-wing political beliefs, he commits seppuku.
- November 26 - East Pakistan leader sheik Mujibur Rahman accuses central government of negligence in catastrophe relief.
- November 26 - Pope Paul VI begins an Asian tour.
- November 27 - Bolivian artist Benjamin Mendoza tries to assassinate Paul VI during pope's visit in Manila.
December
- December 1 - Italian House of Representatives accepts the divorce law.
- December 1 - Ethiopia recognizes People's Republic of China.
- December 1 - Basque ETA kidnaps West German Eugen Beihl in San Sebastian.
- December 1 - Luis Echeverría Álvarez becomes president of Mexico.
- December 2 - The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.
- December 3 - October Crisis: In Montreal, Quebec, kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross is released by the Front de Libération du Québec terrorist group after being held hostage for 60 days. Police negotiate his release and in return the Government of Canada grants five terrorists from the FLQ's Chenier Cell their request for safe passage to Cuba.
- December 3 - Burgos Trial - In Burgos, Spain, begins a trial against 16 Basques accused of terrorism.
- December 4 - Spanish government declares a three-month martial law in Basque county of Guipuzco due to strikes and demonstrations.
- December 5 - Asian and Australian tour of Paul VI ends.
- December 7 - Giovanni Enrico Bucher, Swiss ambassador to Brazil, is kidnapped in Rio de Janeiro; kidnappers demand release of 70 political prisoners.
- December 7 - UN general assembly supports the isolation of South Africa due to its apartheid policies.
- December 7 - During his visit to the Polish capital, German chancellor Willy Brandt goes down on his knees in front of a monument for the victims in the ghetto of Warsaw.
- December 12 - Landslide in western Colombia – over 200 dead.
- December 13 - Government of Poland announces increases in the prize of food. Riots and looting erupt until a bloody confrontation between the rioters against army and the police in December 15. Martial law December 17-22. December 23 the government will freeze the food prizes for two years.
- December 15 - The USSR's Venera 7 becomes the first spacecraft to land successfully on Venus and transmit data back to earth
- December 16 - Ethiopian government declares state of emergency in the county of Eritrea due to activities of Eritrea Liberation Front.
- December 20 - General secretary of the communist part of Poland, Wladyslaw Gomulka, resigns – Edward Gierek takes his place.
- December 20 - Egyptian delegation leaves for Moscow to ask for economic and military aid.
- December 21 - Elvis Presley pays an unscheduled call on Richard Nixon in the Oval Office, volunteering to help with law enforcement problems.
- December 22 - Libyan revolutionary council declares that it will nationalize all foreign banks in the country.
- December 22 - Franz Stangl, the ex-commander of Treblinka is sentenced to life imprisonment.
- December 23 - Bolivian government releases Regis Debray.
- December 25 - ETA releases Eugen Beihl.
- December 27 - Indian president declares new elections.
- December 28 - Burgos Trial – three Basques are sentenced to death (three twice), others sentenced for 12-62 years and one released. December 30 Franco commutes the death sentences to 30 years in prison.
- December 28 - Suspects of killing Pierre Laporte, Jacques & Paul Rose and Francis Sunard, are arrested near Montreal.
- December 30 - In Viscaya Basque county 15.000 goes to strike to protest Burgos trial death sentences.
Unknown date
- The first Regional Technical Colleges open in Ireland.
- Disappearance of Sada Abe, Japanese former prostitute and later actress.
- Discovery in England of the Sweet Track, the World's oldest engineered roadway.
Births
January-March
- January 6 - Gabrielle Reece, American volleyball player and model
- January 13 - Keith Coogan, American actor
- January 13 - Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (d. 2004)
- January 15 - Shane McMahon, American Wrestler
- January 17 - Jeremy Roenick, American hockey player
- January 17 - Genndy Tartakovsky Russian animator
- January 22 - Alex Ross, American comic artist
- January 29 - Heather Graham, American actress
- January 29 - Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Indian shooter
- January 31 - Minnie Driver, English actress
- February 24 - Jeff Garcia, American football player
- March 8 - Jason Elam, American football player
- March 18 - Queen Latifah, American rapper, record producer, and actress
- March 22 - Leontien van Moorsel, Dutch cyclist
- March 24 - Lara Flynn Boyle, American actress
- March 24 - Sharon Corr, Irish musician (The Corrs)
- March 27 - Mariah Carey, American singer
- March 27 - Leila Pahlavi, Iranian princess (d. 2001)
- March 28 - Vince Vaughn, American actor, writer, and producer
April-May
- April 4 - Barry Pepper, Canadian actor
- April 12 - Nick Hexum, American singer and guitarist
- April 13 - Rick Schroeder, American actor
- April 18 - Greg Eklund, American drummer (Everclear)
- April 21 - Nicole Sullivan, American actress, comedienne, and writer
- April 22 - Regine Velasquez, Filipina singer, actress, model, record producer, and entrepreneur
- April 25 - Jason Lee, American skateboarder and actor
- April 27 - Kylie Travis, English-born actress and model
- April 29 - Andre Agassi, American tennis player
- April 29 - Uma Thurman, American actress
- May 12 - Mike Weir, Canadian golfer
- May 15 - Rod Smith, American football player
- May 16 - Gabriela Sabatini, Argentine tennis player
- May 18 - Tina Fey, American writer, comedienne, and actress
- May 22 - Naomi Campbell, English model and actress
- May 24 - Jeff Zgonina, American football player
- May 25 - Jamie Kennedy, American actor and comedian
- May 26 - Nobuhiro Watsuki, Japanese cartoonist
- May 27 - Joseph Fiennes, English actor
June-July
- June 6 - Anthony Norris, American professional wrestler
- June 8 - Kelli Williams, American actress
- June 13 - Mikael Ljungberg, Swedish wrestler (d. 2004)
- June 16 - Phil Mickelson, American golfer
- June 19 - Quincy Watts, American athlete
- June 20 - Russell Garcia, British field hockey player
- June 20 - Moulay Rachid, Prince of Morocco
- June 25 - Lucy Benjamin, British actress
- June 26 - Patrick Norton, American writer and television host
- June 26 - Chris O'Donnell, American actor
- June 27 - Jim Edmonds, baseball player
- June 27 - Vitamin C, American singer
- July 3 - Teemu Selanne, Finnish hockey player
- July 3 - Shawnee Smith, American actress
- July 3 - Yona Kosashvili, chess player
- July 5 - Mac Dre, American rapper (d. 2004)
- July 8 - Beck, American singer
- July 11 - Saj Karim, British politician
- July 23 - Charisma Carpenter, American actress
- July 23 - Thea Dorn, German writer
August-September
- August 2 - Tony Amonte, American hockey player
- August 6 - M. Night Shyamalan, Indian film director, writer, producer, and actor
- August 13 - Alan Shearer, English footballer
- August 17 - Jim Courier, American tennis player
- August 18 - Malcolm-Jamal Warner, American actor
- August 20 - John Carmack, American computer game programmer
- August 21 - Erik Dekker, Dutch professional cyclist
- August 23 - Jay Mohr, American actor and comedian
- August 25 - Claudia Schiffer, German model
- August 27 - Jim Thome, baseball player
- August 29 - Jacco Eltingh, Dutch tennis player
- August 31 - Deborah Gibson, American singer
- September 4 - Daisy Dee, Dutch singer and actress
- September 8 - Latrell Sprewell, American basketball player
- September 9 - Macy Gray, American singer
- September 10 - Phaswane Mpe, South African writer (d. 2004)
- September 14 - Craig Montoya, American musician (Everclear)
- September 18 - Darren Gough, English cricketer
- September 19 - Takanori Nishikawa, Japanese singer
- September 22 - Mike Matheny, baseball player
- September 23 - Ani DiFranco, American mus
Saint Louis, Missouri:This article is about the city in Missouri. For other uses of Saint Louis, see Saint Louis.
Saint Louis (pronounced in English, Image:ltspkr.png in French), frequently spelled St. Louis, encompasses an independent city in the American state of Missouri (the "City of Saint Louis") and its metropolitan area ("Greater Saint Louis"). The city, which is named after Louis IX of France, is adjacent to, but not a part of, Saint Louis County, Missouri. The Saint Louis metropolitan area, which includes counties in both Missouri and Illinois, is the 19th largest in the United States, with a total population of 2,698,672 as of the 2000 census.
While the population of the metropolitan area has been increasing, the population of the City of Saint Louis (348,189) has been declining since the 1950s, as many have moved to the many suburbs in Saint Louis County, or to other parts of the metropolitan area. This exodus to the suburbs appears to have finally stopped at the beginning of this century thanks to recent attempts to revitalize the downtown area, and the city in general.
The city has several common nicknames, including the, "Gateway City", "Gateway to the West", and "Mound City." St. Louis is also sometimes called "Saint Louie", "River City," and "Baseball City USA."
History
nickname statue of the city's namesake on horseback, was widely used as a symbol of the city before construction of the Arch.]]
Prior to the arrival of French explorers in 1763 the area that would become Saint Louis was a major center of the Mississippian mound builders. The presence of numerous mounds, now almost all destroyed, earned the later city the nickname of "Mound City".
European exploration of the area had begun nearly a century earlier. Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette, both French, traveled through the Mississippi River valley in 1673, and five years later, La Salle claimed the entire valley for France. He called it "Louisiana" after King Louis XIV; the French also called their region "Illinois Country". In 1699, a settlement was established across the river from what is now Saint Louis, at Cahokia. Other early settlements were downriver at Kaskaskia, Illinois, Prairie du Pont, Fort de Chartres, and Sainte Genevieve. In 1703, Catholic priests established a small mission at what is now St. Louis. The mission was later moved across the Mississippi, but the small river at the site (now a channelized drainage ditch near the southern boundary of the City of Saint Louis) still bears the name River Des Peres (River of the Fathers).
In 1763, Pierre Laclède, his 13-year-old stepson Auguste Chouteau, and a small band of men traveled up the Mississippi from New Orleans. In November, they landed a few miles downstream of the river's confluence with the Missouri River at a site where wooded limestone bluffs rose 40 feet above the river. The men returned to Fort de Chartres for the winter, but in February, LaClede sent Chouteau and 30 men to begin construction. The settlement was established on February 15, 1764.
The settlement began to grow quickly after word arrived that the 1763 Treaty of Paris had given England all the land east of the Mississippi. Frenchmen who had settled to the river's east moved across the water to "Laclede's Village". Other early settlements were established nearby at Saint Charles, Carondelet (now a part of the city of Saint Louis), Saint Ferdinand (now Florissant), and Portage des Sioux.
From 1766 to 1768, St. Louis was governed by the French lieutenant governor, Louis Saint Ange de Bellerive. After 1768, St. Louis was governed by a series of Spanish governors, whose administration continued even after Louisiana was secretly returned to France in 1800 by the Treaty of San Ildefonso. The town's population was then about a thousand.
Saint Louis was acquired from France by the United States under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803, as part of the Louisiana Purchase. The transfer of power from Spain was made official in a ceremony called "Three Flags Day". On March 8, 1804, the Spanish flag was lowered and the French one raised. On March 10, the French flag was replaced by the United States flag.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition left the Saint Louis area in May 1804, reached the Pacific Ocean in the summer of 1805, and returned on Sept. 23, 1806. Many other explorers, settlers, and trappers (such as Ashley's Hundred) would later take a similar route to the West.
The steamboat era began in Saint Louis on July 27, 1817, with the arrival of the Zebulon M. Pike. Rapids north of the city made Saint Louis the northernmost navigable port for many large boats, and Pike and her sisters soon transformed St. Louis into a bustling boomtown, commercial center, and inland port. By the 1850s, Saint Louis had become the largest U.S. city west of Pittsburgh, and the second-largest port in the country, with a commercial tonnage exceeded only by New York.
Missouri became a state in 1820. Saint Louis was incorporated as a city on December 9, 1822. A U.S. arsenal was constructed at Saint Louis in 1827.
Immigrants flooded into Saint Louis after 1840, particularly from Germany, Bohemia and Ireland, the latter driven by an Old World potato famine. The population of Saint Louis grew from fewer than 20,000 in 1840, to 77,860 in 1850, to just over 160,000 by 1860.
Two disasters occurred in 1849: a cholera epidemic killed nearly one-tenth of the population, and a fire destroyed numerous steamboats and a large portion of the city.
In the first half of the 19th century, a second channel developed in the Mississippi River at Saint Louis. An island ("Bloody Island") formed between the two channels, and a smaller island ("Duncan's Island") developed below Saint Louis. It was feared that the levee at St. Louis might be left high and dry, and federal assistance was sought and obtained. Under the supervision of Robert E. Lee, levees were constructed on the Illinois side to direct water toward the Missouri side and eliminate the second channel. Bloody Island was joined to the land on the Illinois side, and Duncan's Island was washed away.
Militarily, the Civil War (1861-1865) barely touched St. Louis; the area saw only a few skirmishes in which Union forces prevailed. But the war shut down trade with the South, devastating the city's economy. Missouri was nominally a slave state, but its economy did not depend on slavery, and it never seceded from the Union. The arsenal at Saint Louis was used during the war to construct ironclad ships for the Union.
On July 4, 1876 the City of Saint Louis voted to remove itself from Saint Louis County and become Saint Louis City and Saint Louis County. At that time the County was primarily rural and sparsely populated, and the fast-growing City did not want to spend their tax dollars on infastructure and services for the inefficent county. This decision would gravely come back to haunt the City as white flight with suburban development and population migration outside the City limits would cost the City millions of lost tax dollars and contribute to the City's deterioration.
Saint Louis is one of several cities that claims to have the world's first skyscraper. The Wainwright Building, a 10-story structure designed by Louis Sullivan and built in 1892, still stands at Chestnut and Seventh Streets and is today used by the State of Missouri as a government office building.
Nikola Tesla made the first public demonstration of radio communication here in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail the principles of radio communication. The apparatus that he used contained all the elements that were incorporated into radio systems before the development of the vacuum tube.
In 1896, one of the deadliest and most destructive tornadoes in U.S. history struck St. Louis and East St. Louis. The confirmed death toll is 255, with some estimates above 400, and injuries over 1,000. It left a mile wide continuous swath of destroyed homes, factories, mills, saloons, hospitals, schools, parks, churches, and railroad yards. Damages adjusted for inflation (1997 USD) make it the costliest tornado in U.S. history at an estimated $2.9 billion. Several other tornadoes have hit the city making it the worst tornado afflicted large city in the U.S.; with the most deadly and destructive occurring in 1871 (9 killed), 1890 (4 killed), 1904 (3 killed, 100 injured), 1927 (79 killed, 550 injured), and 1959 (21 killed, 345 injured).
In 1904, the city hosted the World's Fair and the Olympic Games, making the United States the first English-speaking country to host the Olympics. Citizens of St. Louis still look back fondly on the events of 1904; there were several events held in 2004 to commemorate the centennial.
The uranium used in the Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb was refined in Saint Louis by Mallinckrodt Chemical Co., starting in 1942.
The Pruitt-Igoe housing project, built in 1955 and demolished in 1972, is one of the most infamous failures of urban planning. (The buildings were the first major work by Minoru Yamasaki, who later designed the World Trade Center.)
Downtown Redevelopment
There is a lot of construction going on in downtown St. Louis. There is The Bottle District which is an entertainment district that will open in spring 2007 that will be located north of the Edward Jones Dome. Also the St. Louis Cardinals new ballpark will open next year with a Ballpark Village to follow where the ballpark once stood. Additionally, for several years the Washington Loft District has been gentrifying an expanding corridor along Washington Street from the Edwards Jones Dome extending westward almost two dozen blocks. Rehabilitation of other downtown areas is proposed.
Geography
Washington Loft District
St. Louis is located at (38.648056, -90.212222).
The city lies along the western banks of the Mississippi River, just south of the Missouri-Mississippi confluence. Much of the area is a gently rolling prairie with low hills and broad, shallow valleys. Both the Mississippi River and the Missouri River have cut large valleys with wide flood plains. Limestone underlies much of the area and there are some sinkholes and caves, although most of the caves have been sealed shut.
The western and northern boundaries of Saint Louis County are defined by the Missouri River. Near the southern boundary of Saint Louis County is the Meramec River.
At the southern boundary of the city of Saint Louis (separating it from the county) is the River des Peres, virtually the only river or stream within the city limits that is not entirely underground. Most of River des Peres was either channelized or put underground in the 1920s and early 1930s. The lower section of the river was the site of some of the worst flooding of the Great Flood of 1993.
Near the central, western boundary of the city is Forest Park, site of the 1904 World's fair, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 or, as it is commonly known, the Saint Louis World's Fair, and the 1904 Summer Olympics, the first Olympic Games held in North America. At the time, Saint Louis was the fourth most populous city in the United States.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 171.3 km² (66.2 mi²). 160.4 km² (61.9 mi²) of it is land and 11.0 km² (4.2 mi² or 6.39%) of it is water.
Metropolitan statistical area
mi²
The Saint Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area, the 18th largest in the United States, has a total population of 2,698,672). This area includes Saint Louis County (1,016,315), the independent City of Saint Louis (348,189), the Missouri counties of Saint Charles (283,883), Jefferson (198,099), Franklin (93,807), Lincoln (38,944) and Warren (24,525), and the Illinois counties of Madison (258,941), Saint Clair (256,082), Clinton (35,535), Monroe (27,619) and Jersey (21,668).
Cityscape
The city is divided into 81 neighborhoods. The divisions have no legal standing, although some neighborhood associations administer grants or hold veto power over historic-district development. Nevertheless, the social and political influence of neighborhood identity is profound. Some hold avenues of massive stone edifices built as palaces for heads of state visiting the 1904 World's Fair. Others offer tidy working-class bungalows, hip loft districts, or areas hard-hit by social problems and unemployment. Many of them have retained - quite consciously and deliberately - a camaraderie that is missing from many American towns today.
Among the best-known, architecturally significant, or well-visited neighborhoods are Downtown St. Louis, Midtown St. Louis, Benton Park, Carondelet, the Central West End, Clayton/Tamm (Dogtown), Dutchtown South, Forest Park Southeast, Grand Center, The Hill, Lafayette Square, Shaw (home to the Missouri Botanical Garden and named after the Garden's founder, Henry Shaw), Soulard (home of the second-largest Mardi Gras festival in the nation), TowerGrove East and Tower Grove South, and Wydown/Skinker.
People and culture
Social changes in the twentieth century influenced radically the sorts of people who exist in Saint Louis now. From 1810, the date of the first Federal census, to 1880, the population totals include with the city of Saint Louis the population of Saint Louis County, which in 1880 was separately enumerated at 31, 888 people.
In 1910, 687, 029 people lived in the city. 125, 706 foreign-born people were residents in 1910. 47,765 of those persons were natives of the German Empire. In 1910, 11.3 per cent of the foreign-born people were of Irish nativity, 4.1 per cent of English, 12.3 of Russian, 6 of Italian, and 8.8 of Austrian. 43,960 African Americans composed 6.4 per cent of the total population.
Like other large American cities, St. Louis experienced a large population shift to the suburbs in the twentieth century, particularly in the years following the Second World War.
Populations of city and county: 1810, 5,667; 1820, 10,049; 1830, 14,145; 1840, 35,979; 1850, 104,978; 1860, 190,524; 1870, 351,189.
Populations of the town itself: in 1799, 925; 1810, 1,400; 1820, 4,000; 1830, 4,977; 1840, 16,469; 1850, 77,860; 1860, 170,773; 1870, 310,864; 1880, 350,518; 1900, 575,238; 1910, 687,029; 1920, 772, 897; 1940, 816,048.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there are 348,189 people, 147,076 households, and 76,920 families residing in the city. The population density is 2,171.1/km² (5,622.9/mi²). There are 176,354 housing units at |
