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Westchester County, New York

Westchester County, New York

Westchester County is a suburban county with about 940,000 residents located in the U.S. state of New York. It was named after Chester, in England. The county seat is White Plains.

History

The first Europeans to explore Westchester were Giovanni da Verrazano in 1524 and Henry Hudson in 1609. The first white settlers were sponsored by the Dutch West India Company in the 1620s and 1630s. English settlers arrived from New England in the 1640s. Westchester County was an original county of the Province of New York, one of twelve created in 1683. At the time, it also included the present Bronx County, which constituted the Town of Westchester and portions of three other towns: Yonkers, Eastchester, and Pelham. In 1846, a new town, West Farms, was created by secession from Westchester; in turn, in 1855, the Town of Morrisania seceded from West Farms. In 1873, the Town of Kingsbridge seceded from Yonkers. In 1874, the western portion of the present Bronx County, consisting of the then towns of Kingsbridge, West Farms, and Morrisania, was transferred to New York County, and in 1895 the remainder of the present Bronx County, consisting of the Town of Westchester and portions of the towns of Eastchester and Pelham, was transferred to New York County. By that time, the portion of the town of Eastchester immediately north of the transferred portion had seceded from the town of Eastchester (1892) to become the City of Mount Vernon so that the Town of Eastchester had no border with New York City. In 1914, those parts of the then New York County which had been annexed from Westchester County were constituted the new Bronx County.

Image

At least in part due to the wealth of some of its residents, their manicured lawns and country clubs — the county has 12 — Westchester has acquired an image of affluence, homogeneity, insularity, and elitism. Like most stereotypes, this is a false generalization. Westchester is an economically and demographically diverse region, neither at peace nor a haven of snobs. It is home to a maximum security state prison, Sing Sing, and a nuclear power plant, Indian Point. Westchester is among the most densely populated counties in the U.S., and has a slightly higher crime rate than that of neighboring suburban counties.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,295 km² (500 mi²). 1,121 km² (433 mi²) of it is land and 174 km² (67 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 13.45% water. Westchester County is in the southeastern part of New York State. It is bordered to the south by the borough of The Bronx in New York City, to the west by the Hudson River (New Jersey is across the river from Yonkers; most of the rest of the county is across the Hudson from Rockland County), to the east by Connecticut and the Long Island Sound and to the north by Putnam County. The highest elevation in the county is a U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey benchmark known as "Bailey" at 300 m (985 feet) above sea level in Mountain Lakes Park near the Connecticut state line. The lowest elevation is sea level, along both the Hudson and Long Island Sound. In popular conception, Westchester County is generally divided into northern and southern areas. The northern portion (places north of Interstate 287/Cross Westchester Expressway) is often seen as rural and wealthy; the southern portion (White Plains and south) is more urban and less well-to-do. These generalities, however, do not necessarily hold true in all communities. For example, Bronxville, Larchmont, Rye, and Scarsdale in the southern portion are among the wealthiest communities in the entire U.S., and Peekskill in the northern portion is relatively urban and low-middle income. The Westchester County Department of planning divides the county into North, Central and South sub-regions[http://www.westchestergov.com/planning/research/Census2000/Oct03Updates/maps/subregionsbig.jpg]. At the closest point, Westchester is only 2 miles north of Manhattan (from Broadway & Caryl Avenue in southern Yonkers to Broadway & West 228th Street in the Marble Hill section.) However, most places in Westchester are much farther from most places in Manhattan than this unusual example may suggest.

Cities

Marble Hill There are six cities in Westchester County.
- Mount Vernon
- New Rochelle
- Peekskill
- Rye (Rye is also the name of a town.)
- White Plains
- Yonkers

Towns and Villages

There are 19 towns in Westchester County. Any land area in the county that is not contained in one of the cities is in a town. A town may contain zero, one or multiple villages. The towns of Harrison, Mount Kisco, and Scarsdale are coterminous with the village of the same name. Two villages are split between two towns—Briarcliff Manor crosses the border between Ossining town and Mount Pleasant, and Mamaroneck village straddles the boundary between Mamaroneck town and Rye town. With the exception of the towns of Rye and Pelham, all the towns contain area and residents which do not belong to any village. These areas may contain communities referred to as hamlets. Hamlets have no legal status and depend upon the town for all municipal government and services. There are also areas called census-designated places (CDPs), which are defined by the U.S. Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. A CDP may or may not correspond to a hamlet. Because some municipalities have the same name, it is often necessary to indicate whether one is referring to the city, town, village, or hamlet. For example, the town of Rye is completely separate from the city of Rye. Pelham is the name of a town and also of a village in the town. The village of Mamaroneck is located partially in the town of Mamaroneck and partially in the town of Rye, but has nothing to do with the city of Rye. The towns are listed as follows:
- Town
  - Villages (if any), one per bullet
  - CDPs (if any), all listed on a single bullet
  - Communities not in a village or CDP (if any), all listed on a single bullet :(The list of towns, villages and CDPs is complete. The listing of additional communities should not be considered complete.)
- Bedford, containing no villages
  - (contains the CDP of Bedford)
  - (plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the communities of Bedford Hills, Bedford Village, and Katonah)
- Cortlandt, containing two villages:
  - Buchanan
  - Croton-on-Hudson
  - (contains the CDPs of Crugers and Verplanck)
  - (plus additional area belonging to no village or CDP, including the communities of Montrose and Cortlandt Manor)
- Eastchester, containing two villages:
  - Bronxville
  - Tuckahoe
  - (contains the CDP of Eastchester, which encompasses all area outside the villages)
- Greenburgh, containing six villages:
  - Ardsley
  - Dobbs Ferry
  - Elmsford
  - Hastings-on-Hudson
  - Irvington
  - Tarrytown
  - (contains the CDPs of Fairview, Greenville and Hartsdale)
  - (plus additional area belonging to no village or CDP, including the communities of Edgemont and Glenville)
- Harrison, coterminous with the village of the same name
  - (plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the community of Purchase)
- Lewisboro, containing no villages
  - (contains the CDP of Golden's Bridge)
  - (plus additional area belonging to no village, including the communities of Cross River, Lewisboro, South Salem, Vista and Waccabuc)
- Mamaroneck, containing two villages:
  - Larchmont
  - Mamaroneck (This village is shared with the Town of Rye.)
  - (plus additional area belonging to no village)
- Mount Kisco, coterminous with village of same name
- Mount Pleasant, containing three villages:
  - Briarcliff Manor (This village is shared with the Town of Ossining.)
  - Pleasantville
  - Sleepy Hollow (formerly named North Tarrytown)
  - (contains the CDPs of Hawthorne, Thornwood and Valhalla)
  - (plus additional area belonging to no village or CDP, including the communities of Eastview and Pocantico Hills)
- New Castle, containing no villages
  - (contains the CDP of Chappaqua)
  - (plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the communities of Millwood and Tompkins Corners)
- North Castle, containing no villages
  - (contains the CDP of Armonk )
  - (plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the community of Banksville)
- North Salem, containing no villages
  - (contains the portion of the CDP of Peach Lake that is not in Putnam County)
  - (plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the communities of Croton Falls, Purdys and Salem Center)
- Ossining, containing two villages:
  - Briarcliff Manor (This village is shared with the Town of Mount Pleasant.)
  - Ossining (The village of Ossining is contained within the Town of Ossining.)
  - (plus additional area belonging to no village)
- Pelham, containing two villages:
  - Pelham (The Village of Pelham is contained within the Town of Pelham.)
  - Pelham Manor
  - (The villages cover the entire area of the town.)
  - (The village of North Pelham existed from 1896 to 1975, when it was merged into the village of Pelham.)
- Pound Ridge, containing no villages
  - (contains the CDP of Scotts Corners)
  - (plus additional area belonging to no CDP)
- Rye (Rye is also the name of a city.), containing three villages:
  - Mamaroneck (This village is shared with the Town of Mamaroneck. The portion in Rye is unofficially also called "Rye Neck". The city of Rye separates Mamaroneck from the rest of the town of Rye.)
  - Port Chester
  - Rye Brook (Prior to 1982, Rye Brook was the area of the town not belonging to any village.)
  - (The villages cover the entire area of the town.)
- Scarsdale, coterminous with village of same name
- Somers, containing no villages
  - (contains the CDPs of Heritage Hills, Lincolndale and Shenorock)
  - (plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the communities of Amawalk, Baldwin Place, Granite Springs, and Somers)
- Yorktown, containing no villages
  - (contains the CDPs of Crompond, Jefferson Valley-Yorktown, Lake Mohegan, Shrub Oak and Yorktown Heights)
  - (plus additional area belonging to no CDP, including the communities of Kitchawan and Yorktown)

Government

Westchester County

The county executive is Andrew J. Spano (Dem.). The County Clerk is Leonard N. Spano (Rep.). The District Attorney is Jeanine F. Pirro (Rep.). The Board of Legislators has seventeen members, each representing a district in the county, eleven of them Democrats and 6 Republicans.

Politics

Although the county used to lean Republican, it swung Democratic in the early 1990s, and nowadays Westchester voters tend to be far more Democratic than the rest of the nation. In fact, Westchester, after New York City and Albany has produced the biggest margins for statewide Democrats in recent years. Democratic voters are mainly in the southern and central parts of the county. 58% of Westchester County voters chose John Kerry in the U.S. presidential election of November 2004, the highest total of any county outside New York City and Albany. However, Westchester county is less Democratic in state elections. Hence, it voted for Pataki with a margin of 23.07% against his Democratic opponent in the gubernatorial race of 2002, and of 26.22% in 1998. Westchester County is the home of former president Bill Clinton and New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who live in Chappaqua, New York.

Demographics

As of the census2 of 2000, there are 923,459 people, 337,142 households, and 235,325 families residing in the county. The population density is 824/km² (2,134/mi²). There are 349,445 housing units at an average density of 312/km² (807/mi²). The racial makeup of the county is 71.35% White, 14.20% African American, 0.25% Native American, 4.48% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 6.63% from other races, and 3.05% from two or more races. 15.61% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 337,142 households out of which 34.00% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.90% are married couples living together, 12.20% have a female householder with no husband present, and 30.20% are non-families. 25.70% of all households are made up of individuals and 10.30% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.67 and the average family size is 3.21. In the county the population is spread out with 25.00% under the age of 18, 7.20% from 18 to 24, 30.40% from 25 to 44, 23.50% from 45 to 64, and 14.00% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 38 years. For every 100 females there are 91.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 87.30 males. The median income for a household in the county is $63,582, and the median income for a family is $79,881. Males have a median income of $53,136 versus $39,966 for females. The per capita income for the county is $36,726. 8.80% of the population and 6.40% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 11.00% of those under the age of 18 and 7.60% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line. The Census Bureau estimates 2003 population at 940,302[http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/36119.html]. The largest census reviewed area in Westchester County is the City of Yonkers, New York's fourth-largest city, with a population of almost 200,000. The smallest is the community of Scotts Corners in the town of Pound Ridge with a population of 624.

Population time line


- 1900—184,257
- 1910—283,055
- 1920—344,436
- 1930—520,947
- 1940—573,558
- 1950—625,816
- 1960—808,891
- 1970—894,104
- 1980—866,599
- 1990—874,866
- 2000—923,459

Transportation

Westchester County is served by Interstate 87 (the New York State Thruway), Interstate 95, Interstate 287 and Interstate 684. Parkways in the county include the Bronx River Parkway, the Cross County Parkway, the Hutchinson River Parkway, the Saw Mill River Parkway, the Sprain Brook Parkway and the Taconic State Parkway. The Tappan Zee Bridge connects Tarrytown to Rockland County across the Hudson River. The Bear Mountain Bridge crosses the Hudson from Cortlandt to Orange County. The development corridors in the county have defined sections and follow transportation corridors. The main north-south corridors are, from west to east, the Route 9/Albany Post Rd/Broadway Corridor along the Hudson River from Yonkers in the South to Peekskill/Cortlandt in the North. The Saw Mill River Parkway Corridor traverses the country in a north-eastern path, beginning in Yonkers, and terminating at I-684 in Bedford, mostly following the path of an old commuter rail line that was abandoned a few decades ago. The Sprain Brook Parkway traverses the county's midsection from a point in Yonkers where it breaks off from the Bronx River Parkway until Hawthorne about 15 miles north where it merges with the Taconic State Parkway and continues until I-90 near Albany. The Hutchinson River Parkway lines the eastern county, from the Bronx (terminating at the Long Island crossing - the Whitestone Bridge) until the Connecticut state line in Greenwich, where it becomes the Merritt Parkway. I-684 begins at a junction with the Hutchinson River Parkway and I-287 in Harrison, and continues north into Putnam County through Bedford and North Salem. The eastern most corridor is the I-95/New England Thruway which traverses the county on the Long Island Sound, from the Pelhams through the Town of Rye and into Connecticut. The East-West corridors are the Cross County Parkway, which traverses the southern county from Yonkers in the west through New Rochelle in the east, terminating at the Hutchinson River Parkway. The Cross Westchester Expressway/I-287 is the mid-county corridor spanning from the Tappan-Zee Bridge in Tarrytown to the west to I-95/New England Thruway in the east. The northern-most corridor is that approximating the US-202 route from Cortlandt, and the Bear Mountain Bridge, to Lewisboro and the Connecticut border. But unlike the more southerly corridors, US-202 is for the most part not a limited-access highway and has frequent traffic lights. Commuter train service in Westchester is provided by Metro-North Railroad (operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority). Metro-North operate three lines in the county; west to east, they are the Husdon, the Harlem and the New Haven lines. Amtrak serves Croton-Harmon, New Rochelle and Yonkers. Bus service is provided by the Bee-Line Bus System (operated by the Westchester County Department of Transportation). Westchester County Airport is adjacent to White Plains.

Education

Public School Districts

Westchester County Airport There are forty public school districts in Westchester County[http://westchestergov.com/ed/district.htm]. Most school districts do not adhere to municipal boundaries, although the six city school districts do have the same boundaries as their cities.

- Ardsley Union Free School District
- Bedford Central School District
- Blind Brook-Rye School District
- Briarcliff Manor UFS
- Bronxville UFSD
- Byram Hills Central School
- Chappaqua Central School
- Croton Harmon UFSD
- Dobbs Ferry UFSD
- Eastchester UFSD
- Edgemont UFSD - Greenburgh
- Elmsford UFSD
- Greenburgh Central School
- Harrison Central School
- Hastings Central School
- Hendrick Hudson Central School
- Irvington Union Free School
- Katonah Lewisboro UFSD
- Lakeland Cent. Sch. Shrub Oak
- Mamaroneck UFSD
- Mount Pleasant Central School
- Mount Vernon City School
- New Rochelle City School
- North Salem Central School
- Ossining Union Free School
- Peekskill City School
- Pelham Union Free School
- Pleasantville UFS
- Pocantico Hills
- Port Chester - Rye UFS
- Rye City Schools
- Rye Neck UFS
- Scarsdale UFS
- Somers Central School District
- Tarrytown UFSD
- Tuckahoe UFS
- Valhalla UFS
- White Plains City Schools
- Yonkers City Schools
- Yorktown Central School
This list excludes Special Act Grade Organization districts, which overlap the districts listed above.

Colleges and Universities


- Berkeley College, White Plains, New York
- Concordia College, Bronxville, New York
- College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, New York
- Iona College, New Rochelle, New York
- Manhattanville College, Purchase, New York
- Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, New York
- New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York
- Pace University, Pleasantville, New York
- Purchase College, State University of New York, Purchase New York
- Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York
- Westchester Community College, Valhalla, New York

Libraries

Westchester County is served by the Westchester Library System[http://www.westchesterlibraries.org/libs/wlslibs/]. Established in 1958, the Westchester Library System is comprised of 38 public libraries.

Historic and Cultural Attractions


- [http://www.emelin.org/ Emelin Theatre], Mamaroneck, New York
- Ever Rest, historic home of painter Jasper Francis Cropsey, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York
- Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York
- [http://www.hrm.org/ Hudson River Museum of Westchester], Yonkers, New York
- [http://www.irvingtontheater.com/ Irvington Town Hall Theater], Irvington, New York
- [http://www.burnsfilmcenter.org/ Jacob Burns Film Center], Pleasantville, New York
- [http://www.loc.gov/bicentennial/propage/NY/ny-18_h_lowey4.html Jay Heritage Center], historic homestead of John Jay, Rye, New York
- Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens, PepsiCo, Inc. World Headquarters, Purchase, New York
- Kykuit, historic home of John D. Rockefeller, Sleepy Hollow, New York
- Lyndhurst, historic Gothic Revival home, Tarrytown, New York
- [http://www.neuberger.org/ Neuberger Museum of Art], Purchase College, Purchase, New York
- [http://www.paramountcenter.org/index.php Paramount Center for the Arts], Peekskill, New York
- Philipsburg Manor, historic site, Sleepy Hollow, New York
- Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site, Yonkers, New York
- Playland amusement park. America's only government owned and operated amusement park, Rye, New York
- [http://www.artscenter.org/toppage1.html The Performing Arts Center] at Purchase College, Purchase, New York
- Sunnyside, historic home of author Washington Irving, Tarrytown, New York
- [http://www.tarrytownmusichall.org/ Tarrytown Music Hall], Tarrytown, New York
- Thomas Paine National Historical Association, New Rochelle, New York
- Union Church, Pocantico Hills, New York
- [http://www.westjazzorch.org/ Westchester Jazz Orchestra], Mount Kisco, New York
- [http://www.westchesterphil.org/info.asp?pb=192&pg=1 Westchester Philharmonic Orchestra], White Plains, New York
- Yonkers Raceway, Yonkers, New York

Interesting Facts


- In the Marvel Comics universe, Charles Xavier's School of Gifted Youngsters is located in Westchester County.
- Radio "shock jock" Howard Stern started his professional DJ career at WRNW-FM radio in 1977, a low power station located in Briarcliff Manor, the central part of the county, this was also noted in Stern's movie. A tape, frequently played on his morning radio show, was made after his promotion to the station's program management.
- Notorious serial killer, child predator and cannibal Albert Fish committed his most infamous murder in Westchester, and was tried and convicted in White Plains.

See also


- Political subdivisions of New York State

External links


- [http://www.westchestergov.com/ Westchester County official website]
- [http://www.WestchesterTowns.com/ Westchester County Information Directory]
- [http://www.westchestergov.com/planning/research/Census2000/Oct03Updates/research/censusmaps.htm Census maps of Westchester County]
- [http://www.westchestergov.com/planning/research/DataBookPDF01/COMPLETE20023.pdf Westchester County Databook 2001] (PDF 7.38 MB)
- [http://www.hudsonvalleydirectory.com/westchester Westchester County Page at Hudson Valley Directory] Category:New York counties

Suburb

:"Suburban" redirects here. For the sport utility vehicle (SUV), see Chevrolet Suburban. Chevrolet Suburban Suburbs are inhabited districts located either on the outer rim of a city or outside the official limits of a city (the term varies from country to country), or the outer elements of a conurbation. The presence of certain elements (whose definition varies amongst urbanists, but usually refers to some basic services and to the territorial continuity) identifies a suburb as a peripheral populated area with a certain autonomy, where the density of habitation is usually lower than in an inner city area, though state or municipal house building will often cause departures from that organic gradation. Suburbs have typically grown in areas with an abundance of flat land near a large urban zone, usually with minimal traditions of citizens clustering together for defence behind fortified city walls, and with transport systems which allow commuting into more densely populated areas with higher levels of commerce.

Semantics

The word "suburb" is derived from the Old French "sub(b)urbe" and ultimately from the Latin "suburbium," formed from "sub," meaning "under," and "urbs," meaning "city." (Note that urbs was pronounced oorps.) The first recorded usage according to the Oxford English Dictionary comes from Wyclife, in 1380, where the form "subarbis" is used. In American English, the word "suburb" usually refers to a separate municipality or an unincorporated area outside of a central city. This definition is evident, for example, in the title of David Rusk's book Cities Without Suburbs, which promotes metropolitan government. Colloquial usage sometimes shortens the term to "'burb" (with or without the apostrophe), and "The Burbs" first appeared as a term for the suburbs of Chicagoland. In Britain, Australia and New Zealand, "suburbs" are merely residential neighbourhoods outside of the city centre. For example, Clifton is considered a suburb of Bristol, England. Many characteristics of suburbia were found in Australia as early as the 19th century. With huge expanses of land needing to be populated, lack of need for defense as well as the popularity of railroads (which grew at at a swift rate) contributed to sprawling urbanism somewhat resembling suburbia. However, the key commercial element - commuting to work - was not really there, although it would appear during the 20th century. The term suburb as used in Australia reflects this, and thus has a slightly ambiguous meaning to non-Australians. Suburbs there are official postal and addressing subdivisions of a city. Inner suburbs are subdivisions within the denser urban areas of the cities, and correspond to what would be called neigbourhoods in North American cities. For instance, Ultimo, postcode 2007, is an inner suburb of Sydney, even though it lies within the boundaries of the City of Sydney. Locals will refer to Ultimo as a suburb even though it is a densely urban neighbourhood. Outer suburbs are the postal divisions found in the outer rings of the metropolitan areas, and usually lie within the boundaries of a separate municipality, such as the City of Parramatta.

History

Many sociologists see suburbs as a post-urban area which develops in response to worsening conditions within a city with a communication and transport system which allows citizens to live outside the city while doing business inside. The suburbs and more distinct settlements around a town or city may look towards the urban area for goods, services and employment opportunities. That wider area may be called the hinterland of the town or a "city region". In the era before motorised travel, the radius of the hinterland roughly coincided with the distance that livestock could be herded to and from a market during daylight hours. In lowland areas, without severe geographic barriers to movement, a spacing of towns between 15 and 20 miles is therefore quite common. Suburbs with a healthier environment are often found upwind of those parts of a town or city where heavy industry was first established. Naturally, the suburbs suffering air pollution tended to be cheaper and hence tend to be occupied by those with lower incomes. The growth of suburbs was initially facilitated by the development of zoning laws and more effective and accessible means of transport. In the older cities of the northeast U.S., suburbs originally developed along train or trolley lines that could shuttle workers into and out of city centers where the jobs were located. This practice gave rise to the term bedroom community or dormitory, meaning that most daytime business activity took place in the city, with the working population leaving the city at night for the purpose of going home to sleep. The growth in the use of trains, and later automobiles and highways, increased the ease with which workers could have a job in the city while commuting in from the suburbs. In the United Kingdom, railways stimulated the first mass exodus to the suburbs, which were described as "Metroland" around London, and were mostly characterised by semi-detached houses. As car ownership rose and wider roads were built, the commuting trend accelerated as in North America. This trend towards living away from towns and cities has been termed the urban exodus. Zoning laws also contributed to the location of residential areas outside of the city center by creating wide areas or "zones" where only residential buildings were permitted. These suburban residences are built on larger lots of land than in the urban city. For example, the lot size for a residence in Chicago, Illinois is usually 125 feet deep, while the width can vary from 14 feet wide for a row house to 45 feet wide for a large standalone house. In the suburbs, where standalone houses are the rule, lots may be 85 feet wide by 115 feet deep, as in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, Illinois. Manufacturing and commercial buildings were segregated in other areas of the city. Increasingly, due to the congestion and pollution experienced in many city centers (accentuated by the commuters' vehicles), more people moved out to the suburbs. Moving along with the population, many companies also located their offices and other facilities in the outer areas of the cities. This has resulted in increased density in older suburbs and, often, the growth of lower density suburbs even further from city centers. An alternative strategy is the deliberate design of "new towns" and the protection of green belts around cities. Some social reformers attempted to combine the best of both concepts in the Garden City movement. While suburbs had originated far earlier, the suburban population in North America exploded after World War II. Returning veterans wishing to start a settled life moved en masse to the suburbs. Between 1950 and 1956 the resident population of all US suburbs increased by 46%. During the same period of time, African-Americans were rapidly moving north for better jobs and educational opportunities than they could get in the segregated South, and their arrival in Northern cities en masse further stimulated white suburban migration. Many people equate suburbs with early planned cities such as Levittown, New York and Rohnert Park, California. Rohnert Park, a suburb of Santa Rosa, California and San Francisco, California was originally marketed in the late 50's as "A Country Club for the middle class." In the US, 1970 was the first year that more people lived in suburbs than elsewhere. (1) The development of the skyscraper and the sharp inflation of downtown real estate prices also led to downtowns being more fully dedicated to businesses, thus pushing residents outside the city centre. By 1980 this was often perceived as undesirable, extending travel times and adding to people's sense of isolation and fear in central areas outside trading hours. 1

Suburbs today

In North America, suburbs traditionally were residential areas with single-family homes located near shopping areas and schools, with good access to trains, freeways or other transport systems. Now, partly due to increased populations in many greater metropolitan areas, suburbs can be densely populated and contain apartment buildings and townhouses, as well as office complexes, light manufacturing facilities, and shopping centers or malls. It is not unusual for suburbs to house several hundred thousand people. In fact, many American and Canadian suburbs are now larger than other urban population centers. For example, Mesa, Arizona (a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona), is larger than St. Louis, Missouri; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Salt Lake City, Utah, and grew at a much faster rate than even Phoenix between 1990 and 2000. Another example is Mississauga, Ontario (a suburb of Toronto, Ontario). Mississauga is the largest suburban municipality in all of North America, with a population of 636,801 and a population density of 2125.1/km². Mississauga is larger than the U.S. cities of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Boston, Massachusetts; Washington DC; Nashville, Tennessee; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; New Orleans, Louisiana; Las Vegas, Nevada; Cleveland, Ohio; Atlanta, Georgia; Sacramento, California; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Miami, Florida etc. Mississauga also has a higher population than the city of Vancouver, British Columbia. The five largest suburbs in North America, in order, are Mississauga, Ontario; Mesa, Arizona; Virginia Beach, Virginia; Surrey, British Columbia; and Laval, Quebec. In one metropolitan area, the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, the largest city is actually a suburb, namely Virginia Beach. Although the United States Census Bureau officially calls the area the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News Metropolitan Statistical Area, in keeping with its normal practice of putting the most populous city in a metropolitan area in the lead position of its name, the naming does not reflect the actual character of the area. Despite recent efforts by city leaders in Virginia Beach to create a more urban environment, the urban core of the area lies in Norfolk, which will soon become the third-largest city in the region. Chesapeake, which is not part of the area name but has already surpassed Newport News in population, is growing at a rate that will probably see it also surpass Norfolk in population well before the 2010 Census. A socio-political movement called "New Urbanism" or "Smart Growth" is currently in vogue in the U.S.A., Canada and northern Europe, in response to the perceived threat of "urban sprawl". This movement among city planners, builders, and architects holds that denser, more city-like communities with less rigid zoning laws and mixed-use buildings are desirable. Such communities ease traffic, since people do not need to commute as far, and may foster a better sense of community among residents. Some of these communities seek to reduce car-dependency (and thus the use of personal automobiles) wherever possible. This movement has resulted in both the construction of new developments that embody these principles, and renovation of areas in existing city centers for new residential and commercial activities. In the UK, the government is (2003) seeking to impose minimum densities on newly approved housing schemes in parts of southeast England. Whether any society succeeds in reducing the average distance travelled by each citizen by means of such planning strategies remains to be seen. The new catchphrase is 'building sustainable communities' rather than housing estates. In England this is displacing the now discredited notion of 'urban villages', but the credibility of both ideas is challenged by the increasing involvement of commercial interests in developing new hospitals, secondary schools and public transport services. Commercial concerns tend to retard the opening of services until a large number of residents have occupied the new neighbourhood. In many parts of the globe, however, suburbs are economically poor areas, inhabited by people sometimes in real misery, that keep at the limit of the city borders for economic or social reasons like the impossibility of affording the (usually higher) costs of life in the town. An example in the developed world would be the banlieues of France, which are comparable to the inner cities of the UK and US. In the Third World, such slum areas are often irregularly built or managed, with individualistic, unregulated building and other forms of social or legal disorder. It has been said that this would be sometimes a case of spontaneous or psychological apartheid. In some cases inhabitants just live off the waste materials produced by the city (like, increasingly, around new African towns) and usually in such situations suburbs and houses are roughly built, often not even in the traditional building materials, as seen for example in the bidonvilles. Often nomads settle their camps in suburbs. The occupiers of more industrialised or longer-lasting homes may refer to such suburbs as "shanty towns". The favelas of Rio de Janeiro may also be considered an example of this type of suburb. In the illustrative case of Rome, Italy, in the 1920s and 1930s, suburbs were intentionally created ex novo in order to give lower classes a destination, in consideration of the actual and foreseen massive arrival of poor people from other areas of the country. Many critics have seen in this development pattern (that was circularly distributed in every direction) also a quick solution to a problem of public order (keeping the unwelcome poorest classes - together with criminals, in this way better controlled - comfortably remote from the elegant "official" town). On the other hand, the expected huge expansion of the town soon effectively covered the distance from the central town, and now those suburbs are completely engulfed by the main territory of the town, and other newer suburbs were created at a further distance from them.

Suburbs in pop culture

Suburbs on TV

Hot Choice Channel's Original Movie, Suburbian Sex Addict, 2004. Neighbours has been on television in Australia since 1985 and the United Kingdom from the following year. It is set in Ramsay Street in suburban Erinsborough. Knots Landing was a long-running show depicting suburban life. It was set in the fictional town of Knots Landing, California, and followed the lives of several families who lived on the suburban cul-de-sac Seaview Circle. The Australian show Kath & Kim pillories the nouveau white trash of subdivisions with exaggerated provincial accents and below-average intelligence. Suburban life through the eyes of stay-at-home wives and mothers is portrayed in the ABC television series Desperate Housewives. Many U.S. sit-coms are set in the suburbs, including the animated Family Guy and The Simpsons.

Suburbs in pop songs


- "Suburbia" by the Pet Shop Boys
- "Subdivisions" by Rush
- "Pleasant Valley Sunday" by The Monkees
- "Jesus of Suburbia" by Green Day
- "Rocking The Suburbs" by Ben Folds
- "Little Boxes" by Malvina Reynolds
- "Buddha of Suburbia" by David Bowie
- "Greater Omaha" by Desaparacidos
- "Suburban Home" by The Descendents
- "Sound of the Suburbs" by The Members
- "Hey Suburbia" by Screeching Weasel

References


- Rybczynski, Witold (Nov. 7, 2005). [http://www.slate.com/id/2129636/?nav=tap3 "Suburban Despair"]. Slate.
- Smith, Albert C. & Schank, Kendra (1999). "A Grotesque Measure for Marietta". Journal of Urban Design 4 (3). "Suburbia" Matthew Good Band

See also


- demographic history of the United States
- edge city
- middle class
- streetcar suburb
- Grand Ledge - An Example of a Suburb of Lansing, Michigan.
- Vorstadt, Vorort

External links and references


- Managing Urban America by Robert E. England and David R. Morgan 1979
- http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/why-suburbs-happen-01.htm on the suburban growth of London, England.
- http://www.hgs.org.uk/mystreet/index.html provides images of a mature north London suburb illustrating a wide range of domestic architecture.
- [http://www.endofsuburbia.com/ The End of Suburbia], documentary film (see also, Peak oil)
- http://fass.kingston.ac.uk/research/centres/suburban_studies/ for Europe's first interdisciplinary research centre for the study of suburbs, based at Kingston University.
- [http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/programs/census_notes_6.shtml "Boomburbs":] The Emergence of Large, Fast-Growing Suburban Cities in the United States, from Fannie Mae. Category:Human geography Category:Cities Category:Urban studies and planning ja:郊外

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the fifty states (four of which officially favor the term commonwealth) which, together with the District of Columbia and Palmyra Atoll (an uninhabited incorporated unorganized territory), form the United States of America. The separate state governments and the U.S. federal government share sovereignty, in that an "American" is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of residence. The United States Constitution allocates power between the two levels of government in general terms; the general idea is that by ratifying the Constitution, each state has transferred certain aspects of its sovereign powers to the federal government while retaining the remainder for itself. The tasks of education, health, transportation, and other infrastructure are generally the responsibility of the states. Over time, the Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization, with the federal government playing a much larger role than it once did.

Legal relationship

At the time of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain in 1776, the 13 colonies became 13 independently sovereign states, which became fourteen in 1777 with the formation of the Vermont Republic; for a brief period, they were in effect legally separate nations. But upon the adoption of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the states became a single sovereign political entity as defined by international law, empowered to levy war and to conduct international relations, albeit with a very loosely structured and inefficient central government. After the failure of the union under the Articles of Confederation, the thirteen states joined the modern union via ratification of the United States Constitution, beginning in 1789. Under Article IV of the Constitution, which outlines the relationship between the states, the Congress has the power to admit new states to the union. The states are required to give "full faith and credit" to the acts of each other's legislatures and courts, which is generally held to include the recognition of legal contracts, marriages, criminal judgments, and - at the time - slave status. The states are guaranteed military and civil defense by the federal government, which is also required to ensure that the government of each state remains a republic. The Constitution is silent on the issue of the secession of a state from the union. The Articles of Confederation had stated that the earlier union of the colonies "shall be perpetual", and the preamble to the Constitution states that Constitution was intended to "form a more perfect union". In 1860 and 1861, several states attempted to secede, but were brought back into the Union by force of arms during the Civil War. Subsequently, the federal judicial system, in the case of Texas v. White, established that states do not have the right to secede without the consent of the other states.
- Four of the states bear the formal title of Commonwealth: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In these cases, this is merely a name and has no legal effect. However, the United States has non-state areas called commonwealths (Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianas) which do have a legal status different from the states.
- States are free to organize their judicial systems differently from the federal judiciary, as long as due process is protected. See state supreme court for more information. For example, most lawsuits in the state of New York are filed in the Supreme Court, and then appealed to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. The highest court in New York is the Court of Appeals.
- The joint resolution which admitted the Republic of Texas to the Union as a state guaranteed Texas the right to divide itself up into up to 5 states. This clause may be redundant, however, as any such state would arguably require Congressional approval, just as when Maine was split off from Massachusetts; it may also be unconstitutional, as reducing the equal suffrage of the other states in the United States Senate.

List of states

The states, with their U.S. postal abbreviations, traditional abbreviations, capitals and largest cities, are as follows. For a complete list of non-state dependent areas and other territory under control of the U.S., see United States dependent areas. State names speak to the circumstances of their creation. (See the lists of U.S. state name etymologies and U.S. county name etymologies for more detail.)
- Southern states on the Atlantic coast originated as British colonies named after British monarchs: Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland. Some northeastern states, also former British colonies, take their names from places in the British Isles: New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York.
- Many states' names are those of Native American tribes or are from Native American languages: Kansas, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Connecticut, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Mississippi, Texas, Utah, and others.
- Because they are on territories previously controlled by Spain or Mexico, many states in the southeast and southwest have Spanish names. They include Colorado, New Mexico, Florida, and Nevada.
- Because it was previously a French colony, Louisiana is named after the Louis XIV (King of France at the time).
- The origins of the names of California, Oregon, Idaho, and Rhode Island are unknown, although various theories exist.


Trivia

Names


- "Georgia" can refer to either a U.S. state or to an independent country in the Caucasus.
- The name "New York" can refer to any one of three geographical levels: a state, a city in that state, or a county (coterminous with the borough of Manhattan) in that city.
- "Washington" is a state, a city corresponding to the District of Columbia (and thus not part of any state), and a number of cities and counties in various states. See the list of places named for George Washington.
- The state of Washington is the only state named after a U.S. President (or after a person born within the area now comprising the U.S., for that matter).
- The official name of Rhode Island is "the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."
- Only two states have state capitals named for the state (however, such name-sharing occurs commonly with states and provinces in some other countries, where the state or province actually often takes its name from a capital city): Oklahoma, with capital Oklahoma City, and Indiana, with capital Indianapolis (which means Indiana City). Iowa City, Iowa was the first state capital of Iowa but the capital was later moved to Des Moines, Iowa.
- Maine is the only state with a one-syllable name.

Geography


- Colorado and Wyoming are bounded by two circles of latitude and two meridians each, i.e. they appear to be rectangles in a cylindrical map projection.
- Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming are the only states whose borders are made up of only straight lines (taking meridians and circles of latitude as straight lines) and, thus, the only states whose borders completely ignore natural features.
- Every state—except Hawaii, which has no land boundaries—has straight lines as at least part of its boundaries. These are usually combined with rivers (see river borders of U.S. states), ridge lines and other natural boundaries. Pennsylvania and Delaware are unique in that their common border is an arc of a circle, see The Twelve-Mile Circle.
- The lower peninsula of Michigan is shaped like a mitten; Louisiana is shaped like a boot.
- Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia have panhandles.
- Alabama, Missouri, New Mexico and Mississippi have bootheels.
- Alaska and Hawaii are the only states that are not physically connected to other states; Maine is the only state that borders only one other state. Missouri and Tennessee each border eight other states, the most for any state.
- Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah are the only four states to share a common border, known as the "Four Corners."
- Appearances given by the stereographic projection to the contrary, Minnesota is the northernmost of the forty-eight contiguous United States, as a northern spur of the state contains a portion of Lake of the Woods. At one time it was thought that Lake of the Woods contained the headwaters of the Mississippi River (now known to be at Lake Itasca).
- Alaska is the northernmost state and the westernmost state. Some would argue that it is also the easternmost state, as the Aleutian island chain crosses the 180º line of longitude.

Grouping of the states in regions

Alaska, The South and The Northeast. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] States may be grouped in regions; there are endless variations and possible groupings, as most states are not defined by obvious geographic or cultural borders. For further discussion of regions of the U.S., see the list of regions of the United States.

State lists


- List of U.S. state capitals
- List of current and former capital cities within U.S. states
- List of U.S. states' largest cities
- List of U.S. states by date of statehood
- List of U.S. states that were never territories
- List of U.S. state name etymologies
- List of U.S. states by area
- List of U.S. states by elevation
- List of U.S. states by population
- List of U.S. states by population density
- List of U.S. states by time zone
- List of U.S. states by unemployment rate
- Traditional U.S. state abbreviations
- U.S. postal abbreviations
- U.S. state temperature extremes
- Codes: FIPS state code, ISO 3166-2:US
- Lists of U.S. state insignia
  - List of U.S. state amphibians
  - List of U.S. state beverages
  - List of U.S. state birds
  - List of U.S. state butterflies
  - List of U.S. state colors
  - List of U.S. state dances
  - List of U.S. state dinosaurs
  - List of U.S. state fish
  - List of U.S. state flags
  - List of U.S. state flowers
  - List of U.S. state foods
  - List of U.S. state fossils
  - List of U.S. state grasses
  - List of U.S. state insects
  - List of U.S. state instruments
  - List of U.S. state license plates
  - List of U.S. state mammals
  - List of U.S. state minerals, rocks, stones and gemstones
  - List of U.S. state mottos
  - List of U.S. state nicknames
  - List of U.S. state reptiles
  - List of U.S. state seals
  - List of U.S. state slogans
  - List of U.S. state soils
  - List of U.S. state songs
  - List of U.S. state sports
  - List of U.S. state tartans
  - List of U.S. state trees

See also


- Geography of the United States
- List of regions of the United States
- Political divisions of the United States
- United States territory
- United States territorial acquisitions
- List of U.S. counties that share names with U.S. states
- States' rights
- Statehood Quarter

References

External links


- [http://factfinder.census.gov/bf/_lang=en_vt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1R_US9S_geo_id=01000US.html Tables with areas, populations, densities and more (in order of population)]
- [http://factfinder.census.gov/bf/_lang=en_vt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1_US9_geo_id=01000US.html Tables with areas, populations, densities and more (alphabetical)]
- [http://www.usnewspapers.org US Newspapers by State]
- [http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0854966.html Origin of State Names] United States, States of the Category:Subdivisions of the United States
- U.S. State ja:アメリカ合衆国の地方行政区画 ko:미국의 주 simple:List of U.S. states th:มลรัฐของสหรัฐอเมริกา zh-min-nan:Bí-kok ê hêng-chèng-khu

Chester, England

:This article is about Chester in England. For other towns named after Chester see Chester (disambiguation). ---- Chester is the county town of Cheshire in North West England. It is situated on the River Dee close to the border with Wales, and is one of the best-preserved walled cities in the country. It is the main settlement in the City of Chester local government district. The adjective associated with the city is Cestrian. The patron saint of Chester is Saint Werburgh. According to the 2001 census the population of the Chester urban area, including Broughton and Saltney (which are over the border in Wales) was 90,925. Saltney

History

Roman Origins

Chester is an old city dating back approximately 2000 years to Roman times (when parts of the City wall date from) when it was known as Deva. They built it as a fortress for Legio XX Valeria Victrix, the 20th Legion, safe in the loop of the River Dee and used it as a port and defence from the Welsh Celts. It was then the principal town of England, with many relics remaining today, including the weir on the river to keep water levels high and stop ships going too far, the 'cross', where the four main streets intersect, as well as remains of a strong room and hypocaust system underneath shops and, controversially, half of its original amphitheatre, with the other half built over. A recent Timewatch investigation by the BBC speculated that, from the size and scale of the fort, had the Roman Empire not begun to collapse, Deva would have been the Roman capital of Britain and a launch post for invasions on Ireland.

Saxon Period

The Roman Empire fell three hundred years later. In AD 605 or AD 606 (ref. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) or AD 613 to AD 616 (ref. Bede), Æthelfrith king of Northumbria defeated a big Celtic army at Chester and established the Anglo-Saxon position in the area. The Saxons extended and strengthened the walls of Chester to protect the city against the Danes. The Anglo-Saxons called Chester Ceaster or Legeceaster. Later in the Saxon period Saint Werburgh founded a religious institution on the present site of Chester Cathedral, and her name is still remembered in St Werburgh's Street which passes alongside the cathedral, and near to the city walls.

Middle Ages

After the 1066 Norman Conquest, Chester Castle was built as another defence from the Celts. Along with this, the Normans built what is now Chester Cathedral which, before Henry VIII, was a great Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint Werburgh, and still stands in the city centre today. Chester was at this time the largest port in North-west England, with the trade that this created bringing affluence to the city. It became a county corporate, essentially giving it administrative independence. It was once thought that Chester's maritime trade was brought to an end by the silting of the River Dee, although recent research has shown this is not the case. It was the use of larger ocean-going ships that led to the diversion of the trade to the relatively young town of Liverpool and other locations on the River Mersey, which had long been rivals to Chester, such as Runcorn. Neither was it the silting of the River Dee that created the land which is now Chester's racecourse (known as the Roodee), on which a stone cross, once used as a water level marker, still stands, since the Roodee was in existence as early as the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Chester continued to deal with its loss of trade throughout the centuries, and in the 1640s English Civil War the Battle of Rowton Moor occurred in nearby meadows, where the Parliamentary Forces crushed the Royalist loyal Cavaliers. This battle was watched by King Charles I from Chester's Phoenix Tower (now also called King Charles' Tower) on the City Walls.

Victorian & Georgian era

In the Georgian era, the city became again a centre of affluence, a town with elegant terraces where the landed aristocracy lived. This trend continued into the Industrial Revolution, when the city was populated with the upper classes in amongst the industrial sprawls of Manchester and Liverpool. The revolution brought the Chester Canal (now part of the Shropshire Union Canal) to the city (which was dubbed 'England's first unsuccessful canal', after its failure to bring heavy industry to Chester) as well as railways and two large central stations, only one of which remains. The Victorians progressed to build Chester's Gothic Town Hall, which, along with the Cathedral, dominates the city skyline. This was built after the original Guild Hall burnt down, and features a clock tower with only three faces, with the Welsh facing side remaining blank. The reason for this was declared by the architects to be simply because "Chester won't give the Welsh the time of day". However, this did not stop the town hosting Wales's National Eisteddfod in 1866. The Eastgate clock was also built at this time, and is a central feature as it crosses Eastgate street, and is part of the city walls.The clock is very popular with tourists this is has given it the grand title of the second most photographed clock in the UK after big ben.

Present Day

Eastgate clock A considerable amount of land in Chester is owned by Duke of Westminster who owns an estate at Eaton near the village of Eccleston. Grosvenor is the Duke's family name, which explains such features in the City such as the Grosvenor Hotel and Grosvenor Park. Much of Chester's architecture dates from the Victorian era, with many of the buildings that aren't modelled on the Jacobean half timbered style of the medieval times being designed by John Douglas, employed by the Duke as his principal architect. He had a trademark of twisted chimneystacks, may of which can be seen on the buildings in the City centre. Douglas designed amongst other buildings the Grosvenor Hotel and the City Baths. Another feature of all buildings belonging to the estate of Westminster is the 'Grey Diamonds'; a weaving pattern of grey bricks in the red brickwork, laid out in a diamond formation. By 1945 two problems needed attention, namely affordable housing and traffic congestion. As a result vast areas of Slums were cleared and an inner by-pass was driven through and around the City centre. Large areas of open fields on the outskirts of the City were turned into residential areas in the 1950s and early 1960s. In the late 1960s the City authorities woke up to the fact that new developments were radically altering the look of the City centre. In 1968 Donald Inshall published a report in collaboration with the City authorities and Central Government. His report recommended preserving historic buildings and finding new uses for them, rather than tearing them down. In 1969 the City Conservation Area was designated. Over the next 20 years the emphasis was placed on saving historic buildings, such as The Falcon Inn, Dutch Houses and Kings Buildings. On January 13, 2002, Chester was granted Fairtrade City status. This status was renewed by the Fairtrade Foundation on August 20, 2003. In August 2005 the council announced plans to demolish the police station, an unsightly edifice built in the 1960s. However, the replacement building, a cylindrical glass hotel/cafe, has sparked controversy, partly due to the large number of other glass structures planned within the city, especially the new council offices. The Northgate development will demolish the old Council Offices, which will move into a new building on an old car-park. This structure was unpopular with many of the older citizens of Chester, leading the to the local papers to dub it the 'Glass Slug'. Cestrians are often perceived (partly-jokingly) of being 'anti-Welsh'. This is exemplified by the fact that the Town Hall clock does not face west, towards Wales, and an archaic law which states any Cestrian may shoot a Welshman with a longbow if he loiters within the walls after sunset. There is much debate within the city as to whether this law still applies. However, many Cestrians work and shop in Wales, and Chester shares a radio station with Wrexham, Wales.

Culture

Wrexham

Shopping

The city is a popular shopping centre, with its unique 'Rows' or galleries (basically two levels of shops) which date from medieval times. The city is heavily populated by chain stores both in the centre and on retail parks to the west, and also features two indoor shopping centres, an indoor market and a department store, Browns of Chester, once known as 'the Harrods of the North', now absorbed by the Debenhams chain. There are two main indoor shopping centres, The Grosvenor Mall and the Forum. The latter refers to the city's Roman past, and is to be demolished in the Northgate Development to make way for new shopping streets, a new indoor market, a new library and a performing arts centre.

Arts & Sport

The city has two cinemas and a theatre, the Gateway Theatre, and in the summer the city hosts the annual Chester Music Festival, the Chester Midsummer Watch Parade and the Chester Mystery Plays, the latter of which dates from medieval times. Numerous pubs populate the city, some of which are medieval, as do wine bars at night, and Chester also has five night-clubs. The city also has a football team, Chester City F.C., who play in the Deva Stadium and a national basketball team, the Chester Jets, who play in the city's Northgate Arena leisure centre. Also to the east side of the city are the UK's largest zoological gardens, Chester Zoo. The Gateway Theatre is due to be demolised at the end of 2006 as part of the city's Northgate Development. The Northgate Development will include a replacement arts centre, due to open in 2009.

Media

Chester's newspapers are the daily Chester Evening Leader, the weekly Chester Chronicle, and the free newspapers Chester Mail and Chester Standard. Dee 106.3 is the city's own radio station, with Wrexham's MFM 103.4 also broadcasting locally. Chester is the city where Channel 4's soap-opera Hollyoaks is set (although most filming takes place around Liverpool).

Industry

The city's main industries are retail, tourism and financial services. Chester's main employer is MBNA Europe. There is also a large Shell oil refinery, several large financial firms including M&S Money and also a chemical factory, operated by ICI to the north of Chester near Ellesmere Port. Just over the Welsh border to the west near the village of Hawarden there is an aviation factory, operated by BAE Systems (formerly British Aerospace) where the wings of Airbus aircraft, including the Airbus A380 super-jumbo are manufactured, and there are food processing plants to the north and west. Chester has its own university, the University of Chester, and a major hospital, the Countess of Chester Hospital, named after Diana, Countess of Chester.

Transport

Chester has a railway station to the North East of the city centre, designed by Francis Thompson with an impressive Italianate frontage dating from 1848, though the interior is somewhat dilapidated, having lost a roof in the Chester General rail crash. Trains go from here along the North Wales Coast Line, as well as to London Euston, Liverpool, Crewe, Manchester, Wrexham and Shrewsbury. Chester Northgate station closed in 1969, was demolished and is now the site of the Northgate Arena leisure centre. Bus transport in the city is provided by the council owned and operated Chester Bus (formerly Chester City Transport) as well as First Group and Arriva. There is to be a new bus exchange built in the city as well as a new coach station. The city is also the terminus of the M53 from Liverpool and, via the M56, Manchester, as well as the terminus of the A55 from Holyhead in North Wales. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Chester had an extensive tram network from Saltney in the west at the Welsh border to Chester General staion in the North West. This network featured the narrowest gauge trams in mainland Britain, due to an act of Parliament which deemed that they must be "The least obstructive possible". The tramway was established in 1871 by Chester Tramways Corporation. At first, the tramway was horse-drawn, although this was replaced by overhead-wired electric in 1903. The tramway was closed like most others in the UK in February, 1930. The only remains are small areas of uncovered track inside the bus depot, a few tram wire supports attached to buildings on Eastgate/Foregate street and a wire support.

Districts, Towns and Villages


- Blacon, Boughton
- Chester Castle, Christleton, Curzon Park
- Eaton, Eccleston
- Handbridge, Hoole, Huntington
- Lache
- Malpas, Mollington
- Newton
- Queens Park
- Saltney, Saughall, Sealand
- Tarvin, Tattenhall
- Upton
- Vicars Cross
- Waverton, Cheshire, Westminster Park
- Barrow

Further reading

H.V. Morton In Search of England (1929) G.W. Place, The Rise and Fall of Parkgate, Passenger Port for Ireland (1994).

External links

http://www.bwpics.co.uk/chester.html Chester: a Virtual Stroll Around the Walls by Steve Howe
- [http://www.localwebsuk.com/chester/ Local Webs Guide to Chester]
- [http://www.chestercc.gov.uk/main.asp?page=1398 Chester City Council's History Facts]
- [http://www.greatorme.org.uk/Chester.html A Pictorial Visit to Chester] Category:Towns of the Welsh Marches Category:Cities in England Category:English county towns Category:Roman legions camps nb:Chester

White Plains, New York

White Plains is a city located in Westchester County, New York. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,077, but a July 1, 2002 Census estimate put the city's population at 55,394. It is the county seat of Westchester County. White Plains is home to one of the campuses that comprise Pace University. The University's law school is located there. Since the 1970's, many companies have moved their operations from Manhattan to White Plains. These office buildings are clustered in two areas; in the downtown business district and along Westchester Avenue (NY Route 119) in the eastern part of the city. White Plains has two Metro North railroad stations, White Plains and North White Plains. During the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of White Plains took place in the area. White Plains is the home of Westchester County Airport, which takes some traffic from New York, New York. In a recent study, White Plains was named the United States' second most expensive city in which to live, only behind New York. Both residents and visitors alike have experienced (and complained about) parking enforcement nearly as vicious and overzealous as New York City. Whether it's Democrats or Republicans in charge of White Plains, no relief has been forthcoming from the hamfisted parking enforcers.

Geography

New York, New York White Plains is located at 41°1'24" North, 73°45'43" West (41.023464, -73.761843). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 25.6 km² (9.9 mi²). 25.4 km² (9.8 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.91% water.

Postal Information

Standard Zip Codes: 10601, 10603, 10604, 10605, 10606, 10607. PO Box Only: 10602, 10610.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 53,077 people, 20,921 households, and 12,699 families residing in the city. The population density is 2,091.1/km² (5,415.5/mi²). There are 21,576 housing units at an average density of 850.1/km² (2,201.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 64.93% White, 15.91% African American, 0.34% Native American, 4.50% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 10.37% from other races, and 3.88% from two or more races. 23.51% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 20,921 households out of which 26.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.7% are married couples living together, 11.3% have a female householder with no husband present, and 39.3% are non-families. 33.4% of all households are made up of individuals and 11.8% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.47 and the average family size is 3.14. In the city the population is spread out with 21.2% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 32.5% from 25 to 44, 23.6% from 45 to 64, and 15.2% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 38 years. For every 100 females there are 89.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 85.7 males. The median income for a household in the city is $58,545, and the median income for a family is $71,891. Males have a median income of $47,742 versus $36,917 for females. The per capita income for the city is $33,825. 9.8% of the population and 6.5% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 12.2% of those under the age of 18 and 7.2% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

External links


- [http://www.cityofwhiteplains.com/ White Plains official website]
- [http://www.citycenteratwhiteplains.com/ City Center at White Plains]
- [http://www.wppl.lib.ny.us/ White Plains Public Library]
- [http://www.wpcsd.k12.ny.us/wpps/site/default.asp White Plains Public Schools]
- [http://www.whiteplainswatch.com/ White Plains Watch]
- [http://www.westchestergov.com/airport/ Westchester County Airport (HPN)]
- [http://www.wphospital.org/ White Plains Hospital Center]
- [http://theamericanrevolution.org/battles/bat_wpla.asp The Battle of White Plains]
- [http://www.galleriaatwhiteplains.com/ Galleria at White Plains]
- [http://www.simon.com/mall/default.aspx?ID=105 The Westchester Mall] Category:Cities in New York Category:Westchester County, New York

Giovanni da Verrazano

– c.1528).]] Giovanni da Verrazano or Verrazzano (c. 1485 – c.1528) was an early explorer of North America. Verrazano sailed for France and is renowned as the European discoverer of many features of the Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada, including New York Harbor, where the Verrazano Narrows Bridge is named in his honor.

Biography

Giovanni da Verrazano was born at Val di Greve, near the city of Florence, in the Tuscany region of Italy in about 1485 and died in 1528 in the Lesser Antilles. Although Verrazano left a detailed account of his journey to North America, many of the other details about his life remain unknown. He was born approximately 30 miles (48 km) south of Florence at Castello Verrazzano, his family's castle near Val di Greve. His date of birth is uncertain, but it was around 1485. Upon reaching his majority (also around 1506–1507) he moved to Dieppe, to pursue a maritime career. He made several voyages to the Eastern Mediterranean, and probably also visited Newfoundland. In 1524 or 1525, he was sent out by King Francis I of France to explore the region between Florida and Newfoundland for a route to the Pacific. He made landfall near Cape Fear on or around March 1. His journey is recorded in his personal journals. He initially sailed south along the coast of present-day South Carolina, then turned north again. Sailing along the Outer Banks of present-day North Carolina, he recorded what he observed to be a large inland sea, which he thought was the beginning of the Pacific Ocean, although it is actually the estuary of the Pamlico Sound. This mistake led mapmakers, starting with Visconte Maggiolo in 1527 and Giovanni's brother Girolamo da Verrazano in 1529, to draw North America as being almost split in two, the two parts connected by a thin land bridge on the East Coast. It would take a century for this error to be corrected. land bridge He made landfall several times and interacted with the Native Americans of the coast. Although he passed the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, he did not enter it or record its existence. He likewise does not record the existence of the Delaware River further north. According to his journals, he sailed along the coast of present-day New Jersey and entered Lower New York Bay. He set anchor in the Narrows, the strait between Staten Island and Long Island, where he received a canoe party of Lenape. He observed what he believed to be a large freshwater lake to the north (Upper New York Bay). He did not observe the existence of the Hudson River. From New York Harbor, he continued along the south coast of Long Island, then crossed Block Island Sound and entered Naragansett Bay, where he probably met the Narragansett people. He followed the coast further east and north to Maine, skirted the southeast coast of Nova Scotia, then returned to France by way of Newfoundland. Later, Verrazano made two more voyages to the Americas. On t