The Lynchburg Sesquicentennial half dollar was a commemorative half
dollar designed by Charles Keck and struck by the United States Bureau
of the Mint in 1936, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the
incorporation of Lynchburg, Virginia. The obverse of the coin depicts
former Secretary of the Treasury and U.S. Senator Carter Glass, a native
of Lynchburg. The reverse depicts a statue of the goddess Liberty, her
arms outstretched in welcome. In the background is the Old Lynchburg
Courthouse and the city's Confederate monument. After Congress
authorized the half dollar, the Commission of Fine Arts proposed that it
should bear the portrait of John Lynch, founder of Lynchburg, instead of
Glass, but no portrait of him was known. Glass became the third living
person to appear on a U.S. coin, and the first to be shown alone. Issued
for $1, the coins have appreciated over the years, with 2018 estimates
of value ranging between $225 and $365.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynchburg_Sesquicentennial_half_dollar>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1889:
More than 50,000 people rushed to claim a piece of the
available two million acres (8,000 km2) in the Unassigned Lands, the
present-day U.S. state of Oklahoma, founding Oklahoma City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Rush_of_1889>
1951:
Korean War: The People's Volunteer Army of China attacked
positions occupied mainly by Australian and Canadian forces, starting
the Battle of Kapyong.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kapyong>
2004:
Flammable cargo exploded at Ryongchon Station in Ryongchon,
North Korea, killing at least 54 people and injuring more than a
thousand.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryongchon_disaster>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
agrology:
1. (rare) A subdiscipline of agronomy (the science of utilizing animals,
plants, and soils) and of soil science which addresses the influence of
edaphic (soil-related) conditions on crop production for optimizing it.
2. (chiefly Canada) The science and art of agriculture.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/agrology>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Our own political life is predicated on openness. We do not
believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate
without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to
avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be
free to enquire. We know that the wages of secrecy are corruption. We
know that in secrecy error, undetected, will flourish and subvert.
--Robert Oppenheimer
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Oppenheimer>