Prairie Avenue is a north–south thoroughfare on the South Side of
Chicago, which historically extended from 16th Street in the Near South
Side community area of Chicago to the city's southern limits and
beyond. The street has a rich history from its origins as a major trail
for horseback riders and carriages. During the last three decades of
the 19th century, a six-block section of the street served as the
residence of many of Chicago’s elite families and an additional
four-block section was also known for grand homes. The upper six-block
section includes the historic Prairie Avenue District, which was
declared a Chicago Landmark and added to the National Register of
Historic Places. Several of Chicago's most important historical figures
have lived on the street, especially after the Great Chicago Fire of
1871 when many of the most important families in the city moved to the
street. Preservation battles regarding properties on the street have
been notable with one having been chronicled on the front page of The
New York Times. As of 2009, the street is being redeveloped.
Redevelopment has extended the street north to accommodate new
high-rise condominiums, such as One Museum Park, along Roosevelt Road
(12th Street) and bordering Grant Park.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prairie_Avenue>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
537:
The current Hagia Sophia building in Istanbul, originally built as a
church before it later became a mosque in 1453 and then a museum in
1935, was inaugurated.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia>
1831:
Aboard HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin left Plymouth, England, on what
became an historic expedition to South America that made his name as a
naturalist.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_voyage_of_HMS_Beagle>
1904:
Scottish author and dramatist J. M. Barrie's stage play Peter Pan, or
The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, about a mischievous little boy who can
fly, premiered in London.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_and_Wendy>
1918:
A public speech by famed Polish pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski in
Poznań sparked the Greater Poland Uprising against Germany and Prussia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignacy_Jan_Paderewski>
2007:
Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto was assassinated while
she was leaving a political rally of Pakistan Peoples Party supporters
at Liaquat National Bagh in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Benazir_Bhutto>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
inexorably (adv):
In an inexorable manner; without the possibility of stopping or
preventing
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/inexorably>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
There never is any such thing as one truth to be found in dramatic art.
There are many. These truths challenge each other, recoil from each
other, reflect each other, ignore each other, tease each other, are
blind to each other. Sometimes you feel you have the truth of a moment
in your hand, then it slips through your fingers and is lost.
--Harold Pinter
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harold_Pinter>