Bøger af Nini Harris

Downtown St. Louis is a national treasure boasting an instantly recognizable skyline, framed by one of the world's great monuments"¬‚¬"the Gateway Arch. The landscape of this remarkable downtown is punctuated by Louis Sullivan"¬‚¬"designed skyscrapers, a train station that was modeled after a walled Medieval city, a street lined with warehouses decorated like wedding cakes, cobblestone streets, the delightful sculptures of Aloe Plaza, and the marble checkerboard paving of Kiener Plaza. This architectural setting has been the stage for great movements in American history"¬‚¬"the migration west, paddle-wheelers plying the Mississippi, the Union Army's victories in the Western Theatre of the Civil War, and the waves of immigrants who worked their way toward citizenship in downtown St. Louis. In this second edition of Downtown St. Louis, author and native St. Louisan NiNi Harris uses the voices of famous visitors and everyday St. Louisans to follow the story of downtown from the days when French settlers grazed their cattle and horses on land that now grows skyscrapers to the celebration in the streets when word spread that the Japanese had surrendered, ending World War II.

St. Louis's history is layered. Each layer, whether the French pioneers establishing St. Louis as a river trading post, or Swiss immigrants starting dairy farms and dairies, or immigrants from Europe putting on the uniforms of the American doughboy, has left an imprint on the city. This Used to Be St. Louis is a fun trip through those layers of history following the story of: the glamorous, urban lofts that had been the factory for ball turrets for World War Two Air Force bombers; the dock of the pasta plant where the Civil War ironclads were built; the elegant townhouse that once served as a Albanian Orthodox Church.

During the Civil War, St. Louis was under martial law. The city was divided to the core. A Most Unsettled State conveys this precarious dynamic through the pens of those who experienced it. Author NiNi Harris collects memoirs, letters, sermons, and accounts that reveal a critical time in a volatile place. Learn firsthand about the women who nursed wounded soldiers, the ministers who were appalled by slavery, and Southern sympathizers whose resentment grew as the Union gained control of St. Louis. The book contains eyewitness accounts of significant events that occurred in the streets, not to mention the writers' insights and feelings. Learn firsthand how Julia Dent Grant responded to the news about the Siege of Vicksburg and how her "neighbors were all Southern in sentiment and could not believe that [she] was not." Experience Camp Jackson through the eyes of then-civilian William Tecumseh Sherman, who, with his seven-year-old son Willie at his side, "heard the balls cutting the leaves above our heads, and saw several men and women running in all directions, some of whom were wounded."

St. Louis has thrived for over two hundred and fifty years"€"from its beginnings as a French settlement in 1764 to its rapid growth in the mid-1800s to the modern metropolis we know today. While many great structures have been lost or demolished, much of this history still lives on. Within the pages of Oldest St. Louis, get to know the history of the Mound City's most iconic buildings and the stories that bring their walls to life. Included are some of the businesses and buildings from the city's inception through the turn of the twentieth century that are examples of St. Louis's living history like Eugene Field House (1854), Bissell Mansion (1820s), and homes in the historic Carondelet neighborhood that may date back to the late 1700s.