The Johnstown Flood

<p>The first installment of the deeper examination of Charles Sumner's life begins with his early years, including his close relationships with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Samuel Gridley Howe.</p> <p><strong>Research:</strong></p> <ul> <li>"Sumner, Charles (1811-1874)." Encycl ... Show More

<p>This 2019 episode covers Thomas Cook, a pioneer of the idea of a travel agency to manage tourist holidays. But Cook was initially motivated by his support of the temperance movement and his deeply held religious beliefs.&nbsp;</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener ... Show More

<p>Tracy and Holly talk about the proclivity for destruction that was part of the balloon craze. They also discuss cat trees and how hard it is to find one that's cute.&nbsp;</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.< ... Show More

<p>It’s May, 30th 1889, and the South Fork Dam in Western Pennsylvania is in danger. After nearly a month of hard rain, eight inches have fallen in one day, filling the lake behind the dam to capacity. And the dam’s owners, the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club, have cut corner ... Show More

May 31, 1889. It’s raining in Johnstown, PA, causing some small flooding. But the townsfolk were used to it – this city of 30,000 was nestled in a valley between two rivers. What happened next was something every person in Johnstown feared, but hoped would never come true. The ol ... Show More

<p>Engineer John Parke and a team of workers furiously shovel dirt, trying to shore up the South Fork Dam as it threatens to overflow, amid torrential rains. Parke knows these efforts are their only chance of preventing a terrible flood. He decides he has to warn the towns in the ... Show More

<p>Early in the morning on April 22nd, 1927, flood waters from a break in the Mound Landing levee entered the town of Greenville, Mississippi. Within hours, the town was submerged in 10 feet of water. Thousands of residents fought to reach higher ground, desperately clinging to t ... Show More

What can past struggles over American water access tell us about national power and politics? Heather and Joanne place state and federal government responses to the Southwest’s current megadrought in the tangled history of water management, from Aaron Burr’s duplicitous scheme to ... Show More

On this episode of Our American Stories, Richard Cook tells us the story of how in 1943 the town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee was established and went from 58,000 acres of farm land to a town of 75,000 people.Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) Learn more abou ... Show More

With its splendid modern architecture, the Hyatt Regency was the place to be seen in Kansas City in 1981. Beneath space-age walkways, guests drank, laughed and danced... not realizing that the 60 tons of of glass, concrete and steel hanging above their heads was about to come cra ... Show More

In 1980, a stranger walked into a village marketplace in Haiti claiming to be a local landowner named Clairvius Narcisse. After interviewing the man and his family, local authorities confirmed that he was indeed who he said he was. The only problem was that Clairvius had been dea ... Show More