Facts & Science

In 1984, the city of New Orleans hosted the last world's fair held in the United States.

Conceived as part of an ambitious effort to revitalize a dilapidated section of the city and establish New Orleans as a year-round tourist destination, it took more than 12 years of political intrigue and design changes before the gates finally opened. Stretching 84 acres along the Mississippi River, the fair entertained more than seven million guests with a colorful collection of pavilions, rides, and restaurants during its six-month run. While most world's fairs lose money, the 1984 New Orleans World's Fair had the dubious distinction of going bankrupt and almost closing early. However, the $350-million investment did succeed in bringing new life to the area, which is now home to the city's convention center and a bustling arts district.

Rare photographs document the work that saw John F. Kennedy's dream of making it to the moon come true.

It was September 12, 1962, when Pres. John F.Kennedy delivered a speech at Rice University before nearly 50,000 people. By that time, America had launched but four men into space—the suborbital flights of Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom and the nearly identical three-orbit journeys of John Glenn and Scott Carpenter.Buoyed by the success of those missions and cognizant of the danger that lay ahead, the president rearticulated his vision and reissued his challenge to reach the moon before 1970.We choose to go to the moon, in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.* Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.* The assassination of President Kennedy, in the words of flight director Gene Kranz, turned his vision into a quest to do it and do it in the time frame he allotted. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped off the ladder of the lunar module known as Eagle, taking one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

Florida's Space Coast and its explosion into the 20th century thrust these beach towns into the modern age and paved the way for America's space exploration.

Florida's Space Coast is an area that got its name from one of the most exciting times in United States history. Settlers were living in Brevard County as far back as the 1800s, and even after World War II, it was still a quiet place to live. Cities and beach towns along 74 miles of Atlantic Ocean coastline were thrust into the modern age in the early 1950s, when rockets began lighting up the skies above them. The space race had begun, the nation would set a path to put men on the moon, and Florida would become the backdrop for this thrilling chapter of American history. The area's population surged with over 200,000 new residents, and things would never be the same. It was a time when people risked their lives for space exploration, and a community came together to make it happen.

A Major Influence in Kentucky Life

Founding Father Thomas Jefferson had a strong but little-known connection with the constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He had personal and politically motivated influence on the 1792 charter and secretly wrote some controversial state resolutions. Author Denis Fleming draws on firsthand accounts from Jefferson, John Breckinridge and the rarely used papers of George Nicholas, the brain behind Kentucky’s first constitution, to uncover a huge influence from these men. He also demonstrates that modern reforms in job creation, education and the structure of government are rooted in parts of the document favored by Jefferson but dramatically interpreted by today’s governors, legislators and judges.

Go inside the aeronautical history of the Langley Research Center from its beginning.

Following the creation of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in 1915, a unique flight research operations division was established at the nation's first civilian aeronautics research laboratory, the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. Langley flight research personnel helped the nation's aircraft industry bloom during the Golden Era of aviation throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Langley's flight research then helped win World War II with performance-enhancing modifications to new aircraft. During the Cold War, Langley helped the country maintain an edge in aeronautics over its Warsaw Pact rivals.

When the space race began, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created in 1958 and Langley's pilots were instrumental in training astronauts. In addition to advancing rotorcraft during the 1960s and 1970s, Langley research pioneered a multitude of military and civil Vertical Short Takeoff and Landing (V/STOL) concepts. During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Langley research developed advancements in general and commercial aviation technologies.

Between 1824 and 1840, Florida’s government functioned out of several log cabins and rented rooms in the newly established territorial capital of Tallahassee. In 1839, the federal government gave $20,000 to construct a permanent capitol building; the bones of the structure were laid by enslaved craftsmen. The first session took place in 1841, and additional funds requested each year ensured the capitol was complete when Florida entered the Union as the 27th state on March 3, 1845. Over the years, four significant capitol expansions reflected the needs of a growing state until a new and modern Capitol Complex, designed by architect Edward Durrell Stone, was completed in 1977. The aging former capitol was slated for demolition until the people of Florida spoke out in a successful campaign to save the historic building and restore it to its 1902 appearance. Highlighting the photographic collection of the State Archives of Florida, Florida’s Historic Capitol Building reveals stories about the state’s political past, the development of a capital city, and the legacy of an iconic Florida building.

At its opening in 1964, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel was named one of the "Five Wonders of the Modern World" by Reader's Digest magazine.

It was the culmination of a concerted, decade-long push by a group of men, led by Lucius J. Kellam Jr., an Eastern Shore native and businessman who dreamed of opening up the remote Eastern Shore to the bustling Virginia mainland. This $200-million, 17.6-mile-long series of bridges, tunnels, islands, and trestle in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay - long dismissed as impractical and even impossible - won the attention of the world at its opening. It also brought an abrupt end to the ferry service that was long a cornerstone of the New York-to-Florida "Ocean Highway," shuttling millions of cars between the Eastern Shore and Hampton Roads.

With fewer than a thousand remaining in the United States, the covered bridges of Alabama are an important relic of the paths our ancestors took.

Alabama's covered bridges are reminiscent of a more romantic time, when people rode in horse-drawn buggies and couples stole kisses beneath their roofs. But they are also keepers of history - structures built by former slaves and Civil War soldiers. Such places are steeped in legend, including tales of ghostly children and the hanging of a sheriff turned outlaw. Just eleven historic covered bridges survive in Alabama - the oldest dating to the 1850s - but dozens of more recently constructed spans dot the landscape. Wil Elrick and Kelly Kazek provide photos and detailed information on more than fifty Alabama bridges, reveal the fate of the state's lost bridges and delve into the haunting legends surrounding these nostalgic structures.

In the first comprehensive photographic account of the Saturn V, relive the drama of the Space Race through the production of the rocket that would carry Neil Armstrong and crew to the moon.

In 1961, Pres. John F. Kennedy set the challenge of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade. In order to achieve this, NASA partnered with US industry to build the largest rocket ever produced, the Saturn V. It was designed and tested in record time and made its first flight in 1967. Less than two years later and within the timescales set by the president, the crew of Apollo 11 was launched on a Saturn V and watched live by millions of people on televisions around the world. From this launch, Neil Armstrong made his famous giant leap for mankind, later to be followed by 11 other astronauts who also walked on the moon.

Join author and Huntsville native T. Gary Wicks as he uncovers the beginnings and inventions that influenced air and space engineering in Alabama and America.

The air age in Huntsville began more than a century ago with Will Quick's design and construction of a flying machine, which he demonstrated in 1908 for patenting and manufacture. The space age began in Huntsville a half century later with the advent of Wernher Von Braun's Redstone Jupiter C rocket, which launched America's first satellite, Explorer 1, into orbit in 1958. A decade later, Huntsville was at the epicenter of the greatest technological achievement of the 20th century as the Saturn V rocket propelled humankind to the moon. Nowhere in the world is the century's rapid advance of air and space technology more apparent than in Huntsville. This unique evolution of flying machines and space vehicles unfolds in this pictorial documentary, including the dramatic growth of the research facilities and community infrastructure that produced these remarkable inventions.

From Macon to Hawkinsville, the history of Georgia's once thriving textile mills is documented in this visual history.

Cotton was once king throughout Georgia. Reconstruction investors and railroad tycoons saw this potential to open textile mills in the South instead of sending cotton up North. Towns across Central Georgia became a prime spot to locate textile mills because of the access to cotton from local farms, cheap labor, and nearby rivers to power the mills. Textile mills were operated in cities and towns across Central Georgia such as Macon, Columbus, Augusta, Tifton, Forsyth, Porterdale, and Hawkinsville, among others. The textile mills provided employment and sometimes a home in their villages to people across Georgia as the agrarian lifestyle gave way to industrial expansion. In these mills, photographer Lewis Hine captured iconic images of child labor. After the decline of production and closing of the mills, many have been revived into new usages that honor the legacy of the mill workers and their families who lived in the villages of the textile mills across Central Georgia.

From the American Railroad to Space - Discover the fascinating history of the Michoud Assembly Facility.

After an auspicious beginning as a royal land grant from French king Louis XV to a wealthy French citizen of New Orleans in 1763, the land Michoud Assembly Facility occupies remained in private ownership until 1940, when it was sold to the US government. Prior to World War II, the site was used to grow sugar, hunt muskrat, and build railroad and telephone lines. In 1941, the world's largest industrial site was built, covering 43 acres of unobstructed, low-humidity, air-cooled space under one roof to construct C-46 cargo planes. The Korean War required the assembly of Sherman and Patton tanks there, while the space race compelled the design and assembly of the colossal Saturn I, IB, and V rocket boosters for the Apollo program that reported directly to Dr. Wernher von Braun. The 1970s saw the fabrication of the enormous external tank for the Space Shuttle program. Today, Michoud Assembly Facility continues to support the US space program by building major components for the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (or MPCV).

Explore the vibrant history of Smith Mountain Dam in Pittsylvania County, Virginia.

The construction of a dam in the gap of Smith Mountainin Pittsylvania County, Virginia, had been considered as early as the 1920s. However, the dam's construction did not begin until 1960.Smith Mountain Damclosed the gap completely in 1963, and Smith Mountain Lakebegan to fill and form behind it.

The hydroelectric dam consists of 175,000 cubic yards of concrete and has the capacity to generate 605 megawatts of electricity for up to 11 hours.Smith Mountain Damis part of a two-dam system on the Roanoke River, and its companion dam, the Leesville Dam, is a smaller structure designed to pump water back to Smith Mountain Lakeand to also generate hydroelectric power for American Electric Power (AEP) customers.Smith Mountain Lakecovers 20,000 acres and has a 500-mile shoreline, which borders Franklin, Pittsylvania, and Bedford Counties.

Over the years, development near and around Smith Mountain Lakehas exploded, and this has presented both opportunities and challenges in regard to stewardship of the area's natural resources. James A. Nagy, author of Images of America: Franklin County, presents images from various collections, including the AEP archives, showing the construction and development of Smith Mountain Dam and Lake.

With this powerful, evocative new book, St. Petersburg residents Jon Wilson and Rosalie Peck present an informative narrative that explores the history of St. Petersburg, Florida's most vibrant African American neighborhood: 22nd Street South or the deuces.

Throughout the city's history, no other area has personified strength for the African American community like this segregation-era thoroughfare. A haven during the brutal Jim Crow years, 22nd Street South was a place where prominent businessmen and community leaders were the role models and residents and neighbors looked out for one another. The close-knit community encouraged strong, positive values even as its members were treated as second-class citizens in the wider world. Authors Wilson and Peck tell the story of this unique district and how its people and events contributed to and helped to shape the history of St. Petersburg in the context of the greater South and the Civil Rights Movement.

Discover the story behind the potent partnership between High Point University and the furniture industry.

High Point University was founded in 1924 as a small liberal arts college. The High Point Furniture Market was founded in 1921 and has since grown to be the largest wholesale furniture market in the world. Over the last century industry and university have developed an ongoing, mutually beneficial partnership that has resulted in industry-specific programs being offered to students at the school. Discover the history of this relationship and the impact that real-world exposure has had on both the furniture business and the students. Read the stories of several High Point University graduates who are successfully employed in various positions throughout the industry.

High Point professor and furniture industry veteran Richard Bennington unearths the history of a dynamic partnership.

Augusta, Georgia was home to the Augusta Arsenal for more than 125 years. In this compilation of images, familiar places meld together with historic characters to paint the picture of one of Augusta’s longest-standing federal outposts.

In 1791, US president George Washington visited Augusta and later proposed that the arsenal be built along the banks of the Savannah River. The arsenal was completed in 1819 and moved up the hill to Summerville in 1827. Part of the US Army Ordnance Department, the Augusta Arsenal service members and civilian employees were charged with making and repairing small firearms for the military. World War II–era images show the breadth of operations at the arsenal during its busiest time. Community members came together to support the expanded arsenal operations during the war when more than 2,000 employees worked at the Summerville site. Now home to Augusta University’s Summerville campus, many original buildings, sites, and historic objects are preserved for future generations. The historic quadrangle, commandant’s home, and stable are just a few of the many structures preserved by Augusta University. 

Stacey Thompson is director of the Guard House Museum and the Museum Studies Certificate program in the Katherine Reese Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Augusta University. David Tucker, a seasoned writer and editor, is retired from the Medical College of Georgia.

Before the American Revolution, the Fight for Liberty Began in North Carolina

The Regulators Movement in colonial North Carolina was one of the earliest and most powerful acts of rebellion against British rule in America—five years before the official start of the American Revolution. In the 1760s and early 1770s, thousands of backcountry settlers rose up to protest excessive taxation, corrupt royal governors, and a justice system that favored the wealthy elite. This gripping historical account uncovers how the Regulator rebellion helped ignite revolutionary ideas in the southern colonies and reshaped the political landscape of the American frontier. The conflict alienated Loyalists, radicalized future Patriots, and forced many to take sides in a brewing civil war. In fact, the movement’s legacy played a crucial role in the Revolutionary War’s Southern Campaign, where the final and most brutal battles were fought—and lost. Join Author Marcia Phillips for the forgotten history of the first American freedom fighters who challenged tyranny and laid the groundwork for independence. The story of the Regulators is essential to understanding how the struggle for American liberty began not in Boston, but in the hills and backcountry of pre-Revolutionary North Carolina.