Southern Terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad's Montana Subdivision, Pocatello, Idaho

Pocatello, Idaho, is the southern terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad's (UPRR's) Montana Subdivision, formally known as the Utah & Northern line, which stretched north to the former silver and copper mines of Butte, Montana.

     Rail lines used to ...

Bethune Council House National Capital Parks-East

The Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site interprets the life and legacy of Mary McLeod Bethune. From 1943 to 1966, ...

Meridian Hill Park, aka Malcolm X Park

In 1819, John Porter erected a mansion here on Meridian Hill so called because it was on the exact longitude of the original District of Columbia milestone marker, set down on April 15, 1791. In 1829, the mansion became departing ...

Messerer Trapper Cabin

The Swan Valley was homesteaded in the early 1900s. Many homesteaders relied on income from trapping to pay taxes and to purchase food and supplies they weren’t able to produce on their land.

Fred Messerer lived on the Swan Clearwater ...

Piers, Ports, and Wharves

During the mid-1880s, 16 wharves reached into Pensacola Bay along a three-mile stretch of waterfront from Bayou Texar to Bayou Chico. A few years later, around 1900, railroad companies invested in Pensacola’s port facilities, improving wharves and piers in an ...

A History Shaped by Hurricanes

Pensacola’s residents have endured more than 450 years of destructive hurricanes. The first historically recorded hurricane overwhelmed Don Tristán de Luna’s 1559 colonization attempt, destroying most of the ships in his fleet. In 1752, another hurricane drove a subsequent Spanish ...

Supremacy, Siege, and the Sea

Military and naval conflict dominated the 18th century. France, Spain, and Great Britain were aggressors in nearly constant warfare that often extended into North America. Spain established a fledgling colony near what is now the Pensacola Naval Air Station in ...

Developing the Port of Pensacola

When the Spanish arrived in Pensacola Bay in 1559 and again in 1698, they praised the area’s natural resources: the deep-water bay provided a safe harbor for large ships, rivers supplied fresh water, large forests offered a reliable source of ...

Spanish Exploration and Discovery

Early Spanish explorers quickly recognized the importance of Pensacola and its waterways. Remnants of conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez’s expedition sighted Pensacola Bay as early as 1528. In 1539 and Discovery and 1540, Francisco de Maldonado waited in the Bay to ...