Amelia Earhart

Skyscrapers

Mark Twain was an amazingly brilliant author of the 19th century who loved nothing more than art. Twain had done many extraordinary things throughout his lifetime such as learning how to pilot the steamboat, giving humorous and educational lectures, wrote literature beyond the modern day’s literary work, and he even took place in a duel involving fire arms rather than words.

Although Twain witnessed all of these events, they were all, at some point in time, taken away from him without his consent. He enjoyed riding his steam boat up and down the Mississippi River but, due to the occurrence of the Civil War, his beloved river was closed off.

The Marvelous Mark Twain

The Inventor of Basketball

James Naismith was born in 1861 in Ontario, Canada. He created the sport of basketball. He created this new sport while working at the YMCA in Massachusetts. Playing the sport consisted of using a soccer ball and two peach baskets. The goal of the player was to get the soccer ball into the peach basket and score a point.

With the help and support of his employer and students, he gave America a great new hobby. He lived out most of his life watching people play and love his sport. He later died in 1939. James Naismith can be considered one of the most important sport inventors in America.

The Great Chicago Fire

The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from Sunday, October 8, to early Tuesday, October 10, 1871. The fire killed up to 300 people, destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles of Chicago, Illinois, and left more than 100,000 residents homeless.

Though the fire was one of the largest U.S. disasters of the 19th century, and destroyed much of the city's central business district, Chicago was rebuilt and continued to grow as one of the most populous and economically important American cities.