A USS Constitution Spar at Topeka High School

From the September 29, 2021, Topeka (Kansas) Capital-Journal "A spar from the USS Constitution, 'Old Ironsides,' is flagpole at  Topeka High School" by Tim Hrenchir.

A school in the capital of landlocked Kansas proudly displays a spar from what is probably the best-known ever U.S. warship, the USS Constitution, also known as the "Old Ironsides."

That spar rises high in the air while serving as the flagpole in Constitution Plaza on the east side of Topeka High School, 800 S.W.  10th Avenue, which recently kicked off a year-long celebration of its 150th  anniversary.

Topeka High acquired the spar (a piece of wood used to support the sail) on 1930.  Barton Phelps, a Topeka High graduate and Santa Fe Railway official was inspecting the Boston Navy Yard for the Department of the Navy, found the spar in storage as the USS Constitution was being refitted.

With the help of then-U.S. Vice President Charles Curtis, a fellow Topeka High graduate, Phelps arranged for the school to acquire the spar, which was dedicated as a flagpole there in October 1931.

By 2004, time and woodpeckers had caused the spar to deteriorate to the point where the school retired it and it was replaced with another spar from the Constitution.  Sadly, the second spar was destroyed by lightning three years later and then replaced with the current spar.  (The article did not say whether this one is also from the USS Constitution, however.)

Topeka High's Constitution Plaza  also is home to the ship's bell of the light cruiser USS Topeka (1944-1969.

--Brock-Perry

Liz and My 9/11 Experience

Every September 11, I take time out on all my blogs to remember this day.

Liz was at Ellis  Elementary School in Round Lake Beach, Illinois,  teaching 3rd graders when she was told about what had happened and was told not to say anything about it for fear her students wouldn't know what was going on and get afraid.

I found out about what happened between 1st and 2nd periods at John T. Magee Middle School in Round Lake, Illinois, as I was watching the hallway during passing time.  A fellow teacher came down the hall and was quietly telling teachers about what was happening.

That was it for my plans for the day.  The rest of that day was spent listening to the radio after I was unable to get anything on my TV.  I would locate the places on a map in the room (I taught social studies, so, of course, had lots of maps) and talked about how the the hard feelings between Arabs and non-Arabs goes back to the Roman times.

We spent the next several days talking about it and I had the students write 500 word reports on their experience since I told them this was, in effect, their Pearl Harbor or Kennedy assassination.

9-11 Was a Result of Events That Took Place Nearly 2000 Years Ago

 I was teaching at John T. Magee Middle School in Round Lake, Illinois, on September 11, 2001, when I was told by another teacher that a plane had hit one of the World Trade Center buildings in New York City.

At that time, all my lesson plans for that day were suspended and we listened on the radio to the events as they transpired.  In between, I told the students about how this attack could be traced back to around 2,000 years ago when the Romans made the Jewish people leave their homeland in Israel and move elsewhere.

With the Jewish people gone, Palestinians moved into the land and it became an Arab country.  After World War II and the Nazi Holocaust, the world was so appalled by what had happened, that the country of Palestine was partitioned to give the Jewish people a homeland of their own.

This did not take into account the fact that Palestinians had lived there for all that time in between.  They and the other Arab countries around them fought back. The United States supported Israel and with that became an enemy of the Arab countries.

And that was why we had 9-11.

--Brock-Perry

"The Old Ironsides" Poem

In case you read the last two posts about the USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides" and were trying to remember that poem you had to memorize in days gone by, here is the first stanza.

I don't remember if we had to learn all three stanzas or just the one.    Either way, I really only just remembered the first two lines anyway.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Aye tear her tattered ensign down

Long has it waved on high,

And many an eye has danced to see 

That banner in the sky;

Beneath it hung that battle shout, 

And burst the cannon's roar;--

The meteor of the ocean air

Shall sweep the clouds no more.

Nor can I remember if we were forced to memorize it in fourth or fifth grade in North Carolina.

Glad this helped save the ship.  That is one magnificent sailing ship.

Rememberizing.  --Brocktution

Saving the USS Constitution-- Part 2: Thanks for the Poem, Mr. Oliver

The USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides" was once saved as well.

On September 16, 1830, a young doctor in Boston, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.  read in his newspaper that the USS Constitution, that legendary frigate from the War of 1812 was going to be sold for scrap.  He immediately dashed off an indignant poem that many of us had to learn in elementary school and sent it to the paper.

I was one of those kids who had to memorize it, which I did in either 4th or 5th grade.  I can see you, if you are of a certain age (I don't think they make kids memorize anymore), mouthing the words right now.  You know:  "Aye, tear her tattered ensign down/Long has it waved on high."

In case you're wondering, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. was the father of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr..

That poem went viral.  Children all over the United States sent in their pennies.  Adults followed suit.  Enough money was collected to save her.  Today, she is berthed in honored glory at Pier One  of the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston, the world's oldest commissioned warship

After all, the Navy's official motto is "Don't Give Up the Ship."

Talk About a Great U.S. Navy Duty Station!!  --Brock-Perrry

Eight Facts About Theodosia Burr Alston-- Part 1: A Remarkable Woman

From July 11, 2016, Mental Floss "8 facts about Theodosia Burr Alston" by Chloe Arnold.

1.  SHE WAS CONSIDERED A PRODIGY  Aaron Burr raised a very educated and well-rounded daughter.  She studied Greek, Latin and reportedly had read all of  "the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by the time she was ten.  She had a very progressive education for the time.

She was possibly the first woman in America to have what was considered a college education.  According to Felton Pidgin in his 1908 biography on Theodosia:  "Her personal charm, her amiability,  her moral heroism,  and her educational acquirements entitle her to he designation which we have given  her THE FIRST GENTLEWOMAN OF HER TIME."

--Cooter

3,188 Posts and Nine Years Later

As of this post, this blog is now nine years old and this is my 3,188th post.

I started three new blogs in 2012, this being one of them.  The other two are my Running the Blockade: Civil War Navy and Tattooed On Your Soul:  World War II blog.  2012 was a significant anniversary year for the wars:  200th for the War of 1812, 70th of World War II and 150th of the Civil War.

Even though I was supposed to teach the War of 1812 to my 7th grade students, I usually didn't get there.  I also knew that I didn't know a whole lot about the War of 1812 so this looked like a perfect way to gain some knowledge.  And, I have learned a lot about it.

The very first thing was the difference between Upper and Lower Canada.  Here in the United States, we would regard Lower as being southward and Upper northward.  But, in Canada, this is based on the St. Lawrence River which flows south to north, so Upper Canada is the part by the United States.  I didn't know that.

The sign off, by the way, Brock-Perry stands for a hero on each side during the War of 1812.  Brock is Sir Isaac Brock and Perry is Oliver Hazard Perry.

Learning All the Time.  --Brock-Perry

The USS Constitution After the War of 1812

From History Link:  Frigate USS Constitution, on a tour of the Pacific ports, arrives in Seattle  on May 31, 1933"  by Daryl C. McClary.

After the War of 1812, the Constitution was refitted and served as the flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron.  In 1830, it was determined that the ship was unseaworthy and  Congress considered scrapping her.  But  public sentiment, and especially Oliver Wendell Holmes' memorable poem "Old Ironsides" (I had to memorize it while in fifth grade) saved it.

The Constitution was refitted and repaired, refitted and returned to commissioned status four times between 1832 and 1907.  From 1897 to 1925, she was on exhibition at Boston Naval Shipyard.

In 1924 it was found that she was again in dire need of repairs.  Congress authorized yet another rebuild, but by public subscription and a national voluntary  campaign to raise the necessary funds began.

--Brock-Perry

Montgomery Bell-- Part 3: His Money used for the Montgomery Bell Academy

Montgomery Bell gave $20,000 in his will to educate children ages 10-14 who would otherwise not be able to get an education and that bequest has resulted in the Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tennessee

The Montgomery Bell Academy was established in 1867 as the successor to two previous schools, one of which was the Western Military Institute, which Sam Davis, the "Boy Hero of the Confederacy" attended and the University of Nashville.

In 1881, the school moved to an estate and received the name Montgomery Bell Academy because of his endowment to the school with the stipulation that it remain all male.

It still exists.

--Brock-Perry

Montgomery Bell-- Part 1: "The Iron Master of Middle Tennessee

Wikipedia

Born June 3, 1769 in Chester County, Pennsylvania.  Died April 1, 1855, in Dickson County, Tennessee.

A manufacturing entrepreneur who was credited for much of the economic development of early Middle Tennessee.  He earned the title "Iron Master of Middle Tennessee."  He also founded one of the largest non-sectarian all-boys private secondary schools in the country.that still bears his name.

He purchased James Robertson's ironworks at Cumberland Furnace, Tennessee, in 1804 for $16,000.

--Brock-Perry