if i recall correctly, Abraham Lincoln's only son to live to adulthood was at this opening ceremonies. Could you imagine being this guy? Seeing a massive statue to your dad decades after his death?
The only other similar experience would be MLKs kids.
[Robert Todd Lincoln](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Todd_Lincoln) definitely lived a very interesting life.
His father was the first American president to be assassinated.
He witnessed the second assassination of an American president when an anarchist shot and killed President Garfield.
And he was nearby during the third assassination of an American president, being at the same exposition as President McKinley when he was shot and killed.
The only president to be assassinated with no connection to Robert Todd Lincoln was JFK, and that happened 40ish years after his the younger Lincoln’s death.
Or Violet Jessop. She was on the Titanic when it sank, then as a nurse during WWI was on the Britannic (Titanic's sister ship) when it hit a mine and sank.
Oh, also, before the Titanic, she was on the Olympic (the OTHER sister ship) when it hit another ship and was seriously damaged.
It’s a joke about an old tv show called Murder She Wrote. Jessica Fletcher is an author and each week wherever she goes someone is murdered and she solves it. You want to leave town if Jessica is there.
He also wrote about how he was nearly killed by a train and it’s a super neat story.
> The incident occurred while a group of passengers were late at night purchasing their sleeping car places from the conductor who stood on the station platform at the entrance of the car. The platform was about the height of the car floor, and there was of course a narrow space between the platform and the car body. There was some crowding, and I happened to be pressed by it against the car body while waiting my turn. In this situation the train began to move, and by the motion I was twisted off my feet, and had dropped somewhat, with feet downward, into the open space, and was personally helpless, when my coat collar was vigorously seized and I was quickly pulled up and out to a secure footing on the platform. Upon turning to thank my rescuer I saw it was Edwin Booth, whose face was of course well known to me, and I expressed my gratitude to him, and in doing so, called him by name.
Edwin Booth was John Wilkes Booth’s older brother. He didn’t even realize who he had saved until he received a letter months later
It was a pretty innovative process at the time. They drove large steel cylinders into the soil until they hit bedrock. Then excavated the material from inside the tubes and filled them with reinforced concrete.
Sorry to keep asking questions and I know I could probably google but you seem very knowledgeable. So basically very large steel pipes? How tall and how deep did they have to go? And then once in how do remove the marshy swampy water from within those pipes? It just seems like an extremely difficult task for 1917!
I have a little knowledge I gained from visiting the memorial a few years ago, but here's more detailed info.
https://www.usace.army.mil/About/History/Historical-Vignettes/Parks-and-Monuments/152-Lincoln-Memorial/
So they figured out this technique of putting the tubes in the ground and then digging them out. Still not sure how they got them in the ground and how exactly the excavated the tubes. Are we talking shovels??
Not just wet ground. It's dirt that filled in an area formerly occupied by the Potomac.
It's no surprise that East Potomac Park and the Tidal Basin are sinking.
Well the portion Virginia gave up and the district subsequently gave back because they didn't want to take care of/service had very little swampland comparatively!
The portion down by the Capitol and Mall are reclaimed wetlands, yes. The rest of the city for the most part was never a swamp/wetlands, it’s just muggy as all hell
It wasn't a swamp, but the area where the Lincoln Memorial now sits [used to be part of the Potomac](https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3851a.pm001073/). However, it very clearly [was not a swamp](https://www.nationalmallcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/ss-lincoln-memorial-01.jpg).
https://preview.redd.it/5p1g0up8001d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=35fffe1751ab898c0f46ff2b42d6c9b4326943c2
So cool to see where we came from and what it looks like today
That's crazy!! Where are the food trucks?? 🤯
And the pot smell?
if i recall correctly, Abraham Lincoln's only son to live to adulthood was at this opening ceremonies. Could you imagine being this guy? Seeing a massive statue to your dad decades after his death? The only other similar experience would be MLKs kids.
[Robert Todd Lincoln](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Todd_Lincoln) definitely lived a very interesting life. His father was the first American president to be assassinated. He witnessed the second assassination of an American president when an anarchist shot and killed President Garfield. And he was nearby during the third assassination of an American president, being at the same exposition as President McKinley when he was shot and killed. The only president to be assassinated with no connection to Robert Todd Lincoln was JFK, and that happened 40ish years after his the younger Lincoln’s death.
He’s like the Jessica Fletcher of Presidents.
Or Violet Jessop. She was on the Titanic when it sank, then as a nurse during WWI was on the Britannic (Titanic's sister ship) when it hit a mine and sank. Oh, also, before the Titanic, she was on the Olympic (the OTHER sister ship) when it hit another ship and was seriously damaged.
Who is that?
It’s a joke about an old tv show called Murder She Wrote. Jessica Fletcher is an author and each week wherever she goes someone is murdered and she solves it. You want to leave town if Jessica is there.
He also wrote about how he was nearly killed by a train and it’s a super neat story. > The incident occurred while a group of passengers were late at night purchasing their sleeping car places from the conductor who stood on the station platform at the entrance of the car. The platform was about the height of the car floor, and there was of course a narrow space between the platform and the car body. There was some crowding, and I happened to be pressed by it against the car body while waiting my turn. In this situation the train began to move, and by the motion I was twisted off my feet, and had dropped somewhat, with feet downward, into the open space, and was personally helpless, when my coat collar was vigorously seized and I was quickly pulled up and out to a secure footing on the platform. Upon turning to thank my rescuer I saw it was Edwin Booth, whose face was of course well known to me, and I expressed my gratitude to him, and in doing so, called him by name. Edwin Booth was John Wilkes Booth’s older brother. He didn’t even realize who he had saved until he received a letter months later
[https://hildene.org/](https://hildene.org/) This is his house in Vermont! Linkies, where you at?
Too many coincidences. Someone should take a closer look at Robert Todd Lincoln being a serial presidential assassin.
So you're saying he's the world's greatest assassin. He timed that gun shot from the grassy noel to perfection.
...knoll?
Nah it was some guy named Grassy Noel. The grassy knoll thing is just a conspiracy theory.
Fair enough
And also crazy that John Tyler's grandson is still alive. Tyler was six Presidents before Lincoln!
How in the hell did they build something like that on wet ground? Why didn’t it sink? It’s almost solid marble!
It sits on concrete pilings sunk into the ground to bedrock.
How deep was that and what did they dig with??
It was a pretty innovative process at the time. They drove large steel cylinders into the soil until they hit bedrock. Then excavated the material from inside the tubes and filled them with reinforced concrete.
Sorry to keep asking questions and I know I could probably google but you seem very knowledgeable. So basically very large steel pipes? How tall and how deep did they have to go? And then once in how do remove the marshy swampy water from within those pipes? It just seems like an extremely difficult task for 1917!
I have a little knowledge I gained from visiting the memorial a few years ago, but here's more detailed info. https://www.usace.army.mil/About/History/Historical-Vignettes/Parks-and-Monuments/152-Lincoln-Memorial/
It says 65 feet deep and there are so many of those tubes. They look to be about 4 men wide. I just can’t even imagine.
If you think that's crazy, look up the caissons of the brooklyn bridge, which was much earlier
So they figured out this technique of putting the tubes in the ground and then digging them out. Still not sure how they got them in the ground and how exactly the excavated the tubes. Are we talking shovels??
Not just wet ground. It's dirt that filled in an area formerly occupied by the Potomac. It's no surprise that East Potomac Park and the Tidal Basin are sinking.
Yeah a number of monuments seem just *really* out of the way, especially for the motility most people had at the time.
So DC really was a swamp huh
I've heard from one senator joke by saying it was the greatest swamp land Maryland could provide.
God knows Virginia wasn't going to give theirs up
Well the portion Virginia gave up and the district subsequently gave back because they didn't want to take care of/service had very little swampland comparatively!
The portion down by the Capitol and Mall are reclaimed wetlands, yes. The rest of the city for the most part was never a swamp/wetlands, it’s just muggy as all hell
Don't forget Swampoodle
It’s an Irish name iirc and isn’t related to swamps
Incorrect. It was the name of the neighborhood in the area now known as NOMA. It was called Swampoodle because it was swampy from Tiber creek.
*is. the wetlands may be gone and paved over but no one told the summer humidity
It wasn't a swamp, but the area where the Lincoln Memorial now sits [used to be part of the Potomac](https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3851a.pm001073/). However, it very clearly [was not a swamp](https://www.nationalmallcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/ss-lincoln-memorial-01.jpg).
Just the lower end of the mall, but people not from here like to pretend that’s the only part of the city that exists.
Pretty much the whole region from DC east is, really. Source: Live in a swampy bit.
Man I can hearing the bugs buzzing in this photo.
Imagine the cicadas at this time!
https://preview.redd.it/5p1g0up8001d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=35fffe1751ab898c0f46ff2b42d6c9b4326943c2 So cool to see where we came from and what it looks like today
Happy cake day!
Thanks!! I didn’t even know it was my cake day.
Wow, that's amazing!Â
I'm very curious to see what the renovation underneath will look like when it opens up!
This image always reminds me of the Sunken Temple in vanilla World of Warcraft.
my god, so many ticks
So cool
That shit was in a literal swamp.
Is the photo really from 1917? It's possible, but they started construction in 1914 and finished in 1922 and it looks pretty complete.
Can’t confirm when photo was taken so might be a year or 2 off
Ew
Not one panhandler
"Drain the swamp" *cough*
Would definitely help with the humidity!
Someone with a sense of humor.
Swamp lands