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Capital Monuments: Exploring Washington, D.C.
In 1885, the year that Grover Cleveland first assumed the Presidency, the Washington Monument was dedicated and opened to the public later in his administration in 1888. The Washington Monument is one of a number of monuments to the history of the nation that are found in Washington, D.C. All are of interest, and all are worth investigating.
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Stories from the Thousand and One Nights
In 1888, the Russian composer Nakolay Rimsky-Korsakov composed the symphonic suite, Sheherazade, based on some of the very famous Tales of the Arabian Nights. It is one of his most famous pieces, and there is every chance that both Frances and Grover Cleveland heard its music at one time or another.
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Brrrr! Expeditions to the North and South Poles
In the first two decades of the 20th century, five men made history by traveling to and exploring both the North and South Poles. Their exploits were dangerous and exciting, and the whole world followed their adventures through newspaper accounts and magazine articles. Their names are synonymous with determination and bravery: Admiral Robert Peary, Matthew Henson, Dr. Frederic Cook, Robert Scott, and Roald Amundsen.
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Workers, Take A Holiday! The Beginning of Labor Day
Even though he was not a fan of organized labor, on June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed a bill making Labor Day a National holiday. From the last two decades of the 19th century through at least the first three decades of the 20th century, the American Labor Movement carried on a continuous and determined effort to get fair wages and decent working conditions for the nation’s industrial workers. Labor Day was thought of as a day to honor that effort. Do we still think of it that way?
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"Lockwood for President!" Belva Ann, Who?
Belva Ann Lockwood was the first woman admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court (in 1879) and the second woman ever to run for the Presidency of the United States (in 1884). Although soundly defeated for the Presidency (she won only a little over 4,000 votes) by Grover Cleveland, her story remains one of a woman who fought for what she believed in, and left a legacy for all to admire.
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The Inventor Was a Woman
During Frances Folsom Cleveland’s lifetime—the last half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century—American inventors literally changed the face of America. Although we are familiar with such inventors as Thomas Edison or Alexander Graham Bell, we are much less familiar with inventors who were (and are!) women.
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Digging Up the Past: Sir Arthur Evans and the Palace at Knossos
In the first decade of the 20th century (1900-1910), Sir Arthur Evans, a British archaeologist, excavated the Palace of Knossos on the island of Crete. In doing so, he created a major advance in our knowledge about ancient Greece in general, and the so-called Minoan-Crete civilization in particular. Frances Folsom Cleveland Preston, whose second husband, Thomas Jex Preston, Jr. was a professor of art and archaeology, would have been extraordinarily interested in the work in Crete, which uncovered major examples of ancient art.
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Geronimo and the Last of the Indian Wars
In 1886, during the second year of the Cleveland Administration, the Apache warrior, Geronimo, finally surrendered, marking the end of significant Indian Wars in the United States. The story of Geronimo, told in his own words and the words of others, is a story that should not be forgotten by either white or native Americans, because it is a story intricately woven into the fabric of American culture and society.
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From Fingerprints to DNA: You Just Can't Hide!
There are many ways to convict a criminal of a crime, but one of the best is to have evidence that he or she was actually present at the scene! Fingerprints, and later, DNA evidence have been used for over a hundred years to identify who was there (and, more recently, who wasn’t!). Let’s look at the pros and cons of fingerprinting and DNA evidence.
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"For He's Going to Marry Yum Yum": The Rise of the Operetta
Prior to the announcement of the engagement of Grover Cleveland and Frances Folsom, there was much speculation about whether or not the two would actually marry. Interestingly, much of the speculation revolved around Grover Cleveland and Frances’s mother! The gossipers got it right, however, when, during a brief appearance by President Cleveland at a New York City Decoration Day parade less than a week before their actual wedding, bands played the current hit from Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta, The Mikado—“He’s Going to Marry Yum Yum.”
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Iced Tea, Ice Cream Cones, and Other World's Fair Wonders
The Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 was the last great World’s Fair of the 19th century and the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904 was the first of the 20th century. In each case, the exhibitions introduced artistic, industrial, and gastronomic marvels of all kinds. Ice cream and iced tea, for example, were each popularized at one of these two Fairs. The Chicago World’s Fair was held in the year that Grover and Frances Cleveland came back to the White House, and the St. Louis World’s Fair was held four years before Grover Cleveland’s death.
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Vaudeville: Mass Entertainment at the Turn of the 20th Century
One of the characteristics of the years in which the Clevelands' were in the White House was a growing emphasis on mass entertainment. But “mass entertainment” looked a good deal different then than it does today. By and large, “mass” meant that entertainment in a theatre or on a showboat was seen by very large numbers of people, because it traveled to where the people were. By the turn of the 20th century, one leading kind of entertainment was vaudeville, and people on the vaudeville circuits traveled all over the country, performing in cities and small towns—wherever there was a theatre or hall.
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