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Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater inflow into the bay is the Hillsborough River, which flows into Hillsborough Bay in downtown Tampa. Many other smaller rivers and streams also flow into Tampa Bay, resulting in a large watershed area.

The shores of Tampa Bay were home to the Weedon Island Culture and then the Safety Harbor culture for thousands of years. These cultures relied heavily on Tampa Bay for food, and the waters were rich enough that they were one of the few Native American cultures that did not have to farm. The Tocobaga was likely the dominant chiefdom in the area when Spanish explorers arrived in the early 1500s, but there were likely smaller chiefdoms on the eastern side of the bay which were not well documented. The indigenous population had been decimated by disease and warfare by the late 1600s, and there were no permanent human settlements in the area for over a century. The United States took possession of Florida in 1821 and established Fort Brooke at the mouth of the Hillsborough River in 1824.

The communities surrounding Tampa Bay grew tremendously during the 20th century. Today, the area is home to about 4 million residents, making Tampa Bay a heavily used commercial and recreational waterway and subjecting it to increasing amounts of pollutants from industry, agriculture, sewage, and surface runoff. The bay's water quality was seriously degraded by the early 1980s, resulting in a sharp decline in sea life and decreased availability for recreational use. Greater care has been taken in recent decades to mitigate the effects of human habitation on Tampa Bay, most notably upgraded sewage treatment facilities and several sea grass restoration projects, resulting in improved water quality over time. However, occasional red tide and other algae blooms have caused concern about the ongoing health of the estuary.

The term "Tampa Bay" is often used as shorthand to refer to all or parts of the Tampa Bay area, which comprises many towns and cities in several counties surrounding the large body of water. Local marketing and branding efforts (including several professional sports teams, tourist boards, and chambers of commerce) commonly use the moniker "Tampa Bay", furthering the misconception that it is the name of a particular municipality when this is not the case.

Origin
Tampa Bay formed approximately 6,000 years ago as a brackish drowned river valley type estuary with a wide mouth connecting it to the Gulf of Mexico. Prior to that time, it was a large fresh water lake, possibly fed by the Floridan Aquifer through natural springs. Though the exact process of the lake-to-bay transformation is not completely understood, the leading theory is that rising sea levels following the last ice age coupled with the formation of a massive sink hole near the current mouth of the bay created a connection between the lake and the gulf.

Ecology
Tampa Bay is Florida's largest open-water estuary, extending over 400 sqmi and forming coastlines of Hillsborough, Manatee and Pinellas counties. The freshwater sources of the bay are distributed among over a hundred small tributaries, rather than a single river. The Hillsborough River is the largest such freshwater source, with the Alafia, Manatee, and Little Manatee rivers the next largest sources. Because of these many flows into the bay, its large watershed covers portions of five Florida counties and approximately 2200 sqmi.

The bottom of Tampa Bay is silty and sandy, with an average water depth of only about 12 ft. The relatively shallow water and tidal mud flats allow for large sea grass beds, and along with the surrounding mangrove-dominated wetlands, the bay provides habitat for a wide variety of wildlife. More than 200 species of fish are found in the waters of the bay, along with bottlenose dolphins and manatees, plus many types of marine invertebrates including oysters, scallops, clams, shrimp and crab. More than two dozen species of birds, including brown pelicans, several types of heron and egret, Roseate spoonbills, cormorants, and laughing gulls make their year-round home along its shores and small islands, with several other migratory species joining them in the winter. The cooler months are also when warm-water outfalls from power plants bordering the bay draw one out of every six West Indian manatees, an endangered species, to the area.

Conservation
Tampa Bay was designated as an "estuary of national significance" by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 1990. Two National Wildlife Refuges are located in Tampa Bay: Pinellas National Wildlife Refuge and the refuge on Egmont Key. Most of the islands (including several man-made islands built from dredge spoil ) and sandbars are off-limits to the public, due to their fragile ecology and their use as nesting sites by many species of birds. The Tampa Bay Estuary Program keeps watch over the Bay's health.

Pollution
Tampa Bay was once teeming with fish and wildlife. People of the Safety Harbor culture lived almost entirely from mullet, shellfish, sea turtles, manatees, crabs, and other bounties harvested from the sea. As late as the early 20th century, visitors still reported huge schools of mullet swimming across the bay in such numbers that they "impeded the passage of boats".

The establishment and rapid growth of surrounding communities during the 20th century caused serious damage to the bay's natural environment. Heavy harvesting of fish and other sea life, constant dredging of shipping channels, and the clearing of mangroves for shoreline development were important factors. Most damaging was the discharge of waste water and other pollutants into the bay, which drastically degraded water quality. The bay's health reached a low point in the 1970s. The water was so murky that sunlight could not reach the shallow bottom, reducing sea grass coverage by more than 80% compared to earlier in the century and severely impacting the marine ecosystem. Many previously common species became scarce, and bay beaches were regularly closed due to unsafe levels of bacteria and pollutants.

Beginning in the early 1980s after federal and state legislation to improve water quality, authorities installed improved water treatment plants and tightened regulation of industrial discharge, leading to slow but steady improvement in water quality and general ecological health. By 2010, measures of sea grass coverage, water clarity, and biodiversity had improved to levels last seen in the 1950s.

However, industrial and agricultural runoff along with runoff from developed areas pose a continuing threat to marine ecosystems in the bay, particularly by clouding the water with sediments and algae blooms, and seagrass coverage declined slightly in the late 2010s. Wastewater pollution from old phosphate plants near the shoreline has been a particular problem. For example, in 2004, a leak of 65 million gallons of acidic water from a Cargill phosphate plant on the bay's southern shore severely impacted wetlands in the vicinity of the spill.

And in April 2021, a breach of a wastewater reservoir at the long-closed Piney Point phosphate plant sent over 200 millions gallons of nutrient-rich mine tailings streaming into lower Tampa Bay. The resulting growth of red tide algae led to an ecocide and killed over 1000 tons of fish in the bay and along the nearby gulf coast and may lead to further damage to seagrass beds.

Climate change
Tampa Bay, like other parts of Florida, is extremely vulnerable to sea level rise caused by climate change. The sea level has risen 8 inches since 1946. Tampa Bay is also one of the areas in the US most at risk when hurricanes arrive because of its location, growing population, and the geography of the bay.

The Tampa Bay Regional Resiliency Coalition coordinates the region's response to climate change. Communities throughout the Bay, including St. Petersburg and Tampa are adapting infrastructure and buildings to face changes in sea level.

Early inhabitants
Humans have lived in Florida for millennia, at least 14,000 years. Due to worldwide glaciation, sea levels were much lower at the time, and Florida's peninsula extended almost 60 miles west of today's coastline. Paleo-Indian sites have been found near rivers and lakes in northern Florida, leading to speculation that these first Floridians also lived on Tampa Bay when it was still a freshwater lake. Evidence of human habitation from this early period has been found at the Harney Flats site, which is approximately 10 miles east of the current location of Tampa's downtown waterfront.

The earliest evidence of human habitation directly on the shores of Tampa Bay comes from the Manasota culture, a variant of the Weeden Island culture, who lived in the area beginning around 5,000–6,000 years ago, after sea levels had risen to near modern levels and the bay was connected to the Gulf of Mexico. This culture, which relied almost exclusively on the bay for food and other resources, was in turn replaced by the similar Safety Harbor culture by approximately 800 AD. The pre-contact Indigenous nation most associated with the Tampa Bay are the historic Tocobaga nation, who are known to be among the ancestors of the contemporary Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes of Florida.

European exploration
The Safety Harbor culture was dominant in the area at the time of first contact with Europeans in the mid-1500s. The Tocobaga, who built their principal town near today's Safety Harbor in the northwest corner of Old Tampa Bay, are the most documented group from that era because they had the most interactions with Spanish explorers. However, there were many other coastal villages organized into various small chiefdoms all around the bay.

Not finding gold or silver in the vicinity and unable to convert the native inhabitants to Christianity, the Spanish did not remain in the Tampa Bay area for long. However, diseases they introduced decimated the native population over the ensuing decades, leading to the near-total collapse of every established culture across peninsular Florida. Between this depopulation and the indifference of its colonial owners, the Tampa Bay region would be virtually uninhabited for almost 200 years.

Tampa Bay was given different names by early mapmakers. Spanish maps dated from 1584 identifies Tampa Bay as Baya de Spirito Santo ("Bay of the Holy Spirit"). A map dated 1695 identifies the area as Bahia Tampa. Later maps dated 1794 and 1800 show the bay divided with three different names, Tampa Bay west of the Interbay peninsula and Hillsboro Bay on the east with an overall name of Bay of Spiritu Santo. At other times, the entire bay was identified as The Bay of Tocobaga.

United States control
The United States acquired Florida from Spain in 1821. The name Spirito Santo seems to have disappeared from maps of the region in favor of "Tampa Bay" (sometimes divided into Tampa and Hillsboro Bays) soon after the US established Fort Brooke at the mouth of the Hillsborough River in 1824. For the next several decades, during the Seminole Wars, the Tampa Bay would be a primary point of confrontation, detention, and forced expulsion of the Seminole & Miccosukee people of Florida. Fort Brooke, Fort Dade, and the American military's miscellaneous Egmont Key facilities were the primary sites associated with the removal of the Seminole in the Floridian leg of the Trail of Tears.

For the next 100 years, many new communities were founded around the bay. Fort Brooke begat Tampa on the northeast shore, Fort Harrison (a minor military outpost on Florida's west coast) begat Clearwater, the trading post of "Braden's Town" developed into Bradenton on the south, and St. Petersburg grew quickly after its founding in the late 19th century, on the western bay shore opposite Tampa. By 2010, the Tampa Bay Area was home to over 4 million residents.

By sea
As Tampa began to grow in the mid-1800s, roads across central Florida were still just rough trails and rail lines did not yet extend down the Florida peninsula, so the most convenient means of traveling to and from the area was by sea. By the late 19th century, however, the shallow nature of Tampa Bay made it impossible for large modern vessels with deeper drafts to reach the city of Tampa's downtown wharves on Hillsboro Bay. Most ships would anchor well out from shore and transfer cargo and passengers to and from the city in smaller boats.

Henry B. Plant's railroad line reached the area in 1884 and ran across the Interbay Peninsula to Old Tampa Bay, where he built the town and shipping facility of Port Tampa at its terminus. In 1898, Plant used his connections in the federal government to make Port Tampa a major embarkation point for the U.S. Army during the Spanish–American War, leading to the U.S. Congress appropriating funds for the United States Army Corps of Engineers to begin the first large dredging operation in Tampa Bay. A deep shipping channel was created which linked Port Tampa to the mouth of the bay, enabling Plant to greatly expand his steamship line. In 1917, the Corps of Engineers dredged another channel from the mouth of Tampa Bay to the Port of Tampa, instantly making the city an important shipping center.

The Corps of Engineers currently maintains more than 80 miles of deep-water channels in Tampa Bay up to a depth of 47 feet. These must be continuously re-dredged and deepened due to the sandy nature of the bay bottom. While dredging has enabled seaborne commerce to become an important part of the Tampa Bay area's economy, it has also damaged the bay's water quality and ecology. More care has been taken in recent decades to lessen the environmental impact of dredging. Dredged material has also been used to create several spoil islands on the eastern side of Hillsboro Bay. These islands have become important nesting sites for many seabirds, including threatened species such as oystercatchers, and have been designated as "sanctuary islands" that are off-limits to boaters.

Ports on Tampa Bay

 * Port Tampa Bay (known as the Port of Tampa until 2014): Oldest port on Tampa Bay, can trace its roots to the wharves of Fort Brooke in the 1820s. Currently centered east and southeast of downtown Tampa on Hillsboro and McKay Bays. Largest port in Florida; 10th largest in the nation. Port Tampa Bay accommodates half of Florida's cargo in the form of bulk, roll-on/roll-off, refrigerated and container cargo, and petroleum products. Home to extensive ship repair and building industry and several cruise ship terminals.
 * Port Tampa: Established in 1885 by Henry B. Plant at the terminus of the Plant System railroad line on the eastern shore of Old Tampa Bay. Eclipsed in tonnage and importance by the Port of Tampa in the early 1900s, but still an important arrival point for aviation fuel which is piped to nearby Tampa International Airport and MacDill Air Force Base.
 * Port Manatee: Located on the southern shore of Lower Tampa Bay. Most refrigerated dockside space of any Gulf of Mexico port. Ranked fifth among Florida's fourteen seaports in total annual cargo tonnage.
 * The Port of St. Petersburg: Located on the St. Petersburg waterfront on Old Tampa Bay and operated by the city. Smallest of Florida's ports, caters mainly to private vessels. Site of U.S. Coast Guard station.

By land

In the early 20th century, traveling overland between the growing communities around Tampa Bay was an arduous process. The trip between Tampa and St. Petersburg was almost 50 mi around the north end of Old Tampa Bay and took up to 12 hours by train and over a full day over uncertain roads by car. The trip between St. Petersburg and Bradenton was even longer – over 70 mi all the way around Tampa Bay, a trip that still took about two hours into the 1950s.

In 1924, the Gandy Bridge over Old Tampa Bay reduced the driving distance between Tampa and St. Petersburg to 19 mi. Ten years later, the Davis Causeway (later renamed the Courtney Campbell Causeway) was built between Clearwater and Tampa. More bridges criss-crossed Tampa Bay over the ensuing decades, making travel between the surrounding communities much faster and furthering the economic development of the Tampa Bay area.

Bridges that cross Tampa Bay

 * Sunshine Skyway Bridge: Opened 1954. Spans Lower Tampa Bay from Bradenton on the south to St. Petersburg on the north, greatly reducing travel times between Manatee and Pinellas Counties. Part of I-275 & US 19.
 * Gandy Bridge: Opened 1924 (first roadway bridge over Tampa Bay). Spans Old Tampa Bay from Tampa on the east to St. Petersburg on the west. Part of U.S. Route 92.
 * Howard Frankland Bridge: Opened 1960. Spans middle of Old Tampa Bay from Tampa on the east to St. Pete on the west. Part of I-275.
 * Courtney Campbell Causeway: Opened 1934. Spans northern Old Tampa Bay from Tampa on the east to Clearwater on the west. Part of Florida State Road 60.
 * Bayside Bridge: Opened 1993. Runs roughly parallel to the western shore of Old Tampa Bay from Largo / St. Petersburg on the south to Clearwater on the north. Built to help relieve traffic congestion on nearby US-19.
 * 22nd Street Causeway: Opened 1926. Bridge portion spans the mouth of McKay Bay near Port Tampa Bay. Part of U.S. Route 41.

By air

The difficulty of traveling between Tampa and St. Petersburg in the early 20th century inspired the world's first scheduled air service, the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, which operated during the tourist season of 1914.

While the construction of bridges made air travel across Tampa Bay unnecessary, several airports have been built along the shoreline. Albert Whitted Airport on the St. Petersburg waterfront and Peter O. Knight Airport on Davis Island near downtown Tampa were both established in the 1930s. Later, Tampa International Airport and St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport were established on opposite sides of Old Tampa Bay, and MacDill Air Force Base opened on the southern tip of Tampa's Interbay Peninsula.

title: Tampa Bay


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Voorhees State Park

Voorhees State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is 1400 acres in area and is located in Lebanon Township. The park is operated and maintained by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry.

History
Voorhees State Park began when Foster M. Voorhees, a former governor of New Jersey, donated his 325 acre farm to the people of New Jersey in 1929. Succeeding land acquisitions increased the park size to 640 acre.

During the Great Depression in the 1930s, the park served as a camp for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which planted trees and constructed shelters and trails throughout the park. The park offers views of Round Valley Reservoir and Spruce Run Reservoir. Camping is allowed in the park for a fee, depending on the type of campsite. There are 47 tent and trailer campsites. There are 2 group campsites that can accommodate up to 50 people each. There also are 3 rustic, cabin-like structures with wood stoves for heat. Each cabin can accommodate up to 4 people in 2 double-deck single bunk beds. All sites and cabins have fire rings and picnic tables. Toilets and showers are within walking distance from the all campsites and cabins. The trailer sanitary station is open April 1 through October 31. Campsites and cabins are open all year.

In 1965, the New Jersey Astronomical Association built the Paul Robinson Observatory on land leased from the state. The observatory features a 26 in Cassegrain reflecting telescope and offers public sky-watch programs.

Voorhees State Park main entrance is across the street (County Route 513) from Voorhees High School; also named after Foster M. Voorhees.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Voorhees State Park


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Clapton F.C.

Clapton Football Club is a football club in east London. One of the most successful clubs in non-League football during the first quarter of the twentieth century, they won the FA Amateur Cup five times between 1907 and 1925 and had several players selected by the England national team. In 2019 they were evicted from their long-time home, the Old Spotted Dog Ground in Forest Gate. After playing at other grounds for several seasons, they withdrew from the non-League pyramid at the end of the 2023–24 season.

History
Established in 1877 under the name Downs Football Club and initially based at Hackney Downs in Lower Clapton, the club originally played in dark blue shirts and white shorts, with a distinctive white Maltese cross on the left breast. The following year the club adopted its current name. Clapton began competing in the FA Cup in 1888–89, and in 1890 became the first club from Great Britain to play in continental Europe, defeating a Belgian XI 7–0 in Antwerp.

In 1894 Clapton became founder members of the Southern League, alongside Southampton, Luton Town, Millwall and Reading, and were placed in Division One. Finishing eighth in a nine-club league they were forced to play a test match to avoid relegation to Division Two, defeating Sheppey United 5–1. The following season saw them finish eighth again, but despite winning the test match against the 1st Scots Guards, the club resigned from the league as several of the other clubs turned professional.

The 1904–05 season saw Clapton reach the final of the FA Amateur Cup for the first time, losing 3–2 to West Hartlepool. The following season they became founder members of the Isthmian League, finishing as runners-up in its inaugural season. They won the FA Amateur Cup in 1906–07, defeating Stockton 2–1 in the final. In 1908–09, they won the Amateur Cup again with a 6–0 win against Eston United. The 1910–11 season saw them win their first Isthmian League title, and in 1914–15 the club won a third Amateur Cup with a 1–0 victory over Bishop Auckland in the final.

Clapton won another Isthmian League title in 1922–23. The following season saw them win their fourth Amateur Cup, defeating Erith & Belvedere 3–0 in the final. They went on to retain their title as Amateur Cup holders the following season, beating Southall FC 2–1 at the Old Den. In the same season, three Clapton players were selected for the England national team. In 1925–26 the club reached the third round of the FA Cup after wins against Norwich City and Ilford in the first and second round. They were eventually knocked out, losing 3–2 at 'home' to Swindon Town, a match that was played at West Ham's Boleyn Ground and drew a crowd of 27,000. The club would go on to reach the first round of the FA Cup again in 1926–27, 1927–28 and 1957–58, losing to Brentford, Luton Town and Queens Park Rangers respectively.

In 1975–76 Clapton finished bottom of Division One of the Isthmian League, dropping down to Division Two, which was renamed Division One in 1977. At the end of the 1981–82 season they were relegated to Division Two, but bounced back at the first time of asking as champions. The club won the Essex Senior Cup for a third time in 1984, but were relegated again at the end of the 1984–85 season, dropping into Division Two North. In 1991 the club was placed in Division Three after league reorganisation, which later became Division Two due to further reorganisation. In 2005–06 Clapton finished in bottom of the league for the second consecutive season, and subsequently joined the Essex Senior League after Division Two was disbanded.

In 2015–16 Clapton won the Gordon Brasted Memorial Trophy, beating Stansted 4–0 in the final. After finishing second-from-bottom of the Essex Senior League in 2022–23, the club were relegated to Division One South of the Eastern Counties League. They were due to be transferred to Division One of the Southern Counties East League for the 2024–25 season, but withdrew from the league in June.

Ground
Clapton originally played on pitches at Hackney Downs, before moving to North Millfield in Lower Clapton in 1880. The club then briefly played at Elm Farm and Pilgrims Road and then relocated to the Old Spotted Dog Ground in Forest Gate in 1887 after it was vacated by St Bartholomew's Hospital. The first match at the new ground was played on 29 September 1888, a 1–1 draw with Old Carthusians in front of a crowd of 700.

During the 2001–02 Isthmian League season, Clapton spent the entire season playing away from the Old Spotted Dog due to the club's failure to undertake the Isthmian League's required ground improvements. Clapton played the majority of their home fixtures at Aveley's Mill Field ground, as well as groundsharing with Purfleet, Barking & East Ham United, Wembley and Hertford Town. Clapton eventually returned to the Old Spotted Dog in 2003.

In the opening weeks of the 2019–20 season, Clapton, and fellow tenants Hackney Wick, were forced to vacate the Old Spotted Dog due to non-payment of rent by the leaseholders, Newham Community Leisure Trust Limited, a charity in which Clapton FC 'Chief Executive' was a Trustee/Director. During Clapton's exile, they played at Redbridge's Oakside Stadium and Aveley's new Parkside ground. On 17 September 2019 it was confirmed that Clapton had not been awarded a lease to remain at the Old Spotted Dog, with breakaway club Clapton Community winning the lease bid. On 12 November 2019, it was announced Clapton would groundshare with Southend Manor at Southchurch Park for the remainder of the season. In July 2020 it was confirmed that Clapton would play at the Terence McMillan Stadium in Plaistow for the forthcoming season.

Supporters
During Clapton's peak in the late 19th century, the club averaged a regular home crowd of 4,000 spectators. During this period, the club were nicknamed the Doggies after their relocation to Forest Gate.

In 2012 a supporters group named the Clapton Ultras was started. The group followed the European ultras tradition and developed around local fans disengaged with modern professional football, migrants to East London and those with an opposition to discrimination and far-right politics. Following the creation of the Ultras, the club's home attendances rose from an average of 20 in 2011–12 to 335 by the 2015–16 season. Two clubs have refused to admit Clapton fans for their matches: Southend Manor and Metropolitan Police. In July 2017, supporters won a high court injunction against Clapton chief executive Vincent McBean, who had attempted to liquidate Newham Community Leisure Limited, the charity that held the lease on the Old Spotted Dog ground.

After Clapton discontinued their reserve and youth teams, in 2016 Clapton supporters founded Downs Football Club with the club name, badge and kit all in homage to the original Downs Football Club of 1878. In 2018 some supporters formed a breakaway fan-owned club under the name of Clapton Community, joining the Middlesex County League for the 2018–19 season, playing at Wadham Lodge. After Clapton Community were promoted to the Eastern Counties League in 2023, the two clubs played each other for the first time in October 2023.

Honours

 * Isthmian League
 * Champions 1910–11, 1922–23
 * Division Two champions 1982–83
 * Essex Senior League
 * Gordon Brasted Memorial Trophy winners 2016
 * FA Amateur Cup
 * Winners 1906–07, 1908–09, 1914–15, 1923–24, 1924–25
 * London Senior Cup
 * Winners 1888–89, 1908–09, 1910–11
 * Essex Senior Cup
 * Winners 1890–91, 1924–25, 1925–26, 1954–55, 1983–84
 * Middlesex Senior Cup
 * Winners 1888–89
 * Essex Senior Trophy
 * Winners 1988–89
 * Essex Thames Side Trophy
 * Winners 1982–83, 1983–84
 * AFA Invitational Cup
 * Winners 1965–66, 1970–71 (shared)
 * London Charity Cup
 * Winners 1898–99, 1899–1900, 1901–02, 1902–03, 1923–24
 * West Ham Charity Cup
 * Winners 1889–90, 1903–04, 1906–07, 1907–08, 1922–23, 1924–25, 1925–26
 * London Junior Cup
 * Winners 1887–88, 1892–93, 1907–08
 * London County Amateur Cup
 * Winners 1908–09, 1909–10, 1910–11
 * Liege Tournament
 * Joint Winners 1923–24
 * Worthing Charity Cup
 * Winners 1926–27
 * W J Collins Trophy
 * Winners 1968–69
 * Visitors' Trophy
 * Joint Winners 1968–69
 * Lee Rackett Memorial Trophy
 * Winners 1972–73, 1984–85
 * John Ullman Trophy
 * Winners 1990–91
 * Ilford Hospital Cup
 * Winners 1908–09

Records

 * Best FA Cup performance: Third round, 1925–26
 * Best FA Trophy performance: Second qualifying round, 1980–81, 1983–84
 * Best FA Vase performance: Second round, 1989–90, 1992–93, 2003–04
 * Record attendance: 12,000 vs Tottenham Hotspur, FA Cup, 1898–99.

title: Clapton F.C.


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Burgon Society

 * Not be confused with the Dean Burgon Society, concerned with the advocacy of the King James Bible

The Burgon Society is a society and educational charity for the study and research of academic dress. The society was founded in 2000 and is named after John William Burgon (1813–1888) from whom the Burgon shape academic hood takes its name. Its current president is Graham Zellick, CBE, QC, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of London. His predecessors were James P. S. Thomson, former Master of London Charterhouse (2011–16) and the organist John Birch.

In 2010, the society received charity status from the Charity Commission.

Activities
The society publishes Transactions of the Burgon Society, an annual journal of peer-reviewed research into academic dress. It holds a spring conference each year and organises visits to robemakers, universities and other institutions.

One of the society's founding fellows, Nicholas Groves, created the Groves classification system for academic dress, in which the most common shapes of British gowns, hoods and caps are coded for easy reference. He also designed the gowns of the University of Malta. His design, selected from entries submitted in an international competition, debuted in November 2011 at a degree ceremony in Valletta, Malta.

Membership
Membership is open to all who support the aims of the society. Fellowship (FBS) is awarded to members on the successful submission of a piece of original work on a topic approved by the executive committee. Fellowship may also be awarded to any member who has demonstrated in some other way a significant contribution to the study of academic dress. Occasionally, the fellowship may be awarded honoris causa.

Patrons
The patrons of the society are:
 * The Rt Revd and Rt Hon. The Lord Chartres, GCVO, former Bishop of London
 * The Rt Revd Graeme Knowles, CVO, former Dean of St Paul's

title: Burgon Society


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Memphis Showboats

The Memphis Showboats were an American football franchise in the United States Football League. They entered the league in its expansion in 1984 and made the 1985 playoffs, losing in the semifinal round to the Oakland Invaders. Perhaps the most prominent players on the Showboats' roster during their two seasons of existence were future Pro Football Hall of Fame member Reggie White and future professional wrestler "The Total Package" Lex Luger.

History
Memphis food manufacturer Logan Young was awarded an expansion franchise for Memphis on July 17, 1983. However, soon after hiring Memphis native and former college coach Pepper Rodgers as head coach and signing a lease to play in the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, he discovered that most of his assets were tied up in a trust fund that he couldn't access. Ultimately, he was forced to take on limited partners, then sell controlling interest to cotton magnate William Dunavant, remaining as team president.

Despite White's play, the Showboats finished fourth in the Southern Division and missed the playoffs. Like the rest of the division, they were left far behind by the Birmingham Stallions and Tampa Bay Bandits. However, like most of the USFL's other Southern teams, they were a runaway hit at the box office. Indeed, they were one of the few teams whose crowds actually grew as the season progressed.

The Showboats broke through in 1985, finishing fourth in the East and earning a playoff berth. They should have traveled to Denver's Mile High Stadium to face the Denver Gold. However, the Gold were forced to travel to Memphis under pressure from ABC Sports. The Gold's local support had all but vanished due to the USFL's planned move to the fall, and ABC did not want the embarrassment of showing a half-empty stadium. It forced Commissioner Harry Usher to give Memphis home-field advantage in the first round, since the Showboats had been among the league's attendance leaders once again. ABC had an outsize influence on the USFL due to the structure of the league's television contract. The Showboats thrashed the Gold 48-7 before losing to the Oakland Invaders 28–19 in the semifinals.

The Showboats represented a serious attempt to form a viable professional football organization, and seemed to have a realistic chance to have been a viable business if the overall management of the USFL had been more realistic and financially sound. Indeed, like the World Football League's Memphis Southmen before them, the Showboats appeared to be on more solid footing than the league as a whole. The Showboats' attendance figures made Dunavant a supporter of the USFL's move to the fall. Although Memphis was only a medium-sized market (while Memphis proper had 650,000 people, the surrounding suburbs and rural areas are not much larger than the city itself), Dunavant believed his team's popularity would have made it very attractive to the NFL in the event of a merger. After the USFL's antitrust lawsuit failed, the Showboats threw their support behind Charlie Finley's proposal to convince the Canadian Football League to expand into the U.S. market; the CFL rejected the plan, bringing the Showboats' operations to an end.

Legacy
Despite the eventual failure of the original USFL, the success of the Showboats franchise was noticed by the NFL, indicating a viable market in Tennessee. In 1997, the Houston Oilers franchise would move to Nashville, though they played their first season in Memphis, before moving to Nashville and being renamed the Tennessee Titans in 1999.

Dunavant emerged as an investor in the proposed Memphis Hound Dogs franchise that entered the NFL's 1993 expansion sweepstakes (the Hound Dogs lost to the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars). Rodgers and general manager Steve Erhart would later emerge with the Memphis Mad Dogs, a Canadian Football League franchise that played one season in 1995; Erhart would also manage the Memphis Maniax of the original XFL in 2001.

The Memphis Showboats name was revived for the 2023 season of the USFL's second iteration.

In popular culture
In the SpongeBob SquarePants Season 2 episode "Band Geeks", the band led by Squidward Tentacles plays at the "Bubble Bowl", during which clips of a Showboats game (vs. the Tampa Bay Bandits at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis on May 25, 1984) are shown.

A player from the Memphis Showboats appeared as a contestant on Press Your Luck in 1985.

1984
Sources

1985
Sources

Single season leaders

 * Rushing Yards: 789 (1985), Tim Spencer
 * Receiving Yards: 1143 (1985), Greg Moser
 * Passing Yards: 2128 (1985), Mike Kelley

Season-by-season
!Totals || 19 || 19 || 0
 * 1984 || 7 || 11 || 0 || 4th Southern Division || --
 * 1985 || 11 || 7 || 0 || 3rd Eastern Conference || Won Quarterfinal (Denver) Lost Semifinal (Oakland)
 * 1985 || 11 || 7 || 0 || 3rd Eastern Conference || Won Quarterfinal (Denver) Lost Semifinal (Oakland)
 * 1985 || 11 || 7 || 0 || 3rd Eastern Conference || Won Quarterfinal (Denver) Lost Semifinal (Oakland)
 * colspan="2"| (including playoffs)

title: Memphis Showboats


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Sacred Heart Catholic Church (Dubuque, Iowa)

Sacred Heart Catholic Church is a Roman Catholic church in Dubuque, Iowa. It is part of the Archdiocese of Dubuque and located at 2215 Windsor Ave. The parish was one of the locations where the movie F.I.S.T. starring Sylvester Stallone was filmed.

The church is located in Dubuque's north end. The church is noted for two distinctive spires that are visible for a number of miles. The spire on the eastern side of the church is over 200 feet tall and it has four large clocks installed. The spire on the western side is about 130 feet tall.

Early history
In 1879, Bishop John Hennessy of Dubuque realized that Saint Mary's Church – which was the main German parish for Dubuque – would no longer be enough to serve all the German immigrants in the city as their population continued to grow. He took territory from the northern parts of Saint Mary's parish, and established the new Sacred Heart parish in that area.

A combination church / school building was constructed on land that was purchased for that purpose. That building was just west of the present church. In the later part of the 19th century, the population of Dubuque exploded as the Milwaukee Railroad Shops came to Dubuque. A large number of young German families came to the area in search of jobs at the shops and other employers. Soon the new parish was filled to capacity.

Modern church building
Soon, it was decided to build a new large church. Fridolin Heer, a Dubuque architect who designed the Dubuque County Courthouse, was chosen to draw the plans for the church - which would have a capacity of 1100. Construction was begun in 1887, and was completed in 1888. Bishop Hennessy formally dedicated the church on Palm Sunday, 1888. The old church building was converted into classroom space.

Expansion
However, the population in the north end continued to grow. Soon the new church was filled to capacity. Within a few years, Bishop Hennessy had to take territory from the western parts of the parish to form Holy Ghost parish. However, the population of the parish continued to grow. So more territory was taken from the northeastern parts of the parish to form Holy Trinity parish. Over time the creation of new parishes, along with movement of families out to the west helped to stabilize the parish.

Organ
The church has had two pipe organs over the years. Soon after the completion of the church in the 1890s, an organ was installed in the church. This initial organ was installed by William Schuelke of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With the availability of electricity, in 1922 a new large Wangerin-Werchardt pipe organ was installed in the church. This organ uses a number of pipes and other parts from the 1890s organ, and is 41 ranks in size. In the 1980s the organ was renovated, and today is widely recognized as one of the finest in the area.

School
For many years, Sacred Heart had the distinction of having a lay man as principal, and this man would also serve as organist. Because of a lack of religious, at times lay men or women would serve as teachers. Eventually as more religious arrived, they took over administration and teaching of students. In the years following World War II, the parish school had the largest student population in the midwest. However, over time the school population declined as more families moved to the western parts of the city. This was because of a small group of administrators whose main objective was to push out the lower income families in the north end.

The school was joined with the Holy Trinity parish school for a number of years. In recent years, all the parish schools in the city have become part of the Holy Family School System and many of the schools are now closed.

Art
Early photos of the church show two additional stained glass windows in the sanctuary behind the main altar. However, these windows were eventually covered over. In the mid-20th century, a number of new windows were installed in the church. On the eastern side, part of the windows have images from the history of the church in Dubuque – such as the arrival of Bishop Loras at Dubuque, and the building of the first cathedral. On the western side, images of a number of important historical events worldwide are displayed - such as the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The church ceiling features paintings by Clotilde Elizabeth Brielmaier.

Renovations
The church originally had three large altars. People would often travel some distance to see these distinctive altars. In a controversial move, those altars were taken down in the years following the Second Vatican Council and replaced with a simplified altar.

In the 1990s, a new handicap accessible entrance was built on the western side of the church, which included an elevator. Previously handicapped parishioners were encouraged to park on the east side of the church, where a street-level entrance was available.

In 2000, the inside of the church was completely refurbished. The old confessionals were moved to the sanctuary to create a small Eucharistic chapel. A new altar was installed, and some pews were removed from the back of the church so a larger gathering space could be created inside the church. The walls were painted a light blue color, and some fresco highlights from the original design were painted along the walls and ceiling. The basement was also completely refurbished during this time.

F.I.S.T.
The movie F.I.S.T., starring Sylvester Stallone, was filmed largely in Dubuque. The main reason was that, with its absence of TV antennas, Dubuque looked more like Cleveland of the 1930s than Cleveland did. There aren't many antennas because Dubuque had developed a cable system early on. This, in turn, was because the city's geography made over-the-air reception problematic. The church basement was one of the many Dubuque locations where filming was done, as was the sacristy of the church. The main entrance to the church can be seen in the wedding scenes that were filmed at the church.

Sacred Heart Church also appeared briefly on the ABC news program 20/20. This was after a cross burning was done by a gang of young racists in the city to intimidate African-American people living in Dubuque. The segment explored race relations in Dubuque. The exterior of the church was shown while the 20/20 reporter gave viewers a background on the city.


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Stephens State Park

Stephens State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is 805 acres in area, located in western Morris County, north of Hackettstown along the upper Musconetcong River. The park is operated and maintained by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry.

The park includes the remnants of one of the 23 locks, as well as a section of the towpath, of the Morris Canal, built in 1831 to transport anthracite coal from Pennsylvania to New York City.

A 2 mile section of the Highland Trail runs through the park. The park is a popular destination for recreational trout fishing. The park offers camping facilities during the summer months.

title: Stephens State Park


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Rudolf Slánský

Rudolf Slánský (31 July 1901 – 3 December 1952) was a leading Czech Communist politician. Holding the post of the party's General Secretary after World War II, he was one of the leading creators and organizers of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia.

After the split between Josip Broz Tito and Joseph Stalin, the latter instigated a wave of "purges" of the respective Communist Party leaderships, to prevent more splits between the Soviet Union and its Central European "satellite" countries. In Czechoslovakia, Slánský was one of 14 leaders arrested in 1951, tortured into confessing their "crimes", and put on show trial en masse in November 1952, charged with high treason. After eight days, 11 of the 14 were convicted and sentenced to death. Slánský was executed five days later.

Early life
Born at Nezvěstice, now in Plzeň-City District. Slánský's family was Jewish and conservative. He attended secondary school in Plzeň at the Commercial Academy.

After the end of World War I, he went to Prague, the capital, where he discovered a leftist intellectual scene in institutions such as the Marxist Club. In 1921, Slánský joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia when it broke away from the Social Democratic Party. He rose within the party and became a senior lieutenant of its leader, Klement Gottwald. At the Fifth Party Congress in 1929, Slánský was named a member of the party Presidium and the Politburo, and Gottwald became General Secretary.

From 1929 to 1935, Slánský lived in hiding due to the illegal status of the Communist Party. In 1935, after the party was allowed to participate in politics, both he and Gottwald were elected to the National Assembly. Their gains were halted, however, when Czechoslovakia was carved up at the Munich Conference in 1938. After Nazi Germany occupied the Sudetenland in October 1938, Slánský, along with much of the rest of the Czechoslovak communist leadership, fled to the Soviet Union.

In Moscow, Slánský worked on broadcasts to Czechoslovakia over Radio Moscow. He lived through the defense of Moscow against the Germans during the winter of 1941–42. His experience in Moscow brought him into contact with Soviet Communists and the often brutal methods they favored for maintaining party discipline.

In 1943 in Moscow, Slánský's infant daughter, Naďa (Nadia), was forcibly abducted from her baby carriage by a woman. The infant was in the company of her eight-year-old brother, Rudolf, who put up resistance. The woman revealed details about their mother, Mrs. Slánská, including her job with Radio Moscow. Neither Nadia nor the perpetrators were ever found. In her 1969 memoir, Josefa Slánská, Slánský's widow, recounted that written inquiries were made to the police and to Stalin himself, all of which went unanswered.

While in exile in the Soviet Union, Slánský also organized Czechoslovak army units. He returned with them to Czechoslovakia in 1944 to participate in the Slovak National Uprising.

Power in the postwar period
In 1945, after World War II, Slánský and other Czechoslovak leaders returned from exile in London and Moscow, holding meetings to organize the new National Front government under Edvard Beneš. At the 8th Party Congress of the Czechoslovakian Communist Party in March 1946, Slánský was chosen as General Secretary of the Communist Party. He was the number two man in the party behind party chairman Gottwald, who became leader of a coalition government after elections held that year. In 1948, after the Communist Party seized power in the February coup, Slánský became the second most powerful man in the country after Gottwald. At that point Slánský was blamed for economic and industrial troubles, costing him popular support. But he was also awarded the Order of Socialism, a top decoration, on 30 July 1951. Publication was planned for a book of his speeches in support of socialism, to be titled Towards the Victory of Socialism.

Trial
In 1951, after Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia broke with him, Stalin decided to "purge" the Communist parties of the satellite countries of the Soviet Union in order to deter any further revolts against his rule. Most historians think that, fearing arrest and death, President Gottwald of Czechoslovakia decided to sacrifice his best friend, Rudolf Slánský, in order to save himself. On November 24, 1951, at 1 a.m. Slánský was arrested and imprisoned. During the following year he was tortured into confessing his "crimes". Bedřich Geminder and Jarmila Taussigová were also arrested the same day. Official USSR rhetoric had turned against Zionism. Stalin was intent on keeping power in the Eastern bloc countries.

Party rhetoric asserted that Slánský was spying as part of an international western capitalist conspiracy to undermine socialism and that punishing him would avenge the Nazi murders of Czech communists Jan Šverma and Julius Fučík during World War II. Some historians say that Stalin desired complete obedience from leaders of the so-called "People's Democracies" (that is, Eastern bloc countries), as well as at home. He threatened to conduct "purges" of the "nationalistic communists".

Other historians, though, say that the rivalry between Slánský and Gottwald escalated after the 1948 coup. Slánský began consolidating his power within the party secretariat and placing more of his party supporters in governmental positions, encroaching on Gottwald's position as president after the resignation of Beneš. Stalin backed Gottwald because he was believed to have a better chance of building up the Czechoslovak economy into a position where it could start producing useful goods for the Soviet Union.

Slánský was thought to be weakened by his image as a "cosmopolitan" figure. Gottwald and his ally Antonín Zápotocký, both populists, tarred Slánský with charges of belonging to the bourgeoisie. Slánský and his allies were also opposed by old-time party members, the government, and the party's Political Bureau. In prison after his arrest, Slánský was tortured and he attempted suicide.

The trial of the 14 national leaders began on 20 November 1952, in the Senate of the State Court, with the prosecutor being Josef Urválek. It lasted eight days. As in the Moscow show trials of the late 1930s, the defendants admitted guilt in court and requested a death sentence. Slánský was found guilty of "Trotskyite-Titoist-Zionist activities in the service of American imperialism." He was publicly hanged at Pankrác Prison on 3 December 1952. His body was cremated, and the ashes were scattered on an icy road outside of Prague.

Posthumously
Reflecting changes in Czechoslovakia, in April 1963 Slánský and other victims of the purge trials were cleared under the penal code. They were fully rehabilitated and exonerated in May 1968. After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the new president Václav Havel, appointed Slánský's son, also named Rudolf, as the Czech ambassador to the Soviet Union.

Slánský was the most powerful politician to be executed during the rule of the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia and under the influence of Stalinism. Afterwards the treatment of leaders who had fallen out of favour with the government was more moderate; they were stripped of power and ordered to retire.

title: Rudolf Slánský


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Talk:Three-Self Patriotic Movement

Untitled
Why does China Christian Council redirect here, if they are separate organisations? Markalexander100 03:38, 5 May 2004 (UTC)

 * Try the end of http://www.us.omf.org/content.asp?id=9319 They look pretty connected.--Henrygb 21:41, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

Translation of the Name
The Chinese version of the official name reads 中国基督教三自爱国运动委员会. I have seen this translated as the Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China rather than the way its rendered here in this article; China Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee. This is perhaps due to the fact that the Protestant faith is generally referred to in Chinese as "基督教" (Jidu Jiao) which literally means "Religion of the Christ" whereas Roman Catholicism is referred to as "天主教" (Tianzhu Jiao) which literally means "Religion of the Heavenly Lord". This is evident in Chinese speaking communities both in China (including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) and abroad. Should this warrant a relook at the way the name is translated here in this article?

Incidentally, the official website of the Chinese Protestant Church also translates it as the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China. - Bob K 15:19, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Renaming to Protestant Church in China
Having done some research online when I was expanding this article, it seems to me that a more suitable title for this article would be either the Protestant Church in China or the National Conference of Chinese Protestant Churches. As the roles of both the TSPM and CCC overlap significantly and most of the work by these two organisations are considered part of the expression of the "post-denominational" Protestant Church, this would help make this article less ambiguous.

According to the official FAQ published by the Amity Foundation (another related TSPM/CCC/PCC organisation), the TSPM exists as a movement within the Protestant churches and the CCC exists as an umbrella movement for all registered Protestant churches. I know this whole setup is ambiguous and confusing, so to describe it as they see themselves would be the best bet.

I have also added a Controversy section to this article as the TSPM/CCC's claim to represent Chinese Protestants is contentious and there are plenty of accounts of the persecution of non-registered Churches and non-cooperation from Churches outside China with the TSPM. This should help create a more neutral tone for this article yet acknowledging the difficulties that arose after the 1949 Civil War and the establishment of the People's Republic of China. -- Bob K 02:34, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

 * I completely disagree that this article needs to be renamed. There are more members in Chinese house churches than government sanctioned ones and to your point, they just don't represent all Chinese Protestants.Brian0324 (talk) 16:04, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

 * That may be true but wouldn't that be subjecting this article to POV rather than an academic handling? Quite a few people in the Chinese house church would not even consider themselves Protestant in the common understanding of the term. -- Bob K 08:01, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

 * The proposed renaming is inappropriate. The TSPM is only a portion of Protestantism in China in two different ways.  First, temporally it is only a portion - Protestantism was in China more than a century before the TSPM was started.  Second, there has been no point in time when all Protestant churches in China were part of the TSPM.  More importantly, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement is the English name by which this organization is best known, and we write Wikipedia articles about organizations at the name by which it is best known in English.  That the CCC and Amity Foundation are related is no big deal; we regularly cover related organizations in multiple articles.  If there is an umbrella parent legal organization we should also have an article on it.  GRBerry 13:53, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

Removal of unsourced material
I removed some unsourced materials which alleged, among other things, of "systematic persecution" of Christians by the PRC, which is no light accusation. Potentially libelous material from unreliable sources is to be removed at first sight per Wikipedia policy - as long as the user who added the claims could not supplement it with reliable sources, discussion is not necessary. The first source removed appears to be an article submitted by a little-known person in a website where submissions are freely accepted. The second source removed appears to come from a Christian organization (not a forum - my mistake) which is in no way a neutral source. 143.89.188.6 (talk) 16:16, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

 * Fair enough. Thanks for taking the trouble to explain your edits. - Bob K | Talk 17:39, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

 * To be fair, I will retain the allegations by Forum 18 and corroborate it with other sources. The allegations are legitimate concerns and there's an understanding that they remain controversial (hence the Controversies section). - Bob K | Talk 23:40, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Controversies section
I believe the persecution of 'house churches' and other unregistered Christian organizations in China is carried out by the Chinese government as widely reported. How is the persecution relevant to the subject of this article?---North south 101 (talk) 10:56, 11 February 2012 (UTC)
 * It's "controversial" because the government operates on a white-list principle, not a black-list one, i.e. everything that's not explicitly permitted is simply illegal by definition. How is the prosecution of legally defined illegal organizations "persecution" by any definition? 68.145.212.169 (talk) 21:56, 28 July 2013 (UTC)

title: Talk:Three-Self Patriotic Movement