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Blomberg, North Rhine-Westphalia

Blomberg is a town in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with c. 15,100 inhabitants (2019).

City founding and life in the late Middle Ages
Today's urban area was settled between the 6th and 8th centuries AD during the course of the old Saxon expansion. During this time, the region's villages ending in -trup emerged, such as Herrentrup, Istrup, Wellentrup, Brüntrup, Tintrup and Höntrup. The term -trup means -dorf (cf thorp) and was formed through metathesis over time.

In the 11th century, the population grew significantly. Up until then, the farmers had worked with primitive agricultural methods that did not allow profitable cultivation of the soil. This situation changed with the introduction of the iron wheeled plough, the three-field system and the water mill in the High Middle Ages and led to more productive harvests that improved the food situation. This also made the Lippe region interesting for the ruling class. The new rulers were the Lords of Lippe and the Counts of Schwalenberg and Sternberg. It is believed that both shared Blomberg Castle, which initially only served as a fortress.

Between 1231 and 1255 Blomberg was founded as a city by Bernhard III. The documents about it were lost in the course of the Soest feud, so that there is no exact date. However, there is a document from the year 1283, which shows that the city rights had existed "for a long time" at that time. Blomberg was apparently of particular importance to the Lippe sovereigns because the town was located at the crossroads of three important medieval trade routes. These long-distance routes were the Cologne Road, which led to Hameln via Soest, Horn and Blomberg, and the Frankfurt Road, which led via Kassel, Warburg, Steinheim, Blomberg and Rinteln to Bremen and finally the road from Osnabrück via Herford, Lemgo, Blomberg, Höxter and on to Thuringia. In the extensive forests, gangs of robbers also threatened the traffic of the time and the roads in the Blomberg area were secured by six watchtowers.

The city was built according to the traditional three-street system, in which three parallel longitudinal streets meet at the ends in front of a city gate. The area of the approximately 11.3 hectare city was planned for 1,600 inhabitants and only expanded after 1860, i.e. almost 600 years later, beyond its border to the east. Simon I (1275-1344) chose Blomberg as his residence and had the castle expanded as a residence. He and his successors frequently moved between their homes in Blomberg and Brake. The town and castle were fortified all around, and the castle was additionally secured by a rampart and moat. Steep slopes offered natural protection to the west and south, while to the east and north the city was surrounded by walls, moats, ramparts, and even thorn hedges. In addition, there were six defensive towers as well as Zwinger and Landwehr in front of the gates. The Lower Gate and parts of the city wall of the city fortifications are still preserved today.

In Blomberg there was a certain division into upper and lower town, mostly the craftsmen lived upstairs and the farmers downstairs. Upper and lower town had separate dogs and even the municipal inns were distributed in exact numbers between upper and lower town. Children from the upper town were taught by the cantor and those from the lower town by the sexton. As everywhere in the cities, Blomberg's economy was determined by the guild system. Almost all handicraft businesses in the Blomberg Basin were concentrated in the city, only millers, blacksmiths, wheel makers, cobblers and patch cutters could also settle in the countryside.

Destruction, reconstruction and reformation
Blomberg's fortifications did not protect the city from total destruction in the course of the Soest feud. In 1447, the Archbishop of Cologne besieged the city and on June 14 had his mercenaries almost completely burn it to the ground.

The city was rebuilt from 1468 with the support of Bernhard VII. A momentous event took place during this time. A woman named Alheyd Pustekoke stole 45 consecrated wafers from the Martini church. Fearing discovery, she threw them into the well in the Seligen Winkel. But the hosts did not sink, Alheyd was convicted of theft and burned at the stake as punishment. Soon after, word spread that the fountain had miraculous healing powers and Blomberg became a place of pilgrimage. News of this even reached the Vatican so the cardinals in Rome encouraged the building of a chapel over the fountain. 1468 got the Augustinian canons in the Möllenbeck monastery gave this church and at the same time received permission to build a monastery. The church was expanded into a late Gothic hall church in 1473 and is today the Protestant-Reformed town parish church. The donations were so substantial that a monastery church could be built, which for almost 200 years served as the burial place of Lippe's noble lords and counts. It has not been historically clarified whether the trial against Alheyd Pustekoke is to be classified as a "witch trial".

At a total of five state parliaments in Cappel, the towns and knights decided in 1538 to introduce a Protestant church order for Lippe and Blomberg converted to the Evangelical Lutheran faith. The fountain lost its supra-local importance and fell into oblivion. The second Reformation took place in 1605. Sovereign Count Simon VI ordered the evangelical-reformed confession of John Calvin to be introduced in all towns and communities in the County of Lippe. Only Lemgo successfully resisted, while Blomberg reluctantly submitted.

Thirty Years' War and economic development
During the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), Blomberg was again severely damaged when enemy troops plundered the city in August 1636. In the course of the war, the Blomberg citizens were hit by a devastating plague epidemic and the population fell from 1640 to 675 people within a short time. The city only slowly recovered from the horrors of war and it was not until 1834 that its former population was reached again.

In 1589 three women from Donop and Kleinenmarpe were accused and executed in a witch trial in Blomberg. In Wellentrup, between 1589 and 1674, three men and two women were involved in witch trials. On March 10, 2015, the City Council of Blomberg rehabilitated the victims of the witch trials from a socio-ethical and moral point of view.

A few merchants settled on Blomberg's main streets, the Langen and Kurzen Steinwegs, some of whose stately hall houses from the 16th and 17th centuries have survived to this day. According to the Lippe census of 1776, there was a diverse craft and commercial structure in Blomberg. These included 84 shoemakers, 30 harness makers, 30 farmers and carters, 15 carpenters, 13 bakers, 10 scribes, 8 linen weavers, 7 locksmiths, 6 blacksmiths, 3 innkeepers, 3 hat makers, 3 glaziers, 3 butchers, 3 bathers and surgeons, 3 traders, 3 masons, 2 apothecaries, 2 wheel makers and 2 carpenters.

The shoemaking trade developed in the 18th century. Even today, the cobbler's lantern is the symbol of Blomberg's craftsmanship. At times more than 100 shoemakers worked in the city and sent their products to Kassel, Osnabrück, Hanover and Braunschweig.

Industrialization
At the beginning of the 19th century, the timber industry became the economic focus. In 1805 already 5000 chairs were manufactured and sold on foreign markets. The Krone chair factory was founded in 1880 and in 1893 Bernd Hausmann set up the first plywood factory in Germany. At the beginning of the 19th century, Friedrich Vöchting and Carl Gronemann began cultivating carnations on the former dairy site. Eventually, there were over 1500 varieties of carnation exported around the world up until the First World War. This gave Blomberg the nickname Carnation City.

In the years 1835 to 1895 Blomberg's population grew from 2141 to 3084 people. Especially in the last decade of the 19th century, there was an economic upswing when Blomberg was connected to the railway network. A branch line was opened in 1897, connecting the city to the Altenbeken–Hannover railway line. Despite the first signs of industrial development, agriculture remained an important economic factor, although often as a sideline. As late as the mid-1920s, 700 of the 1,000 resident households were still cultivating up to two hectares of field or garden. [18]

World War I and the Weimar Republic
During the First World War (1914-1918), 180 Blombergers were killed or have been missing since then. After the end of the war, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated and Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed the republic on November 9, 1918. A day later, the Lippe People's and Soldiers' Council was constituted in Detmold and formed the new Lippe government. Just two days later, the People's Council of the City of Blomberg was founded in Blomberg, which was made up of workers and soldiers. Gatherings on the streets were banned, children were no longer allowed to be outside after dark and young people after 9 p.m. After this proclamation, the red flag of the revolution was hoisted at City Hall. According to recent historical research, the majority of the workers' and soldiers' councils did not belong to the extreme left, but to the MSPD and the moderate members of the USPD. At the Berlin Reich Council Congress at the end of 1918, a clear majority of the delegates decided against a council republic and in favor of the earliest possible elections to the National Assembly, after which the SPD formed the first government of the Weimar Republic. Prince Leopold IV of Lippe-Biesterfeld abdicated in Lippe and the Principality of Lippe became a free state within the German Empire.

In March 1920, as a reaction to the Kapp Putsch, there was a general strike in which 650 Blomberg workers from 25 companies took part. In the last years of the Weimar Republic, there were violent clashes between supporters of the KPD and NSDAP in Lippe, as in the entire Reich, some of which degenerated into hall battles and shootings. [18]

Nazism and World War II
On January 15, 1933, state elections were held in Lippe. In the Reichstag elections in November 1932, the NSDAP had to accept a decline in their share of the vote from 41.13% to 34.72%. That is why the Nazis tried to win the state elections in Lippe at all costs. The entire leadership of the NSDAP was involved in the election campaign and in the final phase of the election campaign Hitler alone spoke in Lippe sixteen times within ten days. On January 13, Hitler and Frick addressed 5,000 people in Blomberg. In the election, the NSDAP was able to increase by almost 10% and achieved 43.4% of the votes, while the SPD took only 26.6% and the KPD 15.9% of the votes. The NSDAP declared the election victory in Lippe as Hitler's breakthrough on his way to the Reich Chancellery, but in fact the decision was made in Berlin, when Reich President Hindenburg gave in to the pressure of the conservatives and appointed Hitler Reich Chancellor. After that, the Nazis immediately expanded their power and suspended elementary basic rights. As part of the so-called “Gleichschaltung” the other political parties, trade unions and many associations were banned and most of the leading positions in politics, administration and all of public life were occupied by the NSDAP. Anyone who did not fit into the "national community" was persecuted and imprisoned.

On March 6, 1933, the first functionaries and members of the KPD in Blomberg were taken into so-called protective custody. Thereafter, 14 house searches were carried out on members of the SPD. The increasing reprisals by the SA and the police led to resignations in many parts of the SPD. On April 1, 1933, the Blomberg SPD local association dissolved. One victim of the Nazis was the upholsterer Wilhelm Friedrichs, who wrote a number of letters critical of the regime to Nazi functionaries in Blomberg and Detmold. He was arrested and taken to a prison in Hanover, where he hanged himself the day before the court hearing. [18] It is known from Jewish citizens of Blomberg that the Königsheim family went to Argentina under pressure from the Nazis emigrated. The last Jewish resident of Blomberg was 70-year-old Emma Lippert, née Examus, who was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp and on to Minsk, where she was murdered. Since then there has been no Jewish community in Blomberg. The simple half-timbered synagogue from 1808 is now used as the city archive.

The cityscape of Blomberg survived the Second World War largely unscathed. At the beginning of April 1945, the Americans crossed the Teutoburg Forest and reached Detmold. Further east, in the area to the right of Reichsstrasse 1, the US 83rd Infantry Division operated and pushed northeast through Blomberg. US soldiers cleared the anti-tank barriers at the dairy and did not encounter any significant resistance since the SS units had left the city earlier. Blomberg was handed over by the mayor on April 5, 1945 and occupied by the Americans without a fight while their tanks continued to Hagen and Lügde. During World War II, 205 Blombergers were killed and 105 are missing.

Post-war and present
From 1945 to 1952, Blomberg had to take in a total of 1,500 displaced persons from the Baltic States. In 1957, the Phoenix Contact company set up its headquarters in Blomberg. From 1962 to 1996, a Dutch unit of 1,600 soldiers and their family members were stationed on behalf of NATO in the so-called Nederlandspark in the south of the Blomberg industrial area. They formed a not inconsiderable economic factor for the city. In 1970 this was done by the Bielefeld Lawthe municipal reorganization, in the course of which a total of 17 previously independent municipalities were assigned as districts to the core city of Blomberg. The number of inhabitants has almost doubled and grew from 7761 to 15,299 people. The core town is not only the administrative centre for Blomberg, but also serves as a medium-sized centre for an area with up to 60,000 inhabitants. In 1973, planning began for a comprehensive redevelopment of the historic city centre. The official completion of the work was the unveiling of the Alheyd fountain on the market square in 1989.

On March 7, 2005, French President Jacques Chirac and Federal Chancellor Schröder met in the Burghotel Blomberg. In 2008 Blomberg celebrated the 725th anniversary of the founding of the city with many activities and events as well as a city festival from August 15 to 17.

Geography
Blomberg is 45 km south east of Bielefeld, 20 km east of Detmold and 17 km south west towards Bad Pyrmont. The district is located in the southern foothills of the Lippe mountain range and in the area of Blomberger and Schwalenberger Heights.

The core city is located in the center of the so-called Blomberger basin, which lies about 150 m above sea level and clearly separates itself from the surrounding area. The hem of the basin to the north and east are the approximately 400 m high wooded ridges of Barntruper and Blomberger Stadtwald with the Dicker, Becker and Winterberg. To the west are the Hörntruper Berg, the Meierberg, the Mossenberg (228 m) and the Püllenberg (261 m), while the border in the south of Nessenberg (235 m), Spielberg (239 m) and Steinberg (342 m) is formed. The drainage of the eastern part of the Blomberger basin is made by the Diestel, a left tributary of the Emmer. Between the districts Istrup and Großenmarpe a watershed has formed. For this reason, the western part of the Blomberg basin is drained via the Marpe and its tributaries towards Bega / Werre. The lowest point of the municipality is at 139 m, the highest is the summit of the winter mountain at 429 m.

Geology
The municipality is located on the southern flank of the Pyrmont-Piesberger axis, there are almost exclusively rocks of the Middle (Km) and Upper Keupers (Ko) open-minded. The rock strata, which were once stored horizontally in the Middle Ages, were raised in the Tertiary around 30 million years ago and formed the Blomberger Sattel.

By erosion in the center of the saddle the older gray and red marl of the Middle Keuper (Km1) were uncovered, which is also called Gipskeuper because of switched-on layers of gypsum. The result was the clearly recognizable pelvic structure, this phenomenon is called relief reversal. The reed sandstone (Km2) then forms a first striking terrain level. The city itself is located on the western edge of this steep step. The reed sandstone was obtained in small quarries as quarry stone for construction purposes. The marls of the so-called Red Wall (Km3) are susceptible to weathering, only the following harder stone marls (Km4) give rise to another stage in the terrain. The outermost edge of the basin structure consists of harder rock layers of the Upper Keuper (Ko) Rätkeuper.

In the Tertiary it came in the inner basin edges consisting of gypsum Keuper to the dissolution of plaster layers. Through this process, also called subrosion, formed hollows. These were backfilled with the weathering marls from the immediate area. Because of their high clay content, these sediments formed the raw material basis for some brickworks. In the basin itself, loess has deposited in the course of the last ice age and weathered to loess clay. The amount of deposits is up to 150 cm and is responsible for the good to very good quality of arable land.

The old Kleinstadt, classified district, covers an area of 99.12 km². The municipality has a maximum extent in east-west direction of about 12½ km and in north-south direction of about 15½ km.

The vast majority of the land is used by agriculture, in the area of wet creek lowlands mainly as grassland and pastures. The forest on the surrounding mountains consists of three quarters of deciduous trees, mostly beech, while on the Rätkeuper spruce cultures thrive. In comparison to the NRW state average of 49.4%, the agricultural area in Blomberg is 60%, while the forest area is 25.4% (NRW) and 26.5% (Blomberg).

Extensive areas of the Blomberg urban area are good to very good for the use of geothermal heat sources using geothermal probes and heat generated by heat pump. In the central and southern urban area, however, the suitability is rather mediocre, and in some cases poor (see the adjacent map).

Neighbouring communities
The neighbouring communities are Bad Pyrmont, (in Landkreis Hameln-Pyrmont, Niedersachsen), Lügde, Schieder-Schwalenberg, Horn-Bad Meinberg, Detmold, Lemgo, Dörentrup and Barntrup (all in Kreis Lippe).

Villages
The Blomberg city area belongs to the maritime climate area of northwest Germany. The winters are usually mild under Atlantic influence, the summers moderately warm and the rainfall relatively evenly distributed. The average annual temperature is around 9 °C. Monthly average varies from around 0 °C in January to 17 °C in July / August. The annual rainfall is around 900 mm. The average annual solar radiation is 955 kilowatt hours per square meter.

Notable residents

 * Wilfried Paulsen (1828-1901) was born on Gut Nassengrund near Blomberg. He was a potato breeder and in the last decades of the 19th century he was the market leader for potatoes in Germany
 * Louis Paulsen (1833-1891), the younger brother of Wilfried, was one of the strongest German chess players of the 19th century
 * Hermann Vöchting (1847-1917) was a well-known botanist and longtime director of the Botanical Institute of University of Tübingen.
 * Gerhard Schröder, born 1944 in the Blomberg village Mossenberg-Wöhren, is a German politician (SPD). He was the seventh Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1998 to 2005, and from 1990 to 1998 Minister President of Lower Saxony.
 * Karl Bömers (1848-1888) was a lawyer and writer

title: Blomberg, North Rhine-Westphalia


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Loyal Order of Moose

The Loyal Order of Moose is a fraternal and service organization founded in 1888 and headquartered in Mooseheart, Illinois.

Moose International supports the operation of Mooseheart Child City & School, a 1023 acre community for children and teens in need, located 40 mi west of Chicago; and Moosehaven, a 63 acre retirement community for its members near Jacksonville, Florida.

Additionally, the Moose organization conducts numerous sports and recreational programs, in local Lodge/Chapter facilities called either Moose Family Centers or Activity Centers, in the majority of 44 State and Provincial Associations, and on a fraternity-wide basis. There is also a Loyal Order of Moose in Britain. These organizations together make up the Moose International.

History
The Loyal Order of Moose was founded in Louisville, Kentucky, in the spring of 1888 by Dr. John Henry Wilson. Originally intended purely as a men's social club, lodges were soon founded in Cincinnati, Ohio, St. Louis, Missouri, and Crawfordsville and Frankfort, Indiana. The early order was not prosperous. Dr. Wilson was dissatisfied and left the order of the Moose before the turn of the century. When Albert C. Stevens was compiling his Cyclopedia of Fraternities in the late 1890s, he was unable to ascertain whether it was still in existence.

In the fall of 1906 the Order had only the two Indiana lodges remaining. On October 27 of that year James J. Davis became the 247th member of the Order. Davis was a Welsh immigrant who had come to the United States as a youth and worked as an iron puddler in the steel mills of Pennsylvania and an active labor organizer (he later became United States Secretary of Labor in the Harding administration). He saw the Order as a way to provide a social safety net for a working class membership, using a low annual membership fee of $10–$15 (equivalent to $–$ in ). After giving a rousing address to the seven delegates of the 1906 Moose national convention, he was appointed "Supreme Organizer" of the Order. Davis and a group of organizers set out to recruit members and establish lodges throughout the US and Canada. He was quite successful, and the Order grew to nearly half a million members in 1,000 lodges by 1912.

Racial discrimination
Old National Moose Lodge bylaws restricted membership in this men's club to white people. In 1972, K. Leroy Irvis, an African-American member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, was invited to visit a lodge in Harrisburg by a member as a guest. The lodge dining room refused to serve Irvis on account of his race. Irvis sued the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board in federal court, arguing that the issuance of a liquor license to an organization with racially discriminatory policies constituted an illegal state action. A Pennsylvania court ruled in Irvis' favor. The case was ultimately appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled that Irvis lacked standing to sue based on membership and that state was not involved in the discriminatory guest practices to qualify as a state action prohibited by the Fourteenth Amendment.

In 1994, a Moose Lodge in Hagerstown, Maryland, denied membership based on race. Officials at Moose International took action and revoked the charter of the Moose Lodge.

Mooseheart and Moosehaven
At the 1911 convention in Detroit, Davis, the "Director General" of the Order, recommended that the LOOM (Loyal Order Of Moose) acquire property for an "Institute", "School" or "College" that would be a home, schooling, and vocational training for the orphans of LOOM members. For months offers came in and a number of meetings were held regarding the project. It was eventually agreed that the center should be located somewhere near the center of population, adjacent to both rail and river transportation and within a day's travel to a major city. On December 14, 1912, the leaders of the organization decided to purchase the 750-acre Brookline Farm. Brookline was a dairy farm near Batavia, Illinois. It was close to the Fox River, two railway lines and the (then dirt) Lincoln Highway. The leadership also wished to buy additional real estate to the west and north owned by two other families, for a total of 1,023 acres. Negotiations for the purchases were held in January and February 1913, and legal possession of the property was taken on March 1. The name "Mooseheart" had been adopted for the school at the suggestion of Ohio Congressman and Supreme Council member John J. Lentz by a unanimous joint meeting of the Supreme Council and Institute Trustees on February 1. Mooseheart was dedicated on July 27, 1913. Vice President Thomas R. Marshall gave a speech for the occasion.

While Mooseheart began as a school, it soon grew to become a small incorporated village and hub of the organization, housing the headquarters of the LOOM as well as the Women of the Moose. The population of Mooseheart would grow to 1,000 by 1920, reach a peak of 1,300 during the Great Depression, and decline to approximately 500, the campus' current maximum capacity, in 1979.

In addition to Mooseheart, the LOOM also runs a retirement center, Moosehaven, located in Orange Park, Florida. This project was inaugurated in the autumn of 1922 with 26 acres of property and 22 retired Moose residents. It has grown to a 63-acre community with over 400 residents.

Organization
Local units are called "Lodges", state groups are "State Associations" and the national authority is the "Supreme Lodge of the World", which meets annually. In 1923 there were 1,669 lodges "promulgated in every civilized country controlled by the Caucasian race". In 1966 3,500 lodges were reported in every US state, Guam, Canada, Bermuda and England. In 1979 the Order had 36 State Associations and over 4,000 Lodges. Today it has 1,600 Lodges in 49 states, four Canadian provinces, and the United Kingdom.

The entire membership is sometimes referred to as the "Moose Domain".

Membership
Until at least the 1970s, membership was restricted to white men of "sound mind and body, in good standing in the community, engaged in lawful business who are able to speak and write the English language". In June 1972 the Supreme Court of the United States handed down a decision partially in the Order's favor, saying that a Moose Lodge in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, need not have its state liquor license revoked because it refused to serve a Black guest, but that the state could subsequently condition its license on nondiscriminatory practices.

In the early 1920s, the LOOM reportedly had over half a million members, with 32,570 in the Mooseheart Legion and 5,178 in the Junior Order of Moose.

Rituals
An important ritual for the Moose is the "9 o'clock Ceremony". At nine o'clock, all Moose are directed to face toward Mooseheart with bowed heads and folded arms and repeat a silent prayer "Let the little children come unto me, do not keep them away. For they are like the Kingdom of Heaven. God bless Mooseheart." At that same time the children of Mooseheart kneel at their bedside in prayers as well. There are also the ten "thou shalts". These begin with "Thou shalt believe in God and worship Him as thy conscience dictates. Thou shalt be tolerant to let others worship each in his own way". Other "thou shalts" pertain to patriotism, service to fellowmen, protection of the weak, avoidance of slander to a brother Moose, love of the LOM, faithfulness and humility

James Davis drew up the initiation ritual for the order. It is relatively short, usually taking 45 minutes. The governor of the lodge asks the Sergeant-at-Arms to administer the Moose obligation. After candidates are asked if they believe in a Supreme Being, and if they are willing to assume the obligation they take the oath with their left hand on their heart and their right hand raised. Among other things, this obligation pledges the candidate not to "communicate or disclose or give any information—concerning anything—I may hereafter hear, see or experience in this lodge or in any other Lodge". At this point the lodge performs the 9 o'clock ceremony, and then the lodge chaplain or prelate explains the ten "thou shalts". Next, the governor grasps the hands of the candidates while the members sing Blest Be the Tie that Binds. Finally, the governor administers the second part of the obligation, the candidates promise to support Mooseheart and Moosehaven, help fellow Moose, settle disputes within the order, and not join any unauthorized Moose organizations. The prelate offers another prayer at the altar, and all then join in singing Friendship We Now Extend.

There are also death and graveside services, granted on request of the family of deceased Moose, as well as a Memorial Day ceremony every first Sunday in May. The lodge altar is draped in black and white cloth, a Bible, a flower and drapes are placed on the lodge charter and the lodge prelate leads the members in prayers and the singing of Nearer, My God, to Thee. After the Moose unified its male and female members under the "One Moose" banner, many of the original LOOM (now called the Lodge) rituals were removed from required meeting practices.

Gustin–Kenny incident
On July 24, 1913, two candidates for LOOM membership, Donald A. Kenny and Christopher Gustin, died during their initiation ceremony in Birmingham, Alabama. Kenny was the president of the local Chauffeurs Union, and Gustin was an iron moulder. Both men were made to look upon a red hot emblem of the Order, and then blindfolded and disrobed and have a chilled rubber version of the emblem applied to their chests while a magneto was attached to their legs and an electric current was applied to them by a wire to their shoulders. The aim was evidently to make them believe that they were being branded. Both men fainted, but, as it was thought that they were feigning, the lodge officers did not stop the initiation until it was evident that the two were dying and the lodge physician was unable to revive them.

Benefits and philanthropy
The LOOM has historically supported numerous charitable and civic activities. It has sponsored medical research for muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, cancer and cardiology, as well as the March of Dimes. It has also supported Boy Scout and Girl Scout programs.

Moose distributed a recruiting video, filmed in 2000, called Unbelievably Cool.

Independent, Benevolent and Protective Order of Moose
In 1925, the LOOM brought a suit against the Independent, Benevolent and Protective Order of Moose, an African American order. They attempted to obtain a legal injunction to keep them from using the Moose name, ritual, emblem and titles of its officers. The New York Supreme Court found that the evidence presented by the Loyal Order of Moose was inadmissible, and it found in favor of the Independent, Benevolent and Protective Order of Moose.

In another lawsuit heard by a Maryland Circuit Court, the Loyal Order of Moose sued the Independent, Benevolent and Protective Order of Moose, saying they had infringed on its intellectual property by using the word "moose" in its name, by using the moose in its emblem, and by having similar rituals. The court found that the two organizations' emblems and part of their rituals were virtually identical, and the court restrained the African American order from using the word "moose" in its name. The court allowed the Independent, Benevolent and Protective Order of Moose to continue using the same fraternal titles and colors.

The IBPOOM was an unrelated all-African woman order.

Religious objections
By 1966, the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Synod forbade membership in the Loyal Order of Moose. The Catholic Church, however, has never explicitly objected to the Moose, despite having condemned similar organizations, such as the Freemasons, for their oaths and other rituals. Papal Encyclicals, specifically Paragraph 9 of Pope Leo XIII's 1884 encyclical: Humanum Genus, condemn any and all Freemasonic organizations and sects and bans the laity from becoming members.

Presidents

 * Warren G. Harding – U.S. President — Marion, Ohio: Lodge 889
 * Franklin D. Roosevelt – U.S. President — New York City: Lodge 15
 * Theodore Roosevelt – U.S. President
 * Harry S. Truman – U.S. President

Other politicians

 * Evan Bayh — former U.S. Senator/Governor of Indiana — Elkhart, Indiana Lodge: 599
 * Robert C. Byrd — U.S. Senator — Beckley, West Virginia: Lodge 1606
 * Tom Corbett — Governor of Pennsylvania — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Lodge 2699
 * Richard J. Daley — Mayor of Chicago 1955–1976 — Greater Chicago, Illinois: Lodge 3
 * Albert Dutton MacDade — Pennsylvania State Senator 1921-1929
 * Joe Manchin III — U.S. Senator, State of West Virginia — Charleston, West Virginia: Lodge 1444
 * C.L. "Butch" Otter — Governor, State of Idaho 2007 — Boise, Idaho: Lodge 337
 * Tommy Thompson — former U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services — Juneau County, Wisconsin: Lodge 1913
 * Earl Warren — Chief Justice U.S. Supreme Court (Holder of the Pilgrim Degree of Merit) – Oakland, California: Lodge 324

Entertainers

 * Jimmie Allen — 2022 Grammy nominee country music singer song writer.
 * Bud Abbott and Lou Costello — radio, television and movie entertainers — Atlantic City, New Jersey: Lodge 216
 * Ernest Borgnine — Oscar-winning actor — Junction City, Oregon: Lodge 2238
 * Charlie Chaplin — motion picture actor/director/producer — Los Angeles, California: Lodge 134
 * Harry Cording — motion picture actor — Van Nuys, California: Lodge 306
 * Erik Estrada — television actor; national spokesman, Safe Surfin' USA — Bedford, Virginia: Lodge 1897
 * Ralph Stanley – bluegrass recording artist — Dinwiddie, Virginia: Lodge 1993
 * James Stewart – Oscar-winning actor — Indiana, Pennsylvania: Lodge 174
 * Danny Thomas – entertainer — Indianapolis, Indiana: Lodge 17
 * Darryl Worley – country music artist — Savannah, Tennessee: Lodge 1918

Athletes

 * Ed Beard – Middle Linebacker, San Francisco 49ers — South Norfolk, Virginia: Lodge 464
 * Raymond Berry – NFL Hall-of-famer, Baltimore Colts / Super Bowl XX Coach, New England Patriots — Montgomery County, Virginia: Lodge 1470
 * Larry Bird – NBA Hall-of-famer — Orange County, Indiana: Lodge 2530
 * Walter Blum – Hall of Fame Jockey with 4,382 wins — Lauderdale Lakes, Florida: Lodge 2267
 * Manute Bol – NBA's tallest-ever player — Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts: Lodge 1849
 * Ross Chastain – NASCAR Driver — Alva, Florida: Lodge 1287
 * Jason Couch – Hall of Fame Professional Bowler — South Lake County, Florida: Lodge 1615
 * Jack Ham – NFL Hall of Fame linebacker, Pittsburgh Steelers — Indiana, Pennsylvania: Lodge 174
 * Woody Hayes – Ohio State University Football Coach — Columbus, Ohio: Lodge 11
 * Ted Hendricks – NFL Hall of fame Linebacker — Hialeah, Florida: Lodge 1074
 * Bob Huggins – Men's Basketball Coach, West Virginia — Charleston, West Virginia: Lodge 1444
 * Pete Johnson (American football) – Fullback, Ohio State & Cincinnati Bengals — Gahanna, Ohio: Lodge 2463
 * Jerry Lucas – Basketball Hall of Fame; NBA Rookie of the Year 1964; Sports Illustrated "Sportsman of the Year" 1961; Only Three-Time Big Ten Conference Player of the Year — Bucyrus, Ohio: Lodge 669
 * Rocky Marciano – Boxer
 * Billy Martin – All-Star Infielder, Manager — Oakland, California: Lodge 324
 * Zach Miller – NFL Tight End — Mooseheart, Illinois: Lodge 2655
 * Arnold Palmer – Golfer — Greensburg, Pennsylvania: Lodge 1151
 * Cal Ripken Sr. – Baseball Manager — Aberdeen, Maryland: Lodge 1450
 * Gale Sayers – NFL Hall of Famer — Elkhart, Indiana: Lodge 599
 * Billy Sims – 1978 Heisman Trophy Winner; Running back, University of Oklahoma (1975–79) and Detroit Lions (1980–84); Member, College Football Hall of fame — Grand Rapids-Sparta, Michigan: Lodge 50
 * Bill "Moose" Skowron – Major League Baseball Player (1954–1967) – River Park, Illinois: Lodge 2578
 * Bill Stewart – Head Football Coach of West Virginia University — New Martinsville, West Virginia: Lodge 931
 * Tony Stewart – NASCAR Driver — Columbus, Indiana: Lodge 398
 * Gene Tunney – Boxer — Cincinnati, Ohio: Lodge 2
 * Bill Veeck – Major League Baseball Executive — Greater Chicago, Illinois: Lodge 3
 * Honus Wagner – Baseball Hall-of-Famer — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Lodge 46
 * Donnell Woolford – Pro Bowl Cornerback, Chicago Bears — Batavia, Illinois: Lodge 682

Other

 * Eugene Cernan — Astronaut; "the last man on the Moon" in December 1972 — Bellwood, Illinois: Lodge 777
 * Henry Ford — Inventor of the mass-produced automobile — Detroit, Michigan: Lodge 160
 * Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom — Astronaut — Newport News, Virginia: Lodge 1711
 * Darell Hammond — Founder/CEO, KaBOOM! Inc.. Builder of playgrounds worldwide; Mooseheart High School Class of 1989 — Batavia, Illinois: Lodge 682
 * Edward A. Silk — Mooseheart Class of 1935; Recipient of the Medal of Honor in World War II — Johnstown, Pennsylvania: Lodge 48

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

title: Loyal Order of Moose


text:
Ko Phi Phi Don

Ko Phi Phi Don (เกาะพีพีดอน,, ) is the largest of the islands in the Ko Phi Phi archipelago, in Thailand. Phi Phi Don is 9.73 km2 (3.76 mi2): 8 kilometres (5.0 miles) in length and 3.5 kilometres (2.2 miles) wide. Part of the islands are administratively part of Ao Nang in Krabi Province. It is the only island in the group with permanent inhabitants, although most are temporary workers servicing the tourist trade.

Like the other islands in the archipelago, Phi Phi Don is a non-volcanic island largely made of limestone. It is almost separated into two islands, but a strand of flat land connects them. On this strand lies the largest settlement on the island, as well as most of the resorts.

Villages

 * Ban Laem Tong
 * Laem Tong
 * Ban Ton Sai
 * Hat Yao

2004 tsunami
More than 1,000 people died 26 December 2004, when a tsunami struck the island.

Lohdalum Bay was hit the hardest, with the majority of the bungalows and restaurants along the beach destroyed. There is a memorial for those killed in the tsunami on the beach facing Lohdalum Bay. Every year, there is a small memorial service where family members and friends come to pay their respects and talk about those they lost. A moment of silence is observed at the time the tsunami hit.

There were three waves: the first one flooded Lohdalum Bay, the second destroyed all of the wooden buildings and the third and largest ruined stone buildings as if they were made of sand. The whole tsunami lasted for only three minutes (from 10:29–10:32) but it nearly destroyed the whole island.

Environment

Most of the Phi Phi Islands are in a protected marine reserve, part of Hat Noppharat Thara-Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park. But parts of Phi Phi Don are outside the park's jurisdiction, and under the jurisdiction of, and funded by, the Ao Nang Tambon Administrative Organisation (TAO). Its budget is based on the number of permanent, registered residents and takes no account of visitors. The island has very few documented residents. Most who service the tourist trade are registered residents elsewhere in Thailand. The number of residents, permanent and temporary, is dwarfed by the number of visitors. Thus, the Ao Nang TAO allocates only about 170 million baht per year to the Phi Phis. Underfunding has contributed to serious environmental issues.

Solid waste
The Phi Phi Islands in 2014 produced an average of 25 tonnes of solid waste a day, jumping to 40 tonnes during the high season that runs roughly from November to April. All tourists arriving on the island pay a 20 baht fee at Ton Sai Pier to assist in "keeping Ko Phi Phi clean". The money, up to 20,000 baht per day (2014), is then paid to a private company to haul roughly 20 tonnes of rubbish from the island daily to Krabi for disposal. In 2014, the Ao Nang TAO paid 600,000 baht per month for this service. Collections from visitors amount to only about a third of the sum needed to effectively handle the solid waste generated.

Water: potable and waste
According to a research team from Kasetsart University's Faculty of Engineering, Phi Phi Don suffers from a severe shortage of clean freshwater. The problem stems from the period of low rainfall coinciding with the high tourist season, exacerbated by improper handling of wastewater. During the driest period of the year, from November to April, the island is packed with tourists, causing water demand to spike. There is no rainfall to top up the two freshwater ponds that are the only sources of piped water on the island. The limited supply drives the cost of piped water up, in turn driving businesses to sink wells to tap ground water. This lowers the water table. Lowering aquifer water levels allows seawater to encroach on groundwater. In addition, the island's water treatment plant cannot handle the volume of waste water generated, meaning that excess untreated waste water is flushed into the sea where it also contaminates groundwater. Short of substantial infrastructure investment, the lead Kasetsart researcher recommended that the number of visitors be capped at the carrying capacity of the island: 12,000 to 27,000 people per day. Her recommendation was prefigured in 2015 by a member of Thailand's National Reform Council, who called Phi Phi a "slum" and recommending capping tourist numbers.

title: Ko Phi Phi Don


text: User talk:64.12.116.146

title: User talk:64.12.116.146


text:
Horn-Bad Meinberg

Horn-Bad Meinberg (Low German:  Häoern-Möomag ) is a German city in the Lippe district in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia on the edge of the Teutoburg forest. The district Bad Meinberg is a spa resort. It has 17,263 inhabitants (2019). It was formed in 1970 by merging various other municipalities that had grown together, including Bad Meinberg and Horn - the new entity's original name was Bad Meinberg-Horn, before taking its present name.

Horn-Bad Meinberg is the location of the Externsteine, a rock formation consisting of several tall, narrow columns.

Geography
In the municipality are the two highest peaks of the Eggegebirge, the Lipp Velmerstot (441 m) and the Prussian Velmerstot with about (464 m) above sea level and the highest elevation of the Teutoburg forest, the Barnacken with (446 m). The deepest point of the metropolitan area is (125 m). Between the districts Horn and Holzhausen-Externsteine is the most famous natural monument of the Teutoburg Forest, the Externsteine, nearby springs the Wiembecke.

Neighbouring communities
Starting in the west the municipality is bordering to Schlangen, Detmold, Blomberg and Schieder-Schwalenberg in Lippe. It follows in the south Höxter with the community Steinheim. Southwest still meets the Kreis Paderborn with the communities Altenbeken and Bad Lippspringe on the border with the municipality Horn-Bad Meinberg.

Constituent communities
The merger of the city of Horn and the municipalities Bad Meinberg, Belle, Bellenberg, Billerbeck, Fromhausen, Heesten, Holzhausen-Externsteine, Leopoldstal, Schmedissen, Vahlhausen at Horn, Veldrom and Wehren and Kempenfeldrom and the integration of parts of the municipalities Oberschönenbuch Hagen (Fissenknick) and Schönemark (Wilberg) formed the newly Horn-Bad Meinberg"

History
The oldest known written mention of Horn shows that the foundation of the city was in 1248. Armed conflicts around the city were especially during the Soest Feud (1444-1449) and during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). 1761 the town resisted in the Seven Years' War the siege of the French troops commanded by the princes of Beauvau. In 1864, large parts of the city were destroyed by fire, including the old town hall; a new neo-Gothic town hall was built in its stead. A connection for the city of Horn to the railway connection was made in 1895. The station was built outside the city center and is located on the route Detmold-Altenbeken.

Settlement Moorlage
In the east of Horn arose at the beginning of World War II, the  settlement Moorlage . Reason was the relocation of the village Haustenbeck in Senne, which was given to the Sennelager Training Area. Many people from the community moved to Horn, where the company Künnemeyer needed workers. The farmers received courtyards of the Reichsumsiedlungsgesellschaft. On February 18, 1938, the first proposal was made to build a closed settlement. Some forty families settled around to Horn. End of August 1939 arrived the first domestic, mayor Wilhelm Mehrmann. 1989 were still 42 of 44 settlement houses owned by the families, who they also built before the war.

title: Horn-Bad Meinberg


text:
User:G3

Speak to me people...

title: User:G3


text:
KCAC

KCAC may refer to:

 * Kansas City Athletic Club, an athletic club in Kansas City, Kansas
 * Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference, an NAIA collegiate athletic conference based in Kansas
 * Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex, a convention and athletic center at Indiana University of Pennsylvania
 * KCAC (FM), a radio station (89.5 FM) licensed to Camden, Arkansas, United States
 * KCAC (AM), a radio station (1010 AM) in Phoenix, Arizona, 1969–71
 * Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, a caucus within the Israeli Knesset

title: KCAC


text:
Lage, North Rhine-Westphalia

Lage is a town in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, approximatively 8 km northwest of the administrative centre Detmold. It has 35,099 inhabitants (2016). The coat of arms of Lage depicts a farmer's plough. The city is not far from the Teutoburg Forest. Due to its convenient location Lage developed into a traffic hub in the former Principality of Lippe, today's district of Lippe.

History
Numerous finds indicate a colonization of the location since the Neolithic times (2400 to 1800 b.c.).

Around 900 a.d. the parish church of St. Johann (today's Marktkirche) has been founded on a hillhock at the river Werre and is the origin of today's city Lage. In 1274, Lage is mentioned the first time in a document for the life annuity of the local clergy by the sentence "Jordanus plebanis in Lagis". In 1539, with the election of the first mayor self-administration rights are provable.

In 1843, borough rights were awarded by ruler Leopold II, Prince of Lippe. In the years after 1880 the construction of the railway lines Herford to Detmold (1880) and Bielefeld to Lemgo (1893) linked Lage to the surrounding cities by train and created an interchange station.

During World War I (1914-1918) the hospital served as a military hospital. Sections of the Infantry Regiment 67 were quartered in the town. On 9 January 1933, Adolf Hitler spoke on a central square (Jahnplatz) in Lage. During World War II (1939-1945) several attacks by Allied bombers hit the center of Lage, causing over 60 casualties in the local population and destroying many houses.

In 1970, the city merged to form a large municipality with a population of 32,000 with the surrounding communities Billinghausen, Ehrentrup, Hagen, Hardissen, Hedderhagen, Heiden, Heßloh, Horste, Kachtenhausen / Wellentrup, Müssen, Ohrsen, Pottenhausen, Stapelage, Waddenhausen and Wissentrup after local government reorganization.

Twin towns – sister cities
Lage is twinned with:
 * 🏴 Horsham, England, United Kingdom
 * 🇦🇹 Sankt Johann im Pongau, Austria

Notable people

 * Heinemann Vogelstein (1841–1911), rabbi
 * Gottlieb Reber (1880–1959), art collector
 * Fritz Bracht (1899–1945), Nazi Gauleiter of Upper Silesia

title: Lage, North Rhine-Westphalia


text:
Nyeri

Nyeri is a town situated in the Central Highlands of Kenya. It is the county headquarters of Nyeri County. The town was the central administrative headquarters of the country's former Central Province. Following the dissolution of the former provinces by Kenya's new constitution on 26 August 2010, the city is situated about 150 km north of Kenya's capital Nairobi, in the country's densely populated and fertile Central Highlands, lying between the eastern base of the Aberdare (Nyandarua) Range, which forms part of the eastern end of the Great Rift Valley, and the western slopes of Mount Kenya.

The city population, according to the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census, was estimated at 140,338. However, the number is rapidly growing. There is, however, a significant population of primarily Government and corporate workers who ordinarily reside in Nyeri but who, during the census, choose to be counted in their areas of origin or the areas where their families are residents. The town has a relatively low cost of living in comparison to Nairobi and other major urban centres in Kenya. Located in Kenya's fertile highlands, food and water are plentiful and relatively cheap.

Nyeri hosts the tomb of Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout movement. It is also the home town of the late Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai. The town is also the home of the Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (DeKUT), founded by the local community in the early 1970s as an institute of technology, and converted into a fully fledged university in 2012.

History

Towards the end of 1902, as the British were establishing their colonial presence, Richard Meinertzhagen marched a strong military column meeting spirited resistance from the native Kikuyu warriors led by Wangombe Wa Ihura. The Kikuyu were eventually defeated. After Meinertzhagen's victory, a decision was reached to site a British post close to a little hill on the slopes of Mt. Kenya. The Kikuyu called the hill Kia-Nyiri while their Maasai neighbours called the hill Na-aier. The post took its name from the little hill. On 18 December 1902, Nyeri was founded.

Shortly after the establishment of the post, a trickle of European settlers and missionaries and Indian merchants began to migrate into Nyeri and the surrounding areas. The city soon burgeoned into a trading centre for white settler farmers who produced cattle, wheat and coffee. The city became particularly associated with the Happy Valley set in the first half of the twentieth century. The Nyeri Golf Club, The White Rhino Hotel, Outspan Hotel, and the Aberdare Country Club at the nearby Mweiga township are relics of those colonial days.

Ethnicity and language
The majority of Nyeri residents are members of Kenya's largest ethnic group, the Kikuyu, with residents generally being known as "Nyeri Kikuyu". The Kikuyu language is widely spoken, along with Kenya's National language, Swahili as well as Kenya's official language, English.

Religion
Following the national pattern of Kenya being a predominantly Christian country, Christianity is the main religion. The main Christian denominations are Catholic-that hosts the Cathedral and the Archbishop's official residence-, Presbyterian, Anglican, Pentecostals and indigenous denominations, in that order. The older residents, who tend to attend the mainstream churches, are invariably more religious than the younger ones. Muslims, traditional African believers and Hindus, in declining order, make up a small minority.

About 5 km from the city Centre is the Mathari Mission settlement, a complex of several Catholic buildings and institutions, established by Italian missionaries at the beginning of the 20th century. The mission is composed of convents for nuns, schools, a teacher training college and other vocational colleges. It also hosts the Consolata Hospital and School of Nursing, which is staffed largely by nuns of the Consolata order. Nyeri is also the place where Blessed Stephanie Nyaatha was laid to rest.

Education
In addition to its two home-grown universities, Dedan Kimathi University of Technology and the recently upgraded Karatina University College, Nyeri hosts satellite campuses of various Kenyan public universities such as University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University.

The National Police Training College is situated in Kiganjo, 10.8 km from the city. There is a Medical Training College, a government nursing school, two polytechnic colleges, and several private and public secondary and primary schools such as Moi Nyeri Complex, Temple Road, DEB Muslim and Ngangarithi primary. The town is also home to the Nyeri National Polytechnic.. Other technical training colleges in the town include Tetu TVC, Mathira TVC and Kieni Esat TVC as well as many vocational and technical training centers spread across the county. The Roman Catholic Church Archdiocese of Nyeri runs several schools, colleges, and hospitals. The town is also home to three national schools, Kagumo High School, Nyeri High School and the Bishop Gatimu Girls High School in Nyeri. It is the home to prestigious extra county schools in the nation like Othaya Boys High School and Mahiga Girls Secondary School. St. Mary's Boys Secondary School Nyeri is another top-performing high school located in Nyeri town.

Economy
The largest formal employer in Nyeri, being until recently the administrative headquarters of the former Central Province, is the Government of Kenya. The local Municipal Council and utility providers are also significant employers. The various sectors of the service industry, including retail, hospitality, banking, insurance, the charity industry, religious bodies especially the Catholic Church and professionals are also significant employers.

The main industrial plants are a Coca-Cola bottling plant, a water and fruit juice bottling plant, a number of tea and coffee processing factories, a milk processing and packaging factory owned and run by the Kenya Co-operative Creameries Ltd, and a number of maize millers. There is also a wide range of largely unsophisticated light industries, including motor vehicle repair garages, electronics repair shops, furniture workshops, tailoring shops, and bakeries. Attractive investment opportunities exist within the Nyeri industrial area of Kiganjo which is served by the newly refurbished railway line and has ample land for industrial expansion.

A major industry in Nyeri is farming, which is mostly unmechanized. The city urban area is actually part of the surrounding rural areas of greater Nyeri County, with farms within the municipality blending seamlessly into the rural area. The main cash crops are Coffee and tea, grown mainly by smallholders who are organized into quasi-private state-supported and supervised co-operatives or companies for farm input distribution, basic processing and marketing purposes.

The main food crops are maize, the staple food in most of Kenya, legumes (especially beans and peas), tubers (mainly potatoes), and vegetables (especially tomatoes, cabbage, spinach and kale). Livestock, mainly dairy cattle, goats, sheep, and chicken are also widely kept. Food crop and livestock farming are also done by smallholders, with marketing and distribution of surplus produce (after farmers' own consumption) being done privately.

Tourism is also significant, as there are many tourist destinations nearby, including the Aberdare and Mount Kenya National Parks, and a number of hotels offering conference tourism and short upcountry holidays. The Nyeri Museum is located within Nyeri town, it houses cultural artifacts and Kenya's colonial history.

Infrastructure
Nyeri has tarmacked roads, and the county and national governments are upgrading many of them. Houses have drinking water on tap, but sewage provision is through soak pits, pit latrines and septic tanks are still widespread. The city's topography allows nature and gravity to take care of most of the city's storm water drainage.

Phone services, especially mobile telephony, and internet services are widely available. A fibre optic cable network linking the city to offshore submarine cables recently reached Kenya's coast.

Transport
Nyeri is served by a reasonably well-maintained tarmac road network connecting it to Nairobi, Nakuru, Nanyuki, Othaya and other surrounding towns. The newly built Kenol-Marua 4 lane super highway ends few kilometers from Nyeri town, Most transportation of cargo to and from Nyeri is by road, although the city has a largely underutilized railway station at Kiganjo (about six kilometers out of city towards Nanyuki) on the branchline of the railway from Nairobi to Nanyuki.

An airport and some airstrips serve the city: one at Mweiga (about 15 km out of city towards Nakuru) and another at Nyaribo, off the Nanyuki – Naromoru highway. The main mode of public passenger transport to, from, and within Nyeri is by way of fourteen-seater minibuses (matatu), though un-metered salon car taxis are also widely used.

Notable graves

Nyeri has many visitors to the Baden-Powell grave, the resting place of Lieutenant-General Lord Baden-Powell, a British commander in the Boer War and the founder of the Scouting Movement, who once wrote "the nearer to Nyeri the nearer to bliss". He and his wife, Olave, Lady Baden-Powell, G.B.E., are buried in the City cemetery. Baden-Powell had a cottage built, which he called "Paxtu". He lived there until his death, and it is now a small museum; it stands in the grounds of the Outspan Hotel. Nyeri remains a place of pilgrimage for the worldwide Scouting and Guiding Movements, with members congregating in the city from time to time for various activities and functions.

There are also visitors to the Italian War Memorial Chapel at Mathari, built in 1952 by the Italian government in honour of Italian Royal Army soldiers, prisoners of war, and other internees, from the time of the Second World War who died in East Africa, including 69 African recruits to the Italian forces, mostly Somalis. Among those buried at Mathari is Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, Viceroy of Italian East Africa, whose tomb is within the Chapel, in front of the altar.

The chapel is not used for regular worship, but a special Mass is celebrated every 2 November in memory of the fallen soldiers and those who died in captivity. Covering the walls of the main church building are memorials for the many Italian servicemen who died during the war. Each memorial is in the form of a small oblong plaque indicating the name of the soldier, the battalion he served in, and the place where he died.

Nyeri is also the burial place of hunter and conservationist Jim Corbett, the author of Man-Eaters of Kumaon (1944), who also spent his final years in Paxtu, B-P's cottage.

Mount Kenya
Mount Kenya and Nyeri hill are nearby, as well as the Tetu hills 50 km to the North East. About 20 km from the city is Mount Kenya National Park. Mount Kenya is an extinct volcano lying astride the Equator. The mountain has two main snow-covered peaks – Batian (5 200 m) and Nelion (5 188 m). It is the highest mountain in the country and the second, after Kilimanjaro, in Africa.

The mountain slopes are covered in forest, bamboo, scrub and moorland giving way on high central peaks to rock, ice and snow. Its U-shaped glacial valleys, rugged snow-capped peaks, Afro-alpine desert, thirty lakes and eight different natural forest types and a variety of wildlife species make it a convergence of natural attractions. The wildlife found in the park include giant forest hog, tree hyrax, white-tailed mongoose, black leopard, mountain bongo, elephant, black rhino, suni, black-fronted duiker, mole-rat and over 130 species of birds. Activities taking place in the park include game drives, nature walks, mountain climbing, wildlife viewing, camping and cave exploration.

The Aberdares
About fifteen kilometers out of Nyeri on the opposite side to Mt. Kenya is the Aberdare National Park. The Aberdares is an old volcanic mountain range with lower peaks due to a longer period of erosion. It offers views of Mount Kenya to the east and the Great Rift Valley to the west. Its unusual vegetation, rugged terrain, deep ravines cutting through its forested eastern and western slopes, clear water streams and waterfalls combine to create an area of great scenic beauty. Its major attractions include the Lesatima and Kinangop peaks and many waterfalls, including the magnificent Karuru falls which drop 272 meters, Zaina falls which drop about 140 meters and the Gura Falls which drop 305 meters.

The park is home to many endangered species including the rare bongo, giant forest hog, packs of the now very rare wild dogs, and endemic mole-rat and mole shrew. Other game include a large population of black rhino, leopard servile, endemic bird species, reptiles and insects. Activities include game drives and nature walks. Both brown and rainbow trout abound in the cool mountain streams. Within the park, lodges near watering holes offer close proximity night game viewing. It was at Treetops Lodge that The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh (now Elizabeth II) was advised of the death of her father while on a honeymoon retreat, and her own ascent to the throne. The park is also known for the Kimathi hideouts, the Mau-Mau Caves, and the Kimathi "post office" where agents used to drop messages for Mau Mau fighters during the guerrilla wars for Kenyan independence.

Private ranches
Close to the city are several privately owned ranches, many of which also serve as private wildlife sanctuaries like Solio Ranch, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, and Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. Many higher-end tourists stay at these ranches, including celebrities such as Bill Gates.

Administration and government
Nyeri is now, as an administrative centre, currently in transition as the new governance and administrative structures created by the new Kenyan Constitution are in the early stages of implementation.

Central government
Nyeri, as aforesaid, had been the Provincial Headquarters of the now defunct Central Province. The fate of the Provincial Administration is now the subject of intense national debate as the country transits to the new Constitution's new governance structure. In the interim, the Central Provincial Commissioner (PC) remains in Nyeri. Under him remain the District Commissioner, Nyeri Central District (DC), the Divisional Officers (DO), the Locational Chiefs and the Assistant Chiefs. Various Central Provincial and Nyeri Central District departments of the various ministries of the Government of Kenya, and central provincial offices of several Kenya Government departments and State Corporations are also still based in Nyeri.
 * Provincial Administration:
 * Government Departments:

The Central Provincial Police Officer (PPO) of the Kenya Police Service, and under him, as one of the police divisional heads, the Nyeri Divisional Police Commander (OCPD)are based in Nyeri.
 * Security:

Local government
Nyeri is currently awaiting to be awarded the city status with a certified charter, however its recent growth proves that it is a city. The county assembly is composed of elected MCAs and a county governor. The county legislative system is also led by a county speaker. The Council is based at the Nyeri city Hall. Since the new constitution was promulgated, the administration is handled by the County Government.

Parliamentary representation
Nyeri Municipality is a parliamentary constituency known as Nyeri Town Constituency represented in the National Assembly by an elected Member of Parliament. Hon. Duncan Maina Mathenge is the current Member of Parliament.

People
People from Nyeri County include:

 * Mwai Kibaki, third President of Kenya from 2002 to 2013
 * Geoffrey Rigathi Gachagua, current Deputy President of Kenya
 * Stanley Mathenge, Mau Mau General
 * Nicodemus Kirima, Archbishop of Nyeri Archdiocese
 * Wangari Maathai, Nobel peace prize winner
 * Dedan Kimathi, Mau Mau resistance leader
 * Waruhiu Itote, Mau Mau war general
 * Muthui Kariuki, Former government spokesman
 * Catherine Ndereba, Olympic marathon Silver Medalist
 * Irene Wangeci Ndungu, Bronze medallist in 1963 Commonwealth games (110 meter hundles)
 * Charles Mangua

title: Nyeri