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Marshfield was a rapid transit station on the Chicago "L" in the U.S. between 1895 and 1954. Originally part of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad, it was the westernmost station of the Metropolitan's main line. West of the station, the main line diverged into three branches; this junction, served by the station, has been described as the most complex on the entire Chicago "L" system. After 1905, the Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad, an interurban line, also served the station, but limited its service based on direction to avoid competing with the "L". The lines that had been constructed by the Metropolitan, including those serving Marshfield, were subject to modifications planned since the 1930s that incrementally withdrew service from the station. It fully closed on April 4, 1954, and was demolished shortly thereafter. The junction Marshfield served was rebuilt in reduced form, but with a new station on Racine Avenue to the east. (Full article...)

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On this day

April 4: Hansik in Korea (2024); Qingming Festival (traditional Chinese, 2024)

Alexios I Komnenos

503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrated a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines.
1081 – The Komnenos dynasty came to full power with the coronation of Alexios I Komnenos (pictured) as Byzantine emperor.
1859 – Bryant's Minstrels premiered the minstrel song "Dixie" in New York City as part of their blackface show.
1949 – Twelve nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty, establishing NATO, an international military alliance whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.

A. Thomas Bradbury (b. 1902)
Martin Rundkvist (b. 1972)
Xu Lai (d. 1973)
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Today's featured picture

Al-Wakwak is an island, or possibly more than one island, in medieval Arabic geographical and imaginative literature. Sources variously identify al-Wakwak as representing Japan, Madagascar, Sumatra or Java, with others describing it as an island in the China Sea ruled by a queen with an entirely female population. This painting in watercolor and gold on paper was created in Mughal India in the early 1600s, and depicts a plant that brings forth animal life in multiple forms, derived from a conflation of medieval Persian and Quranic sources, including descriptions of al-Wakwak as inhabited by half-plant and half-animal creatures. The work is now in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio.

Painting credit: unknown

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