Roosevelt Road

Roosevelt Road (originally named 12th Street) is a major east-west thoroughfare in the city of Chicago, Illinois, and its western suburbs. It is 1200 South in the city's street numbering system, but only 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Madison Street. It runs under this name from Columbus Drive to the western city limits, then continues through the western suburbs until it reaches Geneva, where it is known as State Street. 12th Street was renamed to Roosevelt Road on May 25, 1919, in recognition of President Theodore Roosevelt, who had died the previous January. In 1928 the new U.S. Route 330 (US 330), a different alignment of US 30, went down Roosevelt Road to Geneva, in 1942 it was redesignated as US 30 Alternate. In 1972, after the route had been discontinued, Roosevelt Road outside Chicago became Illinois Route 38.

Route

In Grant Park (for which it serves as the southern boundary west of Lake Shore Drive), it is named Roosevelt Drive. The road begins at Lake Shore Drive and heads west, forming the southern boundary of the Chicago Loop. The area between Clark Street (100 W) and Jefferson Street (600 W) is a fast-growing commercial district, mostly home to large chain stores, including Best Buy, The Home Depot, Staples, Whole Foods Market and Target. This area used to be and remains to a lesser extent, a major fabric retail area. The famous Maxwell Street Market can be found just south of Roosevelt at Canal Street (500 W). Continuing west, it passes the University of Illinois at Chicago's two campuses and St. Ignatius College Preparatory School between Halsted Street and Damen Avenue. It also passes Douglas Park at California Avenue. Once past Mannheim Road it becomes Illinois Route 38. Between Austin Blvd and Harlem Ave, a major streetscape renovation project is underway by the Town of Cicero, Village of Oak Park, and City of Berwyn.

Twelfth Street Rag

"Twelfth Street Rag" was published by Euday L. Bowman in 1914. Years earlier, a friend of Bowman's known only as "Raggedy Ed" declared his intention to open a pawn shop on 12th Street while the two were walking along it. Bowman is rumored to have said "If you get rich on those three balls, I'll write a piece on three notes to make myself rich." The result was "The 12th Street Rag," one of the most famous and best-selling rags of the ragtime era.

It was more than 15 years after Bowman composed the song before he actually wrote the music down in manuscript form. He returned to Texas briefly and tried to sell the piece to a company in Dallas; but he only had an offer of ten dollars for it and was told it really wasn't worth publishing. Returning to Kansas City, he sold it to Jenkins Music Company in 1913. The Jenkins company felt Bowman's arrangement was too difficult, however, and hired C. E. Wheeler to simplify it. With a big advertising push, "12th Street Rag" began to sell better. In 1919, James S. Sumner added lyrics. The song was popular with early Kansas City bands and became a huge hit after Bennie Moten recorded it for RCA Victor in 1927, the same year that Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven recorded it. It has since become an enduring jazz standard.

Street

A street is a public thoroughfare (usually paved) in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable surface such as concrete, cobblestone or brick. Portions may also be smoothed with asphalt, embedded with rails, or otherwise prepared to accommodate non-pedestrian traffic.

Originally the word "street" simply meant a paved road (Latin: "via strata"). The word "street" is still sometimes used colloquially as a synonym for "road", for example in connection with the ancient Watling Street, but city residents and urban planners draw a crucial modern distinction: a road's main function is transportation, while streets facilitate public interaction. Examples of streets include pedestrian streets, alleys, and city-centre streets too crowded for road vehicles to pass. Conversely, highways and motorways are types of roads, but few would refer to them as streets.

Euday L. Bowman

Euday Louis Bowman (November 9, 1887 – May 26, 1949) was an American pianist and composer of ragtime and blues who represented the style of Texas Ragtime. He is chiefly remembered as the composer of the successful Twelfth Street Rag, a rag from 1914 out of a series of ragtimes that Bowman wrote during or after a period in which he worked as a pianist in some of the better bordellos of Kansas City. These tunes -- "Sixth Street Rag", "Tenth Street Rag", "Eleventh Street Rag" and "Twelfth Street Rag"—were named after streets of "Boss" Tom Pendergast's redlight district.

Biography

Euday Bowman was born and lived in Tarrant County, TX. The area, originally named Bowman Springs after his grandfather, was renamed Webb around 1895, and is now a suburb of Fort Worth. His parents divorced when he was young and his mother moved the family to Fort Worth. Both his mother and sister were piano teachers.

Much of what is thought to be known about Euday is based writings of Brun Campbell and there are significant errors. He is the source of the only known photo of Euday. It appears to be a mugshot and is of questionable authenticity. He did not lose a leg and he did not die without heirs. In fact, when Brun wrote that, 24 claimants were involved in a lawsuit establishing the legitimate heirs.

Jeffrey L. Barnhart

Jeffrey L. Barnhart (born March 5, 1956) was a Republican member of the North Carolina General Assembly representing the state's Eighty-second House District, including constituents in Cabarrus County. A businessman, Barnhart served in the state's House of Representatives from 2001-2011. He resigned September 30, 2011, to join the consulting firm McGuireWoods.

Personal life

Barnhart was born in Waverly, New York to Fred Harrison and Mildred Lorraine Sjostrom Barnhart. He and his wife Jody (Springston) have four children and one other child with another.

Education

Barnhart graduated from Waverly High School in 1974. He then attended Southern Illinois University and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Technology in 1981.

Military service

Served in the United States Air Force from 1978-82.

Early Political career