Cleveland, North Dakota, USA

Welcome to Geography Awareness Week: It's time to appreciate maps on the landscape! The one on this coop grain elevator is easy to miss. That's because North Dakota's shape is so boxy. If you are still not seeing the map, here's a hint: It is framed in yellow. Your assignment for the week: Keep track of all maps that circulate into your field of vision. [2021]

Canal Winchester, Ohio, USA

Towering above all other buildings in the Canal Winchester Historical Complex is the cathedral-like grain elevator, a sign of agricultural prosperity. The rail line came in 1869, quickly diluting the importance of the Ohio and Erie Canal as a means of getting the crops to the market. Today, the canal is a memory perpetuated only by the town's name. [2017]

Belle Fourche, South Dakota, USA

The Dakota Mill and Grain elevator serves as the economic hub of town. Grain elevators like these receive grain from nearby farmers; they store the grain and use the force of gravity to load it into trucks or railway cars for shipment out. The Dakota operation, however, takes it one step further: It is set up for milling the grain on site. [2019]

Seneca, Kansas, USA

How do we honor our veterans? Here's another method: We build an honor wall of names, one plaque for every veteran in our town or county. Before the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, honoring vets meant only one thing: sculpting a statue. Walls like this are far more personal. Remember: Today is Veterans Day. [2009]

Carrollton, Kentucky, USA

How do we honor our veterans? Here's one method: We personalize attention-getting banners and hang them from every pole in town, thus turning our streets into an outdoor portrait gallery. Over the last twenty years, this has become a national trend. Remember: Veterans Day is tomorrow. [2022]

Spokane, Washington, USA

A waterfalls on the Spokane River clearly demonstrated the potential for water power, at least enough to run a few mills. Later, that waterpower would be transformed into hydroelectricity on which the industrial base of the city would depend. The stately looking building by the bridge is the hydroelectric power station. [2019]

Spokane, Washington, USA

What physical feature defines your city? In Spokane, it is Spokane Falls. It was early recognized as a source of water power, a sawmill was established, and the city grew up as a service center for the ranches and mines in the surrounding region. The falls maintained their centrality in the urban settlement fabric: the city's downtown is adjacent. [2019]