Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 224, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 September 1912 — CITY IS BEING MODERNIZED [ARTICLE]

CITY IS BEING MODERNIZED

Riga, Near the Baltic Sea, Is Fast Becoming a Busy Industrial Center. St. Petersburg.—The ancients city of Riga. on the River Dwina, near the i Baltic sea. Is undergoing a wonderful' change. The place was founded in 1201 by the Knights of the Sword, a German order instituted to convert the Letts and Esthonians. It became in time & fortress of considerable strength. It did not lose the appearance of a mediaeval town until 1857, when its masonry walls were torn down. When Napoleon invaded Russia more than a century ago the governor of Riga burned 2,000 houses. Riga is now being converted into a modern industrial cjty. The centuriesold moat has been turned into a picturesque canal, and its banks have been planted with ornamental treeß dnd shrubs, to provide a popular promenade. The old, narrow, winding streets of the inner town are being widened and straightened. The suburban quarter, for so long a collection of wooden huts, "Is being built over Into large apartment houses. Several squares and public gardens and buildings are being constructed. One of the squares is used as a military parade ground. On it is the Russian cathedral, the city museum and a school supported by the chamber of commerce.