Île de la Jatte

The Ile de la Jatte or Île de la Grande Jatte is an island in France, in the river Seine, at the very gates of Paris, in the communes of Neuilly-sur-Seine and Levallois, Hauts-de-Seine. It is 7 km distant (in a straight line) from the towers of Notre Dame and 3 km from the Etoile. It has about 4,000 inhabitants and is nearly 2 km long and nearly 200 m wide at its widest point. Its name translates as "Island of the Bowl" or "Island of the Big Bowl".

It is best known as the setting for Georges Seurat's pointillist oil-painting, Un Dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte (A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte) (1884-6 and 1889) and also for the Stephen Sondheim musical, Sunday in the Park with George.

History

In 1818 Louis-Philippe acquired the château of Neuilly in order to house his family of ten children. He bought the land and created a park which encloses the island, reachable only by boat. He also put a temple on the northern point (later moved).

Between 1850 and 1870 Napoléon III and Baron Haussmann further modified the island, and artists began painting there.

La Grande, Oregon

La Grande /ləˈɡrænd/ is a city in Union County, Oregon, United States. Originally named "Brownsville," it was forced to change its name because that name was already being used for a city in Linn County. Its current name comes from an early French settler, Charles Dause, who often used the phrase "La Grande" to describe the area's beauty. The population was 13,082 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Union County. La Grande lies east of the Blue Mountains and southeast of Pendleton.

History

Early settlement

The Grande Ronde Valley had long been a waypoint along the Oregon Trail. The first permanent settler in the La Grande area was Benjamin Brown in 1861. Not long after, the Leasey family and about twenty others settled there. The settlement was originally named after Ben Brown as Brown's Fort, Brown's Town, or Brownsville. There was already a Brownsville in Linn County, so when the post office was established in 1863, a more distinctive name was needed. It was decided to use "La Grande", a phrase used by a Frenchman, Charles Dause, to describe the area's scenic splendor. Before the post office was established, William Currey charged 50 cents a letter to carry the mail on horseback to and from the nearest post office, in Walla Walla, Washington. La Grande was incorporated as a city in 1865, and platted in 1868.

La Grande-3 generating station

The La Grande-3 or LG-3 is a hydroelectric dam on the La Grande River in northern Quebec, part of Hydro-Québec's James Bay Project. The station can generate 2,418 MW and was commissioned in 1982-1984. It generates electricity through the reservoir and dam system. The dam and reservoir both are named La Grande-3.

See also

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