Newcastle
Newcastle names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Newcastle the chief city of Northumberland
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the chief city of Northumberland, England. It is situated near the mouth of the Tyne which is crossed here by numerous bridges. The site was well known to the Romans, being the eastern terminus of Hadrian's Wall. A Norman castle built in 1080 was long a noted stronghold. During the border warfare between England and Scotland, Newcastle was taken and retaken repeatedly. There are important manufactures of hardware, glass, chemicals, cannon, locomotives, and machinery. Numerous steamship lines ply from Newcastle to London, Leith, and various ports of continental Europe. It is the largest exporting coal market in the world, whence the phrase, "To carry coals to Newcastle," expressive of uselessness.
Newcastle a city and county-seat of Lawrence co.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city and county-seat of Lawrence co., Pa.; at the confluence of the Neshannock and the Shenango rivers, and on the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie, the Pennsylvania, the Erie, the Baltimore and Ohio, and the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh railroads; 50 miles N. E. of Pittsburgh. It contains the Shenango Valley Hospital, waterworks, electric street railroads, gas and electric lights, daily and weekly newspapers, and several National banks. It is in a section rich in sandstone and limestone, iron ore, fire clay, and bituminous coal. It has manufactories of sewer pipe, glass, fire brick, iron, steel, boilers, etc. Pop. (1910) 36,280; 0) 36,280; (1920) 44,938.
Newcastle a city of Indiana
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city of Indiana, the county-seat of Henry co., 44 miles by rail N. E. of Indianapolis. It is situated on the Blue river, and on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis, the Fort Wayne, Cincinnati and Chicago and St. Louis railroads. The State village for epileptics is two miles N. of the city. The city is the center of an important farming region and is also an industrial center of importance. It has manufactories of sheet iron, steel, automobiles, clothing, pianos, bricks etc. Pop. (1910) 9,446; (1920) 14,458.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's called Newcastle upon Tyne in 1910 "the largest exporting coal market in the world"; that trade is gone, the Northumberland and Durham pits closed one by one, and Ellington, the region's last deep mine, shut in 2005 ">and in recent decades coal has actually been landed at the Tyne from abroad, making a nonsense of the old proverb. Shipbuilding on the river, which supplied the cannon and machinery the entry lists, ended with the closure of the Swan Hunter yard's Wallsend operations in the 2000s; the city now leans on its universities, services and a riverside remade by the Gateshead Millennium Bridge of 2001. The two American Newcastles have moved in opposite directions from Collier's 1921 figures: New Castle, Pennsylvania, kept growing to roughly 48,000 around 1950 and has since fallen back to about 21,000 as steel and pottery left, while New Castle, Indiana, rose to some 17,000 on the strength of automobile work. The "State village for epileptics" two miles north of the Indiana city long ago changed its name and purpose as epilepsy ceased to be treated by segregation.
Written for this edition, 2026.