Lives of great men all remind us 
        We can make our lives sublime, 
    And, departing, leave behind us 
        Footprints on the sands of time ; 

    Footprints, that perhaps another, 
        Sailing o'er life's solemn main, 
    A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, 
        Seeing, shall take heart again. 

- Longfellow

satya - Saturday, December 27, 2008 9:22:33 AM

Jakob Fugger the Rich

In 1520 Jakob Fugger, the Rich, built housing for the poor in the southern German city of Augsburg, Germany, with an annual rent of $1.23. That rent hasn't changed since then. The original settlement costing 10,000 guilders had 52 houses with 106 apartment units.

A steady stream of out-of-luck painters, printers and other laborers passed through these gates with their families

Franz Mozart, a brick layer and the great grand father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart lived here in the late 17th century.