Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 07.djvu/23

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OFFA'S DYKE
7
OGDEN

duced the power of Wessex by a defeat inflicted in 777. He also defeated the Welsh, took from them part of their border lands, and to keep them within their new limits erected here the ramparts known as Watt's Dyke and Offa's Dyke. Latterly he murdered Ethelbert, King of East Anglia, and seized his kingdom. He founded the Abbey of St. Albans, and was a liberal patron to the Church. He died in 796.

OFFA'S DYKE, an entrenchment extending along the border of England and Wales, from the N. coast of Flintshire, on the estuary of the Dee, through Denbigh, Montgomery, Salop, Radnor, and Hereford, into Gloucestershire, where its S. termination is near the mouth of the Wye. In some places it is nearly obliterated by cultivation; in others it is of considerable height. Nearly parallel with it, about 2 miles to the E., is Watt's Dyke, which, however, seems never to have been so great a work. Offa, King of Mercia, is said to have erected Watt's Dyke in 765 to keep back the Welsh, and Offa's Dyke a few years later.

OFFENBACH, a manufacturing town of Hesse-Darmstadt, on the S. bank of the Main, 5 miles S. E. of Frankfort. Before the World War among its industrial products were chemicals, fancy leather goods, machines, and carriages. The schloss was a residence of the princely house of Isenburg-Birstein. Pop. about 80,000.

OFFENBACH, JACQUES, a French composer of opera bouffe; born of Jewish parents in Cologne, June 21, 1819. He went to Paris in 1833, and settled there, becoming orchestra leader in the Théâtre Français in 1848, and manager of the Bouffes Parisiennes in 1855. Offenbach composed a vast number of light, lively operettas, “Marriage by Lanterns”; “Elezondo's Daughter”; etc.; but the productions by which he is best known are a series of burlesque operas, in virtue of which he must be regarded as the inventor of the modern form of opera bouffe. Among the most notable are: “Orpheus in Hades” (1858); “La Belle Helene”; “Bluebeard”; “The Grand Duchess”; “Genevieve of Brabant”; and “King Garotte.” “Madame Favart” (1878) became almost as popular in England and the United States as in France. He died in Paris, France, Oct. 5, 1880.

OFFICE BUILDINGS. The construction of edifices designed for purely commercial uses has in modern times reached a development that has made it a field for architecture paralleling the erection of cathedrals in the Middle Ages. In this development America has greatly surpassed the countries of Europe, where the use of former dwellings for business purposes, and the use of dwellings for residences and business combined is still largely in vogue. Banks and insurance companies, and enterprises of a similar kind, to whom a prosperous façade was an advertising asset, were the first to use special structures, but the giant progress of modern business has made the building of great edifices like the Equitable and Woolworth buildings of New York a necessity. The development of the elevator and steel frame has made such building the last word in convenience.

OGDEN, a city and county-seat of Weber co., Utah; at the junction of the Weber and Ogden rivers, and on the Oregon Short Line, the Southern Pacific, the Rio Grande Western, the Salt Lake and Ogden and the Union Pacific railroads, 37 miles N. of Salt Lake City. It is the seat of the Weber Stake Academy (Mormon), Sacred Heart Academy, the State Industrial School, the State School for the Blind, and the State School for the Deaf and Dumb. Here are street railroads, electric lights, National and private banks, parks, and several daily and weekly newspapers. The industries comprise mining, iron founding, flour and lumber milling, brewing, and the manufacture of boots and shoes, woolen goods, brooms, vinegar, and other commodities. In Ogden Canon are large powder works and also the city's electric light plant. The streets are wide and well kept, and the buildings substantial. Pop. (1910) 25,580; (1920) 32,804.

OGDEN, ROBERT CURTIS, an American capitalist and merchant; born in Philadelphia, Pa., 1836; died New York City, 1913. He was educated in a private school and at Yale. From 1885, until he retired, in 1907, he was a member of the firm of John Wanamaker. During his life he was much interested in education and was a trustee of Tuskegee Institute, in Alabama, president Southern Education Board, Conference for Education in the South, and president and trustee of Hampton Institute.

OGDEN, ROBERT MORRIS, an American educator, born in Binghamton, N. Y., in 1877. Graduated from Cornell University in 1901 and afterward studied in Germany. He was associate professor of psychology in the University of Missouri in 1903-1905, and was associate professor and professor of psychology and philosophy at the University of Texas, from 1909 to 1914. In latter years he