Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
U.S. Route 199 (US 199) became one of the original routes of the U.S. Numbered Highway System to be officially announced by the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads in 1927. As the northern spur of U.S. Route 99 (US 99), US 199 was designated to cover 84 miles (135.2 kilometers) between an area near Crescent... Continue Reading →
August 3, 1987 The sail training ship (STS) Young Endeavour began her maiden voyage at the coastal town and civil parish of Lowestoft in England. (Lowestoft holds the record as the most easterly settlement in the entire United Kingdom.) Sail training ships are vessels used for teaching people how to operate wind-powered vessels. This training... Continue Reading →
A pioneering regional system of numbered routes took shape at a meeting of highway officials from each of the six New England states in April 1922. The meeting was hosted by the Automobile Club of American (ACA) and the others in attendance included representatives from the New England Hotel Men’s Association, and the Automobile Blue... Continue Reading →
By the fall of 1930, a major milestone took place in Nebraska for the upgrading and opening of the U.S. Numbered Highway System’s transcontinental route designated as U.S. Route 30 (US 30). This milestone involved the finishing touches on a continuously paved segment of that highway from New York City to the city of Columbus... Continue Reading →
July 29, 2017 In southwestern Switzerland, a newly built pedestrian suspension bridge near the municipality of Randa first went into service. This bridge was named after Charles Kuonen, a psychologist and one of the owners of a Swiss winery. As the primary private sponsor of the construction project for the bridge, he made a significant... Continue Reading →
July 28, 1874 In northern Scotland, a railway station in the town and royal burgh of Wick in the Scottish Highlands was opened. This station was designed by the prolific engineer and architect Murdoch Paterson (1826-1898) and constructed by the Sutherland and Caithness Railway, which operated in that region of Scotland from 1874 to 1884.... Continue Reading →
July 27, 1918 With the United States heavily engaged in fighting World War I as one of the Allied Powers, the U.S. Navy commissioned a civilian tugboat into military service as USS Advance (identification number 3057). This vessel had been built in 1912 by Marcellus Mitchell Davis (1858-1925) at his shipyard at Solomons Island, Maryland.... Continue Reading →
July 24, 1920 A steamship constructed by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation was launched at the company’s shipyard in the industrial area of Sparrows Point in the Baltimore region. Initially called Bertice, this ship was renamed Buckeye State – the nickname of the state of Ohio – by the time of her launch. SS Buckeye State... Continue Reading →
Nearly a decade before the official authorization of the U.S. Numbered Highway System nationwide, the state of Wisconsin played a groundbreaking role in the establishment of such routes within its own boundaries. By 1917, an ever-increasing number of Wisconsin residents recognized the need for changes to be made to state trails and roads that were... Continue Reading →
July 22, 1926 In what was widely believed to be a new record for America’s National Pastime and a notable “first” in aviation, sports legend Babe Ruth (1894-1948) caught a baseball from a plane flying well above Mitchel Field airport in Garden City, Long Island. “Babe Ruth Catches Ball from Skies,” announced a headline in that... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 