Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
In Indonesia, the main span of the Suramadu Bridge was connected successfully in a midnight ceremony. The bridge, which crosses the Madura Strait between the city of Surabaya on the island of Java and the town of Bangkalan on the island of Madura, had been built by the Indonesian construction companies PT Adhi Karya (Persero)... Continue Reading →
Lifelong Indiana resident Mary E. Landon (1876-1971) was one of the first American women – if not the first American woman – to drive a gasoline-powered automobile. In the late 1890s, she and her husband John moved from South Bend to Kokomo to work there for the automobile manufacturer Haynes-Apperson Company in its new factory.... Continue Reading →
In 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman to fly into outer space. (Two female USSR cosmonauts, Valentina Tereshkova and Svetlana Savitskaya, had already traveled into orbit.) Ride, who was 32 at the time of her first space flight, also established a still-intact record as the youngest U.S. astronaut to make such a journey.... Continue Reading →
In the Philippines, Cape Bojeador Lighthouse on the island of Luzon was first lit. At the time, the Philippines was under Spanish rule. The lighthouse was constructed on Vigia de Nagpartian Hill at Cape Bojeador in the town of Burgos, and it overlooks the South China Sea. Cape Bojeador Lighthouse marks Luzon’s northwestern-most point. The... Continue Reading →
The American Red Cross (ARC) Motor Corps was an all-women’s service established during World War I to provide transportation support on the home front for the U.S. military as well as the ARC. The women who served as volunteers for the ARC Motor Corps wore uniforms (initially khaki, then Oxford grey) and were expected to... Continue Reading →
Boliviana de Aviación (BoA), which serves as the national airline of Bolivia and is entirely owned by the South American country’s government, formally began operations with its first commercial flight. This flight was made by a Boeing 737 airliner traveling between the cities of La Paz (the capital) and Cochabamba. Evo Morales, Bolivia’s president since... Continue Reading →
In 1983, Carmen E. Turner made history as the first African-American woman to lead a major transit agency when she became general manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). Her appointment to this position also reflected the overall strides being made by women at the time when it came to assuming key leadership... Continue Reading →
After more than three years of construction, a railway bridge in the city of Krasnoyarsk in Siberia (part of the Russian Empire at the time) was completed. The six-span Krasnoyarsk Railway Bridge, measuring 3,300 feet in length, was built to carry the Trans-Siberian Railway over the Yenisei River. Construction on the railway line, which is... Continue Reading →
Margaret “Maggie” Gee became an aviation pioneer during World War II when she was one of only two Chinese-Americans to serve in the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). The organization, which was formed in August 1943 from both the Women’s Auxiliary Flying Training Detachment and Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, consisted of female pilots who performed... Continue Reading →
Boat builder and designer Archibald Logan died in the New Zealand city of Auckland. According to the next day’s edition of the New Zealand Herald, “Such was his genius in the construction of yachts that he had an international reputation, and craft of his own design have proved eminently successful, not only in [New Zealand],... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 