Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
Civil engineer Marilyn Jorgenson Reece was born in the city of Kenmare in South Dakota in 1926. After graduating from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in engineering in 1948, Reece moved to Los Angeles and started working for the California State Division of Highways (now part of the California Department of Transportation,... Continue Reading →
March 14, 1908 Motorcycle designer and manufacturer Philip Vincent was born in London, England. It was during his time as a student at Harrow School, a London-based boarding school for boys, that Vincent was introduced to motorcycles. His interest in this means of mobility steadily grew. He bought his first motorcycle, which was a second-hand... Continue Reading →
In 1911, Nan Aspinwall made history as the first woman to successfully complete a solo transcontinental trip by horse. She covered a total of 4,496 miles (7,235.6 kilometers), arriving in New York City 180 days after setting out from San Francisco on her thoroughbred mare Lady Ellen. Aspinwall, who had been born in 1880, established... Continue Reading →
March 12, 1941 The car ferry S.S. City of Midland 41 made her maiden voyage along Lake Michigan between Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and Ludington, Michigan. (The ferry’s namesake was the city of Midland in central Michigan.) The all-steel vessel, which had been launched the previous September, was constructed by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company for the Pere Marquette Railway’s... Continue Reading →
Maritime transportation entrepreneur Thea Foss was born in the hamlet of Eidsberg in Norway in 1857. She immigrated to the United States in the early 1880s. Not long after arriving in her new homeland, she married fellow Norwegian immigrant Andreas Oleson in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (The couple subsequently changed their last name to Fossen to distinguish themselves... Continue Reading →
Canadian aviation pioneer Lorna de Blicquy was born in 1931 near the town of Goderich in the province of Ontario. De Blicquy, who developed a strong interest in aviation after a cousin took her for a flight over the Canadian capital of Ottawa, started to take flying lessons when she was only 14. At the... Continue Reading →
March 7, 1877 The first train of the Seattle & Walla Walla Railroad began operations on a 14-mile (22.5-kilometer)-long stretch between the city of Seattle and town (present-day city) of Renton in what was then the Territory of Washington. (This territory became a state more than 11 years later.) The San Francisco Chronicle reported, “Excursion... Continue Reading →
In 1896, a book entitled The Common Sense of Bicycling: Bicycling for Ladies was published by Brentano’s, Inc. The book’s author was New York resident Maria E. Ward, a dedicated bicyclist and active member of the Staten Island Bicycle Club. At a time when bicycling had become a favorite activity throughout the United States, there... Continue Reading →
March 5, 1923 Aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky established the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation on Long Island, thereby opening a new and significant chapter in aircraft development. Igor Sikorsky immigrated to the United States from his native Russia in 1919 with comparatively little money and no job, but a strong interest and ability when it came... Continue Reading →
Ida Lewis, who helped her invalid father Captain Hosea Lewis of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service operate Lime Rock Lighthouse in Rhode Island’s Newport Harbor, achieved national renown in 1869 when she rescued two soldiers from icy waters. The soldiers, Sergeant James Adams and Private John McLaughlin, were traveling through Newport Harbor in a... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 